India said the collision did not cause any major damage. Pakistan’s statement, however, did not make clear whether its naval vessel sustained any damage.
The incident comes more than a year after the South Asian neighbours conducted military strikes against each other before agreeing on a ceasefire.
India said it lodged a strong protest with the Charge d’Affaires of the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi over what it described as “unacceptable and unprofessional conduct” by the Pakistani naval unit.
“The Charge d’Affaires of Pakistan 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,” India’s external affairs ministry said.
Pakistan also summoned India’s Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad on the same day, lodging its complaint over what it called a “highly provocative and unacceptable” action by the Indian naval vessel.
According to Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministry, its navy was conducting its biennial exercise, SEASPARK-26, in its exclusive economic zone when the Indian vessel “carried out aggressive manoeuvres in dangerously close proximity” to its ship.
Pakistan also urged the international community to call upon India to “refrain from irresponsible actions that could further destabilise South Asia”, saying that the region could not afford to be held “hostage to India’s reckless pursuit of conflict and instability”.
The Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements, which both countries have accused the other of violating, was signed in 1991 to prevent “any crisis situation arising due to misreading of the other side’s intentions”.
India specifically accused Pakistan of violating Article 10 of the agreement. The provision says that the two countries’ naval vessels and submarines must not be closer than three nautical miles from each other to avoid accidents while operating in international waters.
The diplomatic protests from both sides have brought the 1991 agreement and its provisions on military activity and naval operations into focus following the Arabian Sea collision.
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