Exactly sixty years ago, on 3 September 1965, India took the decision to carry the India Pakistan war beyond the international boundary into the Lahore, Sialkot and Barmer sectors to ease the pressure on Akhnur in J&K, which faced a major blitzkrieg from our adversary from 1 September. Pakistan regulars had moved into this territory to salvage the failed Operation Gibraltar which had been launched on 5 August to foment communal unrest in the Valley. In retrospect, it can be seen that from 1947-48 to the Pahalgam terror attack in April this year the one objective of the Pakistan army establishment has been to drive a wedge between the many communities and ethnicities that make up the wonderful ‘Bharat Bhagya Vidhata’.
The 1965 war is important for us in more ways than one. First, it marked a significant transition -from the debacle of the Indo Sino war of 1962 to a fighting fit, well equipped and professionally trained force in 1965 – ready to take on any challenge. The credit for this transformation goes to YB Chavan, who took over from Krishna Menon in the aftermath of the humiliation inflicted upon India by the PLA of China. Unlike Nehru and Menon, under whom professionalism of the defence forces was compromised by ideological considerations, Shastri and Chavan had given the generals a free hand in both reorganisation and rearmament. Our troops had not been lacking in courage even in 1962, but they were without equipment, clothing, rations and back up logistics support. This had been reversed by 1965.
The second important difference was the wider consultation which Shastri undertook, not only with members of the cabinet and the CWC and state CMs, but also with the leading lights of the opposition. Therefore, the nation could speak in one voice about the challenges from the adversary.
The third major difference with the previous war was the active involvement of the Indian Air Force in the ‘65 war. The IAF pounded enemy airbases, and the small aircraft, Gnat, proved more than a match for the US fighter planes that had been hastily inducted into the Pakistan Army.
Fourth, rather than approach the Security Council, or any other country for mediating the dispute, India decided to wait. Thanks to the marshaling of empirical evidence on the ground, the UNMOGIP reported to the UN Secretary General, U Thant, that Pakistan was indeed the aggressor state. While we did not reject conciliation efforts, we continued to focus on strengthening our position on the ground, and whether it was the Burki police station in Lahore, or the Haji Pir in the upper reaches of J&K, we ended up capturing more area than that which the adversary claimed to have taken from us.
Last, but not the least, India won a major moral and semantic victory in the UNSC, and later in Tashkent when it was accepted that hostilities had indeed been started by Pakistan on 5 August 1965, and this was therefore the date on which the abrogation of Article 370 was announced six years ago by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
