Rizky Amelia
A collision between Indian and Pakistani warships in the Arabian Sea has reignited military and diplomatic tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The incident, which took place on Tuesday, represents the closest direct military encounter between the rival nations since their intense four-day air confrontation in May 2025.
In the wake of the maritime collision, both governments swiftly lodged diplomatic protests. New Delhi initially summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires to register a formal objection over the incident. Hours later, Pakistan’s government retaliated by summoning India’s top diplomat in Islamabad, marking a swift return to tit-for-tat diplomatic posturing.
The maritime encounter has sparked acute concern among security analysts, as it comes more than sixteen months after a major conflict saw both sides launch missiles, drones, and retaliatory airstrikes. The May 2025 confrontation brought both nations closer to open warfare than at any stage in decades, leaving bilateral relations fragile and formal communication channels severely constrained.
Details regarding the precise sequence of events during Tuesday's collision remain sharply contested. As of Wednesday, neither military has released official radar tracks, video evidence, or data from an independent assessment. Consequently, public accounts rely entirely on conflicting statements from respective official bodies, with both capitals assigning sole blame to the opposing navy.
According to a formal statement issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Wednesday evening, the Pakistan Navy has been conducting its biennial SEASPARK-26 naval exercise since September 1 within the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Islamabad maintained that its naval assets were operating within established parameters for the routine domestic exercise.
Pakistani authorities stated that an Indian warship, identified as the guided-missile destroyer INS Kolkata, had repeatedly attempted to enter the designated exercise perimeter since September 7. Pakistan claimed that on September 15, the Indian vessel executed a hazardous course change, which led to physical contact with a Pakistani ship, identified in local media reports as the offshore patrol vessel PNS Hunain.
The Pakistani government condemned the encounter, categorising it as a provocative and belligerent manoeuvre. Islamabad argued that the Indian ship's conduct violated a 1991 bilateral confidence-building agreement, which stipulates that warships from both countries must maintain a minimum distance of three nautical miles (5.5 kilometres) from one another when operating in international waters.
Under international maritime law, a coastal nation's EEZ spans 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from its coastline, while sovereign territorial waters encompass the initial 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres). Foreign vessels retain the legal right of unencumbered navigation through the international waters of an EEZ, though economic exploitation of resources in that zone remains strictly reserved for the coastal state.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs offered a fundamentally different narrative of the encounter. Indian officials stated that their naval vessel was conducting routine surveillance operations in international waters when it was aggressively approached by a Pakistani vessel travelling at high speed, which then carried out unsafe manoeuvres in close proximity.
Neither government has formally verified the specific names of the ships involved within their official on-record communiques. To date, Indian defence authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the specific identification of the INS Kolkata in relation to the encounter.
Direct physical collisions between the Indian and Pakistani navies are relatively rare. The most recent comparable incident occurred in June 2011 in the Gulf of Aden, where the Pakistani frigate PNS Babur made contact with the Indian frigate INS Godavari while escorting a commercial vessel that had been rescued from Somali pirates. That previous dispute eventually subsided after several weeks of diplomatic friction.
Evaluating the current crisis, maritime experts have drawn comparisons to historical superpower frictions. Retired Vice Admiral Ahmad Saeed of the Pakistan Navy noted that the practice of ships closing distance without explicit intent to collide resembles Cold War-era naval "bumping" incidents between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Black Sea.
However, Saeed stressed that New Delhi and Islamabad are far less equipped to manage such encounters safely. Unlike Washington and Moscow, which enacted a dedicated Incidents at Sea agreement in 1972, India and Pakistan possess neither a specialised naval crisis pact nor an active navy-to-navy hotline to rapidly resolve operational misunderstandings.
Saeed highlighted that while Article 10 of the 1991 bilateral accord specifies a three-nautical-mile buffer zone in international waters, it completely lacks established manoeuvring protocols or formal frameworks for post-incident investigations. This structural vacuum, he explained, inevitably encourages both sides to trade unverified accusations whenever an incident occurs.
Military observers warn that without established protocols, future naval friction could quickly intensify into dangerous tactical posturing. Potential risks include the activation of fire-control radar locks against opposing vessels, aggressive close-range helicopter overflights, and unintended collisions that could ultimately result in casualties.
Offering another perspective, Lahore-based security and maritime analyst Muhammad Shareh Qazi pointed to existing legal obligations. Qazi noted that the 1991 bilateral agreement mandates a 30-day advance written notice prior to military exercises, while international collision regulations continue to bind both nations under the United Nations maritime convention.
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