Saleem's Post

  Balochistan is in turmoil for the last many years. But the Balochistan I know about being another land, a fantastic world where jinns and fairies intermingled with human beings. I have spent the best years of my Army life traversing the gleaming deserts and stony valleys of this El Dorado of the East.  If you close your eyes, you will see a beautiful golf course. Now, as you are standing with me in the middle of the golf course, facing east, the boundary wall that runs all the way from nowhere to nowhere, to your right, separates my house from the golf course. The house with a towering old almond tree, yes, that is where we used to live.  A jogging track encircles the golf course from end to end. I am not interested in playing golf. But, since childhood, walking has been one of my favorite pass times. And I have spent the best moments of my life traversing this jogging track. You cannot see it from here, but a road leading from my house skirts the boundary wall and fina...

  After the fall of Dhaka, Indira Gandhi, ostensibly under pressure from the Soviets and America, declared a unilateral ceasefire in the west also. Since then, a spirited discussion has ensued in the Indian, international as well as Pakistani circles that had the superpowers not intervened, the Indian Army would have finished West Pakistan also. In this discussion, which is continuing to date, praetorians, defense analysts, diplomats, and media persons, particularly from India have propounded various theories.  J.N. Dixit, an Indian diplomat, remarked that, if ordered, the Indian Army would have marched in Rawalpindi. After reading various Indian analyses, the author has identified three common Indian war objectives:- a. Defeating Pakistan Army in East Pakistan and creating Bangladesh. b. Destroying Pakistan’s war potential for a period (depending upon  the analyst) from a few years to half a century. c. Capturing Azad Kashmir, or at least its southern portion.  As d...

  Was the 1965 war the curtain-raiser for the fruition of Bhutto's political ambition in 1971? After the 1965 War with India, Ayub Khan was deeply annoyed with Bhutto and held him responsible for grossly misguiding the latter on the diplomatic front. In March 1966, Ayub Khan removed Bhutto as Secretary-General of the Muslim League and in June from the cabinet. Bhutto was furious, tells Roedad Khan, a retired bureaucrat: “Bhutto was sitting all alone in his lawn with a glass of whiskey in his hand. Ghulam Ishaq Khan extended his hand. Bhutto, instead, threw his hands around Ishaq Khan and broke down. He then embraced me and told us in an animated voice, ‘The way Ayub treated me today you would not treat your orderly”. In the past, the politicians in Pakistan had come to power by either appeasing the Army or, like Bhutto and Mujib, garnering foreign help to destroy it, thus rendering it ineffective as happened in the aftermath of the 1970 elections. After failing to sidetrack Mujib ...

The Naval Balance in 1971 Unlike the 1965 War , the Pakistan Navy  knew very well that it was ill-prepared for the naval conflict with India.    It was neither in a  condition to fight an offensive war in deep-sea against the Indian Navy , nor was it equipped to mount a serious defence against the Indian Navy's likely offensive. In his report submitted before the 1971 War, Captain Shariff (Later, Admiral Shariff, CNS Pakistan Navy), had recommended a gradual replacement cum extensive repair program for the navy’s all surface combatants. The recommendations could not be implemented because of a shortage of funds. When Shariff became CNS, the Navy, which had so far operated on a policy of Sea Control, opted to operate, for an interim period, on a policy of Sea Denial as Sea Control was beyond its capacity. Whereas India was getting the latest Soviet warships and submarines for a song, against payments in the form of footwear and such ...

  In December 1971, the PAF had a total of 14 squadrons out of which one squadron was located in East Pakistan. IAF, on the other hand, had 36 squadrons of which 10 squadrons were located in the East and the remaining 26 squadrons in the West. The ratio of combat air power in the East was 10:1 in favour of India. In the West it was 2:1 in India’s favour. Prologue to the War - The Rashid Minhas Episode On 20 August 1971,  before noon, PAF Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas was getting ready to take off in a T-33 jet trainer in Karachi, Pakistan. His second solo flight in that type of aircraft. Minhas was taxiing toward the runway when a Bengali instructor pilot, Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman, signalled him to stop and then climbed into the instructor's seat. The jet took off and Rahman turned towards India. Minhas radioed PAF Base Masroor with the message that he was being hijacked. The air controller requested that he resend his message and he confirmed the hijacking. Later investi...