India, Pakistan trade blame and protests over navy collision

 Both countries said they had summoned each other's charge d'affaires to lodge 'strong' protests.

Pakistan said the incident occurred during a naval exercise in its EEZ, while India said it happened in international waters and caused no major damage. (EPA Images pic)

NEW DELHI:

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan traded blame on Wednesday for a collision at sea between two vessels operated by their navies, summoning each other’s top diplomats to lodge “strong” protests.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the incident took place on Tuesday while its navy was conducting a biennial exercise in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

New Delhi, meanwhile, noted the incident occurred in international waters and “did not cause any major damage”.

A senior Indian official said that the incident happened late Tuesday in the north of the Arabian Sea.

“A Pakistan naval ship closed in on a frontline Indian naval warship on a routine surveillance mission…at high speed, manoeuvring in an unprofessional and unsafe manner,” the official told AFP.

Islamabad, meanwhile, said that “the Indian vessel carried out aggressive manoeuvres in dangerously close proximity to a Pakistani naval ship, resulting in contact between the two vessels.”

Both countries said they had summoned each other’s charge d’affaires.

“A strong protest was lodged with him over the unacceptable and unprofessional conduct of Pakistani naval units at sea that led to a collision with a unit of the Indian Navy,” New Delhi’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

For its part, the Pakistani foreign ministry asked India’s representative “to convey…that Pakistan strongly rejects this belligerent Indian action.”

“Pakistan urges the international community to call upon India to abandon its belligerent posture and refrain from irresponsible actions that could further destabilise South Asia,” the foreign ministry said.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan share a deep distrust and have fought multiple wars since gaining independence in 1947, primarily over the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir, which both countries claim.

They also have tens of thousands of heavily armed soldiers deployed all along their long and militarised border.

In May 2025, the two countries fought a deadly four-day conflict after armed gunmen killed over two dozen tourists, mostly Hindus, in Kashmir.

New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the attack, a charge Pakistan denied. - FMT