India rejects Pakistan's "prevarication" on naval collision, reiterates PNS Hunain violated 1991 pact

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday sharply rejected Pakistan’s version of events surrounding the September 15 collision between the Indian Navy destroyer INS Kolkata and the Pakistan Navy corvette PNS Hunain in the north Arabian Sea, with spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal accusing Islamabad of trying to obscure what actually happened.

Addressing the ministry’s biweekly press briefing in New Delhi, Jaiswal said India had reviewed Pakistan’s formal response to the diplomatic protest it had lodged and dismissed it outright, calling it “the usual prevarication that we expected” and stating “we reject the allegations and insinuations contained therein.”

Laying out what he called “the facts of the matter,” Jaiswal said INS Kolkata was on a routine deployment in the western Arabian Sea when PNS Hunain conducted itself in an unacceptable and unprofessional manner that resulted in the collision.

The spokesperson went further into the technical basis for India’s complaint, asserting that the “dangerous overtaking manoeuvre” by PNS Hunain amounted to a gross violation of Article 10 of the 1991 India-Pakistan Agreement on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troop Movements — an accord that requires naval units at sea to stay at least three nautical miles apart. He added that the Pakistani vessel also infringed the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

On the question of damage, Jaiswal confirmed that INS Kolkata did not suffer any damage in the incident. Separately, Indian sources have said the 7,400-tonne destroyer remains at sea and operational, while the much smaller PNS Hunain (roughly 2,600 tonnes) sustained visible damage and returned to harbour for repairs.

Looking ahead, Jaiswal said Pakistan has once again been advised about the need for all military units to exercise due care and respect the provisions of the relevant bilateral agreements, in order to prevent a repeat of such incidents.

The broader dispute

Pakistan’s own account, conveyed through its foreign ministry, characterizes the incident differently — alleging a “highly provocative and unacceptable action” by the Indian vessel inside Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone. India’s briefing on Friday was, in effect, a direct rebuttal of that framing, with Jaiswal reiterating New Delhi’s position that the fault lay entirely with the Pakistani ship’s manoeuvring.

The collision is significant beyond the immediate naval incident: it marks the first open flare-up in India-Pakistan military tensions since the four-day clashes of May 2025, and has quickly become a diplomatic flashpoint, with India having already summoned a senior Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi to lodge its protest before Friday’s briefing.