Pakistan's Navy, striving to expand with Chinese and French technology, said on Wednesday it wanted more ships and submarines to narrow a huge gap in capabilities with the nuclear-armed rival India.‘‘The disparity between the Pakistan Navy and Indian Navy is colossal. It is not to our liking,’’ Admiral Shahid Karimullah, Chief of Naval Staff, told reporters in Karachi.‘‘Indians have no dearth of weapons supply from Russia, whereas we suffered because of sanctions,’’ he added. ‘‘We have disparity in every field, whether you talk of ships or submarines.’’Although the US lifted sanctions after Pakistan joined the US-led war on terror, their effects remained, he said. Karimullah was speaking at a news conference on the second day of an international defence exhibition.Exhibitors and delegates from more than 50 countries are participating in the exhibition, which is being held under tight security. Pakistan, which sells around $100 million worth of weapons and ammunition abroad annually, is also hoping to use the exhibition to boost exports, offering to sell indigenously-built missile boats and submarines. Three days ago, Pakistan inducted two indigenously built missile boats and a larger project of building frigates with Chinese help was planned. Pakistan is trying to acquire a $750 million preferential loan from China to build four frigates over 13 years. —(Reuters)
