India protests to Pakistan over collision of naval ships at sea
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An Indian soldier at the Line of Control between Pakistan and India.
PHOTO: AFP
- India summoned Pakistan's top diplomat to protest a naval collision caused by Pakistani ships' "unacceptable and unprofessional conduct" in international waters.
- The collision violated the 1991 India-Pakistan agreement requiring naval vessels to maintain a three-nautical-mile distance to prevent accidents.
- This incident marks the first overt military tension since their 2025 conflict and prompted India to urge Pakistan to respect bilateral military agreements to avoid future incidents.
AI generated
NEW DELHI – India’s Foreign Ministry said on Sept 16 that it had summoned the top Pakistani diplomat to lodge a strong protest against what it said was “unacceptable and unprofessional conduct” by Pakistani naval units that led to a collision with an Indian warship.
This is the first instance of overt military tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours since they engaged in a fierce, four-day military conflict in 2025 that raised fears of a wider war before a ceasefire was reached.
The collision on Sept 15 occurred in international waters, where a Pakistani naval ship moved closer to a front-line Indian warship on a routine surveillance mission in the north Arabian Sea at high speed, causing a collision, Indian sources said.
The impact did not cause any major damage, but Pakistan’s conduct was “in direct contravention” of a 1991 agreement between the two countries governing military exercises, manoeuvres and troop movements, the Indian Foreign Ministry said.
The agreement mandates that naval ships and submarines of the two countries keep a distance of at least three nautical miles from one another to avoid accidents in international waters.
The Pakistani government and military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“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 in a statement.
The top Indian diplomat in Islamabad was also instructed to lodge a similar protest with Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, it said.
India and Pakistan do not have ambassadors in each other’s capitals, having downgraded diplomatic relations over their Kashmir dispute in 2019. Their missions have since been headed by their charge d’affaires.
Arch-rivals India and Pakistan have fought three major wars, two of them over Kashmir, and numerous armed skirmishes since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947. REUTERS