‘Indian Attempt to Enter Pakistan’s Waters Foiled’

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan claimed on Thursday that its security forces had foiled an Indian submarine’s attempt to enter its waters on March 1.

A spokesperson for the Pakistan Army accused India of deploying a submarine with ‘ulterior motives’ against Pakistan.

According to Major General Babar Iftikhar, given the prevailing security environment and ongoing Indian naval exercises, Pakistan was aware of the possibility of India trying to enter its maritime zone for reconnaissance.

The Pakistan Navy enforced “strict monitoring … and stringent vigilance procedures” and “intercepted and tracked the latest Indian submarine Kalvari,” he said.

“Yet again through continuous vigilance and professionalism Pakistan Navy has foiled (an) Indian submarine’s attempt of entering into Pakistani waters,” he added.

The spokesperson pointed out that this was the fourth attempted Indian incursion thwarted by the Pakistan Navy in the past five years.

Nuclear rivals and neighbors Pakistan and India have been locked in a string of disputes since the division of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, the most prominent being over the disputed Himalayan valley of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan and India have fought three full-scale wars – 1948, 1965 and 1971 – and two of them were over Kashmir.

The relations between the neighbors have further deteriorated since New Delhi scrapped the special status of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, incorporating it into Indian territory- which is considered by Pakistan as a contravention of international law and the 1948 UNSC resolutions 38 and 39 on Kashmir.