Reports claiming Pak navy blocked Indian submarine is not credible

New Delhi, Oct 20: Pakistan's claim on Tuesday that its navy blocked an Indian submarine from entering its waters last week was not credible as the submarine's location, as per the details that came out, was way beyond Pakistan's territorial water limits, people familiar with maritime operations said on Wednesday.

They said Pakistan's territorial waters extends up to 12 nautical miles from its coast.

PTI while quoting 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 way 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 Pakistani navy claimed "detected and blocked the Indian submarine on 16 Oct 21 from entering into Pakistani waters," according to the statement.

It said that during the prevailing security milieu, a strict monitoring watch has 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.

An incident of this nature was last reported in March 2019, the statement claimed.

"The Pakistan Navy used its specialised skills to ward off the submarine, successfully keeping it from entering Pakistani waters," Pakistan Navy had claimed in a statement at the time.

It claimed that another reported attempt by an Indian submarine was made in November 2016.

(PTI)