2024-09-07 13:52:41
Islamabad: Date 6 September 1965… On this day, the Indian Army attacked Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city. This was a strategy that changed the direction of the 1965 war. The roots of this conflict are linked to Pakistan’s secret Operation Gibraltar in August 1965. The purpose of this operation of Pakistan was to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir, incite local rebels and weaken India’s control over the area. Pakistan was under the misconception that Kashmir has a majority Muslim population, which would support it in the event of war. Pakistan also wanted to take advantage of India’s military weakness after its defeat in the 1962 India-China war.
Operation Gibraltar and Kashmir
The Pakistani army waged an undeclared war in Jammu and Kashmir in August 1965. It began with Operation Gibraltar, a covert mission designed to infiltrate Kashmir and incite rebellion against India. The Pakistani plan aimed to weaken India’s hold on Kashmir by uniting local rebels and promoting widespread unrest, with the ultimate goal of capturing the region. Operation Gibraltar triggered the larger conflict that followed, known as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
Pakistan has been trying to get Kashmir since 1947
Pakistan’s greed for Kashmir dates back to the 1947 Partition. Pakistan believed that Kashmir should be part of its territory due to its Muslim majority population. Therefore, Pakistan, with the help of its Western friends, sent its soldiers disguised as tribals to occupy Kashmir. This led to Pakistan getting a part of Kashmir, which is now known as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, while India ruled the rest of the area, including the Kashmir Valley.
Ayub Khan and Bhutto hatched a conspiracy
Pakistan’s leadership, particularly President Ayub Khan and Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, thought that the local Kashmiri population could be incited to revolt with external support. In the wake of India’s defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Pakistan believed that India’s military strength was still low, making it an opportune moment for action. Pakistan’s leadership saw a successful revolt as a way to gain control of Kashmir.
Capture of Haji Pir Pass
Pakistan had opened a front against India from Punjab to Kashmir in the 1965 war. Then the Indian Army succeeded in capturing the strategically important Haji Pir Pass on 28 August 1965. This capture reduced the travel distance from Jammu to Srinagar via Poonch and Uri by more than 200 km. Pakistan used the Haji Pir Pass to send infiltrators into Kashmir, but India closed this route. However, the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri decided to return the Haji Pir Pass to Pakistan. This decision was taken during the Tashkent Agreement, in which Pakistan promised that it would end the war and try to make peace.
6 September attack on Jammu and India’s counter-attack
On 1 September, Pakistan launched an offensive in the Akhnoor sector near Jammu, called Operation Grand Slam. India responded to this invasion by launching a cross-border attack in Punjab. On 6 September 1965, the Indian Army launched a surprise attack on Pakistan, targeting the Lahore sector. On the morning of 6 September, Indian troops breached the international border and entered Pakistan from multiple fronts. This offensive by the Indian Army caught the Pakistani Army by surprise in the Lahore sector. This surprise attack caught the Pakistani Army off guard and the Indian Army reached the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city.
Why was Lahore targeted?
The purpose behind attacking Lahore was to divert the attention of the Pakistani army. The Pakistani army was strengthening its front in the Akhnoor sector in those days, but it panicked when it saw Lahore slipping out of its hands. The frightened Pakistani army retreated and started defending Lahore. India’s strategy also included capturing a large part of Pakistan to gain advantage during future negotiations. However, India never wanted to capture Lahore. For this, the Indian Army captured the Ichhogil Canal, which was a defensive waterway used to protect Lahore.