Pakistanis don't have the truth shown to them by their governments regarding very war.Remember we had independent media in the last decade and even in the beginning the journalists weren't frank as they are today. The major trend setter of asking tough questions to minsters on live television was started by hamid mir in 2007 after he and his crew office was invaded by federal police and they had assaulted him. It is ironical how today folks abuse him for his anti-military stance. But if it were not for him, our private media would continue to be a lifafa for the people in power.
Regarding the indo-pak wars, I will summarize the common beliefs of our people. 99.9% of pakistanis believe that we won all wars by huge margin except the 1971 war. In all the wars we won we were almost gonna invade india & colonize it but alas traitors like nawaz sharif in 1999 & ayub khan in 1965 made ceasefire and backstabbed us. Even my educated friends believe the same.
How do you think Zulfiqar bhutto started his revolution? By claiming that we were very near to beating india and india was on its knee. All we had to do was go for the final blow, instead general ayub betrayed us in tashkent. He had famous line " Me btayunga k tashkent me kia hua tha". He revolted, got elected Pm and was sentenced to death yet never told us k kia hua tha bhai tashkent me.
Same excuse was given by musharraf during his coup 1999. In fact search for the 1971 war on wiki and read the section "Aftermath in pakistan" and you will be more than surprised at the early reports given to pakistani public by government controlled media.
Lets take the second paragraph first and then I'll give my views. [MENTION=76058]cricketjoshila[/MENTION] and [MENTION=132715]Varun[/MENTION] can then give the Indian perspective.
Lets take the two wars. I dont consider the first one in 48 a real war as it was still a result of the turmoil of partition and the massive fog of war both country's were engulfed in. I mean you had officers on both sides who only a few months ago were on the same side. And that whole Kashmir episode is chock full of diplomatic andpolitical skullduggery from the British that one cannot simply discuss it unless we start talking about the issues before. So lets leave that one aside for now.
So 1965. Now look at it from our point of view. it was only a few years after partition and its psychological horrors. The effect of the unfair (in Pakistan eyes) distribution of land and assets by the British and their swerve was very very fresh. We were facing an enemy way larger than usNow alot of people say "well Ayub khan shouldnt have ordered the special forces operation in kashmir". But from a military point of view it made sense. We had already engage Indian forces in the Ran of Kutch. There had been terror from afghanistan and we knew the soviets were in league with the Indians. Our sense of insecurity racheted up during the late fifities and sixties. Therefore it was only natural that a strongman like Ayub would have made a move like the one he did in Kashmir. But heres where he miscalculated. He thought that his operation was small enough to avoid a full scale engagement with our neighbour. Like the afghans had calculated with the pasthunistan stuff. The general consensus was that this at best would remain contained within the Kashmir theatre.
India on the other hand saw this as an opportunity to shut up Ayub and Pakistan once and for all. Give the Pakistan army a bloody nose. Hold some territory and then all this Kashmir Kashmir bakwaas will die down. Also a good pasting would help with the national mood of a newly independant nation and give India further status abroad as a responsible democracy that can combat pakistani style dictators. So Ayub miscalculates when it cam to India's response and India miscalculates when it comes to Pakistan's counter response. Suddenly you have the Indian army pretty much withnin shouting distance of lahore, the Pakistan army completely taken by surprise and scrambling (because they werent expecting India to invade across the international boundary, they thought at best it would be over the LOC which didnt exist at the time)..and then the comical halting of the Indian army who stopped thinking they were walking into a trap..
The whole war was full of stories of officers making blunders and junior NCO's fighting like lions. But What did happen was that once Pakistan got its act together it managed to push the larger more well equipped Indian army back over the border and even held some territory for a short period. They made a blunder by trying to be overly ambitious and then the Indians managed to counter attack within their own territory but overall from the Pakistani persepctive it was seen as a breaking of the unwritten rules of not crossing the border and keeping the argument in kashmir and kashmir alone. The PAF performed miracles and so did many of the PA units involved. Overall it was a solid defence of the nation. (After the initial miscalculation). Hence why September 6th is defence day not destroyed India day. It was not a "victory" in the traditional sense but a solid military defence of the nation and thats it. India also defended their ground well and caused plenty of headaches in kashmir but ultimatley both nations failed in their overall objectives although Pakistan managed to hold off india and give it a bloody nose. To the extent it would think twice about mounting such and operation again.
