The Indo-Pak War

In 1965, India faced threats of war from Pakistan. General Mohammad Ayub Khan had come to power in Pakistan through a military coup in 1958, forcibly taking over from President Iskander Mirza and assuming the president’s post himself. The US was giving Pakistan a great deal of military support. The war with China in 1962 had left the Indians, including the armed forces, feeling demoralised. So Ayub Khan probably thought it was the right time to test the strength of the Indian forces at the frontier. In April 1965, Pakistan tested the situation in Sindh. It seemed as if the Pakistanis could win after the first clashes in the Rann of Kachchh. Both sides were, at Britain’s intervention, made to agree to a ceasefire and withdrawal of forces to the positions held before the clashes. Confident that the Indian army was weak, and trying to capitalise on the unrest created in the valley by the followers of Sheikh Abdullah and some other dissidents, the leadership in Pakistan decided to launch an attack in Kashmir. ‘Operation Grandslam’ was launched in August with the idea of using the only significant overland route to Kashmir before India could muster its forces and outmoded tanks. Pakistan’s foreign minister at the time, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, encouraged Ayub Khan in this venture. Well-trained infiltrators were sent into the valley with the idea of creating an uprising there.

The Indian prime minister showed his strength of mind at this point of time. Pakistan claimed that there was a spontaneous uprising against the Indian occupation of Kashmir. India pointed out that Pakistan had instigated trouble inside

Indian territory by sending armed raiders into Jammu and Kashmir from so-called ‘Azad Kashmir’ (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). Declaring tht force would be met with force, Shastri gave orders that the Indian army should cross the ceasefire line and close the passes used by the infiltrators. By early September the second Indo-Pakistan war had begun. Shastri proved that he could be decisive in a way that Nehru had not been. He took little time to grant the Indian forces the permission to take the needed retaliatory steps. His defence minister, Y.B. Chavan, also proved to be outstanding. In September, Indian forces launched a three-pronged attack with their tanks aiming at Lahore and Sialkot across the border in Punjab. Soon, Lahore was within the range of Indian fire. It was also the first time that the Indian Air Force

was to take part in war after independence.

The United Nations intervened and a ceasefire was brokered to which both sides agreed on September 23.