History UsefulNotes / TheIndoPakistanConflict

!The Indo-Pakistan War of 1947 (also known as the First Kashmir War)

The ''causes beli'' for this conflict needs to be looked at from two perspectives - first, what caused Bangladesh to want to secede from Pakistan and secondly, what drew India into this squabble

The suppression of secessionist sentiment didn't go easy. Minority religious groups such as Bengali Hindus, Christians etc were rounded up along with Awami League members, academics, journalists and other intelligentsia.

Operation Searchlight rounded up a lot of separatist Awami League members, but also convinced Sheikh Mujibur Rehman that political activism wasn't going to cut it anymore. He turned the Awami League into an insurgency called Mukhti Bahimi and did the unthinkable - [[EnemyMine reach out to India, which provided cursory support via its external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.]] The Mukhti Bahimi started prosecuting a war against the Pakistani military's Eastern Command. A few Bengali officers posted to the western part of Pakistan deserted and defected, or died trying. The Pakistani military's response was swift and brutal - resulting in [[RapePillageAndBurn numerous atrocities including mass killings, mass rape and mass displacement of populations]]. Refugees with nowhere else to go [[note]] India is the only country that borders Bangladesh [[/note]], fled in the millions to India. An estimated eighteen million poured in, with three million having been killed, maimed or raped. India at that time, being an impoverished country, just starting to emerge from the ravages of centuries long colonialism, just couldn't absorb that many refugees and take care of them. So, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi [[note]] not related to the Mahatma, she was actually Nehru's daughter, and married a man who was forced to convert from Islam to Zorastrianism and take the surname Gandhi instead of Khan [[/note]] started to apply pressure on the Indian military to invade Bangladesh and liberate it from Pakistan. At this time, India's army was headed by General Sam Hormus Jamshed Fram Manekshaw, who realized that the monsoon season would soon be upon Bangladesh, turning the terrain into an unnavigable quagmire of bogs and marshes, rendering the large amount of logistics required for an invasion, untenable. Manekshaw knew that area in general, having served in the China-India-Burma theatre in World War II and having been decorated for valor there. He advised Ms Gandhi that the best time for them to invade would be early winter when rains would be nonexistent and the river basin that comprises most of Bangladesh would be relatively dry, making it easy for vehicles to traverse the roads. Until then, arms and equipment were the only assistance India could provide the Mukhti Bahimi.

Back in the east, having attained total supremacy in the air and sea, the Indian Army pressed its advantage. Pakistan’s newly raised [[SemperFi Marines]] attempted to strike back with riverine operations [[EpicFail but their ineptitude in understanding expeditionary and amphibious warfare caused these marines to be routed and later disbanded]]. The Meghna Heli-bridge drop bypassed an important strong point and caused Dhaka to become vulnerable to assault. Pakistani forces attempted to retreat and consolidate elsewhere, but the Tangali [[ItsRainingMen paratrooper air drop]] cut off their escape. This left all Pakistani forces in the East encircled and besieged. Finally, on December 16th Pakistani General Niazi and all of his ninety thousand men unconditionally surrendered to Indian Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora. This was the largest surrender of forces in combat since Stalingrad. Soon, the entire Pakistani military unconditionally surrendered.

The areas of what comprised Pakistan during the partition of India, were derived from areas that the British colonial overlords had designated as "Majority Muslim". All areas except Eastern Bengal had sizeable Muslim populations owing to proximity to the Middle East. Eastern Bengal on the other hand was majority Muslim only due to a controversial administrative act of Viceroy Lord Curzon. Lord Curzon had ordered the Bengal province to be split into Hindu and Muslim halves, ostensibly for ease of administration purposes, but people there saw it as intentionally stoking religious division to fracture an otherwise United protest movement against British colonial presence. Therefore, Eastern Bengal wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea of Pakistan to begin with. The area was even subdued during partition, in comparison to the violence that erupted between Hindu refugees fleeing Western Pakistan, and Muslim refugees fleeing towards Western Pakistan. This further added to a feeling by West Pakistanis, that the Bengali contingent of their new country hadn't paid their dues. Eastern Bengal being geographically isolated from the rest of Pakistan meant that there were even linguistic and cultural differences that a common faith couldn't gloss over. This led to a feeling of marginalization by Bengalis in Pakistan. That marginalization was exacerbated by the fact that even though the legislative assembly in Pakistan allocated a disproportionate number of seats for that province in comparison to its size and population, this legislative assembly was toothless, with the Army holding de facto power. And the Army was under-represented by Bengalis, especially among the generals. This was due to a prevailing doctrine that "the defense of the East lies in the West" [[note]] Should Indian forces invade East Pakistan, a strong offensive in the west would capture sufficient Indian territory to negotiate back East Pakistan. [[/note]]

