Bangladesh’s Commander Chattogram Naval Area Rear Admiral Moinul Hasan and three other Navy officers left for a two-day tour of Pakistan on November 23 in the backdrop of the November 19 meeting between Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his Bangladeshi counterpart Khalilur Rahman.
Official documents accessed by Northeast News show that RAdm Hasan will be accompanied by Commodore Mohammad Abdul Quader, Commander S M Elme Azam and Captain Mohammad Shahriar Alam for the “Navy to Navy Staff Talk” and signing of a “Terms of Agreement” for an unspecified objective.
The Bangladesh Navy officers’ visit comes in the backdrop of the visit to Dhaka and Chittagong of Pakistan Navy chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf between November 8 and 12 and is part of a series of frequent visits by senior defence officers of both countries.
Rear Admiral Hasan left for Islamabad on a day Heavy Industries Taxila Chairman Lt Gen Shakir Ullah Khattak met Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman at Army headquarters on November 23.
As in all the previous visits to Bangladesh by Pakistani armed forces officers, RAdm Hasan’s trip to Islamabad and then to Karachi, which is the location for the Pakistan Navy’s operational bases and facilities, has been coordinated by the country’s Armed Forces Division (AFD) under Lieutenant General S M Kamrul Hassan. The Pakistan Navy’s main dockyard and the headquarters of Pakistan Marines are also located in Karachi.
AFD documents accessed by Northeast News say that the forthcoming “Staff Talk” is aimed at “urgently” deepening coordination between the Pakistan and Bangladesh navies. The expenses for the Bangladeshi team’s Pakistan visit would be borne by the hosts.
RAdm Hasan’s role involves the administration, training, and logistics support to naval units in the Chattogram region. Before being appointed as COMCHIT or Commander Chattogram Naval Area, RAdm Hasan served as the Commander Bangladesh Navy Fleet and was the pioneer Commandant, Navy Training and Doctrine Command (NATDOC).
He is a navigator and is said to have contributed to the development of the Naval Aviation wing while serving as the Commodore Naval Aviation as well as the Commanding Officer, Flying Wing. RAdm Hasan underwent a Defence Services Staff Course from Wellington, India, and took an MSc in Strategic Studies from Tamil Nadu University.
