This 6th of September, Pakistan will commemorate the 60th anniversary of its 1965 war with India – from the 28th of August to the 22nd of September in 1965. Pictured above is a scene inside a field air ops room during the same war. Squadron Leader MM Alam is seen in the center.
A lot of nationalism will be on display, including military parades, flag hoisting, and the laying of wreaths at war memorials to pay tribute to the martyrs who defended Pakistan's national borders. Interestingly, both Pakistan and India claim to have won that war and for its (own) part, Pakistan marks 6-September as its Defense Day.
For a minute, let’s take a step back and revisit what happened in 1965.
In August 1965, Pakistan’s 12th infantry division (commanded by Major General Akhtar Hussein Malik) launched Operation Gibraltar in Indian-Occupied Kashmir and managed to infiltrate trained volunteers led by regular Pakistan Army officers to start a hit-and-run campaign of sabotage in the Indian Kashmir. The exact number of trained volunteers in Operation Gibraltar varies by source. Pakistani sources estimate between 5,000 and 7,000; Indian sources claim 30,000 to 40,000 – and other sources suggest a range of 7,000 to over 20,000 trained infiltrators. In any case, this military escapade was launched on the “presumption” that Indian Muslims will rise up in revolt and that India will not cross any international borders.
The most important consequence of the 1965 war was that, for the first time since their independence in 1947 the India-Pakistan border became a Berlin Wall of sorts
These assumptions proved false and Operation Gibraltar turned out to be a strategic mistake, a tactical blunder and (hence) a political disaster. After this failed tactic, General Akhtar Malik led Operation Grand Slam to capture the Indian strategic cantonment of Akhnur. By this time, the Indian Army was already on full alert and ready to attack. And at 0300 hours on 6 September 1965, the Indian Army crossed international borders and attacked.
On that fateful day and amidst an air of excitement and expectation, Pakistan waited with bated breath – when President Ayub Khan Addressed the nation via radio at precisely midday. To quote him, “My dear countrymen, the hour of trial for a hundred million Pakistanis has struck.”
And the rest is history – which everyone knows.
Both sides executed hostilities – till the international community intervened and forced a ceasefire whereby the two countries signed the Tashkent Declaration, returning both to pre-1965 territorial positions.
But there was a catch, under which both countries thought that they had won. Since the Indian attack across Wagah threatened Lahore and Sialkot, Pakistan says that India lost the war and Pakistan won. And since Pakistan's plan to liberate Kashmir and annex the territory failed, India says they won.
Independent sources, however, are clear that it was a military stalemate and neither side won. It is perhaps apt, then, that both India and Pakistan say they won this war, showing up each other's nationalism for what it is.
It is one thing to commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives – martyred, and quite another to celebrate a war ‘victory'. Truth is: both countries lost a lot in that war. While the war featured the largest tank battles since World War II and significant air combat between both sides – the mediation that led to the Tashkent Declaration failed to address the fundamental issues of Kashmir, which continues to be a point of contention, even today. Through the 1965 war, Kashmir became a perpetually intractable issue. This battle is when Kashmir took an irreversible turn for the worse – because it showed that it was not going to be easy for Pakistan to liberate Kashmir militarily.
And though the Kashmiris didn't rise up with the Pakistani fighters, it exacerbated a conflict between India's security forces and the locals in Kashmir – that exists, to date.
If anything, though, the 1965 war should be read as a failure of diplomatic negotiations between India and Pakistan – because if war is a continuation of politics, diplomacy is war by other means.
The most important consequence of the 1965 war was that, for the first time since their independence in 1947 the India-Pakistan border became a Berlin Wall of sorts. Up until 1965: visas were easy, Indian and Pakistani films were screened in theatres on both sides of the border, trade ties were normal, books, journals and ideas moved freely and easily.
The Pakistan-India relations as we know them today, were formed more by 1965 than anything else – arguably, even by Partition itself. In 1947, there were people who left their homes to go and live in the other country, thinking they could always return. 1965 ended that dream.
It is said that 1965 war was the first real war between the two countries and it was the 1965 war that made the feeling of permanent hostility set in stone.
It is worrisome when countries celebrate wars and worse, seeing what the militarization of public discourse does to a society.
For these same reasons – while we commemorate Defense Day this 6th September, I will mourn the 60th anniversary of the conflict.