Operation Searchlight rounded up a lot of separatist Awami League members, but also convinced Sheikh Mujibur Rehman that political activism wasn't going to cut it anymore. He turned the Awami League into an insurgency called Mukhti Bahimi and did the unthinkable - [[EnemyMine reach out to India, which provided cursory support via its external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.]] The Mukhti Bahimi started prosecuting a war against the Pakistani military's Eastern Command. A few Bengali officers posted to the western part of Pakistan deserted and defected, or died trying. The Pakistani military's response was swift and brutal - resulting in [[RapePillageAndBurn numerous atrocities including mass killings, mass rape and mass displacement of populations]]. Refugees with nowhere else to go [[note]] India is the only country that borders Bangladesh [[/note]], fled in the millions to India. An estimated eighteen million poured in, with three million having been killed, maimed or raped. India at that time, being an impoverished country, just starting to emerge from the ravages of centuries long colonialism, just couldn't absorb that many refugees and take care of them. So, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi [[note]] not related to the Mahatma, she was actually Nehru's daughter, and married a man who was forced to convert from Islam to Zorastrianism and take the surname Gandhi instead of Khan [[/note]] started to apply pressure on the Indian military to invade Bangladesh and liberate it from Pakistan. At this time, India's army was headed by General Sam Hormus Jamshed Fram Manekshaw, who realized that the monsoon season would soon be upon Bangladesh, turning the terrain into an unnavigable quagmire of bogs and marshes, rendering the large amount of logistics required for an invasion, untenable. Manekshaw knew that area in general, having served in the China India Burma theatre in World War 2 and having been decorated for valor there. He advised Ms Gandhi that the best time for them to invade, was early winter when rains are nonexistent and the river basin that comprises most of Bangladesh is relatively dry, making it easy for vehicles to traverse the roads. Until then, arms and equipment was the only assistance India could provide the Mukhti Bahimi.

The first blows in this war were struck by Pakistan in the form of air raids on Indian airfields, dubbed ''Operation [[UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan Chengiz Khan]]''. The Pakistani Air Force was attempting to emulate the success of the [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict Israeli Air Force dawn raid on Egyptian airfields]]. However, Indian intelligence anticipated the attacks and the Air Force moved its aircraft to safety. As a result, the raids only cratered a few runways, which were repaired in four hours, and the IAF was free to retaliate.

In response, and in line with their doctrine of “capture Indian territory in the West to negotiate back territory lost in the east”, Pakistan attempted an invasion of northern and western India. An air raid on the Kashmiri capital city of Srinagar was foiled due to the HeroicLastStand by Indian Gnat pilot Nirmaljeet Singh Sekhon. An armored thrust into the Basantar region was foiled by another HeroicLastStand by a single Indian tank platoon commanded by Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal. Yet another thrust in the Thar desert was stopped at Longewala by a single heavy weapons company under the command of Major (later [[TheBrigadier Brig Gen]] Kuldip Singh Chandipur, [[HoldTheLine holding the line for an entire night against an entire Pakistani armored brigade]]). The Indian Army then went on the offensive in the West and captured about 5000 sq km of Pakistani territory, thus stunting the Pakistani strategy of capturing Indian territory to negotiate back East Pakistan. The Indian Navy and Air Force then started to strike at targets deep inside Pakistan.

The Indian Air Force first struck at PAF airfields, taking them out of the fight and upon achieving total air supremacy they started hitting Pakistani infrastructure. One of the targets hit during these airfield raids was a Beech 100 aircraft belonging to Brig Gen UsefulNotes/ChuckYeager who was advising the Pakistani Air Force at that time. The Indian pilot who struck that aircraft was a naval aviator, Lieutenant Arun Prakash - the only naval aviator to become Chief of Naval Staff. The Indian Navy struck the port city of Karachi with an entire missile boat squadron. This attack destroyed many fuel stores, sank or damaged a lot of ships in harbor and effectively took the Pakistani Navy out of the fight. A Pakistani submarine retaliated by sinking the Indian frigate INS Khukri, but this only caused the Indian Navy to [[HereWeGoAgain attack Karachi again]]. This time all remaining fuel stores were destroyed and while the Pakistani Air Force attempted to respond to this attack, [[EpicFail their reliance on poorly executed reconnaissance by airline pilots resulted in them sinking the Pakistani Navy frigate Zulfiqaar with all hands]]. Then the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi was sent to try to sink the Indian carrier Vikrant, but [[EpicFail sank under mysterious circumstances]]. The air war in Pakistan saw the first ever supersonic dogfight in South Asia, when an IndIan [=MiG=]-21 downed a Pakistani F-104 Starfighter.

