ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the 1965 war was the result of “incompetence and political ambitions of those adventurer generals” who had “usurped power in contravention of their constitutional obligations.”

In a message on the Defence Day, released by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) media office here on Friday, he alleged that following the failure of their war strategy, the generals went to Tashkent and signed a document of “total defeat.”

He said former president Ayub Khan and his generals, “who were aware of defeat on the battlefield and that they had no courage to face the enemy,” could not even get Kashmir mentioned in the Tashkent Declaration.

He said one-and-a-half billion Muslims of the world had to witness one of the most saddening events in Islamic history on Dec 16, 1971, in the fall of Dhaka, when 90,000 Pakistani troops had to bear the “humiliation of surrender.”

He said the incident again proved that when the armed forces were used to “usurp power and interfere in political affairs, they lost the ability to defend themselves.”

The PML-N leader said that if the armed forces wished to recover their honour and prestige, and win back respect in the eyes of the people, they must return to their constitutional duty of defending the borders.

He paid tribute to the national heroes who laid down their lives in defending the national borders in accordance with their constitutional and professional obligations.

He said Pakistan got a new lease of life due to the sacrifices of Maj Aziz Bhatti, Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Rafiqi, Maj Ziauddin Abbasi and scores of other fighters.