DISCOVERY OF THE DEADLY COCKTAIL - 1965 INDIA PAKISTAN WAR

 

In the previous part of the article, we dealt with the political situation in Pakistan in 1965. 

India Post-Independence

Despite the 1962 war, India's internal politics were generally peaceful. Attention was focused on the growth of the country. The country had inherited an economy in a dire state. Much of the population was living on farm-related income. Industrialisation was the need of the hour. Strong foundations had to be put in place. Political leaders of that time realised the necessity of long-term planning to ensure the nation's progress and prosperity. The concept of five-year plans was thus born. The first five-year plan (April 1951 to March 1956) was launched by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Interestingly, the total outlay of the first 5-year project was ₹2,069 crores, which was later revised to ₹2378 crores. Irrigation and energy (27.2%), transport and communication (24%), agriculture and community development (17.4%), and social services, including education and health (16.6%) were the major heads for which funds were allotted. Industry and minerals received 8.4% and rehabilitation of landless farmers received 4.1% of the allocation. Everything else put together got the rest. The outcome of the five-year plan was that the economy achieved annual GDP growth of 3.6% against a modest target of 2.1%. 

The major projects that came up during this period were the Bhakra Nangal Dam, the Hirakud Dam, the modernisation of the Mettur Dam, and the expansion of the irrigation facilities. The areas of focus of the government are clear from the allocations. The second 5-year plan from April 56 to March 61 had a total outlay of 4,800 crores, a more than 100 per cent jump. In this plan, the focus shifted to developing industry and minerals, along with transport and communication, getting 65% of the total share. Agricultural and community development received 21%. Defence was not included in the allocation but was considered as a non-planned expenditure. Even today, it remains like that. War was not a planned item but a contingency forced on the country. 

The 1962 war inflicted serious injury on India's economy. The defence expenditure of ₹269.9 crore in 1959-60 increased to ₹ 310.17 crores in 60-61, ₹343.63 crores in 61-62 and jumped to ₹503.99 crores in 62-63. In 64-65, it jumped to ₹718 crores and in 66-67, it went up to ₹749 crores. This huge jump in expenditure is attributed to the direct and indirect costs of the war. Based on the recommendations of the Subrahmanyam committee after the 1962 war, defence allocations were increased. Those of us who feel that the planners and leaders misread the enemies around India and ignored the army must understand that the country was reeling under repeated droughts and failed crops. Between 1960 and 1964, India imported 17 million tonnes of food from the US. Food shortage was managed through institutionalised rationing systems. 

According to data available on educational sites, the per capita income of India in 1948-49 was ₹225, or ₹18.75 per month. In 1964-65, it was ₹481, or ₹40.09 per month. While in absolute value terms it may seem a pittance today, a growth of 114% had been achieved in 16 years; in economic terms, considering the conditions then, the growth was significant. However, there was no mistaking the fact that the country was poor and required attention for all-around development. On 1 December 1963, Nagaland became the 16^th state of India. 

Unrelated Events of Consolidation and Disruptions 

Ayub Khan, who had come to power through a bloodless coup in October 1958 and had declared himself field marshal in October 1959, assumed the presidency of the Pakistan Muslim League on 24 December 1963. With this, he consolidated his authority. There were protests, but he suppressed all the opposition.

Call it a coincidence, on 27 December 1963, a major disruption took place in Kashmir. The holy relic at Hazratbal Shrine was reported stolen. This led to a major public agitation that turned violent and threatened to spiral out of control. Radio Pakistan and Pakistani newspapers carried it as the main news and projected it as India’s deliberate disrespect for Islam and Kashmiris. One of the demands of the agitating crowd was a plebiscite. Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister, immediately stepped in and ordered an enquiry under the CBI head, Mr BN Mullick. Protests continued till the relic mysteriously reappeared on 4 January 1964. 

On 6 January 1964, the Governor of West Pakistan banned the opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami and arrested its leader, Abul Ala Maududi. Around the same time Anti anti-Hindu riots erupted in Khulna, East Pakistan. Why in East Pakistan? There was perceivable inequity in the economic growth of the GDP of East and West Pakistan. While the GDP of the West grew at 4.4% from 1960 to 1965, the East clocked in only at 2.6%. Famines and poverty were taking their toll. It was easy to turn the anger against the Hindus. Loss of the relic was just a ruse. The riots in Khulna triggered counter riots in Calcutta and other places.