Back in the east, having attained total supremacy in the air and sea, the Indian Army pressed its advantage. Pakistan’s newly raised [[SemperFi Marines]] attempted to strike back with riverine operations [[EpicFail but their ineptitude in understanding expeditionary and amphibious warfare caused these marines to be routed and later disbanded]]. The Meghna Heli-bridge drop bypassed an important strong point and caused Dhaka to become vulnerable to assault. Pakistani Forces attempted to retreat and consolidate elsewhere, but the Tangali [[ItsRainingMen paratrooper air drop]] cut off their escape. This left all Pakistani Forces in the East encircled and besieged. Finally, on December 16th Pakistani General Niazi and all of his ninety thousand men unconditionally surrendered to Indian Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora. This was the largest surrender of forces in combat since Stalingrad. Soon, the entire Pakistani military unconditionally surrendered.

The Indian victory in this war created a high possibility that Pakistan might be ''annexed'' and reunited with India. Most countries were ambivalent about this reunification, as just three decades ago all of that territory was part of India anyway. After all, there hadn't been much of a reaction to India annexing Goa back from the Portuguese a decade earlier. However the United States was deeply concerned about this possibility because of the Nixon administration's secret plan to reach out to China for cooperation in the Cold War. Nixon's plan was to take advantage of the Sino-Soviet split and [[EnemyMine edge China closer to the US, to coordinate action against the Soviets]]. However, since the US had refused to recognize Mao's government in Beijing they had no embassy or any diplomatic presence in China, so Nixon was going through Pakistani intermediaries to make contact with the Chinese government [[note]] Pakistan and China had deepened ties over a mutual enmity with India [[/note]]. If Pakistan ceased to exist, Nixon's plan would come undone. Moreover, India had grown closer to the Soviet Union because they were the only country that sold weapons to India after most other countries had slapped arms trade embargoes on both India and Pakistan after the '65 war [[note]] Pakistan bought their weapons from China [[/note]], so there was also the worry of Soviet influence spreading further into the Middle East and South East Asia, using reunified India as a springboard. To prevent this, Nixon resolved to take action.

That action was to send the [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill USS Enterprise's battle group]] into the Indian Ocean to flex military muscle [[note]] it is unclear if actual military operations would have been conducted, as the US armed forces were just starting to disentangle themselves from the mess in Vietnam, and the American people had no stomach to start another war elsewhere [[/note]]. The Soviets sent a surface warship group into the same region to "counter" American military presence there, but it is unclear if they would have militarily intervened if the Americans initiated conflict. The spectacle of possibly going to war with the US alarmed Indira Gandhi's government in India, who didn't realize that Nixon was probably just bluffing and saber rattling. Instead of calling his bluff, she apparently caved and invited Pakistani officials to Shimla in India to talk peace. The Shimla Agreement hammered out a few months later offered quite generous terms to the Pakistanis - they would have to recognize Bangladesh, but all captured territory would be returned to them, none of the Pakistani soldiers captured in Bangladesh would be tried for war crimes and Pakistan committed to bilaterally resolve the Kashmir issue via diplomacy with India [[note]] This was a missed opportunity to end the Kashmir conflict once and for all by forcing Pakistan to renounce all claims to it [[/note]]. However, this “Enterprise Incident” forced Indian strategic planners to work on developing a nuclear deterrent so no superpower would ever push them around like this again. This resulted in the development of UsefulNotes/TheThirdEyeOfBharat. In response to this, Pakistan began work on [[UsefulNotes/PakAttack its own nuclear program]].

