AFP,
President Pervez Musharraf inducted Pakistan's first locally-built Agosta 90B submarine into its navy Friday, paying tribute to the 11 French technicians killed in a terror attack while they were helping to build it.
The submarine, named Saard, is the second Agosta 90B built for Pakistan by French firm DCN International. The French firm is also instructing Pakistani engineers in submarine construction techniques.
Musharraf hailed its induction as “a step towards self-reliance in marine defence”.
The first Agosta 90B was built for Pakistan in France and inducted in 1999. Construction of the second Agosta 90B started in this southern port city Karachi in 1998 with the help of French naval technicians.
“It has given a considerable boost to our defence capability and Pakistan has now joined an elite group of countries which can construct submarines,” Musharraf said at the induction ceremony.
“It has completed the cycle of self-reliance in all the three forces: air force, navy and army.”
Around 1,000 people including top navy, army and air force officers, foreign diplomats and senior provincial officials attended the ceremony at the Pakistan Navy dockyards in the Arabian Sea port.
Eleven of the French technicians were killed in May 2002 when an Islamic militant suicide bomber blew up their bus outside their hotel as they waited to be driven to the navy dockyards to work on the submarine.
“I express my heartfelt condolences to the families of those technicians who lost their lives in a gruesome attack in May 2002,” Musharraf said.
Three Pakistani bystanders were also killed.
The Agosta 90B is designed to attack other submarines and surface targets and is also used for intelligence-gathering and patrols.
It is fitted with state-of-the-art command and control systems, can dive below 300 meters, and is capable of launching anti-ship missiles and torpedoes.
