PORBANDARO: A Pakistani navy warship crossed the maritime border 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 height of the monsoon season in the first half of July, when the Pakistani navy ship Alamgir moved on its side to Indian waters across the maritime border line between the two countries, they reported. government sources at ANI.
Immediately after entering Indian waters, it was first detected by an Indian Coast Guard Dornier plane that had taken off for maritime surveillance from a nearby air base, they said.
On the maritime border line near Gujarat, Indian agencies do not even allow their fishermen to carry out their activities within five nautical miles of their side.
After taking over the Pakistani warship, Dornier informed her command center of its presence in Indian waters and continued to keep an eye on it. The Dornier warned the Pakistani warship about her location and asked her to return to her area but did not respond, the sources added.
They also said that the Dornier continued to hover over the PNS Alamgir and even tried to call it on its radio communications set to find out its intentions, but the Pakistani captain chose to keep complete silence and did not respond.
The Dornier flew two or three times right in front of the Pakistani warship which after some time withdrew to its side knowing full well that its presence was detected, the sources added.
He would also have realized that more resources from the Indian side would be on their way to the area to deal with it, the sources said adding that for the purpose of the Pakistani warship, they could probe how far they can go into Indian waters without having been discovered but were identified and compared soon after their arrival.
When asked about the incident, Indian Coast Guard officials declined to provide any comment.
The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Air Force have been very active along the Gujarat coast to prevent any misadventures from the Sir Creek area to the high seas where Pakistani activities have increased in the recent past, particularly in narco-terrorism.
The Indian Coast Guard also recently carried out Operation Island Watch to clear the uninhabited islands near Dwarka and other coastal locations of any anti-national elements.
Indian Coast Guard Director General VS Pathania also recently visited the Porbandar area to review the preparation of his formations there and introduce new ALH Dhruv helicopters for coastal surveillance. Force hovercrafts are also deployed in significant numbers in the area and carry out surveillance activities both on the high seas and in shallow water.
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