Operation Gibraltar

Operation Gibraltar
Part of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Geopolitical map of Kashmir provided by the United States CIA, c. 2004
DateAugust 1965[1]
Location
Jammu and Kashmir
Result Pakistani operational failure[2][3][4]
Belligerents
 India  Pakistan
Commanders and leaders
Gen. J. N. Chaudhuri
Brig. Gen. Z. C. Bakhshi[5]		 Maj. Gen. Akhtar Hussain Malik[5][6][7]
Strength
100,000+[8] 20,000[9] — 30,000[10]
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

Operation Gibraltar was the codename of a military operation planned and executed by the Pakistan Army in the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India in August 1965. The operation's strategy was to covertly cross the Line of Control (LoC) and incite the Muslim-majority Kashmiri population's uprising against the Indian Government.[11] The military leadership believed that a rebellion (sparked by Operation Gibraltar) by the local Kashmiri population against Indian authorities would serve as Pakistan's casus belli against India on the international stage.[12] Pakistan's leadership specifically chose this name to draw a parallel to the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula that was launched from Gibraltar.[13]

In August 1965, Pakistani army troops from the Azad Kashmir Regular Force,[14][15] disguised as locals, entered Jammu and Kashmir from Azad Kashmir with the goal of fomenting an insurgency amongst the Muslim-majority population in the Kashmir Valley. However, the strategy went awry from the outset due to poor coordination, and the infiltrators' presence was soon disclosed to the Indian military. Following the operation and discovery of the Pakistani army infiltration, India responded by deploying more troops in the Kashmir Valley and the Indian Army subsequently began its assault against the Pakistani army infiltrators operating in the region.

In August 1965, India crossed the ceasefire line, and attacked the Haji Pir pass inside Pakistan’s Azad Kashmir. Pakistan launched a major offensive named Operation Grand Slam on 1 September 1965 in India's Jammu and Kashmir, sparking the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965,[16] which was the first major engagement between the two neighbouring states since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948.[17] Thus Operation Gibraltar became the immediate cause of Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.[18]

  1. ^ Khan, M. Ilyas (5 September 2015). "Operation Gibraltar: The Pakistani troops who infiltrated Kashmir to start a rebellion". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  2. ^ Schofield, Victoria (2003). Kashmir in conflict: India, Pakistan and the unending war. I.T. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2003. p. 109. ISBN 1-86064-898-3.
  3. ^ Dossani, Rafiq (2005). Prospects for peace in South Asia. Stanford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8047-5085-8.
  4. ^ Wirsing, Robert (1994). India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir dispute: on regional conflict and its resolution. St. Martins Press, 1998. ISBN 0-312-17562-0.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference kvkr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Ahmad, Mustasad (1997). Living up to heritage: history of the Rajput Regiment 1947-1970. Lancer Publishers. p. 245. ISBN 9781897829035.
  7. ^ Singh, Sukhwant (2009). India's Wars Since Independence. Lancer International, Lancer Press. p. 416. ISBN 9781935501138.
  8. ^ Khan, M Ilyas (5 September 2015). "Operation Gibraltar: The Pakistani troops who infiltrated Kashmir to start a rebellion". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  9. ^ Khan, M Ilyas (5 September 2015). "Operation Gibraltar: The Pakistani troops who infiltrated Kashmir to start a rebellion". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  10. ^ Vij, Shivam (27 August 2015). "Why neither India nor Pakistan won the 1965 war | DW | 27.08.2015". DW.COM. Archived from the original on 9 July 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  11. ^ Faruqui, Ahmad (6 August 2018). "Why did Operation Gibraltar fail?". Daily Times. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  12. ^ M. Hali, Sultan (21 March 2012). "Operation Gibraltar—An Unmitigated Disaster?". Criterion Quarterly. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  13. ^ Riedel, Bruce O. (29 January 2013), Avoiding Armageddon: America, India, and Pakistan to the Brink and Back, Brookings Institution Press, pp. 67–, ISBN 978-0-8157-2409-4
  14. ^ Karim, Maj Gen Afsir (4 April 1981). "Azad Kashmir Regular Forces". Kashmir-The Troubled Frontiers. ISBN 9781935501763.
  15. ^ Snedden, Christopher (2 January 2012). "Azad Kashmir Regular Force". Kashmir-The Untold Story. ISBN 9789350298985.
  16. ^ Also known as the Second Kashmir War.
  17. ^ Also known as the First Kashmir War.
  18. ^ Hali, S. M. (2011). "Operation Gibraltar - an unmitigated disaster?". Defence Journal. 15 (1–2): 10–34 – via EBSCO.