Indian, Pakistani Naval Vessels Collide in Arabian Sea, Prompting Diplomatic Tensions

On September 15, PNS Hunain, a Pakistan Navy corvette, collided with an Indian Navy warship, INS Kolkata, in the north Arabian Sea, 220 kilometers east of Oman. The following day, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned Pakistan’s top-most diplomat in New Delhi, Chargé d’Affaires Saad Ahmad Warraich, to the foreign ministry to protest the “unacceptable and unprofessional conduct” of ​Pakistani naval units. “While the incident, which took place in international waters, did not cause any major damage, the conduct of the Pakistani naval ship was in direct contravention of Article 10 of the Agreement between India and Pakistan on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements of April 1991,” the MEA said in a statement. Article 10 of the 1991 Agreement, which Pakistan reportedly flouted, states that naval ships and submarines belonging to the two countries should not come within three nautical miles of each other while operating in international waters. The agreement was signed as a confidence-building measure to put in place mechanisms for India and Pakistan to inform each other about military exercises or troop movements to prevent a crisis from arising due to the misreading of the other side’s intentions. It came following heightened tension when India conducted Brass Tacks, a massive military exercise in the states of Punjab and Rajasthan along the India-Pakistan border, in January 1987. Meanwhile, across the border in Pakistan, the response mirrored that of India, with Islamabad blaming India for the incident. “While the Pakistan Navy was undertaking its biennial exercise, SEASPARK-26, the Indian vessel carried out aggressive maneuvers in dangerously close proximity to a Pakistani naval ship, resulting in contact between the two vessels, ” the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement. While the MEA described the incident as a collision, unnamed officials “aware of the matter” said that “it involved a close-in maneuvering by the Pakistani vessel, which approached the Indian warship at high speed and in an unsafe manner,” Hindustan Times reported. Another report in First Post, citing “sources within India’s defense establishment” claimed that “the Pakistani vessel shadowed the Indian ship, ignored multiple warnings and then made a high-speed crossing directly in front of the bow, resulting in the crash.” A report in The Hindu, which cited sources in the defense ministry, said that INS Godavari was “on a routine surveillance mission,” when PNS Hunain “approached the Indian vessel while attempting to intercept or follow it. The close-range maneuver caused the two vessels to graze each other.” The Pakistani vessel “sustained damage in the collision and returned to the harbor. As for INS Godavari it “suffered minor damage and continued on its mission.” Indian and Pakistani naval vessels last collided in 2011, when Pakistan’s PNS Babur “brushed past” INS Godavari in the Gulf of Aden, causing minor damage to the Indian warship’s helicopter safety net and triggering diplomatic tension. Following the latest collision, both India and Pakistan summoned the charge d’affaires of the other side to lodge strong protests and have also asked their own charge d’affaires in the other country to register complaints with the government. “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 MEA statement said. Collisions involving naval warships are rare. This is the first instance of military tension between India and Pakistan erupting into the open since the four-day military clashes in May of last year.