Now moving on to 71. I grew up with the shame of 71. My parents had great pride towards 65. I remember the stories well. My mother and her siblings used to watch the PAF take on the IAF from their roof. And then dive into the trench dug in the large veranda in their house when the siren would go off. One sober incident still stays with me however. My grandfather took out his gun on the first couple of days of the war when rumours began to swirl that Lahore had fallen and the Sikhs were coming. He simply said to my aunt and mum: " i will shoot you both first then shoot myself before I see you humiliated by the Sikhs"..47 was still very raw.
My mother used to tell us stories of how proud girls would be if they got a rishta from Dhaka. It was a big deal. East Pakistan was a part of us..it still pains us to this day, hence why when the Bangladeshis shout and scream we simply say nothing. The pain is too great for so many people still..
Now looking at the military aspect, this was a brilliant operation from the Indians. We were outnumbered, outgunned, demoralised and in the end surrendered due to the crushing of morale. West Paksitan defended its elf fine. The Indians knew after 65 that the West was a no go zone for them. But that was all a distraction. The real game was in the east where India held all the cards. The Pakistani border posts had come under heavey attack many months before the war started so that Mukhti baani cadres could be sent over the border. It was a civil war and India knew what it was doing. From the coup within the east pakistan armed forces to the propaganda. These tactics are still used today by many many countries across the world. We were caught with our trousers near our ankles and were essentially betrayed by Bhutto and the military of Yahya Khan. The PA of the time was a secular force , that was under pressure from various angles. Society, politics, all sorts of stuff. The PA was a mere microcosm of society at the time. With the cold war in full swing, we simply couldnt handle waht was thrown at us. A naivety built on the defence in 65 was ingrained. India scored a resounding victory and to this day that victory is ingrained in the minds of the PA...never again. lets hope there isnt a future miscalculation due to past victories or defences..
Moving onto Kargil. Look Kargil wasnt a war Thats just movie mania nonsense. It was an engagement.
So my opinion. Well remember I talked about the past coming to haunt us again? well it did so again. After Siachen the PA decided to draw up a response should anything like this happen again. Prior to the decision to go through with Kargil, Indian movements in that area were being closely monitored. After careful assessment and analysis, there seemed to be a concern that india was going to try another Siachen op. We had increased activity along the LOC e.g the SERI-bandala incident where 22 innocent civilians were killed by indian forces in AJK. The BJP had a begun a major military build up along the LOC , increased firing in Nakara,Dudunyal, Shahkot Jura and Nauseri. Pakistan had lodged countless complaints to the UNMOGIP. George Fernandes was visiting the front quite often at the time and alot of new procurements with regards to snow equipment were being made. All of this added to the intelligence analysis from the PA side. Something was up and something big was planned was the consensus. The fear of a another Siachen or worse grew..
The PA was further alarmed by the fact that the IA usually occupies vacant posts along the LOC in mid May. Now these posts are not usually occupied by either side by the PA knows the IA occupies these posts in mid May right up until November december. that year they went earlier, around April but as the Pakistanis were still occupying the posts there was a clash. This was in turtok sector.
Also Indian reserve formations in Ladakh move to the valley..in the kargil time period they didnt. They were retained in the Dras-Kargil sector. Again alarm bells began to ring in PA intel quarters..
There were further reports that Indian formations were dumping supplies and getting ready for some aggressive ops in the Shaqma sector, possibly as a distration for a wider op on the LOC..Having been alerted to intensified ops in the Shaqma sector, 10 corps decided to order a full scale assessment of the situation and inact a plan to counter any aggressive moves along this line. Mujahideen were also sued as recconassaince and mobile commando units to hold certain posts as the NLI was the force that would be used not the PA. the major PA formations were not to be sued as it was seen as a interdiction operation and not a full scale military engagement. However extra troops were eventaully called in after major action against Pakistan NLI posts. We couldnt get our forces to the area because the Burzil pass was blocked solid and hence a fullscale op was never in the offing.
When the IA heard the chatter in pushto and Balti between NLI forces it was assumed that these units were Mujahids..the PA on its part didnt bother to dispel this and we suffered later politically. Many of the forward Mujahid units we used for reconasissance and interdiction but in general the NLI was in charge of taking and holding posts and thwarting any aggressions from the other side...
Now I could go on and on about what ahppened after when things really escalated but theres no point. It just becomes a tu tu main main excercise.
What i want to highlight is the real issue in our relationship and that is partition. If you study all of our military engagements they are chock full of miscalculations, lack of communication, misperceptions, old nationalism and religious issues etc etc. Even Kargil stems from partition. and the issues around it.
We have to deal with this very painful part of our history and move forward. Its not about who won this or that. We all lost. The only people who won are sitting sipping tea and laughing at us. Everybody just need to take a step back and start talking or we will end up at the bottom of the indian ocean. And then theyll still be laughing at our stupidity!!
