2 weeks ago
16
ARTICLE AD BOX
Islamabad, Pakistan – When Indian Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh visited the Indian Navy’s craft bearer INS Vikrant connected May 30, astir 3 weeks aft a ceasefire was announced with Pakistan aft a four-day conflict, helium had stern words for Islamabad.
Wearing an Indian Navy shot cap, with his archetypal “R” emblazoned connected it, Singh declared that Pakistan was fortunate the Indian Navy had not been called upon during the caller hostilities.
“Despite remaining silent, the Indian Navy succeeded successful tying down the Pakistani Army. Just ideate what volition hap erstwhile idiosyncratic who tin support a country’s service locked successful a bottle, adjacent by remaining silent, speaks up?” Singh said, lasting successful beforehand of a Russian-made MiG-29 combatant pitchy connected the platform of the 262-metre-long (860 feet) ship.
Just 2 days later, connected June 1, the Pakistan Navy issued a pointed response. In a connection posted connected X, it announced a two-day exercise, “focusing connected countering sub-conventional and asymmetric threats crossed each large ports and harbours of Pakistan”.
PN conducted 2-day Ex focusing connected countering sub-conventional & asymmetric threats crossed each large ports & harbours of Pak, aimed astatine validating & refining Tactics, Techniques & Procedures to guarantee robust defence of captious maritime infrastructure against asymmetric threats.1/3 pic.twitter.com/R1IsajwyBB
— DGPR (Navy) (@dgprPaknavy) June 1, 2025
These symbolic shows of spot followed India’s “Operation Sindoor” and Pakistan’s “Operation Bunyan Marsoos“, the countries’ respective codenames for the four-day struggle that ended successful a ceasefire connected May 10.
The standoff was triggered by an April 22 attack successful Pahalgam, successful Indian-administered Kashmir, successful which 26 civilians, astir each tourists, were killed. India blamed equipped groups allegedly backed by Pakistan, a complaint Islamabad denied.
On May 7, India launched missile strikes astatine aggregate sites successful Pakistan’s Punjab state and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, sidesplitting astatine slightest 51 people, including 11 soldiers and respective children. Over the adjacent 3 days, the 2 countries exchanged artillery and aerial power, hitting each other’s airbases.
The 96 hours of struggle brought 1.6 cardinal radical to the brink of war. But portion the navies mostly remained passive observers, they monitored each other’s movements – and were acceptable for action.
Satellite imagery showed that the INS Vikrant moved towards Pakistan soon aft the Pahalgam onslaught and remained deployed for 4 days successful the Arabian Sea earlier returning to its basal successful Karnataka.
Pakistan besides mobilised its fleet, which was bolstered by the docking of a Turkish naval vessel successful Karachi connected May 2. According to the Pakistani Navy, Turkish unit engaged successful “a bid of nonrecreational interactions” with their counterparts.
Now, adjacent amid the existent intermission successful subject tensions, analysts accidental Singh’s remarks and Pakistan’s naval drills item the increasing portion that maritime forces could play successful the adjacent section of their conflict. This is simply a relation the Indian and Pakistani navies are well-versed in.
Ships instrumentality portion successful the Pakistan Navy’s multinational workout AMAN-19, successful Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, February 11, 2019 [Fareed Khan/Ap Photo]Early naval conflicts
After independency from Britain successful August 1947, India inherited two-thirds of British India’s naval assets.
These saw nary usage during the archetypal India-Pakistan warfare successful 1947, implicit the contested Himalayan portion of Kashmir. India and Pakistan some administer parts of Kashmir, on with China, which governs 2 bladed strips. India claims each of Kashmir, portion Pakistan claims each the parts not controlled by China, its ally.
By the 1965 war, besides implicit Kashmir, Pakistan had expanded its fleet with assistance from the United States and United Kingdom, its Cold War allies. It had acquired Ghazi, a long-range submarine, giving it an borderline implicit India, which lacked a submarine astatine the time, though it owned an craft carrier. Pakistan, to date, does not person an craft carrier.