Although the relic had been retrieved, crowds continued to protest. They raised doubts about the authenticity of the recovered relic. The Prime Minister immediately deputed Lal Bahadur Shastri to handle the issue. He ordered a public Deedar on 3 February 1964. Religious heads, trusted by the public, certified the authenticity of the recovered relic. It cooled tempers. 

Any sane mind would know that the relic had nothing to do with the plebiscite. The two were not even remotely connected. But the demands of the plebiscite, being raised along with the relic going missing, would not have been unintentional. Armed with the wisdom of hindsight, we can with conviction say that the first seeds of religious incitement had been sown, to be harvested, not once but again, at will and whenever it suited them. Rulers in Pakistan had discovered the easiest, cheapest, and most effective way of consolidating their position whenever domestic unrest troubled them. The deadly cocktail of religion and politics converging into covert or overt military operations was on its way.

Ever since the Hazratbal incident took place, communal and political disorder increased, and the law-and-order situation in Jammu and Kashmir deteriorated. Ghulam Mohammed, who had been the Prime Minister of Kashmir since 1953, resigned under pressure in January 1964. Khwaja Shamsuddin was sworn in as the new Prime Minister. His government fell in February 1964, and Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, viewed as a reliable ally of the Government of India, was appointed the Prime Minister. He is believed to have played a significant role in bringing calm to Kashmir after the unrest over the Hazratbal incident. 

A Chapter in Indian Politics 

On 27 May 1964, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the pivot of Indian politics since independence, passed away. He was 74 and had been in failing health after suffering a massive stroke in January 64. Nehru had been in various jails for his role in the struggle for Indian independence for a total of 3,259 days. The longest spell of his incarceration was from August 1942 to June 1945. It was during this stretch of 2 years and 10 months, in prison he authored “The Discovery of India,” one among the many he had written. An advocate of nonalignment in an era of superpower alignment, widely respected visionary statesman, prolific writer, and visionary, Nehru romanticised the concept of freedom and equality for people and laid the foundation of the country’s infrastructural growth. 

The Congress party chose Lal Bahadur Shastri as the next Prime Minister. He took office on 31 May 1964, beginning a new chapter in Indian politics. Government of India, with the concurrence of the Jammu and Kashmir State Government, as required by the Constitution, amended the 1954 Presidential Order. This political act extended the authority of the union government for the application of constitutional tools for emergencies, as it had in other states. The post of “Prime Minister” of Jammu and Kashmir was renamed as “Chief Minister.” This is considered a significant step in bringing Jammu and Kashmir more within the framework of the Constitution of India. A lot of things were happening in the neighbourhood around the same time. They all had a direct and indirect bearing on India.

Nuclear Ambitions

On 16 October 1964, China tested its first nuclear device at the Lop Nur test site in Xinjiang. The device codenamed "596" was a uranium-235 implosion fission bomb with an estimated yield of 22 kilotons. With this test, China became the fifth nuclear power. The United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France had already declared themselves nuclear powers.

At this point, it is important to bring out India’s progress in the field of nuclear technology. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, had met Nehru sometime in 1944. Nehru believed that the country’s growth to be sustainable had to come from science and modernisation. Once India became independent and Nehru became the Prime Minister, he retained the Ministry of Science with him. Bhabha became the scientific advisor to the Prime Minister on atomic matters. 

The scientific policy resolution of 1948, which projected science as the tool for national development and self-reliance, is said to have been influenced by Bhabha. The Indian Atomic Energy Commission was established in 1948 with Bhabha as its first Chairman. Bhabha is said to have enjoyed near autonomous control over the atomic energy decisions under Nehru's government. In 1954, Bhabha drew up a 3-stage “nuclear power” plan. It envisaged using Thorium reserves to achieve long-term energy security. It was fully backed by Nehru. Once Nehru passed away, Bhabha did not receive the same patronage from Lal Bahadur Shastri. When China tested its nuclear device, Homi Bhabha is said to have approached the Prime Minister requesting approval for making nuclear bombs. However, Shastri did not heed the call and permitted only the pursuit of peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Bhabha died in an air crash on 24 January 1966. 

