Arabian Sea face-off: India protests after Pak warship collides with vessel

A Pakistan Navy vessel collided with a frontline Indian warship in the Arabian Sea after manoeuvring in an “unprofessional and unsafe” manner, prompting New Delhi to summon Pakistan’s most senior diplomat on Wednesday to lodge a strong protest over the incident.

The collision was the first reported incident involving the militaries of the two countries since four days of hostilities in May 2025, triggered by India’s attacks on terror infrastructure in Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.

The charge d’affaires of the Pakistan high commission, Saad Warraich, was summoned to the external affairs ministry and a strong protest was registered over the “unacceptable and unprofessional conduct of Pakistani naval units at sea that led to a collision with a unit of the Indian Navy”, the ministry said in a statement.

On the evening of September 15, PNS Hunain, a Pakistan Navy corvette, closed in at high speed on an Indian Navy warship on a routine surveillance mission in the north Arabian Sea, officials aware of the matter said. The Pakistani vessel manoeuvred in an unprofessional and unsafe manner, leading to the collision, they said.

The external affairs ministry said the incident, which occurred in international waters, did not cause “any major damage” to the Indian warship, but the “conduct of the Pakistani naval ship was in direct contravention of Article 10 of the Agreement between India and Pakistan on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements of April 1991”.

This agreement was among a series of military confidence-building measures between the two countries and largely relates to steps to be taken to prevent any incidents during army, air force and navy exercises. Article 10 of the agreement states that naval ships and submarines should maintain a distance of at least three nautical miles from vessels of the other country “to avoid any accident while operating in international waters”.

The Pakistani charge d’affaires was “advised to convey to the concerned Pakistani authorities 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 charge d’affaires in Islamabad was also instructed to lodge a similar protest with Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

Late on Wednesday night, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Indian charge d’affaires Satyanjal Pandey and lodged a strong protest over a “highly provocative and unacceptable action” by an Indian Navy vessel in Pakistan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The ministry alleged in a statement that the Indian vessel carried out “aggressive maneuvers in dangerously close proximity” to a Pakistani naval ship, “resulting in contact between the two vessels”.

Pandey was asked to convey to the Indian government that Pakistan “rejects this belligerent Indian action”, and the Indian side was urged to “adhere to international law and bilateral agreements, particularly those aimed at preventing incidents at sea”.