India terms Pak navy’s claim on blocking submarine ‘dubious’

NEW DELHI: The Pakistan Navy’s claim on Tuesday that it stopped an Indian submarine from entering that country’s territorial waters appears to be dubious, people familiar with the matter said.

The Pakistan Navy had detected and blocked an attempt by an Indian submarine to enter Pakistani waters in the Arabian Sea on October 16, the Pakistani military’s media arm had said in a statement.

“It is the third incident of its kind wherein an Indian submarine has been prematurely detected and tracked by Pakistan Navy’s long range maritime patrol aircraft,” the statement said.

The Pakistan Navy has been keeping a “strict monitoring watch” to safeguard maritime frontiers in the prevailing security milieu, it said.

However, people familiar with the matter in India expressed doubt on whether the vessel involved was an Indian submarine.

The vessel, purportedly detected by Pakistan Navy, appeared to be 140 to 150 nautical miles away from the port city of Karachi, according to GPS coordinates shown in a video released by Pakistani military, they said on condition of anonymity.

A country’s territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles from the shore, and any vessel can freely operate in the open seas, the people said, doubting the authenticity of the video.

There was no official statement by India.

The Pakistan Navy earlier claimed it detected Indian submarines trying to enter the country’s territorial waters in November 2016 and March 2019.

Both the claims were dismissed India.

The militaries of two countries have been on high alert since 2019, when India conducted an airstrike targeting militants inside Pakistan after a suicide bombing at Pulwama in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troopers.