Operation Gibraltar & Operation Grand Slam

NOTE: This blog is purely written for academic and competitive exams purposes and there is no political agenda or affiliation is involved in it.

To settle the burning conflict of Kashmir between Pakistan and India, the military establishment of Pakistan has decided to launch a secret operation to liberate Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK) which was named as Operation of Gibraltar under the command of Pakistan Army with the objectives to infiltrate the troops in the valley of Kashmir by disguising as locals with the aim to initiate the insurgency and unrest among the Muslim majority population in the valley of Kashmir to convert it into local rebellion and eventually a local uprising against the atrocities of Indian armed forces and Indian government which may create a situation of casus belli for Pakistan against India. But soon Indian forces identified the infiltrators due to the poor coordination between beyond the enemy lines and behind the enemy lines of Pakistan armed forces which forced Indian government to deploy more troops in the valley. To coup up with and to distort the supply chain of enemy Pakistan armed forces launched another operation named Operation Grand Slam with the objectives to attack on Akhnoor Bridge which was identified as the lifeline for the entire infantry division of the Indian army as it was considered as a vital logistic point for the occupied forces of India but can also be used to threaten the city of Jammu but it was ended in misery for Pakistan as Indian army forced Pakistan army to retreat as Indian army launched a counter attack by opening the multiple frontiers with the international borders of Pakistan which forced Pakistan army to move their units from Kashmir and to deploy them to the other parts of the country to defend them. Also Pakistan top military leadership was mistaken as India’s supply route to Kashmir did not pass through Akhnoor as the National Highway 1A passed through the districts of Udhampur and Ramban and not from Akhnoor. While both the operations were proposed to expose India’s control of Kashmir and bring it to the negotiating table without hazarding a general war across the international border but both the operations were ended in failure and caused the Indo-Pak war of September 1965.

Although Operation Gibraltar followed by Operation Grand Slam were effective plans to liberate the Indian Occupied Kashmir but it is believed that they were poorly executed by the military leadership due to non coordination among the ground forces and the higher military leadership back in GHQ of Pakistan army as it is also believed that there was a division found among the military leadership against the plan but commander in chief General Musa was so confident about its success as he didn’t bothered to take Airforce chief Air Marshal Noor Khan then onboard about the plan. But the failure of both the operations initiated by Pakistan lead both nation states into a full fledge conventional war which is known as Indo-Pak war of September 1965. Failure of operations and war gave valuable lessons to the top military leadership of Pakistan as it was determined that the failure of the commando missions were attributed to the failure to provide maps, proper briefings and inadequate planning or preparation which forced military leadership to develop a dedicated units for Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to carry out top military secrets and information within and outside the armed forces. Also the war prevail a sense among the military heads that without the support and love of the nation, armed forces are unable to achieve anything which forced military establishment to strengthen the ISPR who was responsible to interact, to design and to propagate such media campaigns among the masses which helped the military leadership to achieve their military goals for the longer run.