India on Friday strongly rejected Pakistan’s allegations over a collision between an Indian Navy warship and a Pakistani naval vessel in the Arabian Sea, saying the incident resulted from an “unacceptable and unprofessional” manoeuvre by the Pakistani ship.
The incident took place on Tuesday night in the north Arabian Sea when, according to the Indian side, the Pakistani vessel closed in on the Indian warship, which was on a routine surveillance mission.
India on Wednesday summoned Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires in New Delhi and lodged a strong protest over what it described as the “unacceptable conduct” of the Pakistan Navy vessel that led to the collision.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry has alleged that the incident followed a “highly provocative and unacceptable action” by the Indian vessel in Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
“We have seen Pakistan’s response to the protest we had lodged. It is the usual prevarication that we expected. We reject the allegations and insinuations contained therein,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his regular media briefing.
Jaiswal said INS Kolkata was on a routine deployment in the western Arabian Sea when Pakistani naval vessel PNS Hunain acted in an “unacceptable and unprofessional manner”, resulting in the collision.
“The dangerous overtaking manoeuvre by PNS Hunain was in gross violation of Article 10 of the Agreement between India and Pakistan on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements of April 1991, which specifies that naval units at sea are not to be within three nautical miles of each other. In addition, the Pakistani ship also infringed the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea,” Jaiswal said.
The Pakistan side has once again been “advised” about 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, he said.
Jaiswal said the collision caused no major damage to INS Kolkata and that the warship remained at sea.
(with PTI inputs)