* The instigating event was an audacious plan hatched by former SSG commando and current Army Chief Pervez Musharraf. The ploy was to sneak in a bunch of irregular "mujahideen fighters" with some regular army and paramilitary personnel embedded with them, over to various mountain summits in the Kargill, Drass, Batalik and Mushkoh Valley sectors in Indian controlled Kashmir. These mountain summits overlooked the strategically important highway NH-1 that served as an artery between the capital Srinagar and the important Leh Airfield. From their positions on the mountain tops, these infiltrator's were well positioned to call in artillery strikes over any military convoys running supplies between Srinagar and Leh. With this supply route severed, Pakistani paratroopers were positioned to assault and seize Leh Airfield, which would be used as a staging area for an assault on Srinagar. The assault would be bolstered by the fact that NH-1 would fall completely under Pakistani artillery cover. The capture of Srinagar would be used to instigate a full scale rebellion by a Kashmiri Muslim insurgency that Pakistani intelligence was cultivating for nearly a decade. The planners were looking to hamstring the response of Indian forces by threatening to escalate a conventional war into a nuclear one, and thus preventing Indian forces from doing two things that would have compelled the infiltrators to retreat. Due to the terrain of the mountains occupied, the only prudent option was to launch pincers into Pakistan controlled Kashmir, cut off the infiltrators' supply routes and encircle them. Another option was to open a front in the Punjab and Rajasthan border, forcing Pakistan to reallocate forces there. Threats of nuclear escalation had rendered these options untenable. What the Pakistani infiltrators didn't anticipate was India taking [[TakeAThirdOption the least prudent conventional military action - launching frontal assaults on the mountain observation posts]].
* The Indian response was initially uncoordinated and haphazard, losing quite a few senior officers in the process. However, these initial assaults were just keeping the infiltrators occupied, while elements of the Gurkha and Kumaon Regiments were being acclimated to high altitude warfare. Already famous for their mountain warfare prowess, these elements would, with artillery and air support attempt to directly assault the Pakistani posts and reclaim them. To do this, they had to scale steep mountain rock faces while taking enemy fire. This made these assaults into slow painstaking grinds, as each hill was bitterly contested. However, the Indians eventually started to win fight after fight, owing to air superiority, the excellent performance of Bofors "shoot and scoot" artillery and terrain. As more hills fell, Indian forces also captured sufficient intelligence to make a convincing case to the international media of the Pakistani Army's complicity in these infiltrations. On the other hand, Pakistani media and diplomats were caught completely unawares, as the Army hadn't let the civilian government in on its plan. This allowed the Indian media to win public opinion to their side. Facing intense pressure internationally, Pakistani PM Sharif had to secure American help in convincing his military to pull their remaining troops back. His one-upmanship of the Pakistani army proved short lived, as Sharif was deposed in a bloodless coup d'etat and fled Pakistan to go into exile. The end result was the return of military rule in Pakistan and a reversal of diplomatic gains made with India. Diplomatic ties would resume once more only in 2003 when Musharraf with a veneer of credibility brought about by cooperating with the US on Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, visited India.

In response, and in line with their doctrine of “capture Indian territory in the West to negotiate back territory lost in the east”, Pakistan attempted an invasion of northern and western India. An air raid on the Kashmiri capital city of Srinagar was foiled due to the HeroicLastStand by Indian Gnat pilot Nirmaljeet Singh Sekhon. An armored thrust into the Basantar region was foiled by another HeroicLastStand by a single Indian tank platoon commanded by Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal. Yet another thrust in the Thar desert was stopped at Longewala by a single heavy weapons company under the command of Major (later [[TheBrigadier Brig Gen]] Kuldip Singh Chandipur, [[HoldTheLine holding the line for an entire night against an entire Pakistani armored brigade]]. The Indian Army then went on the offensive in the West and captured about 5000 sq km of Pakistani territory, thus stunting the Oakistani strategy of capturing Indian territory to negotiate back East Pakistan. The Indian Navy and Air Force then started to strike at targets deep inside Pakistan.

