Indo-Pakistan War of 1965
from :
Indo-Pakistan War of 1965
A very interesting
neutral article which i came across and commented on before as well in the past...
And i quote from the global security article...
Overall, the war was militarily inconclusive; each side held prisoners and some territory belonging to the other. Losses were relatively heavy--on the Pakistani side, twenty aircraft, 200 tanks, and 3,800 troops. Pakistan's army had been able to withstand Indian pressure, but a continuation of the fighting would only have led to further losses and ultimate defeat for Pakistan. Most Pakistanis, schooled in the belief of their own martial prowess, refused to accept the possibility of their country's military defeat by "Hindu India" and were, instead, quick to blame their failure to attain their military aims on what they considered to be the ineptitude of Ayub Khan and his government.
1) Focus on Pakistan's loss of 20 aircraft and 200 tanks and no mention of Indian Air force's huge losses and the Indian Armour's destroyed assets...very neutral perspective indeed.
2) A theory that even though Indian military failed to defeat Pakistan, continuation of War would only have resulted in Pakistan's defeat...
3) Refused to accept the possibility of a military defeat by Hindu India?
Sounding a bit too neutral to my ears... to change stance from militarily inconclusive war to a lack of acceptance of a military defeat by the ignorant and overconfident Pakistanis...and that too in the same paragraph of the article..
Few observations i have about 65 Airwar.
Traditionally a Stalemate is between two opponents which start off as evenly matched...the PAF was much smaller than IAF and had very few assets to begin with, IAF could have been much bolder due to its huge numerical advantage...the fact that PAF carried the fight to IAF, attacked its bases and still held its own and actually gave more punishment than it took is a great achievement by PAF.
To me 65 was a case of Pakistan achieving something special...a sense of everlasting pride in keeping a much larger Airforce at bay and giving it a lot of punishment as well...i do not know how this can be called a stalemate since by all accounts, Pakistan should have been given a thrashing by India especially in the air war...if we take traditional comparative parameters into account...
India claimed 100 odd aircraft kills which was exaggerated...PAF had a prewar strength of nearly 152 fighters and bombers. To counter the IAF claim PAF displayed 77% of its aircraft in a post war military flyby/inspection for all the world to see after the War...the PAF claim of 20 odd losses and dozen odd damaged aircraft was pretty much proven to the world.
Now compare these losses with the relevant strengths of the two air forces and one wonders why it cannot be called a great achievement in face of overwhelming odds...
PAF defied the odds and that is why it is hailed as a heroic effort to this day.