By Anil Bhat
Operation Gibraltar was Pakistan army`™s grandiose plan to take over Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), in 1965. Pakistan`™s first tin-pot dictator president self-promoted Field Marshal Ayub Khan had been convinced by the then foreign minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, that the Indian response to Pakistan`™s incursions in `Indian` Kashmir would not be across the international boundary and would be confined to Kashmir. The other delusions that Pak army suffered from were that Kashmiri people would welcome them with open arms and that the Indian Army of `Hindus` having lost against the Chinese in 1962, was rather weak.
However, as a retaliation to Pakistan`™s Op Gibraltar launched in mid 1965 with an aim to occupy J&K, Indian Army decided to capture the strategic Hajipir Pass, which served as a vital link between saboteurs operating in Poonch and their bases in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). The pass was dominated by three hill features – Bedori, Lediwali Gali and Sank. Capturing these features was essential for the capture of Hajipir.
19 Infantry Division alongwith 68 Infantry Brigade launched a pincer movement (two sides of simultaneous troop movement closing together behind enemy forward positions) to annihilate the enemy.
Operation Bakshi, the Northern pincer, consisted of 1 PARA advancing from Uri to Sank and further to Lediwali Gali in order to reach Hajipir Pass. 19 Punjab was to take the Bedori approach to the pass.
Operation Faulad, the southern pincer, was to be undertaken by 93 Infantry Brigade of 25 Infantry Division. It was essential to capture these intermittent features to open the axis to Hajipir Pass.
The task was daunting, as even while being under heavy enemy fire with constant threat to life, Indian Army soldiers had to climb very steep mountains devoid of any vegetation and affording very little space to even stand. The assault carried out in pitch darkness, was made worse by the non-stop rain, accompanying slush and slippery rocks. At times the men were forced to move on all four limbs. Undaunted, they advanced and the crucial pass was captured by 28 August 1965 and consolidation, by capturing nearby areas, was completed by 30 August 1965.
Major Ranjit Singh Dayal of 1 PARA led his men very boldly and ingeniously during the operation of reducing the vital feature of Sank, which ultimately paved the way for the capture of Hajipir Pass,. In the final assault on the Pass, Dayal advanced from an unexpected direction catching the enemy completely by surprise. He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for displaying outstanding courage and leadership.
Maj Gen SS Kallan, GOC 19 Infantry Division, who contributed significantly by his professional acumen, flawless planning and leading the men from the front disregarding his personal safety, was also awarded the Maha Vir Chakra.
The helicopter sorties by the Indian Air Force Task Force based in Srinagar had a huge psychological impact on the infiltrators. The invaluable support provided by the helicopters for the much needed administrative backup and evacuation of causalities also played a vital role in the victory.
Over three months after the cease fire between India and Pakistan, at the behest of United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), then Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan`™s first dictator president, self-promoted Field Marshal Ayub Khan met at Tashkent for signing a declaration of peace. The third paragraph of the Tashkent Declaration between these two leaders read, `The Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan have agreed that all armed personnel of the two countries shall be withdrawn not later than 25 February, 1966 to the positions they held prior to 5 August, 1965, and both sides shall observe the cease-fire terms on the cease-fire line`. And so, Haji Pir went back to Pakistan.
The Tashkent declaration was signed during the meeting that began at `16 o`™clock`(4 p.m.), 10 January 1966. Some hours later, Mr. Shastri died. According to an article written by Anton Vereshchagin, specially for Russia India Report on 2 October 2013, to mark the 109th birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, `Lalita, the wife of Shastri, pointing to strange bluish marks on his body and claiming that he never had any heart problems in the past, said that her husband was indeed poisoned.` Vereshchagin further wrote, `However, much of this story remains unclear. Why wasn`t an autopsy performed on the body of the Prime Minister? Why are the Indian authorities afraid to publish the details of his death? Why did Shastri`s son Sunil stubbornly refuse to believe that his father died of a heart attack? Whether we learn the answers to these questions, only time will tell`¦` If indeed Mr. Shastri did die of a heart attack-reported to be his fourth-then quite obviously returning all the gains made by India in the 196
5 war by sheer valour and sacrifices of Indian Army, must have disturbed him enough to trigger a heart attack.It may be recalled that Mr. Shastri was the leader , who held high enough regard for India`™s Armed Forces to visit them often during his short tenure as Prime Minister and coin the popular phrase Jai Jawan Jai Kisan.
Haji Pir was the most militarily vital of India`™s gains of the second war perpetrated by Pakistan. And none of the clauses of the Tashkent Declaration for peace between the two countries has been adhered to by Pakistan, because in 1971 it waged the third war against India and since then it has been waging till date, the fourth war against India by means of export of terror, subterfuge, propaganda and often outright lies.