Sri Lanka has granted the Pakistani Navy’s guided missile frigate PNS Taimur permission to make a port call at Colombo while on its way home to Karachi, according to a report in the Hindustan Times. 

Built by Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, the warship is on its maiden voyage to Pakistan while exercising en route with Cambodian and Malaysian navies. The ship is expected to be at Colombo port from August 12-15, 2022.

However, Bangladesh has refused permission to the Pakistani frigate to make a port call at Chattogram port from August 7-10. The Pakistani Navy was keen to visit the Bangladesh port after making a port call at Lumut in Malaysia but the Sheikh Hasina government has put its foot down, the Hindustan Times report filed by senior journalist Shishir Gupta states.

According to diplomatic sources, India’s close ally Bangladesh denied permission to PNS Taimur as August is a month of mourning for Sheikh Hasina as her father, Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman also fondly called Bangabandhu, was assassinated by Pak instigated and Jamait-e-Islami inspired radical Islamist forces on August 15, 1975.

The radical Islamist forces also made an assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina in 2000 as Prime Minister and in 2004 as the Awami League President.