For the fan of war movies, expecting an action-packed thriller, Surkhru, an 11-minute docudrama produced by the Directorate of Public Relations of the Pakistan Navy, has the plot, the setting, the servicemen, weapons and high-tech equipment, along with the enemy. The only thing it lacks is the action, because no weapons are fired in the film.

Surkhru is based on true incidents, which unfolded after Pakistan Navy’s long-range patrol aircraft P-3C Orion, on a routine reconnaissance flight picks up a “doubtful contact”, off its normal position by several nautical miles in the South.

The film opens with echoes and fast-paced news flashes, reminding viewers of the innumerable times India violated the Line of Control, along with the statements and warnings from Pakistan’s prime minister and military higher-ups that the country’s forces have the complete capability to answer back, and that India should not test Pakistan’s patience.

This is followed by the events of the evening of March 4, 2019, when the Orion’s radar screens showed an Indian submarine in Pakistan waters.

Pakistan Navy releases a short docudrama to celebrate an eventually uneventful incident last year, where it detected an Indian submarine in its waters and forced it to turn back

Up until then in the film, the crew of the plane is busy pulling the leg of one of its members for missing a family gathering involving home-cooked biryani and his favourite shahi tukrray. In his rush to join the crew, he had only had time to down a few biscuits instead. After they spot the submarine, food is the last thing on anyone’s mind.

The docudrama released on Navy’s Defence Day (September 8) this year, includes actual footage. The crew is seen reporting their find to Naval Command Headquarters; all of Pakistan’s military installations go on high alert and remain on standby as they await orders — orders which never come.

This is what happened in actuality and this is the story of Surkhru. The dramatised part is followed with a documentary section where military experts and analysts explain why the Pakistan Navy, the oldest in the region in submarine warfare, didn’t destroy the submarine.

The incident is the second time, during the recent stand-off, for Pakistan to have detected an Indian submarine in its waters. The submarine in question is said to be the newly-commissioned state-of-the-art, deadly INS Kalvary, equipped with stealth features.

It is explained in the film that, despite having the vessel in sight and within range, and despite having the capability of destroying it within seconds, Pakistan Navy restrained itself, to win the war of nerves. They didn’t want to give way to further tensions in the region, and thus the P-3C Orion signals the snorkeling submarine that it has been spotted, in order to allow it to go back to where it had come from that day.

With earlier reminders in the film of how the Pakistan military, in the past, had shot down Indian aircraft that entered its airspace, and even captured their pilots, the point of this bit of short propaganda is to put across Pakistan’s vow of restraint, even as it thwarts attempts of attack or spying from its neighbours.

Detecting a submarine is said to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. And yet it was there sticking out like a sore thumb on Pakistan Navy’s high-tech equipment. Defence analyst Group Captain (r) Sultan Mehmood Hali sums up the message of the film with “They cannot mess with us because Pakistan Navy is awake.”

The writer is a member of staff

She tweets @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 20th, 2020