By
Sajjad Shaukat
Every
year September 6 is celebrated as the defense day to pay tribute to the
Pakistani soldiers who defeated India in the 1965 war.
Military thinkers agree
that although the physical force will determine the type and scale of war, yet
it is the will to fight or moral force which determines the outcome of war.
Clausewitz puts it this way, “One might say that the physical force seems
little more than the wooden hilt, while moral factors are the precious metal,
the real weapon.”
In his book, “Fighting
Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945”, Creveld identifies the
elements of moral force, whom he calls “fighting power, the willingness to
fight and the readiness, if necessary, to die”. The greater these elements, the
less vulnerable an armed force will be to demoralization. Moral force, then, is
the crucial factor in determining the combat power of any belligerent.
During the 1965 war such
elements like will to fight and moral force have been more found in the
personnel of Pakistan’s Armed Forces then those of India.
When, on September 6,
1965, India started the war, and its forces crossed the international border,
on the western front in Lahore, Pakistan’s Armed Forces quickly responded.
Indian Regiment had also crossed the BRB canal and captured the town of
Batapore (Jallo Mur). The same day, a counter offensive by Pakistanis soldiers,
consisting of an armoured division and infantry division forced the Indian 15th
Division to withdraw to its starting point. In this regard, the huge credit
goes to the all men of Pak Army, who were deployed in the Lahore areas of
Wahgah, Burki etc. Without bothering for their lives, they fought bravely.
Among them, Major Raja Aziz Bhatti played a huge role in the outcome of the
Lahore battles and was martyred (Shaheed).
Similarly, in case of
Sialkot, several soldiers of the Pak Army sacrificed their lives to stop
advancement of Indian tanks. The 1965 war witnessed some of the largest tank
battles since World War II, and was fought at Chawinda in Sialkot sector—The
Battle of Chawinda resulted into victory of Pakistan whose armoured forces
destroyed 120 tanks of India.
As regards aerial
warfare between Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Indian Air Force (IAF), the latter
emerged as victorious in the I965 war because, at the cost of their personal
safety, the personnel of Pakistan Air Force defeated India. During that war,
PAF had destroyed 100 Indian aircraft on ground and in the air, while damaged
more than 10—not counting the undermined losses inflicted by PAF’s night
bombing. In this regard, Squadron Leader M. M. Alam set new records in history
of air warfare on 7th September by defending Pakistan’s airspace, and shot down
five Indian aircraft in less than sixty seconds at Sargodha.
In relation to the
sacrificing spirit, let us take the example of Flight Lieutenant Yunus Hussain
who fought in air battles fearlessly. During one such engagement, he fought
singly against 6 enemy aircraft and shot down 2 Hunters. On 6 September, while
attacking Halwara airfield, his small formation was intercepted by a large
number of enemy, and although his aircraft was hit, he refused to break off the
engagement by disregarding his personal safety, and was martyred.
The role of Pakistan
Navy in the Indo-Pak war of 1965 is also appreciable. Securing Pakistan’s
coasts, it played a vital role in defeating India. The Operation Dawarka marked
was launched by Pakistan on September 7. Indian town of Dwarka was chosen to be
a target of the attack. The Pakistani operation was successful and its warships
harboured in Bombay, making the Indian Navy unable to sortie. In this context,
Ghazi, the only submarine successfully attacked heavy ships of the Indian Navy,
aiding Operation Dwarka.
However, there were many
national heroes like Brigadier Ahsan Rashid, Major Raja Aziz Bhatti, SQN LDR M.
M. Alam, SQN LDR Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui etc. who fought courageously with the
Indian forces.
In fact, it was due to
the moral force that despite Indian surprise invasion in 1965 and the
qualitative and numerical superiority over Pakistan, while showing courage, and
by sacrificing their lives, the Pakistani forces not only recaptured the
territories from India, but also took Khem Karan from Indian forces including
various regions of Rajastan, Sindh, and Chumb in Kashmir. Indian defeat was
owing to demoralization of its soldiers.
By imbibing the same
spirit of the 1965 war, Pakistan’s Armed Forces during the successful military
operation, Zarb-e-Azb compelled Taliban to retreat from North Waziristan
Agency. Notably, since June 15, 2014, the jets of Pakistan Air Force have
bombed militants’ hideouts in North Waziristan, and killed thousands of
insurgents including foreign militants, while Pak Army has also killed several
terrorists through ground offensive and many of them surrendered before the
Army. And during street to street fighting, without bothering for their lives, and
by air-dropping commandos at the risky places, our forces made a great headway
in disrupting the Taliban supply routes and links.
Operation, Zarb-e-Azb
which has been extended to other tribal area and provinces of Pakistan,
including Karachi is obtaining its objectives rapidly, as the Armed Forces have
broken the backbone of the militants.
While addressing a
ceremony of the golden jubilee celebrations of the 1965 war, Chief of Army
Staff, Gen. Raheel said on September 6, last year that the operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched at a
time when terrorist networks had solidified in the country. But, “our success is the result of our martyrs and
ghazis—in Karachi and Balochistan, peace has returned, where militants have
been surrendering their arms.”
Nonetheless, either it
was the Indo-Pak war of 1965 or the present different war against the
militants; it was owing to the superior moral force of sacrificing their own
lives, noted in Pakistan’s soldiers, which caused demoralization among Indian
forces and the Taliban—resulting into victory of the guardians of the country
in both cases.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on
international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants,
Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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