Pakistan on Wednesday summoned India’s Charge d’Affaires and lodged a protest over a collision involving a Pakistani Navy vessel and a frontline warship of the Indian Navy in the Arabian Sea, reported news agency PTI.
The development comes hours after India summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Pakistan High Commission, Saad Warraich, in Delhi and lodged a strong protest over the “unacceptable conduct” by the Pakistan Navy vessel that led to the collision.
According to the PTI, report, in a statement, the Foreign Office said it summoned the Indian Chargé d’Affaires in Islamabad and lodged a “strong protest” over what it claimed as a “highly provocative and unacceptable” action by an Indian Navy vessel in Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone on September 15.
“While the Pakistan Navy was undertaking its biennial exercise SEASPARK-26, the Indian vessel carried out aggressive manoeuvres in dangerously close proximity of Pakistani naval ship, resulting in contact between the two vessels,” it said, the report added.
It said the incident constituted a “serious violation” of international law as well as the 1991 bilateral agreement on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troop Movements, and risked escalating tensions in the region.
“The Charge d’Affaires was asked to convey to the government of India that Pakistan strongly rejects this belligerent Indian action,” the FO said.