While the onshore warfare started connected September 6, the Pakistan Navy joined the struggle connected the nighttime of September 7-8. A fleet of 7 warships and submarine PNS Ghazi near Karachi harbour and made their mode towards the Indian naval basal of Dwarka successful the occidental authorities of Gujarat, astir 350km (217 miles) away.
They were tasked with carrying retired the “bombardment of Dwarka astir midnight utilizing 50 rounds per ship”, according to the Pakistan Navy’s authoritative account, targeting the base’s radar and different installations.
The enactment of Dwarka was important from a humanities and strategical perspective. The metropolis is location to 1 of the astir ineffable sites for Hindus, the Somnath Temple, connected which the Pakistan Navy named its operation.
Militarily, the radar installations successful Dwarka were utilized to supply guidance to the Indian Air Force. Knocking them retired would person made it harder for India to motorboat aerial attacks against Pakistani cities, particularly Karachi. That, successful turn, would person forced India to nonstop retired its warships from the adjacent larboard of Bombay (now Mumbai) – and PNS Ghazi, the submarine, could person ambushed them.
But the Pakistani program lone partially worked. Many Indian warships were nether maintenance, and truthful the Indian Navy did not nonstop them retired to pursuit the Pakistani fleet.
According to the Pakistan Navy’s accounts, aft firing astir 350 rounds, the cognition ended successful “four minutes” and each its ships returned safely.
Syed Muhammad Obaidullah, a erstwhile commodore successful the Pakistan Navy, recalled the attack.
“We were capable to nonstop 8 vessels, 7 ships and a submarine – that amazed the Indians, arsenic our ships targeted the radar presumption utilized to assistance Indian planes,” Obaidullah told Al Jazeera.
Muhammad Shareh Qazi, a Lahore-based maritime information expert, added that the cognition was a tactical surprise, but did not pb to immoderate gains successful territory oregon of the maritime continental shelf.
“All our ships returned safely, without resistance, but it was lone an operational-level occurrence for the PN, not a strategical one,” helium said, referring to the Pakistan Navy.
Official Indian Navy records assertion that astir of the shells fired by Pakistani ships caused nary harm and remained unexploded.
Anjali Ghosh, a prof of planetary relations astatine Jadavpur University, Kolkata, successful her publication India’s Foreign Policy, described the onslaught arsenic “daring” but symbolic alternatively than strategically meaningful.
Decisive crook successful 1971
The 1971 war, fought implicit East Pakistan’s secession to go Bangladesh, saw much important naval engagements.
India launched 2 operations – Trident and Python – which dealt large blows to Pakistan’s Navy, sinking respective ships, including the destroyer PNS Khaibar and minesweeper PNS Muhafiz, and destroying substance tanks astatine Karachi Harbour.
Uday Bhaskar, a erstwhile commodore successful the Indian Navy, said the navy played a pivotal relation successful India’s 1971 victory.
“The naval relation enabled the last result connected land,” Bhaskar, the existent manager of the Society for Policy Studies, an autarkic deliberation vessel based successful New Delhi, told Al Jazeera.
Pakistan besides suffered the nonaccomplishment of its prized submarine Ghazi, which sank portion laying mines adjacent Visakhapatnam successful Andhra Pradesh, location to India’s Eastern Naval Command.
The 1 large triumph for the Pakistani Navy was its torpedoing of the Indian frigate INS Khukri utilizing its submarine Hangor, which killed much than 170 Indian sailors.
Qazi, who is besides an adjunct prof astatine Lahore’s Punjab University, said that the Indian Navy replicated the Pakistani playbook from the 1965 warfare successful the mode it amazed the Pakistan Navy.
“India caused a dense stroke to Pakistan and our naval capabilities were severely dented,” helium said.
Pakistan’s Navy conducts a demo during the precocious held multinational maritime workout successful February 2025 successful the Arabian Sea adjacent Karachi, Pakistan [Akhtar Soomro/Reuters]Diverging strategies
Since the 1971 war, India and Pakistan person approached antithetic naval strategies.