Shape of Things to Come

Relations with Nepal also hit turbulence around that time. The 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship determined the contours of the bilateral relations. It ensured open borders, free movement of people between the two countries, and mutually beneficial security arrangements. However, some Nepali leaders sowed dissent, saying that the Treaty was unequal and India was dominating Nepal. India's defeat in the war with China encouraged people to look towards China. To make matters worse, King Mahendra of Nepal, who assumed direct control of the kingdom after dismissing the elected government in 1960, became close to China.

In 1965, Pakistan witnessed serious political agitations. The presidential election in January 1965 was widely considered to have been rigged in favour of Ayub Khan. The conditions called for an urgent diversion. Pakistan had already incited religious sentiments in the valley. It was time to harvest.

On 6 April 1965, Pakistani Rangers attacked the Sardar Post and the Kanjarkot Fort.  India, reeling under the defeat in the 1962 war, still in the process of reorganisation and regrouping, was caught unawares and lost ground in the beginning, but regained most of it. The clashes are believed to have peaked between 21 and 24 April. According to information available in the public domain, President Ayub Khan is said to have approached Prime Minister Harold Wilson of the United Kingdom for a ceasefire. Prime Minister Harold Wilson approached Lal Bahadur Shastri, who agreed, leading to the ceasefire on 01 May 1965. 

Once the ceasefire came into effect, both sides agreed to establish the India-Pakistan Western boundary case Tribunal, also known as the Kutch Tribunal, under the auspices of the United Nations. The Tribunal had three members, one each from India and Pakistan and one neutral member appointed in consultation with both members. Sir Huber Opperman, an Australian judge and diplomat, was selected over Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the man who drew the Radcliffe line! The Tribunal studied historical maps, various land records and the control of the ground before the operations to reach the verdict. On 19 February 1968, in one of those rare conclusive Tribunal awards, Pakistan was awarded 910 square kilometres of the 9000 square kilometres they had claimed in the Kutch.

The Kutch operations emboldened Pakistan. It would also have led India to believe that Pakistan would not wage war anytime soon. A ceasefire had just been reached, and the talks about border settlement were proceeding well. The Kutch operation strengthened Ayub Khan’s position in the country. He decided to take it further. Kashmir was the easiest way forward. The grounds had been prepared. President Mohammad Ayub Khan decided to wrest control of Kashmir. Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar in August 1965.

Rethink

Operation Gibraltar is considered by most people as the cause of the 1965 operations. While their wisdom cannot be questioned, the offensive launched by the Pakistani Army Rangers in April 1965 cannot be seen in isolation from the war that followed. In fact, it was the Kutch operations that led to Operation Gibraltar, though they were geographically distant.

Looking back into history, one can see that internal disturbances in Pakistan and a security issue in India are like Siamese twins. 

We will see more of it as we proceed…  

 

(To be continued)

 

ON OUR JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF THE UNPARALLELED – THE 1965 WAR

 

Ferocity, in battles on the land and duels in the air, was the hallmark of the second Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. Many books have been written, on both sides of the border, about the war and its battles, both in the air and on the land. Carefully researched facts, figures, and diagrams outlining the progress of operations lend an essence of authority to the work. Each story, replete with grit and valour, with all the attendant ghastly details finely woven in, makes compelling narratives that deify domestic military heroes and demonise the adversary. Straying from the truth while writing about battles is an honourable compulsion, soaked in nationalism. After all, war has never been about absolute truth, and history, the narrative of the victor. 

But what happens when both parties declare themselves victors? Deja Vu?

This article, like the previous three on India’s unparalleled wars, will not take us through individual battles. We will navigate mostly through the causes to understand what happened, briefly touching upon the war, in search of unparalleled aspects. The war is said to have begun on 6 September 1965 when India launched a full-scale counterattack across the international border and headed towards Lahore. It ended in a Soviet brokered ceasefire declared on 22 September 1965. Ironically, both countries declared themselves the winners in the war. Sensing parallels and the unparalleled?

