Defence of Pakistan Day
Asif Haroon Raja
48 years ago, the Indian Army crossed Wagah border at 4 a.m. on 6th
September and unleashed an undeclared war against Pakistan. It was an all out
war both in territorial expanse and the mass of resources. Everything was committed
to annihilate Pakistan once and for all but Pakistan armed forces frustrated
their designs. Courage and valor demonstrated by the brave hearts for the
defence of motherland against extremely heavy odds are unparalleled. In memory
of their supreme sacrifices, Defence Day of Pakistan is celebrated with great
fervor on every 6th September. Special functions are held and
wreaths are laid on the graves of Shaheeds who were awarded highest gallantry
awards. Chivalries of Ghazis are recalled and prayers are offered for all those
who sacrificed their lives for our prosperous tomorrow.
It will be
worthwhile to recount the circumstances which led to 1965 Indo-Pakistan war.
Conflict between India and Pakistan is rooted in the events and episodes
preceding the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Viewing it on narrow communal
grounds is indeed communal in itself. For sure, it has been a contest between
two contending ideologies and opposing socio-religious creeds.
Indian elite
cannot reconcile to the historical fact that united India remained under the
effective rule of Muslims for well over 1000 years starting from 712 AD when
Muhammad bin Qasim annexed Sindh and made it an integral province of Omayyad’s
kingdom. While the low caste Hindus, Buddhists and Jains suffering under the
oppressive yoke of Hindu Brahmans welcomed the new rulers who were just and
benign, the high caste Hindus hated the Muslims and dubbed them as aliens and
impure.
When the
British after establishing strong foothold in Bengal in 1757 gradually
overpowered India, Brahmans hastened to get aligned with the new masters and
both worked hand-in-glove to bring down the fortunes of the Muslims. In a
matter of fifty years, Muslims were reduced from lords to serfs and the Hindus
emerged as the new elite class.
Sir Sayad
Ahmad Khan came to the rescue of the utterly disillusioned Muslims wandering in
apathy and not only raised the slogan of two-nation theory but also motivated
the Muslims to get educated. Establishment of Aligarh University helped the
Muslims in acquiring higher education. Allama Iqbal who stirred the Muslims
through his inspiring poetry and instilled in them greater confidence revealed
his dream of a separate homeland for the Muslims in his famous Allahabad
address in 1930.
Muhammad Ali
Jinnah after assessing that inflexible ruling Congress was unprepared to grant
basic constitutional rights to the Muslims, the single largest community in
India, and were treating them as second rated citizens, he united the Muslims
under the banner of All India Muslim League in 1937. Lahore resolution on March
23, 1940 set the stage for making of Pakistan and from that time onwards there
was no looking back. The whole country resounded with the slogans of ‘Pakistan
ka matlab kia, la-illaha-illallah’.
Hindu leaders
in connivance with the then Viceroy Lord Mountbatten tried their best to
dissuade Quaid-e-Azam from his goal of making Pakistan but failed because of
his unwavering will and steadfastness. Pakistan came on the map of the
world on August 14, 1947 after rendering huge sacrifices. Partition of the
Subcontinent and consequent creation of Pakistan was yet another event that
widened the gulf between the two nations and properly put India on the path to
unending animosity and antagonism apropos Pakistan.
Not
reconciling to the existence of Pakistan, breakup of Pakistan both through
kinetic and non-kinetic means became an inalienable part of India’s national
pursuits and purpose. Pakistan, thus, emerged as a major preoccupation for
India’s foreign and defence policy. This had brought both nations to the
battlefield of Kashmir immediately after partition, when Pakistan virtually had
no armed forces worth the name and was not even an established polity.
Yet, people
of Pakistan stood to their feet and were able to liberate significant chunks of
occupied land in form of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. This
was the first section in the string of the struggle after the creation of
Pakistan against the Indian ideology, which had transformed into a sort of
expansionism.
Ever since,
Kashmir has become the bone of contention between India and Pakistan. India
claims that Kashmir is its Atoot Ang, Pakistan maintains that Kashmir is its
jugular vein. Despite so many UNSC resolutions and so many proposals made by UN
appointed mediators, India refused to honor its pledge of giving the right of
self-determination to Kashmiris and holding a plebiscite under UN supervision.
