India-Pakistan navy ship collision sparks alarm over unintended escalation

Islamabad, Pakistan — More than 16 months after India and Pakistan fought a four-day air war, firing missiles and drones at each other, the South Asian neighbours came the closest since then to a military face-off — this time in the Arabian Sea.Indian and Pakistani naval vessels collided on Tuesday, setting off tit-for-tat accusations. Pakistan’s government summoned India’s top diplomat in Islamabad on Wednesday, mirroring action New Delhi had taken hours earlier when it summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires and lodged a protest of its own over the incident.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4India summons Pakistani diplomat after incident in Arabian Sealist 2 of 4Are India and Pakistan preparing for a naval face-off in a future conflict?list 3 of 4Two wins, two losses: What India, Pakistan have learned a year after warlist 4 of 4Why Pakistan overhauled its military command structure after five decadesend of listThe collision is the first direct military encounter between the nuclear-armed neighbours since their four-day conflict in May 2025, when Indian air strikes and Pakistani retaliation brought both countries closer to full-scale war than at any point in decades.So f...