A day after New Delhi lodged a strong protest over the “unprofessional conduct of Pakistani naval units” following a North Arabian Sea collision between a frontline Indian Navy warship and a Pakistan Navy vessel, Islamabad Thursday countered with its own protest, calling the September 15 incident a “highly provocative and unacceptable action” within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad in response to the incident, it said in a statement.

According to the statement, the Pakistan Navy was carrying out its biennial exercise SEASPARK-26 when the Indian vessel executed aggressive manoeuvres in “dangerously close proximity to a Pakistani naval ship, resulting in contact between the two vessels”.

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“The incident constituted a serious violation of international law and the bilateral agreement on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troop Movements, 1991, and risked escalating tensions in the region,” it said.

“The Charge d’Affaires was asked to convey to the government of India that Pakistan strongly rejects this belligerent Indian action. Indian side was urged to adhere strictly to international law and bilateral agreements, particularly those aimed at preventing incidents at sea,” the statement noted.

Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires in New Delhi will lodge a matching demarche with India’s Ministry of External Affairs, it added.

The incident reportedly took place about 120 nautical miles from the Gulf of Oman. For several months now, Indian Navy destroyers and frigates have been deployed on missions in the North Arabian Sea.

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Official sources identified the Pakistani vessel as PNS Hunain and said it was damaged in the collision and had headed to its home port. No damage to the Indian warship was reported, and it continued on its routine surveillance mission, the sources said.

Sources in India have maintained that PNS Hunain–an offshore patrol vessel, often listed as a Yarmook-class corvette because of its combat suite, and patrols coastal waters-closed in on the frontline Indian Navy warship at high speed, “manoeuvring in an unprofessional and unsafe manner, causing a minor collision”.

On Wednesday, India summoned Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires over the incident.

The incident reminded many of the last such incident between Indian and Pakistani naval ships at sea – on June 16, 2011, the Pakistani naval warship PNS Babur brushed past the Indian Navy frigate INS Godavari in the Gulf of Aden, causing minor damage to the Indian warship’s helicopter safety net.

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At the time, India said the approach was dangerously close and violated navigational regulations, and it subsequently lodged a formal protest by summoning the Pakistan High Commission’s naval advisor. The then Defence Minister, A K Antony, had made a statement in Parliament on the violation.