The term “counterattack” clearly indicates that there was an attack by Pakistan on India, to which India responded. Why would Pakistan attack India in 1965, out of the blue? The obvious answer that everybody can easily peddle is that the unfinished Kashmir business had to be completed. After all, the previous war, fought in 1947, was about Kashmir.  The United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 of 21 April 1948 had brought the first war to a ceasefire operative on 1 January 1949. Resolution 47 was only an expansion of Resolution 39, adopted on 20 January 1948. Resolution 39, the second on the Kashmir dispute, was to investigate the issue, bring out the facts and recommend ways to settle the differences between the two parties. Resolution 47 now mandated the three-step process of ceasefire, withdrawal of troops and plebiscite. Both parties were to withdraw all their military forces from the area. Claims and counterclaims aside, demilitarisation never happened. The first step was never taken. There were 12 resolutions on Kashmir before the war, mostly on issues brought up by Pakistan. All these resolutions either set conditions for the process to move forward or reaffirmed what had already been said. Interestingly, the last resolution on Kashmir before the 1965 was Resolution 209, adopted on 4 September 1965 was passed after the Pakistani Troops had crossed into the Rann of Kutch. 

Was the 1965 war, therefore, the result of Pakistan’s frustration with 16 years of waiting? 

Well, let us explore a little more before we form an opinion.

On 28 September 1965, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in his speech in the United Nations General Assembly, complained that Pakistan had repeatedly approached the Security Council since 1948 for a solution and that it had exhausted peaceful diplomatic means. That speech certainly said nothing about their efforts to demilitarise the area. Delivered after the war, it was more of a justification of the misadventure. Only the gullible would fall for this explanation. If military action was the way out, it could have happened just after 1962. India was at its weakest militarily and economically. If Pakistan had launched an attack simultaneously with the China war, it would have had a major impact on India. Politically, India was also weak at that time.

War is the military implementation of a political decision. Wars do not originate out of nothing. It commences when one country feels that either the conditions of the adversary are conducive or favourable enough to launch an offensive, or when domestic conditions warrant a move against the adversary.  When the military leader is himself the political head, the distance between decision and execution diminishes. Waging war then becomes the first and easiest option. While the conditions within India would have been favourable for Pakistan to launch an attack then, it did not happen. Certainly, something else would have been the reason.

Let us look for it.

The post-independence march of the country with Mohammad Ali Jinnah as its first Governor General ceased in 1948 with his death. Said to have been diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1930, he developed lung cancer and died on 11 September 1948, barely a year after Pakistan had won independence. Pakistan plunged into a very turbulent period of power transfer. Khawaja Nazimuddin became the second Governor General of Pakistan, and Mr Liaquat Ali Khan, already the prime minister, with Mohammed Ali Jinnah, continued in office. On 17 January 1951, Mr Liaquat Ali Khan made Mohammad Ayub Khan a general and the first commander-in-chief of the Pakistan army, replacing General Sir Douglas Gracy. Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated on 16 October 1951.

The assassin, Saad Akbar Babrak, an Afghan National, was shot dead immediately, and the reasons for the assassination, undiscovered or undisclosed, were buried with him. Incidentally, Liaquat Ali Khan had survived an attempted coup in March 1951. Khwaja Nazimuddin, the Governor General of Pakistan, became the Prime Minister. Gulam Mohammed, the finance minister, was appointed as the Governor General. On 23 March 1956, Pakistan became an Islamic Republic, and the office of the Governor General was replaced with that of the President. Major General Iskander Mirza (retd) became the first President of Pakistan. Meanwhile, governance had deteriorated, and the common man had started feeling the impact. The divide between various regions of the country aggravated, leading to political instability.

Meanwhile, Pakistan exploited the Cold War conditions to beef up its military hardware. On 19 May 1954, it signed the Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement (MDAA) with the USA in Karachi. The USA, in pursuit of the Truman Doctrine to contain communism, found the geographical proximity of Pakistan suited to its plans against the Soviet Union and China. India was not willing to play second fiddle to the US in their Cold War efforts. MDAA fetched Pakistan tanks, fighter planes, transport planes, radar systems and naval ships. Pakistani military officers went to the US for training. 