Obaidullah, who retired from the Pakistan Navy successful 2008, said that India has tried to physique a “blue h2o navy” susceptible of projecting powerfulness crossed oceans. The idea: “To asseverate its dominance successful [the] Indian Ocean,” helium said.
Qazi, the maritime expert, agreed, saying that the Indian Navy has focused not conscionable connected gathering a numerical vantage successful its naval assets but besides connected partnerships with nations specified arsenic Russia, which person helped it make a almighty fleet.
“The Indian Navy present has the quality to behaviour missions that tin screen agelong distances, each the mode down to Mauritius adjacent confederate Africa, oregon adjacent immoderate adventures successful [the] Pacific Ocean arsenic well,” helium said.
As the world’s fifth-largest economy, India has invested heavy successful naval development.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based probe institute focusing connected defence and information issues, India has 29 main aboveground combat vessels, including 2 craft carriers, 12 destroyers, 15 frigates and 18 submarines, of which 2 are nuclear-powered.
Pakistan, by contrast, has prioritised its onshore and aerial forces. Its navy has grown much slowly, chiefly done practice with China and Turkiye. It regularly holds large naval exercises with its allies, with the past 1 taking spot successful February this year.
IISS information shows that Pakistan’s navy lacks craft carriers and destroyers but includes 11 frigates, 8 submarines and astatine slightest 21 patrol vessels.
Obaidullah explained that Pakistan’s naval ambitions and objectives are precise antithetic from those of India.
“India aims to task planetary power. We person a antiaircraft navy to unafraid our oversea lines of connection and deter aggression,” the erstwhile naval serviceman said. With much than 95 percent of Pakistan’s commercialized sea-based, protecting maritime routes is its apical priority.
Maritime adept Qazi besides said that the Pakistani Navy is focused connected defending its “littoral zones”. From a naval perspective, a “littoral zone” is simply a critically important country adjacent to coastlines, dissimilar the unfastened ocean’s “blue water” expanse. It is wrong this abstraction that countries prosecute successful coastal defence.
“Pakistan has a tiny economy, and we bash not person bluish h2o ambitions. We bash not person the capableness to physique a fleet, nor [do] we request one,” Qazi said. “Our defence paradigm is astir defending our coastlines, and for that, we person our submarines, which transportation cruise missiles.”
The INS Vikrant craft bearer successful Mumbai, India, Friday, March 10, 2023 [Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo]Naval engagements successful aboriginal conflicts?
The latest struggle saw some accepted and modern warfare, including drones utilized to onslaught heavy wrong each other’s territory. But Singh’s May 30 remarks suggest a much assertive naval posture successful aboriginal conflicts, accidental analysts.
“If Pakistan does immoderate unholy enactment this time, it is imaginable that the opening volition beryllium done by our navy,” Singh said during his code connected May 30.
Bhaskar, the Indian commodore who retired successful 2007, agreed that aboriginal conflicts could spot naval escalation.
“If different subject struggle escalates, the probability of navies being actively progressive is high,” helium said.
Bashir Ali Abbas, a New Delhi-based maritime affairs adept and erstwhile chap astatine the Stimson Center, successful Washington, DC, said that naval platforms inherently service aggregate roles.
Abbas said that warships and submarines tin power from patrolling missions oregon exercises to operational missions connected abbreviated notice. But that would transportation risks of its own.
“Should the Indian Navy play a important relation successful operations against Pakistan pursuing the adjacent crisis, past the constituent of escalation power practically disappears. Any ship-on-ship, oregon ship-on-land engagement volition connote that India and Pakistan are astatine war,” helium told Al Jazeera, adding that the hazard of inadvertent atomic escalation is besides perchance highest successful the atomic domain.
Qazi, however, said that Singh’s connection was ambiguous astir whether the Indian Navy would prosecute successful surveillance oregon aggression.
Any onslaught connected Karachi, Pakistan’s economical hub, would provoke a beardown response, the Lahore-based expert said.
“I judge India volition take to play fell and question similar it did this time,” Qazi said. But helium added that determination was a “high probability” that India could onslaught Pakistan’s naval installations connected land, including its planes and radar stations. And that, helium said, was an “alarming possibility”.
English (US) ·