Author: Mushahid Hussain
Affiliation: Chairman of the Senate Defence Committee (Pakistan)
Organization/Publisher: Express Tribune
Date/Place: September 7, 2021/Pakistan
Type of Literature: Article
Word Count: 1399
Link: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2318865/1
Keywords: Pakistan, India, Kashmir, War
Brief:
The article explores the factors that led to the first Pakistan-India full-scale war in 1965. The author, a renowned journalist and technocrat, analyzed the contours of the South Asian region during the mid-Cold War era. The US and China both were trying their muscles to increase their respective sphere of influence in the region. The study highlights the internal dynamics of Pakistan that led to the initiation of Operation Gibraltar by Pakistani regular forces in India. The author explains the naïve approach of then President of Pakistan, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, who thought to ignite a massive uprising in Occupied Kashmir by infiltrating troops of the Pakistan Army across the border. The military brass perceived a limited reaction from the Indian side in the disputed region of Occupied Kashmir, but Operation Gibraltar resulted in a full-scale war between both arch-rivals. On the international front, the US supported India and halted Pakistan’s military aid, an act that is interpreted by the author as a penalty on Islamabad for extending warm ties with Beijing. The author concludes that the status quo in Kashmir can only change by an indigenous mass uprising movement, not a pseudo rebellion sponsored by an external state.
By: Muhammad Taimoor Bin Tanveer, CIGA Senior Research Associate