Pakistan received more than $900 million worth of military equipment, effectively bridging the military hardware disparity it faced after partition. Interestingly, all this military hardware, according to the agreement, was to be used exclusively for internal security, legitimate self-defence or participation in the United Nations’ duties. (Rings a familiar bell? The USA did that again later. Starting January 1983, Peace Gate 1 Program delivered 28 F-16 A, 12 F-16 B, besides other military hardware to Pakistan, all for counter terrorist and counterinsurgency operations. In February 2025, the Trump administration released $ 300 out of the $ 450 million funds sanctioned by the Biden Administration in September 2022.) 

On 7 October 1958, the President of Pakistan abrogated the constitution, dismissed the central and provincial governments, declared martial law and appointed General Mohammed Ayub Khan, then the army commander-in-chief, as the Chief Martial Law Administrator. On 27 October 1958, hardly a fortnight later, Ayub Khan removed Mirza, in a bloodless coup, exiled him to London and became President himself. He also retired from the army that day! Since the public was already dissatisfied with how the country was run, the coup seems to have been welcomed. President Ayub Khan introduced many land reforms and strengthened the relationship with the United States.

On 27 October 1959, Ayub Khan’s presidential government declared him a Field Marshal. On that same day, the government also introduced a system called “Basic Democracy”. The country was divided into 80,000 “Basic Democratic” units, and each such unit was to elect one representative called the “Basic Democrat.” Pakistan now had 80,000 local representatives to ensure grassroots governance. In 1962, through the newly promulgated constitution that advocated a presidential system, Ayub Khan consolidated power in his hands. Despite curbs on political freedom, Pakistan under Field Marshal Ayub Khan achieved significant economic growth. The benefits of the modernisation and industrial growth seemed to favour West Pakistan. East Pakistan felt politically and economically marginalised, and the divide between the two became glaring. 

On 13 October 1962, one week before China attacked India, Pakistan commenced negotiations with China over disputed territories. The talks culminated in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Chen Yi, the two foreign ministers, signing the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement on 2 March 1963. China ceded about 750 square miles while Pakistan gave away more than 2,050 square miles, mostly in the Gilgit-Baltistan area that India claimed ownership. China also gave $60 million interest-free loan to support Pakistan’s economy and strengthen military cooperation.

On 2 January 1965, Pakistan went in for a presidential election. The electoral college of 80,000 Basic Democrats voted. The public had nothing to do with the election. The main contestants were Mohammad Ayub Khan and Fatima Jinnah, the sister of the founder of Pakistan, backed by a coalition of all the opposition parties. Ayub Khan is said to have polled 49,951 votes. Fatima Jinnah, who contested as the mother of the nation, gathered only 28,691 votes. The other two contestants, both independents, Mahmud Ali Kasuri, polled 2,847, and Ghulam Muhammad Sadiq got 1,106.  The total number of votes polled exceeded the official electoral college by 2,595. Naturally, there were complaints of vote manipulation in favour of the sitting president. This led to widespread agitation alleging rampant vote rigging. The urban areas of West Pakistan and most areas of East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) saw protests. The public turned against the ruler, and Ayub Khan's legitimacy as the President took a severe blow. Something was required to quell the rising discontentment and opposition and redeem the trust of the public in the presidency. Uniting the country against an existential threat was the best way forward.

Meanwhile, India had already lost a war with China. Conditions were perfect now.

Would Kashmir be the objective? We will find out in the next part.

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(To be continued…)

 

Part 3: Fight About The McMahon Line

Defining India-China Relationship 

India’s War with China started on 20 October 1962, when China launched simultaneous attacks in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, then called NEFA. The war ended on 21 November 1962, when China unilaterally declared a ceasefire. China withdrew from all areas it had captured, but not from the Aksai Chin area. Official details of the month-long conflict remain largely opaque to this day in India, locked away in classified documents. However, we often come across bits and pieces, carefully curated for political returns. 

The shroud over bilateral relations between India and China notwithstanding, the two most populous neighbours remain locked in distrust and domestic denials, despite growing trade between them. The occasional glimmers of hope in the relationship often end up being extinguished by disappointments, and every photo opportunity, from the “Hindi-Chini, bhai-bhai” days to the contemporary “riverside spectacle,” eventually turned out to be harbingers of sinister outcomes. The common man in India, now by experience, firmly associates betrayal as the principal characteristic of the India-China relationship.

