India beat Pakistan 3-1 to enter SAFF Cup final
Dhaka, Sep 12: Striker Manvir Singh scored twice as 10-man defending champions India got past arch-rivals Pakistan 3-1 to enter the football final of the SAFF Cup at the Bangabandhu Stadium here on Wednesday.
After a goalless first-half, Manvir scored his first in the 49th minute only to double the score-line twenty minutes later.
Substitute Sumit Passi sealed the fate of the match in the 83rd minute.
For Pakistan, Hassan Bashir reduced the margin in the 88th minute.
India will now meet Maldives, which made short work of Nepal 3-0 in the first semi-final, in the summit clash on Saturday.
The first goal came off a counter-attack. Ashique Kuruniyan ran past everyone down the left and unleashed a low cross which was gleefully tapped in by Manvir to set the Indian fans berserk.
Lalliazuala Chhangte who replaced Nikhil Poojary in the 68th minute made an immediate impact as India doubled the lead.
The substitute made a run down the middle of the pitch, sidestepped two defenders and passed it to Vinit Rai.
The midfielder on turn rolled it to Manvir who blasted it home from top of the box.
However, following a challenge, Manvir was substituted as Stephen Constantine brought in Passi.
The former AIFF Academy cadet took less than a minute to join the party as he found the target in the 83rd. Ashique, the architect of the first goal, made an identical run down the flank to deliver it for Passi who headed home clinically.
However, India received a blow as Chhangte was given marching orders for an off the ball offence on Mohsin Ali. Mohsin was also red-carded for his challenge.
Earlier, India had the first opportunity of the game in the 10th minute itself but that time Manvir wasn't able to connect Ashique's perfect cross.
Pakistan goalkeeper Yusuf Butt also came up with some spectacular saves to keep the Indians at bay in the first-half - the most notable being his save to deny Subhashish Bose's volley off an Anirudh Thapa corner.
India survived a scare in the 39th minute when Pakistan earned an indirect free-kick at the edge of the 6-yard box but Goalkeeper Vishal Kaith came up with back to back saves.
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War Reaches India's Backyard. Now What?
On Wednesday, 4th March, something happened in the waters near Sri Lanka that should have made every Indian stop and think. A United States submarine fired a torpedo — an underwater missile that travels silently through the sea and explodes on impact — and sank an Iranian warship called IRIS Dena. At least 80 sailors lost their lives. This was not happening somewhere far away in the Middle East. This happened just off the coast of a country that shares the Indian Ocean with us.
The IRIS Dena was not doing anything suspicious at the time. It was simply returning home after attending the MILAN-2026 naval exercise near Visakhapatnam, an international event proudly organised by the Indian Navy last month. The ship was on what is called a peaceful passage — quietly sailing back through international waters, not threatening anyone, not engaged in any battle. And then it was gone.
This is what makes this incident so deeply unsettling.
The war between the US-Israel alliance and Iran was supposed to be confined to West Asia and the Gulf region. With this single torpedo strike, that war has now moved into the Indian Ocean — right into India's neighbourhood. The question every Indian should now be asking is simple: what does this mean for us, and are our seas safe?
To understand the full picture, you need to know what international maritime law says — because this is where things get complicated. The main rulebook for the world's oceans is called UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Think of it as the constitution of the seas. However, the United States has never signed this agreement. That alone tells you something important.
UNCLOS mostly covers peacetime rules — who owns which sea area, fishing rights, trade routes, and so on. But during a war, a separate set of naval warfare laws kicks in alongside it. Under these laws, since IRIS Dena was an Iranian Navy warship, it was technically considered a valid military target — regardless of where it was sailing or what it was doing at that moment. The Indian Express reported that several Indian Navy officers noted this uncomfortable legal reality clearly.
The UN Charter says in Article 2(4) that countries must not use military force against other countries. That sounds clear. But then Article 51 creates an exception — a country can attack in self-defence if it faces an armed threat. Additionally, the UN Security Council can give special permission for military strikes, as it did during the 1990 Gulf War. But getting that permission requires a majority vote, and none of the five permanent members — the US, Russia, China, the UK, and France — should veto it. Veto power means any one of these five countries can simply say no, and the entire decision is blocked.
It is also worth noting that the US Treasury Department placed official sanctions on the IRIS Dena back in February 2023. Sanctions are basically financial penalties and restrictions placed on a vessel or country — they don't prevent a ship from sailing, but they signal deep suspicion. At the time of the attack, the ship carried close-in weapon systems — rapid-fire guns used to shoot down incoming missiles or drones — and wider area defence systems. Despite this, it was caught completely off guard.
Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar (Retd), former Vice Chief of the Indian Navy and India's first National Maritime Security Coordinator, told The Indian Express that in the maritime domain, there are simply no fixed boundaries for war zones. Once a conflict begins, it has no clear walls on the sea. The fighting had already started after the ship left Indian shores, he explained. He also noted that since the attack happened inside Sri Lanka's Exclusive Economic Zone — the sea belt where Sri Lanka holds special rights over resources — rescue teams could begin operations relatively quickly.
However, Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai NM (Retd) raised a harder question. He pointed out that attacking a foreign warship on the high seas — international waters that belong to no single country — is generally considered illegal unless clearly justified as self-defence.
A senior Navy official, as reported by The Indian Express, called this strike a major escalation. The Iranian ship was not in a conflict zone. It was on a peaceful morning passage. Nobody on board would have imagined a torpedo was silently tracking them beneath the waves.
That is the terrifying reality of modern warfare at sea. There are no safe lanes, no guaranteed boundaries, no sacred stretches of water. The ocean is open — and today, it is deeply unpredictable.
India is watching. And India must think very carefully about what comes next.
(Girish Linganna is an award-winning science communicator and a Defence, Aerospace & Geopolitical Analyst. He is the Managing Director of ADD Engineering Components India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany.)
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or position of the publication, its editors, or its management. The publication is not responsible for the accuracy of any information, statements, or opinions presented in this piece.
