Going through the 1965 India-Pakistan war archives will reveal that the effects and implications of the conflict refused to go away (as they should not, some might argue) from the hearts and minds of those governing the country and the public for a long, long time. In fact, there were some instances in which one could detect a touch of a celebratory zeal, especially among the latter when it came to the things that suggest you have inflicted damage on your enemy.

In 1965, it was in the Sialkot sector that one of the fiercest battles was fought between the two neighbouring countries. Pakistan’s armed forces achieved considerable success in keeping the aggressors at bay, so much so that they even captured their armoured vehicles. One such vehicle was a tank called Fakhr-i-Hind. A month after the war came to an end (or did it just halt?), the tank was brought to Karachi’s famous Polo Ground. On Oct 22, commissioner of the city Syed Darbar Ali Shah opened the tank for public display. According to a news report, the commissioner ‘unasked’ the tank, while the vice-chairman of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) hoisted the Pakistani flag on it. Thousands, the report says, flocked to the ground to see the 50-ton tank.

War, as the cliché goes, is never a solution to any problem. The prime reason for it is that apart from the armies fighting it, civilians from every walk of life, too, bear its brunt. As the 1965 conflict began, quite a few Pakistanis who were in India for personal or professional reasons were left stranded. For example, there were a good number of journalists who found it difficult to come back to Pakistan safe and sound during and after the event. Four of them — Mahbub Alam, Asif Jilani, Khalil Batalvi and Aslam Sheikh — were expected to land in their homeland sooner than they actually did. However, it was not mainly because of Indian authorities. On Oct 21, the media raised the issue that an American airline’s mischief delayed by a few days the arrival of four Pakistani mediamen in Karachi. When the four boarded a Pan Am aircraft (two with their families) from New Delhi, they were told by its pilot that the flight would not go to Karachi due to the ‘political situation there’. However, another airline, BOAC, brought them to Karachi via Bombay (now Mumbai) on the night of Oct 19. Ah, America!

But, and of course, there were countries who extended their support to Pakistan in trying times. They included Iran, Turkey and China. In the second week of September a 19-member Iranian team of nurses came to Pakistan to serve the Pakistani soldiers who had sustained injuries in the war. The team stayed for five weeks and rendered its services with dedication. On Oct 20, it left Karachi for Tehran by Iranian Airlines. The nurses were given a warm send-off. Are we still friends with Iran?

And as far as our own countrymen go, they were playing their part just as well as it was required of them. On Oct 19, an official statement read that the regional directorate of industries West Pakistan had so far collected 52,402 yards of cloth, 30 drums of cooking oil, 4,160 pieces of aluminum utensils, 1,368 bottles of jam and jelly, 100 radio and transistor sets, 1,208lb of absorbent cotton, 1,050 writing pads, 250lb of tea and 1,320 garments for war victims. Respect!

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2015

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