Nervous govt pulled Godavari off routine mission to help MV Suez

[Sir john]

The diplomatic squabble over the “brush-off†between an Indian and a Pakistani warship in the Indian Ocean this week — with both countries lodging protests against each other — appears to have been triggered by the actions of an unsure Indian government that possibly reacted to shrill news TV reports. The unseemly row has the potential of becoming an irritant in the upcoming foreign secretary level talks. India pulled the INS Godavari, which was in the region on a routine international anti-piracy mission, off its regular duty to the aid of the MV Suez, which had six Indian crew on board, leading to a mid-ocean scrap with the Pakistani PNS Babur, with the two warships brushing past each other. Pictures and videos of the encounter — which have been shared with Pakistan — show that Babur was deliberately tailing the Godavari so close that it brushed past the Indian warship’s aft. As the Pakistani warship — which was described by government sources as a “history-sheeter†with two earlier incidents of risky behaviour at sea — tangled with the INS Godavari, its crew shouted anti-India slogans. link no action by our government :nervous: