| Operation Desert Hawk | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the prelude of theIndo-Pakistani War of 1965,Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts and theCold War | |||||||
 Map of theIndia–Pakistan border in the Rann of Kutch | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 India |  Pakistan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Gen.J. N. Chaudhuri |  Maj. Gen.Tikka Khan[3]Brig.Iftikhar Khan Janjua[4] | ||||||
Operation Desert Hawk was the codename of amilitary operation planned and executed by thePakistan Army in theRann of Kutch area, the disputed area which was underIndian control from the long-standing status quo.[5] The boundary of Rann of Kutch was one of the few un-demarcated boundaries pending since the 1947partition of India.[6][2]
The Rann of Kutch (alternately spelled as Kuchchh) is a large area ofsalt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. The area was originally part of theprincely state of Kutch, which was acceded to India[2][7] in present-dayKutch region ofGujarat. Both countries maintained few armed police posts scattered along the border.
Pakistan planned to serve several purposes through this operation. First was to assess the response of the Indian government and military,[6] which was relatively unstable under the governance ofPrime MinisterLal Bahadur Shastri after the death of India's first Prime ministerJawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and the loss in the 1962Sino-Indian war.[4] The second objective was to draw Indian armor southward to Kutch, away from thePunjab andKashmir region.[6][5] One of the objectives was to test theUnited States' protest over the use of US-supplied military equipment against the India, which was a violation of Pakistan's commitment.[5][2] The Pakistan Army also got a rehearsal opportunity for the planned invasion of the disputed territory the Kashmir region administered by India.[6]
In January 1965, Pakistan claimed the area of Rann of Kutch on the basis of theSindh province. Pakistan's paramilitary force Indus Rangers started activity and took control over the ruined fort of Kanjarkot located on the north-west fringe of the Rann,[4] Pakistani Indus Rangers started patrolling below the Indian claimed line by January 1965 and occupied an Indian police post near the Kanjarkot fort, which was in violation of the long-standing status quo.[5]
The region's terrain and communication network and logistics was favorable to Pakistan[6][8][2] with all the approaches to the Rann of Kutch from the Indian side being more difficult than from Pakistan. The Pakistani railway station situated atBadin was 26 miles north of the Indian claim line and Karachi was 113 miles east from the Badin, where the Pakistan Army's 8 Division was based. Pakistan was able to move the troops quickly and easily along the border line. The nearest Indian railway station atBhuj was located 110 miles from the border and the nearest Indian Army formation, 31 Infantry Brigade situated atAhmedabad, was 160 miles east of Bhuj railway station.[8]
In February 1965, bilateral talks for the negotiation failed.[9]
The Pakistan Army, equipped with US-madePatton tanks, struck the Indian forces on 9 April.[9][10] Pakistan launched a major offensive on the Sardar post comprising a brigade strength.[11][12]
On 24 April, Pakistan launched "Operation Desert Hawk" a decisive thrust towards the Indian posts in the area deploying an infantry division and two armored regiments equipped with Patton tanks andfield guns. The Pakistan Army captured four more posts and claimed the whole Kanjarkot stretch. With poor logistics and inferior military hardware, India had no other option than to retreat after offering decent resistance.[2]
In April 1965, tensions heated up in the Rann of Kutch. On April 17, the highly trained but still untested24th Cavalry received orders to deploy toChhor, about 800 miles towards Pakistan's southern border, to undertake the Pakistani Army's first-ever tank assault. On April 26, a squadron from the 24th Cavalry joined with the 15 Punjab Regiment and 15 FFR and assaulted the heavily fortified Indian position, a spot known as "Biar Bet." After fierce fighting the Pakistanis prevailed. AUnited Kingdom mediated peace followed in which Biar Bet was handed back over to the Indians.[8][5][13][14][15][16][17]
TheBritish Prime MinisterHarold Wilson proposed a ceasefire on 28 April. Both countries signed an agreement to settle the disputed border through international arbitration by theInternational Court of Justice on 30 June 1965.[1][2] The ceasefire became effective on 1 July 1965. India and Pakistan both agreed to demarcate the border by a three-member arbitration committee. The possibility of the armed conflict escalation was avoided by the active interventions of the British Prime Minister and theUnited Nation'sSecretary-General.[18] Both nations withdrew all troops from the disputed and held areas after the peace talks as of 30 June and a pre-conflict status as of January 1965 was established. The dispute later on went for Indo-Pakistan Western Boundary Case Tribunal and was resolved in 1968, in this Pakistan was awarded 301–320 square miles (780–828 km2) of Kutch.[5][19][20][21][22]
The Pakistan Army decision makers assessed the Indian Army's strength and capability based on the success in the Rann of Kutch area and headed towards their next planned execution ofOperation Gibraltar in August 1965 which failed miserably.[23]
Despite India's repeated protests against the use of US-made weaponry by Pakistan against India, thePresident of the United StatesLyndon B. Johnson took no effective action against Pakistan.[2]
This attack exposed the inadequacy of the Indian State Armed Police to cope with armed aggression. So after the end of the1965 war, the government of India formed theBorder Security Force as a unified central agency with the specific mandate of guarding India's international boundaries. The Border Security Force came into formal existence on 1 December 1965.[24]Morarji Desai invited around 550 farmers, mostly Sikhs from Punjab, to settle and farm the land for border's safety and security.[25]
On April 9, 1965, the Pakistani army captured an Indian police post near the Kanjarkot fort ... on April 24, Pakistan mounted Operation Desert Hawk ... Pakistan captured four more posts and claimed the entire Kanjarkot tract.
It, however, awarded to Pakistan an area of about 828 sq kms which included Kanjarkot and Chhad Bet, roughly one-tenth of the area, claimed by Pakistan. Biar Bet, Pt 84, and Sardar post areas remained with India.
Of its original claim of some 9,100 square kilometers, Pakistan was awarded only about 780 square kilometers.
The tribunal awarded 90 per cent of the Rann of Kutch to India and 10 per cent (about 800sq km) to Pakistan, the latter comprising almost all the elevated area above water the year round.