India and Pakistan lodged formal protests with each other this week after naval vessels from the two countries collided in the North Arabian Sea, an incident both governments say happened on September 15 in international waters.
Each side has offered a different account of how it happened. India's Ministry of External Affairs described a Pakistani vessel, believed to be the corvette PNS Hunain, closing in at high speed on a larger Indian warship that was on a routine surveillance mission roughly 120 to 130 nautical miles east of Oman. Pakistan's Foreign Office said its navy was conducting a biennial exercise called SEASPARK-26 when an Indian vessel maneuvered aggressively and in dangerously close proximity, leading to contact between the ships. Both countries summoned the other's senior diplomat, with Pakistan calling in India's top diplomat in Islamabad and India summoning Pakistan's charge d'affaires in New Delhi, each side lodging a formal protest over what it called unsafe conduct by the other.
The collision comes against the backdrop of a tense relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. India and Pakistan fought a brief four-day exchange of missiles and drones roughly 16 months ago, and this naval encounter is being described as the closest the two countries have come to a direct military face-off since then. Both nations have also stepped up naval activity in the wider region since the spring, running separate operations, India's Operation Urja Suraksha and Pakistan's Operation Muhafiz-ul-Bahr, aimed at protecting merchant shipping and energy supplies amid wider instability tied to the ongoing conflict around the Strait of Hormuz.
For now, both governments appear to be managing the incident through diplomatic channels rather than escalation. India has cited a 1991 bilateral agreement requiring advance notice of military exercises and movements as the basis for its formal protest, and officials on both sides have so far limited their response to statements and summoned diplomats rather than any further naval deployment.
Watch for whether India and Pakistan agree on a joint or independent investigation into the collision, and whether naval activity in the area is scaled back or continues at its current pace.
Were there any injuries or major damage?
Reports describe the incident as a collision between vessels rather than an attack, with no confirmed casualties reported by either side.
Has this happened before between India and Pakistan?
Direct naval contact of this kind is described as rare in recent years, coming about 16 months after the two countries fought a brief four-day exchange of missiles and drones.