Pakistan Navy Tuesday detected an Indian submarine trying to enter Pakistani territorial waters and successfully thwarted the attempt, officials said amid ongoing South Asian tensions.
Pakistan Navy said it chose not to target the Indian submarine in view of sensitive security situation between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors.
“The Pakistan Navy used its specialized skills to ward off the submarine, successfully keeping it from entering Pakistani waters,” the Navy said in a statement.
This is the second time the Pakistan Navy has detected the Indian submarine trying to enter Pakistani waters since November 18, 2016 when Pakistan Navy had detected an Indian Navy submarine and escorted away from Pakistani territorial waters.
According to the statement, “the fact that an Indian submarine laden with modern technology was detected by the Pakistan Navy is a loss for the Indian Navy.”
Tensions have soared between the two countries since a February 14 militant attack that killed 40 Indian security personnel in Pulwama in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region. Prime Minister Modi’s ultranationalist immediately blamed Pakistan, fueling war hysteria.
Escalating the standoff, India carried out a botched airstrike inside Pakistani territory. In retaliation, Islamabad downed two Indian war planes on the Line of Control in Kashmir, which has been wracked by insurgency in the face of decades-old Indian repression of the Kashmiri people.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has been urging peace dialogue and also freed a captured Indian pilot.
After Tuesday’s incident, Pakistan again called for peace.
Keeping the government’s initiative of peace in mind, the Indian submarine was not targetted by the Pakistan Navy, said the spokesperson.
“Learning a lesson from this incident, India too should show its inclination towards peace,” the Pakistani Navy statement added.
