Defense Minister Rajnath Singh recently said that if the Indian government had turned the “strategic gains” its soldiers made into “strategic advantages” at the negotiating table after the 1965 war with Pakistan, it would have crossed the border. He said the infiltration problem would have been resolved.
Speaking at a function to celebrate Veterans Day on January 14 in Jammu’s Akhnoor, Rajnath said that the Indian Army had successfully unfurled the tricolor at Haji Pir in 1965 and that it was a “negotiable” event. “If we don’t bring it back to the table, the infiltration route for extremists will be lost.” It might have been closed. But he added, “This is not an accusation…Whatever happened, there must be some thought behind it. And I don’t want to discuss it here.”
Why was the 1965 India-Pakistan war fought, what happened after it, and what was the importance of Haji Pir in stopping infiltration? Explain.
Infiltration issues in Jammu and Kashmir
India has a 740-kilometer Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan that runs through the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Indian army has set up barbed wire fences along Jammu and Kashmir’s 540-kilometre-long LoC to check infiltration of militants and smuggling of arms, ammunition and drugs.
Despite this situation and the strict 24/7 vigil by the Indian military, militants sometimes find ways to infiltrate and smuggle weapons and drugs into Jammu and Kashmir. Oaks and dense forests in treacherous mountainous terrain act as natural gaps along the LoC.
Defense experts say the incursion is facilitated by the Haji Pir pass on the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir side. They say Pakistan’s occupation of Haji Pir, an 8,661-foot mountain pass on the western edge of the Pir Panjal range, has given its neighbor a strategic geographic advantage.
Operation Gibraltar
In August 1965, Pakistani soldiers entered Kashmir posing as locals, using the Haji Pir Pass as one of their main routes.
The plan was to incite the Muslim-majority Kashmiri population against the Indian government. Pakistan believed that the uprising by the local population would help the case for Kashmir in international forums.
Its military strategy consisted of some columns occupying important highlands around the Kashmir Valley, while others mixed in with the local population, destroyed bridges, highways, communication facilities, and Indian military logistics facilities, and The idea was to create the appearance of a local uprising against the government. .
However, the operation was doomed from the start as local Kashmiris did not revolt and instead reported the presence of Pakistani infiltrators to the army and police.
As a result, more troops were sent into the valley, and most of the invaders were captured or killed.
After the end of the war with Pakistan in 1965, many locals received government awards for their assistance.
Mohammad Deen, a young man from Darakasi village in Tangmarg, went to Tosha Maidan with his livestock, where he encountered Pakistani infiltrators. Once he won their trust, they asked him to buy them some things, including a pheran (a local Kashmiri dress). However, Mohammad Deen informed the army. After the war, Dean was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions. However, he was killed by militants early in the militant campaign in 1990.
Ghulam Din, a sarpanch from the border village of Dharan who helped Indian troops reach Haji Pir unnoticed by the Pakistani troops stationed there, has been awarded the Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime award for bravery.
1965 India-Pakistan War
Indian troops crossed the Line of Control on August 15 and captured three important mountainous areas in Kargil district overlooking the Srinagar-Leh national highway.
By August 28, Indian forces had captured the entire Haji Pir bulge and Haji Pir pass, about 8 km inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The capture of Haji Pir was a major strategic victory for India. This is because it not only disabled logistics facilities and blocked infiltration routes, but also brought the Poonch-Uri road under control, thus reducing the distance between these two border towns. 282km to 56km.
However, after the failure of Operation Gibraltar, the Pakistani army launched Operation Grand Slam, attacking Akhnoor with divisional forces in the early hours of September 1, 1965. Their plan was to capture the then only bridge over the Chenab at Akhnoor. It blocked Indian supplies to the Indian troops deployed south of Pir Panjal.
The Pakistani army planned to advance from Akhnoor to Jammu and cut off the national highway to Kashmir.
In their first advance, they captured Chumbu (Chungbu). Thanks to US aid, Pakistan’s military had superior artillery, armor, and infantry. However, as they continued their attack on Akhnoor, the Indian army started a war inside Pakistan. They opened a new front in Pakistan’s Punjab province, marching as far as Sialkot and reaching near Lahore. This led Pakistan to divert troops from Kashmir to defend Lahore.
Tashkent Declaration
Seventeen days of hostilities between the two countries ended after a ceasefire on September 20, followed by the Tashkent Declaration of January 10, 1966, in which both countries agreed to return to their pre-August positions.
At the time, India owned 1,920 square kilometers of Pakistani territory centered on the fertile lands of Sialkot, Lahore and Kashmir, including the strategic Haji Pir pass. Pakistan had 550 square kilometers of Indian territory, mainly in the desert opposite the Sindh province and Chhumb of Akhnoor.
The 1965 war resulted in a strategic and political defeat for Pakistan as it was not successful in fomenting an insurgency in Kashmir and was instead forced to move its troops to the defense of Lahore. During the Tashkent Declaration, India also returned Haji Pir and other occupied territories to Pakistan. With the return of Haji Pir, Pakistan regained strategic advantage along the LoC in Jammu.
Pakistan surrendered Chhumbu, but India lost territory again in the 1971 war. It is now part of PoK.
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