Could India block Pakistani ports in case of a war?

[ArcaniusXI]

If successful, this would starve us of our fuel reserves and be devastating for a long war. How could Pakistan prevent this taking in to account their navy is objectively stronger?

 

[Joe Shearer]

If successful, this would starve us of our fuel reserves and be devastating for a long war. How could Pakistan prevent this taking in to account their navy is objectively stronger?

You can't.

Please bear with me, if you want a serious answer, and I will explain in three hours time. There are also defences, that Pakistan doesn't have at the moment.

 

[That Guy]

[Edit]: A disclaimer: I am by no means an expert, I'm only sharing what little I know, and my understanding of the situation.

Very difficult, whether on land, or in the waters.

Blockades take a very long time to set up, and you have to deal with the enemy impeding your efforts.

In the case of an Indo-Pak war, can India blockade Pakistan? Yes, but it would take a very long time, and generally wouldn't be worth it.

Most of the fighting would happen in the plains of Punjab, and a lot of the supply lines would likely be connected to China, and maaayyybe Iran (if Iran sides with Pakistan, or even if it decides to remain neutral). In which case, India would have to deal with land routes, which it could maybe harass with its air force, but it would have to deal with the PAF picking off bombers every chance it got. Taking all that into account, a land blockade would cause India to suffer a lot of casualties. On the sea front, it simply wouldn't be worth bringing the navy into the fight, as India's naval asset (while huge compared to Pakistan) aren't numerous enough to mount such an operation in a short enough time to be effective. The only thing, when it comes to the naval front, India would be interested in is taking over Pakistani ports to start an invasion from the sea, which it simply won't be able to do.

So, can India blockade Pakistan through its navy? Yes, but there would be no point.

 

[padamchen]

You can't.

Please bear with me, if you want a serious answer, and I will explain in three hours time. There are also defences, that Pakistan doesn't have at the moment.

Please hurry back.

And do not gloss over what happens to Karachi.

Cheers, Doc

 

[That Guy]

Please hurry back.

And do not gloss over what happens to Karachi.

Cheers, Doc

Even if India were to successfully take over the port, it would be unlikely for India to actually take Karachi. Pakistan would likely spend a lot of resources defending the city. Indian naval reinforcements simply wouldn't have the resources to mount a siege, without backup from the land army, who would be too busy fighting in Punjab.

 

[Arsalan 345]

Pakistan previously don't have gwadar.if they block Karachi port which is now almost impossible after the induction of missile defence system,than Pakistan too can block entire supply chain heading towards India from strait of Hormuz.india will suffer more because we now have gwadar which is far away from Karachi port.

 

[litman]

blocking pakistani ports means blocking cpec. china wont allow it. indians did block karachi port in 71. PN failed miserably . indians may be able to block karachi again but gwadar is a bit difficult.

 

[Canuck786]

Oh Yeah! Why not?

If they can destroy terrorist camps in AJK with a surgical strike at will and go back safely. As well, they can stop a developing country China from constructing a road in Chinese territory and subsequently withdraw troupes unharmed after Chinese gave into Indian threats. Thus, they sure can take over Pakistani ports and we won't be able to do anything because we would be too busy watching their Bollywood stuff.

I hope Indians don't try to invade our ports because we are finally on our way towards prosperity with help from a good friend in China and we don't want that process to be interrupted.

Please India!

 

[ArcaniusXI]

blocking pakistani ports means blocking cpec. china wont allow it. indians did block karachi port in 71. PN failed miserably . indians may be able to block karachi again but gwadar is a bit difficult.

For the sake of discussion, let's make it pre-CPEC.

 

[!eon]

Indians can do anything. They are strong Aryans and Pakistanis are very much afraid of them.

 

[maravan91]

blocking pakistani ports means blocking cpec. china wont allow it. indians did block karachi port in 71. PN failed miserably . indians may be able to block karachi again but gwadar is a bit difficult.

china is not using your cpec highway to import or export. So it doesnt matter for china

 

[litman]

For the sake of discussion, let's make it pre-CPEC.

how can we ignore it? china has invested millions. they wont allow india to block it. a real full scale war with india is almost impossible. india knows that they may have to fight against two enemies so they wont do anything stupid. india is in a state of defeat in the region. their long term assets like mqm, bla, ttp have been eradicated . the only thing they can do is to put diplomatic pressure on pak and isolate pak and they are doing it through their pets like ashraf ghani and hasina but they are also failing in it. india has no choice but to watch pak progressing. full scale war is impossible . even the world most powerful military is unable to gather enough courage or i should say insanity to attack against nuclear armed but poor NK. in ind-pak case ind is not usa and pak is not NK. while discussing a full scale war we have to consider all the actors that may play their role in it.
as far as performance of navies are concerned it seems both the navies are poorly trained. just look at the rate of accidents in indian navy and the past performance in wars of the pak navy. i am sure there will be a huge lot of people in both these navies who think that a real war is impossible so they are enjoying their careers . equipment wise yes the IN has the edge.

china is not using your cpec highway to import or export. So it doesnt matter for china

yes china is just using it for carrying out car rallies only and they have established their base in gwadar for swimming in warm waters and sun bathing.

 

[ArcaniusXI]

how can we ignore it? china has invested millions. they wont allow india to block it.

I'd wager losing millions is better than the billions you'd lose for starting WW3. That and CPEC is still in its early stages and hasn't made significant progress as of yet, surely you'd think twice before going to war over a premature project, right?

 

[litman]

I'd wager losing millions is better than the billions you'd lose for starting WW3. That and CPEC is still in its early stages and hasn't made significant progress as of yet, surely you'd think twice before going to war over a premature project, right?

even without china's involvement india wont do stupidity of a full scale war against a nuclear armed neighbor .just look at US-NK situation. india has no option left on the table.

 

[Śakra]

Yes, easily so but it would be meaningless because iranis would sell you oil via land border.