A dispute at both military and diplomatic levels has erupted between India and Pakistan following a collision involving a major Indian Navy warship and a Pakistan Navy vessel in the North Arabian Sea on Tuesday . Both sides are blaming each other for the collision. While New Delhi lodged a strong protest with Islamabad on Wednesday, terming the incident an act of “unprofessional behavior by Pakistan Navy units,” Pakistan is blaming the Indian Navy for the incident . Pakistan has also called upon the international community to intervene in the matter.
India has instructed its Chargé d’Affaires in Pakistan to lodge a similar protest with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Although Pakistan has not yet issued an official statement on the issue, reports in the Pakistani media—citing the country’s Foreign Office—claim that Pakistan has expressed its displeasure to the Indian Chargé d’Affaires in Islamabad regarding the incident.
India maintains that there was no significant damage in the incident, whereas Pakistan claims that its warship, PNS Hunain, sustained considerable damage.
What happened:
The incident took place on the evening of September 15 in the northern Arabian Sea, involving a collision between the Indian Navy ship INS Kolkata and the Pakistan Navy ship PNS Hunain. The location is approximately 120 nautical miles from the Gulf of Oman, an area where Indian Navy destroyers and frigates have been deployed on missions for several months.
India maintains that the incident occurred in international waters, where a speeding and erratically moving Pakistan Navy ship collided with the Indian Navy’s INS Kolkata. India has termed this an act of unprofessional conduct by the Pakistani naval unit manning the vessel and a violation of Article 10 of the April 1991 agreement between the two nations. That article stipulates that either country must inform the other before conducting military exercises or similar activities in these waters. India asserts that Pakistan breached the terms of the agreement by failing to do so.
The dispute:
The Pakistani vessel that collided with INS Kolkata is the PNS Hunain, which was participating in the Pakistan Navy’s ‘Seaspark 26’ exercise at the time of the incident. It is an offshore patrol vessel, often classified as a Yarmouk-class corvette due to its combat suite. Pakistan claims that the PNS Hunain was within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
According to Pakistani media reports, Pakistan has held the Indian Navy ship INS Kolkata responsible for the incident, alleging that despite repeated warnings from the PNS Hunain—which was engaged in the exercise—INS Kolkata approached dangerously close, resulting in the collision.
These reports also cite an additional allegation from Pakistan, claiming that the Indian ship and a helicopter deployed on it were attempting to intrude into the exercise, which had commenced on September 7.
Post collision:
Compared to itself in terms of size and weight… The Pakistani ship PNS Hunain sustained damage following a collision at sea with a much larger and more powerful Indian War Ship INS Kolkata, and subsequently returned to its home port. The Indian warship suffered no damage and continued with its routine surveillance mission.
India-Pakistan Confrontation:
In response to a terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, in 2025, India had launched airstrikes that destroyed terrorist hideouts located in Pakistan. India named it Operation Sindoor. A retaliatory move by the Pakistani military triggered a confrontation that lasted for four days. Since then, a state of relative peace had prevailed between the two nuclear-armed nations, India and Pakistan.
