India has formally summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires in New Delhi to protest a collision between the two nations’ navies in the Arabian Sea. The Ministry of External Affairs announced on Wednesday that the incident occurred in international waters the previous day.
Officials described Pakistan’s naval conduct as “unacceptable and unprofessional.” The ministry stated that the clash breached a 1991 bilateral accord mandating that naval ships and submarines from both countries maintain a separation of at least three nautical miles when in international waters.
The charge d’affaires was instructed to convey to his government the necessity for military units to respect existing agreements to prevent similar occurrences in the future. In a reciprocal move, India directed its own charge d’affaires in Islamabad to lodge a parallel protest with Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
As of now, there has been no immediate comment from the Pakistani government. This event marks the first instance of direct military tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors since they engaged in a four-day conflict last year. Diplomatic ties have been strained since 2019, when both nations downgraded their missions after New Delhi revoked the special status of Indian-administered Kashmir, resulting in the absence of ambassadors in each other’s capitals.
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