Pakistan protests ‘provocative’ incursion by Indian warship into EEZ

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on Wednesday to protest an Indian Navy vessel's actions inside Pakistan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on September 15. The Foreign Office described the incident as a "highly provocative and unacceptable" action conducted by an Indian Navy ship while the Pakistani Navy was carrying out its biennial exercise SEASPARK-26.

The Indian vessel approached a Pakistani naval ship too closely, resulting in contact between the two vessels. Islamabad warned that the episode violated international law and the 1991 bilateral Agreement on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troop Movements. The Foreign Office demanded that India's Chargé d’Affaires convey to New Delhi that Pakistan strongly rejects the "belligerent Indian action" and urges India to adhere to international law and bilateral agreements, particularly those aimed at preventing incidents at sea.

Pakistan's Chargé d’Affaires in New Delhi was also instructed to lodge the same demarche with India's Ministry of External Affairs. The Foreign Office called on the international community to pressure India to abandon its "belligerent posture" and refrain from actions that could further destabilize South Asia, emphasizing that the region cannot afford to remain "perpetually hostage to India’s reckless pursuit of conflict and instability."