China completes Gwadar takeover: Imran Khan to visit port on July 5
4 July, 2021 | newsx bureau
Latest satellite imagery reveals Pakistan’s new midget submarine. With PM Imran’s Gwadar visit, China completes its takeover.
Pakistan continues to strengthen its ties with China. Amidst the news of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Gwadar visit scheduled on July 05, where he would be reviewing progress on uplift projects in the port city of Balochistan, the latest satellite imagery has revealed Pakistan’s new midget submarine. It would be used by its special forces for undertaking covert operations, as well as the probable site for a joint project with China to build new conventional submarines.
Popular Twitter handle @detresfa, which specialises in satellite imagery, put out pictures of the Karachi port which had the unknown type mini sub, “finally seen without the tarpaulin cover”. Speaking to ThePrint, the OSINT (Open-source Intelligence) expert who goes by his Twitter handle @detresfa, also pointed out that the images also possibly show the area earmarked for the construction of submarines, a project that Pakistan is pursuing with China.
H.I. Sutton had written for Forbes that the submarine is a small Special Forces type, measuring around 55 feet long by 7 to 8 feet across. “That is a fraction of the size of a regular submarine. Its location and size both point to use by the Pakistani Navy’s Special Service Group, known as SSG (N),” he had written. He had also explained that this category of submarine is called an X-Craft in Pakistani Navy parlance.
According to details, the prime minister would be accompanied by federal and provincial officials during the visit and would get briefings on the progress of development projects in Gwadar. The visit was announced a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan categorically announced that Pakistan would not downgrade its relationship with all-weather friend China despite the pressure.
In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network, PM Imran said “Whatever will happen, our relationship between the two countries — no matter what pressure is put on us — is not going to change,”. Meanwhile, in his previous visit to Balochistan back in April, the prime minister had inaugurated road projects in the province including Dera Murad Jamali bypass, Western Bypass Quetta, Ziarat Mor, and Kuch Harnai road.