Pakistan warship hits Indian vessel; Delhi lodges protest

The incident took place on Tuesday evening, when a Pakistani naval vessel came near an Indian warship on routine surveillance

India on Wednesday summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in New Delhi following a collision between a Pakistani naval vessel and an Indian Navy warship in the Arabian Sea, with New Delhi lodging a formal diplomatic protest over the incident. The incident occurred on Tuesday, 15 September, in international waters and did not result in significant damage to the Indian naval vessel.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires, Saad Ahmad Warraich, was called to the ministry to convey India’s strong objection to what it described as “unacceptable and unprofessional conduct” by Pakistani naval personnel.

“The Charge d’Affaires of Pakistan was advised to convey to the concerned Pakistani authorities the need for all military units to observe due care and respect the provisions of the relevant agreements between the two sides in order to prevent any repeat of such incidents,” the ministry said. The Pakistani diplomat was summoned to the MEA’s Janpath office and remained there for roughly 30 minutes, according to reports.

Warraich was also asked to convey India’s concerns to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Separately, New Delhi instructed its chargé d’affaires in Islamabad to raise the issue with Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

The MEA said the conduct of the Pakistani naval vessel was contrary to provisions of the 1991 India-Pakistan agreement governing advance notification of military exercises, manoeuvres and troop movements.

According to Indian Government sources, the incident took place on Tuesday evening, when a Pakistani naval vessel approached an Indian frontline warship conducting a routine surveillance mission in the North Arabian Sea.

The sources said the two vessels were operating roughly 220 kilometres east of Oman when the Pakistani vessel allegedly approached at high speed and manoeuvred in what India considered an unsafe manner, resulting in a collision.

The identities of the vessels have not been officially disclosed. However, Indian sources said the Pakistani vessel was a Hunain-class corvette and that it collided with an Indian frontline warship.

The sources said sea conditions were rough at the time and that the two vessels subsequently moved apart. Pakistan had not issued an immediate public response to India’s allegations.

The reported collision is not the first such encounter involving the Indian and Pakistani navies. A similar incident occurred in June 2011 involving the Pakistani Navy vessel Babur and the Indian Navy’s INS Godavari.

The latest incident comes against the backdrop of strained relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Diplomatic ties have remained limited since 2019, when India revoked the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir and both countries subsequently downgraded their diplomatic representation. India and Pakistan have not maintained ambassadors in each other’s capitals since then.