'Indian Submarine' Pakistan Claims To Have 'Stopped' From Entering Its Territorial Waters Was 150 Nautical Miles South Of Karachi

On Tuesday (19 September), Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations or ISPR claimed that the Pakistan Navy had detected and stopped an Indian submarine from entering its territorial waters.

In a statement, ISPR said the Indian submarine was trying to enter Pakistan's territorial waters but was "prematurely detected and tracked".

"It is the third incident of its kind wherein an Indian submarine has been prematurely detected and tracked by Pakistan Navy's Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft," ISPR's statement read.

Experts have now identified the submarine visible in the video put out by the Pakistan Navy as an Indian Kalvari-class submarine (Scorpene-class), based on its mast. They have, however, dismissed Pakistan's claim that the boat was about to enter Pakistan's territorial waters.

"Pakistan’s highly professional & vigilant navy interdicted an Indian submarine trying to enter our waters surreptitiously...," Pakistan's National Security Advisor, Moeed Yusuf, claimed yesterday.

The coordinates on the imagery, however, show that the submarine was in international waters, over 150 nautical miles south of Karachi.

Former spokesperson of the Indian Navy, Captain DK Sharma, has also dismissed Pakistan Navy's claim in a series of tweets. His analysis, based on the coordinates seen in the footage released by Pakistan, also suggests that the boat was over 150 nautical miles away from Karachi.

The submarine was at the same distance from the Indian Navy’s Okha base, called INS Dwarka, in Gujarat. It was operating nearly 400 nautical miles from the Indian naval base at Mumbai.

Details on the imagery put out by Pakistan show it was taken on 16 October, between 23:18 and 23:36 hours. However, it is not clear if this represents Pakistan Standard Time or universal time.

These details, however, puncture Pakistan's claim of stopping the submarine from entering the country's territorial waters.

The submarine was operating at periscope depth. The snorkel and an optronic mast of the boat are visible in the footage.

A diesel-electric boat, like the Indian Navy's Kalvari-class submarines, has to snorkel frequently to recharge its batteries.

The process of snorkeling involves travelling just below the surface of the water with the submarine’s periscope and generator exhaust pipe above the surface. Submarines have to rise to periscope depth and extend the snort mast above the water line — every day or two in some cases — so as to ingest air needed for running noisy diesel generators (which require atmospheric air) to charge their batteries.