 | « Back to article | Print this article |
A Pakistan Navy warship crossed the maritime boundary line off the coast of Gujarat and entered Indian waters but was detected and forced to retreat by an Indian Coast Guard Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft.
The action took place on the high seas at the peak of the Monsoon season in the first half of July when Pakistan Navy Ship Alamgir moved from its side to Indian waters across the maritime boundary line between the two countries, Government sources told ANI.
Soon after it entered Indian waters, it was detected first by an Indian Coast Guard Dornier aircraft which had taken off for maritime surveillance from an air base in the vicinity, they said.
On the maritime boundary line near Gujarat, Indian agencies do not even allow their own fishermen to undertake their activities within five nautical miles on their own side.
After detecting the Pakistani warship, the Dornier informed its command centre about its presence in Indian waters and continued to keep a watch on it.
The Dornier issued warnings to the Pakistani warship about its location and asked it to return to its area but it did not respond, the sources added.
They further said that the Dornier kept hovering over PNS Alamgir and even tried to call it on its radio communication set to know its intent but the Pakistani Captain chose to maintain complete silence and did not respond.
The Dornier flew twice or thrice right in front of the Pakistani warship which after some time retreated towards its side knowing very well that its presence has been detected, sources added.
It would have also realised that more assets from the Indian side would be on their way to the area to tackle it, the sources said, adding that on the purpose of the Pakistani warship, they might be probing how far can they go inside Indian waters without getting detected but were spotted and confronted soon after they came in.
When asked about the incident, Indian Coast Guard officials refused to give any comment.
The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Air Force have been very active along the Gujarat coast to prevent any misadventure from the Sir Creek area to the high seas where Pakistani activities especially in narco-terrorism have gone up in the recent past.
Indian Coast Guard also recently carried out Operation Island Watch to clear the uninhabited islands near Dwarka and other coastal locations of any possible anti-national elements.
The Indian Coast Guard Director General V S Pathania also recently visited the Porbandar area to review the preparedness of his formations there and induct new ALH Dhruv choppers for coastal surveillance.
The hovercrafts of the force are also deployed in significant numbers in the area and carry out surveillance in both high seas and shallow waters.