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Red Line, Rough Waters: India, Pakistan Clash At Sea
The Fact: A Pakistani Navy ship collided with a frontline Indian Navy warship in international waters in the North Arabian Sea on Wednesday. India said the Pakistani vessel approached at high speed and manoeuvred in an unsafe and unprofessional manner, resulting in the collision. The Pakistani vessel PNS Hunain was damaged and returned to harbour, while no damage was reported to the Indian warship, which continued its surveillance mission. The following day, India summoned Pakistan’s Chargé d’Affaires in New Delhi and lodged a formal protest, while its envoy in Islamabad was instructed to convey a similar protest to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry. Pakistan has also protested, giving a different account of the incident.
The Context: India said the incident violated the 1991 India-Pakistan Agreement on Advance Notice of Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements. The provision requires naval vessels and submarines from both countries to maintain at least three nautical miles of separation in international waters, partly to prevent accidents and miscalculations. The agreement emerged after periods of heightened military tension, including the 1987 Brass Tacks crisis. The incident also comes amid already strained India-Pakistan relations following the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, and just days after the BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
The Peek Insight: New Delhi viewed this collision as a serious departure from safety protocols rather than a deliberate act of aggression. Demonstrating its strong diplomatic disapproval, India summoned Pakistan’s Chargé d’Affaires in New Delhi to lodge a formal protest over the unacceptable conduct, while instructing its own envoy in Islamabad to deliver a similar protest to Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is the first attack since Operation Sindoor. Allegedly, Pakistan can be irked and exasperated by the fact that India was able to get the superpowers of the world- China, Russia, and the UAE to declare an agreement on issues like the West Asia conflict or the Pahalgam attack, while Pakistan just sat back and watched everything while being excluded from such a high-stakes diplomatic meet, which may have instigated a sense of anger, and so they made their vindictive personality public through this maritime attack.