Source and Discourse

There are several books on the 1962 War, and all authors converge on the same set of causes. The History Division of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, published the official history of the 1962 war, titled “History of the Conflict with China, 1962”, in 1992. Sufficient information is available in the public domain, claiming to be from this report. One can also browse and read about the stormy debates in Parliament regarding the war, where opposition members voiced their concerns, and the government responded. The intense debate in the parliament took place during the war without fear of being labelled anti-national. On 31 October 1962, 11 days into the war, Mr VK Krishna Menon, then the defence minister, resigned. On 14 November 1962, one week before the war ended, the House unanimously resolved as follows: -

 “This House records its firm opinion that the Chinese forces must evacuate the areas of India which they have illegally occupied, and declares its united determination to see that India's territorial integrity and frontier are respected and upheld.”

"The House places on record its deep appreciation of the gallantry of the officers and men of our Defence Forces who are engaged in defending our country, and assures them of its complete support."

"The House is confident that our people will face the grave emergency confronting the country with unity, determination and courage and are prepared to make any sacrifice to preserve India’s freedom and honour."

"The House solemnly declares that it stands united behind the Government in its determination to drive out the aggressor from the sacred soil of India, and to ensure that the territory of India is held and maintained inviolate.”

The Weaponised Report

The Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report, published in 1963, evokes more political interest than all the others put together. The report, authored by Lieutenant General TB Henderson Brooks and Brigadier PS Bhagat, was the result of an inquiry ordered by General J N Chaudhuri, the Chief of Army Staff, to conduct an internal operational review of the Indian Army’s performance. The report remains a classified document under the Official Secrets Act. Mr Nevile Maxwell, a British-Australian journalist, however, quoted the Henderson Brooks–Bhagat report in his book, “India’s China War,” first published in 1970. In the book, he painted India as the aggressor. Mr Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Premier, is said to have acknowledged Maxwell's contributions in revealing the truth and benefiting China. He complimented Mr Maxwell, who was in China covering the visit of the President of Pakistan, Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in 1972.

Mr Nevile Maxwell had no love lost for India. Stationed in Delhi from 1959 to 1967 as a correspondent for The Times, he authored a series of articles ahead of the fourth Lok Sabha elections in 1967. He is believed to have written, “the great experiment of developing India within the democratic framework has failed”, and he even went on to predict that the general election to the fourth Lok Sabha would be the last.  Not easily offended and provoked as we are now, there were no protests or violent activity in India against the author, his book, or his reports. Mr Maxwell shot to fame suddenly, this time before the 2014 elections. On 17 March 2014, for reasons not difficult to fathom, he made public selected portions of the report on his website. 

The Henderson Brooks–Bhagat Report immediately kicked up a political storm with the principal opposition party asking the government to declassify the report for transparency and accountability. After all, the Nation had the right to know the truth. The Government, citing National security and operational implications, refused to oblige. In April 2014, Mr Maxwell removed the references from his website. With the elections done, the storm died. The party that demanded disclosure rode to power and has been in power ever since. Call it compulsions, the report remains classified. A classified, vaulted and buried report has political relevance. 

It has been six decades since the war. Everything about the two countries, their geopolitical positioning and strength, their military structure, hardware, armament, war fighting strategy, interdependent economy, demography, and virtually everything one can imagine has changed. We now live in an environment where satellites continuously scan every inch of land, thousands of electronic eyes are on the lookout for anything that moves or does not move, every conversation is listened to and scrutinised, and every digital footprint is critically examined. There is a saying in Malayalam, “nee manssil kanumpol, njan maanthu kanum.” It roughly means, “when you think of something, I see it in the sky.” Nothing remains hidden. None of those things from the sixties exist today as it was then. In such an environment, the report is nothing more than an archaic document, meaningless to modern warfare. 

Declassifying the age old official reports would open a debate, derive lessons, if at all, there are any relevant ones, and if someone wants to learn from those. It would also bring closure to something that we have already forgotten, but are periodically reminded of during elections. Keeping it classified only serves to capitalise electoral returns at will, through the easily infuriated.

