‘Pakistan Navy’s claim not credible as submarine’s location was way beyond its territorial waters’

New Delhi, October 20

Pakistan’s claim on Tuesday that its Navy blocked an Indian submarine from entering into its waters last week was not credible as the submarine’s location, as per the details that came out, was way beyond the country’s territorial water limits, people familiar with maritime operations said on Wednesday.

They said Pakistan’s territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles from its coast.

People familiar with maritime operations stated that the location of the submarine – as per details that came out – was 150 nautical miles from Karachi port which is beyond the limit of Pakistani waters.

There is no official comment by the Indian Navy on the Pakistani claim.

The Pakistan military said in a statement on Tuesday that the incident occurred on October 16 when an Indian submarine was detected by a Pakistan Navy (PN) patrol aircraft.

The navy “detected and blocked the Indian submarine from entering into Pakistani waters”, according to the statement.

It said that during the prevailing security milieu, a strict monitoring watch had been kept by the Pakistan Navy to safeguard maritime frontiers of the country.

According to the statement, it is the third incident of its kind during which an Indian Naval Submarine has been prematurely detected and tracked by the Pakistan Navy’s Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

The army also shared a short footage of the purported incident. PTI