Newsletters
India summoned Pakistan’s top diplomat in New Delhi on Wednesday to lodge a strong protest after Pakistani and Indian warships collided in international waters in the Sea of Oman.
India’s Foreign Ministry said a Pakistan Navy warship approached at high speed and collided with an Indian Navy warship carrying out a routine surveillance mission.
No deaths or injuries were reported, and the collision did not cause major damage, Indian officials said.
“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,” India’s Foreign Ministry said.
A senior Indian official said the incident happened late Tuesday in the northern Arabian Sea.
“A Pakistan naval ship closed in on a frontline Indian naval warship on a routine surveillance mission ... at high speed, maneuvering in an unprofessional and unsafe manner,” the official told AFP.
India said Pakistan’s conduct was “directly contrary” to the 1991 agreement regulating military exercises, maneuvers and troop movements between the two countries.
The agreement requires the two countries’ warships and submarines to remain at least 3 nautical miles apart to prevent accidents in international waters.
Pakistan’s envoy was asked to convey to Islamabad “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 Indian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry also said India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad had been instructed to convey a similar protest to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.
The Pakistani government and military did not immediately comment on the incident.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan share 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 along their long and militarized border.
In May 2025, the two countries fought a deadly four-day conflict after armed gunmen killed more than two dozen tourists, mostly Hindus, in Kashmir.
New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the attack, a charge Pakistan denied.
India and Pakistan downgraded diplomatic relations to the level of charge d’affaires in 2019 because of the Kashmir dispute.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
