India has rejected Pakistan’s allegations over the September 15 collision between Indian Navy warship INS Kolkata and Pakistan Navy vessel PNS Hunain in the western Arabian Sea, with the Ministry of External Affairs saying the Pakistani ship’s conduct led to the incident.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday that India had expected Pakistan’s response after New Delhi lodged a protest over the collision. He rejected Islamabad’s allegations and said INS Kolkata was carrying out a routine deployment when the incident took place.
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According to India’s account, PNS Hunain carried out what Jaiswal described as a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre that brought the two vessels into contact. India said the manoeuvre violated Article 10 of the 1991 Agreement between India and Pakistan on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements.
Jaiswal said the agreement requires naval units operating at sea to maintain a distance of at least three nautical miles from each other. India also alleged that the Pakistani vessel violated the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.
“The allegations and insinuations” made by Pakistan were rejected by Jaiswal during a regular media briefing. He said both sides had a responsibility to ensure that military vessels exercised due care and followed existing agreements and maritime regulations to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The dispute began after the collision in the Arabian Sea on September 15. India subsequently summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires in New Delhi and lodged a strong protest. Pakistan then summoned India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad and offered a different account of the incident.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry alleged that the Indian warship had carried out “aggressive” and “provocative” manoeuvres in close proximity to the Pakistani vessel, resulting in contact between the two ships. Islamabad also alleged that the incident took place within Pakistan’s exclusive economic zone.
The competing accounts mean that the two countries have publicly assigned responsibility for the collision to each other. India’s latest statement reiterates New Delhi’s version of events, while Pakistan has rejected that account.
Jaiswal also said the collision did not cause major damage to INS Kolkata and that the Indian warship remained at sea. The development comes amid already strained India-Pakistan relations. The incident is the first reported military confrontation involving the two countries since the four days of hostilities in May 2025.
India and Pakistan have maintained reduced diplomatic engagement since 2019, when relations were downgraded following India’s decision to withdraw the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Tensions increased further after the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025 and the subsequent measures taken by both countries.
The latest naval incident has therefore added another point of friction between the two neighbours, although India has said the immediate issue is the conduct of naval vessels and adherence to established maritime agreements and international rules.
For now, the two sides continue to maintain sharply different accounts of what happened at sea, while India has emphasised that INS Kolkata remains operational and has urged military units to exercise greater caution to avoid a repeat of the incident.