It was owing to India’s uncompromising and stubborn attitude that
Pakistan was forced to launch operation Gibraltar in August 1965, using Azad
Kashmir Mujahideen with a view to creating conditions for a guerrilla war
followed by mass uprising and thus forcing India to settle the dispute in
accordance with UN resolutions. Humiliating defeat suffered by Indian military
against Chinese in 1962 conflict and Pakistan Army’s success in Khem Karan in
April 1965 were at the back of the minds of our policy makers.
Although the 7000 strong force managed to infiltrate on a wide front
undetected, it ran into grave difficulties since the operation had been
launched in haste without adequate preparations and without preparing Kashmiris
in occupied Kashmir to wage an armed struggle against occupation forces. Once
Indian Army started attacking positions across the ceasefire line in
retaliation, Operation Grand Slam was launched on 0I September through Chamb
Valley.
After establishing bridgehead across River Tawi, Chamb was captured on 2 September.
The force was well-geared to launch a deeper manoeuvre to capture Akhnur which
in that point of time was defenseless, but at that critical stage when victory
lay within grasping reach, the change of command brought operational pause and
gave time to Indian forces to regain balance for the defence of Akhnur. Maj Gen
Akhtar Malik who had conceived the whole plan was replaced by Maj Gen Yahya
Khan. The new commander preferred to capture Jaurian first, which was captured
on 5 September. Although lot of time had been wasted, still, had Yahya pursued
the retreating enemy faster, Akhnur could have fallen by the evening of 5
September, giving us options to exploit towards Rajauri, or Jammu and cut off
main supply line from India! In that case, India may not have ventured to
attack Pakistan the next morning. Outbreak of war on 6 September grounded
Operation Grand Slam, since security of Pakistan took precedence over Kashmir.
Even while
forces of the two countries were at brawl with each other in Kashmir, it was
implicitly understood that the war would remain limited to Kashmir, the
disputed territory, and would not transcend to established international border
as had happened in 1948. Finding itself in a precarious situation in Kashmir,
Indian military launched an all out offensive on 6 September without declaring
war. Their first target was Lahore which was attacked with a Corps plus size
force from three directions. Indian Army chief Gen JN Chowdhri was so sure of
victory that he bragged that he will have his breakfast in Lahore Gymkhana Club
next morning.
Although
taken by complete surprise, Pak armed forces sprang into action. Soul stirring
address to the nation by Field Marshal Ayub Khan acted as a tonic and the whole
nation stood behind Pak military like a rock. Civil citizenry, at a number of
places, tried to force its way to the borders to wrestle with the advancing
Indian forces. Most of them were either bare-handed or at best equipped with
their hunting shot-guns. The nation stood to the occasion to defend the state,
which bound various ethnicities like beads of a cord together. Bengali officers
and men fought as bravely as others and many laid down their lives for the
defence of motherland. People of East Pakistan raised anti-India slogans and collected
funds for war effort. Nonetheless, it was the weapon of spirit and character
that they were equipped with, something that indeed overwhelmed the numerical
superiority enjoyed by India due to its size and thus resources.
For next 17 days, the two sides remained locked in mortal combat; India
wanting to decimate Pak forces and the latter determined to throw out
three-time superior aggressor. The offensive against Lahore was blunted by the
extraordinary grit and determination displayed by all ranks particularly young
officers, including the heroism of Maj Aziz Bhatti Shaheed whose Company
repulsed repeated attacks. He was awarded Nishan-e-Haider.
Once the offensive was stalled, Pak Army launched a counter offensive
with 1 Armoured Division and 7 Division and captured Khem Karan. When our
forces were poised to advance towards Amritsar and Indian forces including
their Army chief were in panic, at that stage Indian military sprung another
surprise by launching its main offensive opposite Sialkot sector. Offensive in
Khem Karan sector had to be called off and 1 Armoured Division rushed towards
Sialkot to regain strategic balance.
Biggest tank
battle after 2nd world war took place in the triangle formed by
Badiana-Chawinda-Pasrur. Despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned, the
attack was halted inflicting astronomical casualties upon Indian tanks,
soldiers and jets. 180 tanks were knocked down in that do-or-die battle of
Chawinda. Their losses were so huge that it took the steam out of Indian offensive
and on 20 September, India started pleading for ceasefire.
