A couple of days ago, the Pakistan government organised some functions all over the country extolling the virtues of its Army. Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir participated in a couple of these functions. He made some statements regarding the various wars the Pakistan Army has fought with India. Mentioning the wars of 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and the 1999 Kargil war, General Munir said the Pakistan Army had fought them valiantly.
The occasion was virtually contrived by Pakistanis as harking back to the show put up by the Pakistan Army on the Lahore axis in 1965 war. Pakistan Prime Minister and other politicians made speeches which claimed that the enemy (read India) was pushed back when it crossed the international border (IB). In all these speeches, the common element was the praise of Pakistani troops who had laid down their lives in the 1965 war.
Another common thread was the blatant lies all these speeches tried to propagate. The most stunning lie was to try to project India as the aggressor and the Pakistan Army as the defender who fought back resolutely. In 1965, the war between India and Pakistan started after the latter had launched its Operation Gibraltar. This operation was aimed at infiltrating Pakistani troops covertly into Jammu & Kashmir disguised as Kashmiri insurgents! The locals were incited to rebel against India and the weapons (as also substantial logistical backing) were provided by Pakistan.
None of the speeches by the Pakistani politicians and top military personnel mentioned Pak perfidy that had triggered this war leading to much bloodshed. Not in one speech was there any mention of Pakistani troops covertly crossing the International Border (IB) and spreading all over Jammu & Kashmir. The covert Operation Gibraltar failed miserably because the local support, as expected and orchestrated by Pakistan, did not materialise.
In fact, after the 1962 India-China war, there was demoralisation in the Indian Army and this is what emboldened Pakistan. In 1965, Pakistan made a grandiose plan to snatch away Jammu & Kashmir from India and launched army attacks in Akhnoor sector of Jammu & Kashmir in late August, early September. The Indian troops were caught unawares as the element of surprise was with the Pakistan Army which made rapid progress after crossing the International Border (IB).
In response to Pakistan’s Operation Gibraltar, India reacted by starting a full-scale military attack on what was then West Pakistan (today’s Pakistan). As Pakistani troops threatened to take Akhnoor, barely 30 km from Jammu city and cutting off Rajouri-Poonch and beyond, the Indian Army retaliated with full force. On September 6, 1965, the Indian Army launched a surprise attack on Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city, the heart of Punjab.
At that time, the Western Command of the Indian Army, under which this area fell, was commanded by Lieutenant General Harbaksh Singh and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was General J N Chaudhari. Incidentally, it bears mention here that most of Jammu & Kashmir area now is under Northern Command (raised in 1971) headquartered at Udhampur. By the surprise attack on Lahore, Pakistan was stunned into stupor as it was dreaming of capturing whole of Jammu & Kashmir at that time.
Instead of making progress towards Akhnoor as it had originally intended and planned, Pakistan was suddenly faced with a situation where losing Lahore and even Sialkot, 38 km from Jammu to the south, became stark possibilities. Pakistan then abandoned its advance towards Akhnoor and diverted all its military resources to defend Lahore and Sialkot, two cities 130 km apart. Sialkot is about 70 km from Akhnoor which the Pakistan Army was planning to capture.
At that time, the Indian Army had plans to threaten Lahore and Sialkot and capture vast swathes of territory in retaliation for Pakistani attacks. The strategy was to capture territory so that it could be used in post-war negotiations. Pakistan today marks September 6 as Defence Day to mark that day in 1965 when it had to rush its defences to Lahore! The amusing and interesting part is that the speeches made by Pakistani leaders don’t mention the cause of India’s attack on Lahore at that time.
In no Pakistan speeches are these facts mentioned that the India’s attack on Lahore was in fact a counter-attack to check its progress towards Akhnoor! Ordinary Pakistanis just get the impression that India suddenly started coveting Lahore and was repulsed valiantly by Pakistani troops. This is how Pakistani leaders mislead ordinary masses and spread hatred towards India.
The USA and Soviet Union, two superpowers of that era, then intervened to end the war. Due to the efforts of the superpowers and many other nations, a ceasefire was declared on September 22, 1965. It was in January 1966 that the delegates from India and Pakistan met in Tashkent to end hostilities and resolve various issues.
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