Updated 1 October 2010

The Second India-Pakistan War

In early 1965 UN observers reported that a number of 'ceasefire agreements' had been violated. In reply to this, the Pakistani Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (father of the late Benazir Bhutto) denied that his country had anything to do with the uprising that was taking place against, what he called, 'tyranny', referring to the civilian unrest that was being encouraged by some infiltrators in the former Princely state.

At the end of August, India decided to send troops across the line in pursuit of the intruders, which consisted of some Pakistanis. In retaliation to this, Pakistan ordered its troops to cross the 'ceasefire line' at Chhamb. Elsewhere, in the area of Rann of Kutch in north–west India, bordering West Pakistan, fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops was well underway, and with the breaches of the 'ceasefire line' in Kashmir, the second India–Pakistan war had now begun.

The Indian army, whose strength in the former Princely state now amounted to 150,000 men, soon seized the town of Uri in Kashmir, and 450 Pakistani tanks, most of which were American-made, were destroyed in the advance by the Indian armed forces. In all they managed to capture 500 square miles of Pakistani territory. Pakistan, however, went on to claim that it had captured 1,500 square miles of Indian territory, which many found hard to believe. In reality Indian troops were just three miles from one of Pakistan's largest cities, Lahore.

Though the Pakistani military had failed, its air force had performed well against its opponent - the Indian air force. The war came to an end on 23 September, 1965, when the two accepted a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations. But this weakened the government of Ayub Khan in Pakistan (Ayub Khan was later replaced by General Aga Mohammed Yahya Khan in March 1969). In the meantime the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Alexei Kosygin, stepped in with the intention of increasing its influence in south–east Asia. Subsequently the two leaders, Lal Bahadur Shashtri of India and Ayub Khan of Pakistan, were invited for a summit meeting in Tashkant, which was then a part of the Soviet Union and is now a part of Uzbekistan. By the end of the week, the two heads of states had hammered out an agreement under which they agreed to withdraw their forces by 25 February to the positions before the outbreak of the conflict. The accord itself was signed on 10 January, 1966.

The Death of Lal Bahadur Shashtri

The Indian Prime Minister, who had been involved with the struggle for independence with Mahatma Gandhi, was so pleased with his work that he looked forward to his triumphant return. A few hours later, he suffered a massive heart attack and passed away. The future Indian Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi, daughter of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and wife of parliamentarian Feroze Gandhi (no relation to the Mahatma), was informed of this. On 24 January, 1966, Mrs Gandhi became India's first woman Prime Minister. She would soon face her first of many crises.

The Forming of the Line of Control

In west Pakistan the signing of the agreement led to the removal of Ayub Khan by another Sandhurst College graduate, General Aga Mohammed Yahya Khan, who had realised that the state, primarily a military one, had become weak. He promised to hold elections as well as to restore institutions which had been silenced since 1958. But in east Pakistan, which was considered to be inferior by those in the west, student demonstrations gained momentum and also protestations against the military regime. But more importantly, in east Pakistan, which consisted of Bengali Muslims, top civil service positions were held by Punjabi Muslims. For Yahya Khan, disaster struck in December 1970, when the Avami league became the dominant party and went on to demand autonomy. In the meantime in west Pakistan, the Pakistan Peoples' Party (the PPP), founded and led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, won the majority of the seats and many believed that this would free them from dictatorship as he had promised them 'food, clothing and shelter'.

However, in the west, many felt that Yahya Khan should allow the Avami League leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to form a government. Instead, the Pakistani Army became involved in atrocities including massacre; the raping of women also became common, which led to protests by millions. To further insert his authority in the east, Yahya Khan ordered a full military crackdown. The order was carried out by Lieutenant General Tikka Khan, nicknamed 'The Butcher of Bangladesh'. In this crackdown, students, teachers and various other intellectuals were arrested, as was Rahman himself. India, whose sympathies lay with east Pakistan but who refused to intervene, soon became concerned as west Pakistani troops began to attack local Hindus. They fled to India in great numbers; but these attacks soon spread to Bengal in the east, and Yahya Khan made it clear that anyone returning would not be accepted. With this, the pressure began to mount on the Indian Prime Minister to intervene. She did this by informing the public to be calm and made an appeal to the UN to speed up its efforts to resolve this crisis.

As Mrs Gandhi met the British Prime Minister Edward Heath in London, military aid was being sent to Pakistan from America, under the presidency of Richard Nixon. When Mrs Gandhi arrived in Washington, she urged many of the American legislators, one of whom was Edward Kennedy, brother of the late President John F Kennedy, to see the plight of the refugees.

The Creation of Bangladesh

On 3 December, 1971, fighters and bombers took off from various bases in west Pakistan and attacked bases in India, including Srinagar air base in Kashmir, Amritsar in the Punjab and Avantipur. The Pakistani Government announced that this was in response to a ground offensive by the Indian troops, but the authorities in the Indian capital denied this and declared a state of emergency. The third war between India and Pakistan had begun, but so had the war between east and west Pakistan and the creation of new state - Bangladesh.

