A gruesome militant attack in Pahalgam on April 22 claimed the lives of twenty-six civilians. What should have been a tragedy of human concern quickly evolved into a predictable diplomatic and strategic standoff between India and Pakistan. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, India pointed fingers across the border, blaming Pakistan-based militant networks for orchestrating the assault. Pakistan, as expected, issued a strong denial. But this aspect went beyond statements and briefings issued by both countries.
India’s deployment of INS Vikrant to the Arabian Sea after the Pahalgam incident was not coincidental. It was more calculated, highly deliberate, and intended to serve its own purpose. The symbolism was not lost on military analysts: India was conveying its ability to project deterrent capability and cross-domain coercion strategy with the intention of moving the conflict narrative from the mountains to the seas.
INS Vikrant was commissioned in 2022 but was declared fully operational by late 2023. India considers it a way of their naval modernisation. Its deployment served three messages: first, India is no longer limiting its response options to terrestrial or diplomatic tools. Secondly, as a hybrid military posture, India wants to use its navy for strategic purposes. Thirdly, India’s maritime deterrent is intended to be relevant both regionally and transregionally, especially regarding China and Pakistan.
It will be pertinent to say that the maritime domain is increasingly becoming a theatre of indirect confrontation. Most importantly, between traditional rivals, where grey-zone operations, freedom of navigation patrols, and carrier movements substitute for kinetic escalation. While India’s maritime signalling was overt and publicised, the Pakistan Navy opted to give a tactically significant response. Besides enhanced surveillance, the Pakistan Navy also conducted a high-readiness drill involving anti-submarine and missile defence platforms, sending a subtle but sharp message to its adversary.
Indian aircraft carrier glides silently, and Pakistan Navy speaks not with words only but with deterrent manoeuvres.
However, this cautious but regulated response indicates that the Pakistan Navy is avoiding the trap of escalation dominance while maintaining deterrence through denial. Unlike India’s power projection doctrine, Pakistan continues to rely on a sea denial strategy by leveraging its submarine fleet, coastal defence batteries, and maritime domain awareness to complicate any prospective blockade or carrier-based intimidation.
The shift of Indo-Pak strategic signalling to the Arabian Sea marks an evolution in how both countries intend to contest influence and deterrence. For decades, the emphasis has been on land like Kargil, Kashmir, and cross-border skirmishes. Now, with time, the sea is emerging as an alternate theatre, albeit one where conventional warfighting doctrines remain largely untested between the two.
This recent development has several implications, such as carrier deployment by India sets a precedent for maritime inclusion in future crisis scenarios, prompting Pakistan to further integrate its naval doctrine with national defence planning. Likewise, Naval deployments in such contested as well as sensitive waters increase the chance of accidental engagement, considering the lack of a robust maritime conflict management framework in South Asia. With cyber, space, and sea now part of the escalatory ladder, the threshold for miscalculated conflict has expanded.
Above all, the incident like the Pahalgam attack exposed how vulnerable South Asia is. But what followed may mark a more profound shift. The deployment of INS Vikrant and the Pakistan Navy’s quiet but firm posture represent a new grammar of regional signalling, one that transcends borders and brings the ocean into play by making it a theatre of competition as well as conflict. If the world truly seeks to prevent the next crisis, it must look not just to the snow-capped peaks of Kashmir but also to the shifting waves of the Arabian Sea. Indian aircraft carrier glides silently, and Pakistan Navy speak not with words only but with deterrent manoeuvres.
The writer is a freelance columnist.