India objects to US Navy ship’s patrol without consent

Published April 9, 2021
The US 7th Fleet. — Photo courtesy Twitter
The US 7th Fleet. — Photo courtesy Twitter

India on Friday objected to a US Navy ship conducting a “freedom of navigation” patrol in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) without its prior consent.

“We have conveyed our concerns regarding this passage through our EEZ to the government of USA through diplomatic channels,” India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

The US 7th Fleet said in a statement earlier that the USS John Paul Jones on Wednesday “asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s EEZ, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law”.

It said India’s requirement that countries receive prior consent for military operations in its EEZ was “inconsistent with international law” and that the United States “will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows”.

Bagchi said the vessel was monitored continuously as it sailed from the Persian Gulf toward the Malacca Strait.

He said in a statement that India believes the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea does not authorise countries to carry out military exercises or manoeuvres, particularly involving the use of weapons or explosives, in other states’ EEZs and continental shelfs without the consent of the coastal state.

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...