CHAKWAL: Fazal Hussain’s face lights up whenever someone asks him to recall the events of the 1965 war. The 75-year-old Hussain still appears nostalgic about the war and in recognition of his valour, he was awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz.

While tensions between India and Pakistan simmered in the August of 1965 in the Kashmir Sector, Fazal Hussain was posted with the 24 Field Regiment in Lahore as a Lance Naik. “I was a wireless operator. On Sept 2, we were put on high alert and on the night of Sept 4, we received orders to advance towards the border,” he recalls.

Hussain hails from Sadhwal village, about 8km from Chakwal. In a region famed for its soldiers and warriors, he is one of several men who remember the war quite vividly, having seen action on the front lines.

However, when asked what victory felt like, Fazal appeared ambivalent. “India attacked us suddenly in Lahore and Sialkot. The enemy was several times stronger, but despite our smaller numbers and weaker infrastructure, we thwarted India’s plan to occupy Lahore,” he responded.

Fazal Hussain

50 years on, the valiant sons of Potohar look back on the war

Ghulam Mustafa, 79, is from the Chak Kharak village. He was posted in Lahore as a clerk who would document the instructions sent in from his seniors during the war.

“I was woken up in the middle of the night on Sept 2 and was ordered to immediately send telegrams to soldiers who were on leave, directing them to return forthwith,” he recalls. According to him, clerks and support staff also swung into action as war loomed.

“When India attacked Lahore, our company was rushed towards the BRB Canal to blow up the vital bridge. We managed to achieve our objective, but it was a tough fight,” Mustafa said.

“We were not ready for the attack on Lahore or Sialkot as both armies were engaged in Kashmir,” recalls Mohammad Dorez, 80, a former Naik from the Bhoun village.

“Most of our troops were sent to Kashmir. When India attacked on Sept 6, we countered with only six guns,” says Dorez. “India launched eleven attacks in one night and but we managed to hold them back. Had our battery not been there, the Indian army would have crossed the BRB Canal easily,” he recalled.

Those seventeen days of war were a tough time for the soldiers and has deeply affected their lives ever since. “We were not sure how long the war would last; we just focused on the fighting,” says Dorez.

Mohammad Dorez

Neither of these brave men claim victory, rather, as Dorez puts it, “We defended our country bravely but there was no clear winner. The result was, at best, undecided.”

“Before the actual war began on the Eastern border, it was our army that launched Operation Gibraltar in Kashmir by aiding the mujahideen there,” says retired Col Aurangzeb Sarfraz, who was a lieutenant at the time. “We were trying to cut India’s jugular vein by occupying Kashmir,” but admitted that both sides suffered heavy losses.

However, he maintains that it was bold action on the part of Pakistani troops who thwarted India’s plans.

Retired Lt-Gen Abdul Majeed Malik, however, holds both countries responsible for the 1965 war. In his newly-published autobiography, he writes that Operation Gibraltar and Operation Grand Slam were the brainchild of then-foreign minister Zulifkar Ali Bhutto and Gen Akhtar Hussain Malik, commander of the 12 Division – which guards areas from Murree to Kashmir. They, he maintains, championed the idea of sending mujahideen into Indian-held Kashmir.

Abdul Majeed Malik

Lt-Gen Malik, however, argues that these men were irregulars; not properly trained or equipped for the mission they were being sent on, so much as that there was no steady supply of ammunition for them. “The Operation [Gibraltar] was badly conceived, badly planned and badly executed,” he said, but was quick to add that it was the brave action of the valiant Pakistani forces who managed to hold off the enemy and rewrite history.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2015

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