The Indian troops crossed into east Pakistan and began to fight side by side with the east Pakistani group Mukti Bahini - a group that had been fighting the troops from west Pakistan. In response, the American authorities in Washington stopped all aid to India but continued supporting Pakistan. At the same time, troops from west Pakistan tried to enter Kashmir but were pushed back. This was a clear violation of the agreement that had been signed in the 1960s.

The war escalated further when American warships from the seventh fleet headed for the Bangladeshi city of Dhaka, but before they could reach their destination, the Soviets, in support of India, dispatched its own fleet. By this time west Pakistani troops were completely surrounded, and on 16 December they surrendered. A total of 92,000 soldiers were captured and the Pakistani military authorities in west Pakistan were defeated, leaving no option for its leader except to resign. This led to PPP leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to take up the reins. With the defeat of west Pakistan, east Pakistan became independent and became known as Bangladesh. With this, ten million refugees were able to return to their homes. The only thing left now was for an agreement to be signed. In 1972, the agreement, known as the 'Simla Accord' was signed by both Mrs Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, father of the late Benazir Bhutto.

Line of Control

The Simla Accord created the 'Line of Control' in Jammu and Kashmir. In this part of the agreement it was mentioned that both sides shall respect this line without prejudice to the recognised position of their side. Neither side was to seek to alter it unilaterally irrespective of mutual differences. Both sides further undertook to refrain from the threat of use of violation of this line. The ceasefire line that had existed since the Pathan invasion of Kashmir now became known as the 'Line of Control'.

In 1974 India tested its first underground nuclear device, the 'Smiling Buddha', in the deserts of Rajasthan, western India. This was the first indication that the country was slowly becoming a nuclear power. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and to attempt to slow down the Soviet expansion in the region, American authorities supplied weapons, through Pakistan, to the Mujahideen. These included weapons such as stinger missiles. Many of these weapons were to find their way into the Indian-administered Kargil region of Kashmir. In the meantime many countries decided to boycott the Moscow Olympics due the following year.

The Calm Before the Storm

In the 1990s both Pakistan and India began to carry out nuclear tests, and since neither of them were involved in the Nuclear Non–Proliferation Treaty which was signed by representatives of 189 countries in 1968, including United Kingdom, Russia (Soviet Union), France and China, this was extremely worrying.

In February 1999 the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif and the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met in the Pakistani city of Lahore in an attempt to de–escalate the tension that had been growing since May 1998; the motive behind this was to internationalise the issue of Kashmir. But within the Pakistani military authority a top secret plan was slowly being mapped out by the Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf¹ and the Chief of General Staff, Lt Gen Mohammed Aziz Khan. The plan, which was approved by Nawaz Sharif, included the Afghan Mujahideen and the Pakistani Northern Light Infantry. The plan was:

1. To cut off the strategic National Highway 1A which joins the rest of Indian-administered Kashmir to its capital Sri Nagar.
2. Alter the Line of Control. This is the most significant part of the Simla Accord signed in 1972, which clearly specifies that neither side should attempt to alter this.
3. The movement across the Line of Control would give some impetus to the insurgency that had been taking place in the region and elsewhere, including the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir in India.
4. Revenge for the humiliating defeat in the 1971 conflict.

While the Indian Prime Minister and the Pakistani leader were locked in a meeting in Lahore, the storm that was to follow was brewing as insurgents began to move across the Line of Control in the districts of Dras, Batalik, Mushkoh Valley, Jubhar, Khalubar and Chorbat, which all overlooked the National Highway 1A in the Kargil region of Indian-administered Kashmir. A man then reported to the police that he had been kidnapped, and that the kidnappers did not seem to be ordinary Kashmiris. This information was relayed to the Army, who sent a group of men under the command of Captain Saurabh Kalia. But when they failed to report back, another group of men were dispatched, and when they also failed to return, another group of men were ordered to investigate.

On 8 May some survivors from the last group of men returned and informed the authorities that they had been attacked by unseen enemy from the top of the hills and mountains, and that some of the armed units had been targeted by snipers. This information was immediately passed on to the authorities in the Indian capital, New Delhi. In the meantime, General VP Malik, who had been appointed Chief of Army Staff, ordered that no further troops be dispatched to these areas until further notice. But soon it became clear that the insurgents had not just occupied one area but several, and the general gave orders for all troops to be mobilised and dispatched to the areas. This included troops which were taking part in counter insurgency elsewhere in Kashmir, and the Naga troops as well as the Gurkhas. With this, a total of 30,000 men, some of whom did not have the chance to acclimatise to the atmosphere, were placed on the front line. This, however, was not the full mobilisation of the troops.