Causes

Study of the war leads us to two causes: India’s “Flawed Forward Policy” and China’s Territorial compulsions. All the other causes attributed to the Indian side, like poor intelligence, an ill-equipped and ill-prepared Army, and political interference overriding military inputs, are all subsumed by “Forward Policy.” That brings us to three fundamental questions. These are: -

1.         What is the forward policy?

2.         Why is it considered flawed?

3.         What else should have been done?

Roots of The Forward Policy

To understand the Forward Policy, we need to first understand how it came about. 

When the Indian subcontinent was under the administrative control of the British Empire, much of the territory that lay between British India, China, and Tibet was the subject of territorial dispute. In 1913, the British decided to settle the dispute. A series of tripartite meetings took place in Shimla (then called Simla). The first meeting was on 6 October 1913, and the ninth and last was on 3 July 1914. The discussions led by Sir Henry McMahon, the foreign secretary of British India, agreed to delineate the boundary. This is now called the McMahon line. Mr Ivan Chen, the Chinese representative to the meeting, did not object to the proposed boundary. He also initialled the draft proposal. However, on 3 July 1914, at the final meeting, when Britain and Tibet signed to seal the convention confirming the McMahon line as the boundary between British India, Tibet and China, Mr Ivan Chen refused to sign. 

 

When the British handed over the reins of power to India, the land in possession of British India was automatically passed on to independent India. There was a problem. There were two claimants for the same piece of land. India had the convention documents initialled by China.  However, China refused to accept the boundaries, claiming that it had not agreed to the delineation. In our perception, the land legally belonged (and still belongs) to India, and China claimed it as a historical possession. The seeds of territorial disputes were thus sown.

Immediately after the partition, India had to handle the first Kashmir War. It also had to grapple with managing the accession of the princely states and the serious issues of internal administration. With the defeat and eventual retreat of Chiang Kai-Shek to the island of Taiwan, China became the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949. India recognised the new rule in China on 30 December 1949. The PLA, on 7 October 1950, launched an offensive against Tibet in the Chamdo region of Eastern Tibet and captured Chamdo on 19 October 1950.  The military annexation of Tibet was an indicator of China’s territorial ambitions. This became an irritant between the two countries.

After the series of negotiations referred to as the “Sino-India conference on Tibetan trade and intercourse,” the two countries signed the “Agreement on trade and intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India” on 29 April 1954. Famous as the Panchsheel agreement, enshrining the five principles of peaceful coexistence, it became the cornerstone of the bilateral relationship, giving birth to the slogan "Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai."

Meanwhile, China started construction of a road through Aksai Chin connecting Xinjiang to Tibet. India discovered this only in 1957–58. In November 1958, India lodged a diplomatic protest, but China denied that there was any infringement, claiming that the area historically belonged to China. This led to the border dispute, slowly turning into clashes between the two countries. The political situation worsened in Tibet, drawing India into direct confrontation with China. The massive Lhasa uprising was dealt with an iron hand by China, killing thousands of Tibetans, and destroying their monasteries. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet on 17 Mar 1959 and reached the safety of India on 31 March 1959. He was granted political asylum. Bilateral relations took a turn for the worse.

China’s incursions across the border became more frequent. On 7 August 1959, a Chinese patrol crossed the McMahon line, pushing back the border post at Khinzemane in NEFA. India claimed that China attacked, but China responded, saying it was the Indians who attacked. On 25 August 1959, Chinese troops crossed the McMahon line and attacked the Indian post at Longju, in NEFA, now Arunachal Pradesh.  Taken by surprise, the post withdrew, and the Chinese occupied the post. However, they vacated it later. The post was, thereafter, taken over by the Indian Army. On 28 Aug 1959, the Prime Minister, Mr Jawaharlal Nehru, reported multiple border incidents to the parliament. On 21 October 1959, an Indian patrol was ambushed by the People's Liberation Army in Kongka pass, killing nine soldiers and capturing ten, who were returned later. There was widespread protest in the country, and the Prime Minister assured the country that India’s sovereignty would not be compromised.

The diplomatic negotiations between the two countries were heading nowhere. Something had to be done to prevent China from establishing military posts in Indian territory and claiming it. The concept of the “Forward Policy" was born thus. This policy required the Indian Army to establish small forward military posts along the disputed border along the McMahon line to reassert control over the territory India claimed as its own. By the middle of 1962, about 60 such posts were said to have been created, 43 of which were to the north of the McMahon line. China responded by creating its network of posts opposite the Indian deployment and many more, leading to multiple standoffs and skirmishes.

