India summoned Pakistan’s most senior diplomat in New Delhi on Wednesday to register a formal protest over a collision between vessels of the two countries’ navies in the Arabian Sea, an incident the Indian government said took place in international waters the previous day.
The Ministry of External Affairs said a Pakistani naval ship had struck an Indian warship and lodged its complaint with the charge d’affaires of the Pakistan High Commission in the Indian capital, says Al Jazeera.
The ministry described the conduct of the Pakistani navy as unacceptable and unprofessional, saying it had led directly to the collision with the Indian Navy unit.
It said the episode breached a bilateral agreement signed in 1991, under which naval ships and submarines belonging to either country are required to maintain a distance of at least three nautical miles from one another when operating in international waters.
The charge d’affaires was told to pass on to Islamabad the message that military units on both sides must observe the agreements reached between the two governments, in order to avoid any recurrence of such an incident.
India’s own charge d’affaires in Islamabad received instructions to deliver a matching protest to Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
Pakistan’s government did not immediately comment on the matter.
The confrontation marks the first instance of direct military friction between the nuclear-armed neighbours since they engaged in a four-day conflict last year.
Neither country has posted an ambassador to the other’s capital since 2019, when diplomatic relations were downgraded following New Delhi’s decision to strip Indian-administered Kashmir of its special status.
Since gaining independence from British rule in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three major wars, two of which centred on the disputed status of Kashmir.
