Our submarine blocked? Pakistan must be joking: Navy

NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy has ridiculed the Pakistani claim that an Indian submarine was detected, intercepted, and chased away by Pakistan Navy from its waters on November 14.

Reacting to the Pakistani claim, Navy spokesman Capt. D.K. Sharma said, “Indian Navy categorically denies the statement of Pakistani Navy as blatant lies.”

On Friday, ISPR, the public relations arm of the Pakistani military establishment, claimed that on November 14, an Indian submarine entering Pakistani waters “was detected and localised south of Pakistani coast on Nov. 14. Thereafter, despite the submarine’s desperate efforts to escape detection, it was continuously tracked by Pakistan Navy Fleet units and pushed well clear of our waters”. To buttress its claim, it posted a grainy black and white video of a submarine’s periscope and antennae underwater.

Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif had claimed that Pakistani army killed 11 Indian soldiers on November 14   while in another rare admission, ISPR claimed 7 Pakistani soldiers were killed in Indian shelling in Bhimber, POK.

Clearly, the Pakistani establishment is on a media offensive  to blunt India's proactive criticism of Pakistan's support to militants and terrorists.

A serving military officer told this newspaper:  “By owning up to losses on their side, Pakistan is playing the victim, painting India as the perpetrator. It is a message to the US that Pakistan is fighting US’ war in its western frontiers, near Afghanistan.”