India rejects Pakistan’s claims over naval collision

India on Friday rejected Pakistan’s allegations over a naval collision in the Arabian Sea, accusing a Pakistani warship of carrying out a dangerous and unprofessional manoeuvre that resulted in a collision with the Indian Navy’s frontline warship INS Kolkata.

The Ministry of External Affairs said Pakistan’s response to India’s formal protest amounted to “prevarication” and firmly dismissed the allegations that the Indian vessel had acted provocatively inside Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

“We have seen Pakistan’s response to the protest we had lodged. It is the usual prevarication that we expected. We reject the allegations and insinuations contained therein,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his regular media briefing on Friday.

According to the Indian side, the incident took place on Tuesday night after Pakistan Navy vessel PNS Hunain closed in on INS Kolkata, which was conducting a routine surveillance mission in the north Arabian Sea. Jaiswal said the Pakistani vessel behaved in an “unacceptable and unprofessional manner”, leading to the collision. He further alleged that the manoeuvre breached existing maritime arrangements between India and Pakistan as well as international rules governing the prevention of collisions at sea.

“The dangerous overtaking manoeuvre by PNS Hunain was in gross violation of Article 10 of the Agreement between India and Pakistan on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements of April 1991,” Jaiswal said.

The provision requires naval units at sea to maintain a distance of at least three nautical miles from one another, he said. Jaiswal added that the Pakistani vessel also violated the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, however, has presented a different account of the incident, alleging that the collision followed what it described as a “highly provocative and unacceptable action” by the Indian vessel in Pakistan’s EEZ.

India has rejected that account and again urged Pakistan to ensure that its military units exercise due caution and comply with bilateral agreements and applicable international rules to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Despite the collision, Jaiswal said INS Kolkata suffered no major damage and remains deployed at sea.