Pak Army had
held its ground and repulsed multi-pronged offensives while the PAF crippled
Indian air force. Indian air force had 5:1 air
superiority over PAF but at the outset all forward Indian airbases were
successfully struck by PAF. Pakistani pilots were matchless in air-to-air
combat. Squadron Leader MM Alam single-handed shot down six Indian intruding
jets. Pak Navy didn’t lag behind and added a feather in her cap by
launching Operation Somnath and destroying Indian naval important surveillance
centre at Dwarka. Lone Ghazi submarine kept the Indian Navy terrified and
bottled up.
Pakistan had
a definite edge when the UN arranged a ceasefire on 22rd September.
Its strategic reserves were in a position to destroy the enemy forces stranded
in Ravi-Chenab corridor and take the battle inside Indian Territory. PAF had
achieved air superiority and so had Pak Navy maintained her unchallenged
supremacy at sea. The test was over in about seventeen days. The nation stood
victorious. It was Pakistan’s ‘finest hour’.
The entire world was stunned over the success attained by Pakistan as a
nation. Pakistan’s military victory over India in the war of 1965 was acknowledged
from all pertinent quarters including independent international observers.
India, said the London Daily Times, “India is being soundly beaten by a
nation which is outnumbered by four and a half to one in population and three
to one in size of armed forces". Louis Karrar wrote in Times, "Who
can defeat a nation which knows how to play hide and seek with death”?
Newsweek Pakistan noted in its 16 September 2010 issue that ‘a
hard-nerve nation alone can win such a struggle, and Pakistani is undoubtedly
hard in nerves and spirit’. It added, ‘despite crises Pakistan is
the bravest nation in the world’. In the words of Anatol Lieven, the
author of ‘Pakistan: A Hard Country’, Pakistan is “in many
ways surprisingly tough and resilient as a state and a society” and
that “Pakistan is quite simply far more important to the region, the West
and the world than is Afghanistan: a statement which is a matter not of
sentiment but of mathematics.”
R.D Pradhan who was an insider in the war writes in his book ‘1965 War:
The inside Story’ described the cowardice of Maj Gen Niranjan Prasad, the
Indian General who attacked Lahore. ‘When Pakistan defence forces counter
attacked the intruding Indian military and the General fired upon on 6
September, he ran away. He was found by Lt Gen Harbakhsh Singh hiding in a
sugar cane field.’
Lt Gen Harbakhsh Singh, Commander Western Command notes in his book
War Despatches that not only “did Indian COAS Gen Chowdhri play a
small role in the entire campaign, he was so nervous as to be on the verge of
losing half of Punjab to Pakistan, including the city of Amritsar.” He
added, “Chowdhri panicked so badly he ordered him to withdraw to a new
defensive line behind the Beas, thereby conceding half of Punjab to Pakistan.”
Harbakhsh saved the day for India by refusing to withdraw.
R.D. Pradhan also confirms that “Gen Chowdhri feared that a major
battle west of Beas would have ended in destruction of Indian Army and
thereafter allowing the enemy (Pakistani) forces to push to the gates of Delhi
without much resistance. In panic he ordered all forces to withdraw across
River Beas.”
The London Daily Mirror reported in 1965: “There is
smell of death in the burning Pakistan sun. For it was here that India’s attacking
forces came to a dead stop. During the night they threw in every reinforcement
they could find. But wave after wave of attacks were repulsed by the
Pakistanis.”
USA Aviation Week December 1968 Issue commented: “For the PAF, the
1965 war was as climatic as the Israeli victory over the Arabs in 1967. A
further similarity was that India air power had 5:1 numerical superiority at
the start of the conflict. Unlike the Middle East conflict, the Pakistani air
victory was achieved to a large degree by air-to-air combat rather than on
ground. But it was as absolute as that attained by Israel.”
Our armed forces which are among the best in the world are up against
internal insurgencies and external threats. Despite their heavy involvement in
war on terror, they continue to hone their weapons and remain ever vigilant to
take on the external challenges squarely. We as a nation beset with myriad of
problems must shun our differences and get united to make Pakistan strong and
face the conspiracies of our adversaries scheming to undo Pakistan conjointly.
We must never forget the age-old adage that ‘united we stand, divided we
fall’. Unity and consolidated home front is the best defence. We just
need to bring back the spirit of 1965, a déjà vu that the Pakistan of 21st century
earnestly needs and constantly looks for.
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