Pakistan claims it 'detected, blocked' Indian submarine incursion

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan’s navy claims it “detected and blocked” an Indian submarine from entering Pakistani territorial waters in the northern part of the Arabian Sea this past Saturday.

This is the third attempted incursion by an Indian submarine thwarted by Pakistan since 2016, the navy said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Pakistan Navy with its unremitting vigilance and professional competence has once again detected and blocked the Indian submarine on Oct. 16 from entering into Pakistani waters,” read the statement.

It said the Indian vessel was “prematurely detected and tracked by [Pakistan Navy] long-range maritime patrol aircraft.”

“During the prevailing security milieu, a strict monitoring watch has been kept by Pakistan Navy to safeguard maritime frontier of Pakistan,” the statement added.

A video released with the statement showed infrared footage of a submarine mast on Oct. 16 between 11:18 p.m. and 11:36 p.m. (1818GMT and 1836GMT).

Pakistan’s navy claims to have foiled previous such attempts by Indian submarines in 2016 and 2019, but India has rejected the claims.

There has been no response from the Indian government on the latest accusation.

Officials of India’s Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry, and navy also did not respond to Anadolu Agency’s requests for comment.

Nuclear rivals and neighbors Pakistan and India have been locked in a string of disputes since the division of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, the most prominent being over the Himalayan valley of Jammu and Kashmir.

Both hold parts of the region but claim it in full, while a small sliver of Kashmir is also under Chinese control.

Pakistan and India have fought three full-scale wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – and two of them were over Kashmir.

Already fraught relations between the neighbors further plummeted after New Delhi scrapped the special status of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in Aug. 2019.

The controversial move prompted Islamabad to downgrade its diplomatic relations and halt trade with New Delhi.