Flaws

Critics point out that despite infrastructural deficiencies, inadequate supplies, and a lack of strategic depth, rendering Indian positions untenable, it was decided to deploy troops forward. Most posts were said to have been isolated, thinly held, and with barely any logistical backup. The Army is said to have asked for more troops but did not receive any. It is also said that the troops were given orders to fight “Last Man - Last Round.” The political decision makers are also condemned for overruling the military advice about the Army’s unpreparedness for such a war. The Forward Policy, therefore, is labelled naive and impractical.

The 1962 War was a comprehensive military defeat for India. If the outcome of the policy and its execution are the only criteria, then the policy was utterly flawed and its execution suicidal. Even after condemning the political leadership, there is scope to study the wherewithal the political leadership at that time had in their hands to decide on evaluating the efficacy of the plan/policy. 

Flaws?

Assured by the Intelligence Bureau that China will not respond militarily, the political leadership would have been led to underestimate the threat perception, if not negated it completely. Intelligence failures have been repeated. Fortunately, situations have been retrieved, albeit at huge human costs, mostly by the uniformed.

Army men who served in the mountains would be familiar with the saying that “the mountain eats up men.” Manpower will always be inadequate when it comes to high-altitude and mountain deployments. Recent military history operations would vouch for this old saying. An unstable border with Pakistan might have made it difficult for the political brass to allow thinning out the defence on the northern and western borders. The faulty intelligence assessment would certainly have aided that decision.

Inadequacy of the military hardware was another issue. If we look at the allocations by both countries towards defence, China spent a far lot more on its defence than India. It has not changed even once in the history of both countries, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of GDP. That the Indian Army would not have got what they asked for was a natural consequence. About the Army being ill-equipped, when it is a matter of differential resource allocations, dictated by the political hierarchy, the Army has no option but to be deployed with what they have been provided with. Even today, the Armed Forces would want many things, but the purse remains with the political masters. We had a chief in the recent past who announced that “we would go to war with what we have and not with what we want.” If the higher commanders fail to voice dissent and prevent deployment, it is only because they either fail to carry out a realistic appraisal of the situation or remain silent in subservience.

If the Government, in power then, went ahead despite the advice, there would have been compulsions. What would those compulsions be? Did they have an alternative?

An Alternative?

Let us recreate the decision scenario. 

What were the options available to the leadership? They had two options. First, let things be as it is, give up our claim and let China take possession of the land they claimed was theirs. This option, if adopted, would have been an uncontested surrender of the land that we claimed was legally ours and continue to claim as ours. In that case, a war could have been avoided. The adversary would then have continued to increasingly claim and creep forward as years progressed. Surrender would have become the norm. The current generation would have never forgiven the past for not putting up a fight, irrespective of the outcome.

In that case, there was only one option available to the leadership, and that was to fight, last man last round, irrespective of what the morrow brought along. So, we fought with whatever resources we could muster and with all the ferocity that we could command. Could there be any other option available? 

Unparalleled?

In 1962, the Government of India was faced with the dilemma of deciding either to give up meekly or to put up resistance, however weak it would have been. In a situation of “damned if you do and damned if you don't,” the Government of India decided to go on the offensive. The only political and military objective of the 1962 war was to hold on to each inch of land, whatever the cost. We, armed with all the wherewithal that hindsight can provide, devoid of the burden of decision, and insulated from consequences, can sit to critique the decisions taken then. Could there have been any other decision? Everything about the war was unparalleled, then and is unparalleled, even now.

Judgement

In war, meek surrender not only brings defeat and dishonour, it pawns the dignity and honour of future generations. The only option for an honourable country was to put up a fight with whatever means it had at its disposal, even if martyrdom and defeat were the only guaranteed outcome then and scorn later. The unmatched courage and valour of our troops are worthy of eternal remembrance.  But for leaders, “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” It takes broad shoulders and a huge heart to take the responsibility for a defeat. Lesser mortals are incapable of doing it. Some make history winning, and some are remembered for having led in tough times.

 Let the future judge the past as always, but empowered with knowledge, kinder. 

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