After 21 days of large-scale searching, the Indian Navy ostensibly managed to locate the PNS Saad on the western side of Pakistan.
Islamabad (Pakistan Point News – 24th June, 2019) Soon after the Pulwama attack, the Indian Navy deployed over 60 ships, including an aircraft carrier and nuclear submarines near Pakistani waters in the Arabian Sea to "prevent and deter any misadventure" by Islamabad.
However, Pakistan's fast-attack submarine PNS Saad vanished from Pakistani territorial waters shortly after the Indian Air Force conducted an air raid on a suspected terror camp in Balakot on February 26 following a deadly suicide bomb attack on a convoy of Indian military personnel in Pulwama on February 14.
The Times of India reported that the Pakistanis might have thought that New Delhi would use its maritime force to retaliate for the Pulwama attack.
"The location near Karachi from where the PNS Saad vanished, it could reach the Gujarat coast in three days and the headquarters of the western fleet in Mumbai within five days and was seen as a major threat to the security of the country", the report said citing sources.
The missing non-nuclear submarine powered with an air-independent propulsion system reportedly forced the entire Indian Navy to engage in extensive searches.
"All the areas where it could have gone in the given timeframe, extensive searches were carried out by the Indian Navy. P-8Is were pressed into service to locate the submarine along with the coastal areas of Gujarat followed by Maharashtra and other states", the report said.
The Navy is said to have taken all "precautionary measures" to ensure that even if the Pakistani submarine had entered Indian waters, all steps were taken to make it surface.
New Delhi allegedly dispatched its nuclear submarine INS Chakra and diesel-electric attack submarine INS Kalvari along the Pakistani waters and instructed to keep an eye on the movement of the missing warship.
As days passed by, the Indian Navy continued to expand the search area and used satellites to try and locate it, with doubts creeping in that the submarine might be hidden elsewhere, according to The Times of India.
After 21 days of large-scale searching, the Indian Navy ostensibly managed to locate the PNS Saad on the western side of Pakistan.
The submarine is believed to have been sent there to ensure a covert capability in case tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad spiralled out of control in the aftermath of the Balakot strikes.