The Indian Air Force first struck at PAF airfields, taking them out of the fight effectively, then upon achieving total air supremacy, started hitting Pakistani infrastructure. One of the targets hit during these airfield raids, was a Beech 100 aircraft belonging to Brig GennUsefulNotes/ChuckYeager, who was advising the Pakistani Air Force at that time. The Indian pilot who struck that aircraft was a naval aviator Lieutenant Arun Prakash - the only naval aviator to become Chief of Naval Staff. The Indian Navy in turn struck Karachi port with an entire missile boat squadron. This attack destroyed a lot of fuel stores, sank or damaged a lot of ships in harbor and effectively took the Pakistani Navy out of the fight. A Pakistani submarine retaliated by sinking the Indian frigate INS Khukri, but this only caused the Indian Navy to [[HereWeGoAgain attack Karachi again]]. This time, all remaining fuel stores were destroyed and while the Pakistani Air Force attempted to respond to this attack, [[EpicFail their reliance on poorly executed reconnaissance by airline pilots, resulted in them sinking the Pakistani Navy frigate Zulfiqaar with all hands]]. Then the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi was sent to try to sink the Indian carrier Vikrant, but [[EpicFail sank under mysterious circumstances]]. The air war in Pakistan saw the first ever supersonic dogfight in South Asia, when an IndIan [=MiG=]-21 downed a Pakistani F-104 Starfighter.

Back in the east, having attained total supremacy in the air and sea, the Indian Army pressed its advantage. Pakistan’s newly raised [[SemperFi Marines]] attempted to strike back with riverine operations [[EpicFail but their ineptitude in understanding expeditionary and amphibious warfare caused these marines to be routed and later disbanded]]. The Meghna Heli-bridge drop bypassed an important strong point and caused Dhaka to become vulnerable to assault. Pakistani Forces attempted to retreat out of there and consolidate elsewhere, but the Tangali [[ItsRainingMen paratrooper air drop]] cut off their escape. This left all Pakistani Forces in the East encircled and besieged. Finally, on December 16th Pakistani General Niazi surrendered all of his ninety thousand men unconditionally surrendered to Indian Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora. This was the largest surrender of forces since Paulus at Stalingrad. Pretty soon, the entire Pakistani military unconditionally surrendered.

The Indian victory in this war created a high possibility that Pakistan might be ''annexed'' and reunited with India. Most countries were ambivalent about this reunification, as just three decades ago, all of that territory was part of India anyway. There hadn't been much of a reaction to India annexing Goa back from the Portugese a decade earlier. However, the United States was deeply concerned with this possibility, because of the Nixon administration's secret plan to reach out to China. Nixon's plan was to take advantage of the Sino-Soviet split and [[EnemyMine edge China closer to the US, to coordinate action against the Soviets]]. However, since the US had refused to recognize Mao's government in Beijing, they had no embassy or any diplomatic presence in China, so Nixon was going through Oakistani intermediaries to make contact with the Chinese government [[note]] Pakistan and China had deepened ties over a mutual enemity with India [[/note]]. If Pakistan ceased to exist, Nixon's plan would come u done. Moreover, India had grown closer to the Soviet Union because they were the only country that sold weapons to India after most other countries had slapped arms trade embargoes on both India and Pakistan after the 65 war [[note]] Pakistan bought weapons from China [[/note]], so there was also the worry of Soviet influence spreading further into the Middle East and South East Asia, using reunified India as a springboard. To prevent this, Nixon resolved to take action.

That action was to send the USS Enterprise's battle group into the Indian Ocean to flex military muscle [[note]] it is unclear if actual military operations would have been conducted, as the US armed forces were just starting to disentangle themselves from the mess in Vietnam, and the American people had no stomach to start another war elsewhere [[/note]]. The Soviets sent a surface warship group into the same region to "counter" American military presence there, but it is unclear if they would have militarily intervened if the Americans initiated conflict. The spectacle of possibly going to war with the US alarmed Indira Gandhi's government in India, who didn't realize that Nixon was probably just bluffing and sabre rattling. Instead of calling his bluff, she apparently caved and invited Pakistani officials to Shimla in India to talk peace. The Shimla Agreement hammered out a few months later offered quite generous terms to the Pakistanis - they would have to recognize Bangladesh, but all captured territory would be returned to them, none of the Pakistani soldiers captured in Bangladesh would be tried for war crimes and Pakistan committed to bilaterally resolve the Kashmir issue via diplomacy with India [[note]] this was a missed opportunity to end the Kashmir conflict once and for all by forcing Pakistan to renounce all claims to it [[/note]]. However, this “Enterprise Incident” forced Indian strategic planners to work on developing a nuclear deterrent so no superpower would ever push them around like this again. This resulted in the development of UsefulNotes/TheThirdEyeOfBharat. In response to this, Pakistan began work on [[UsefulNotes/PakAttack its own nuclear program]].

* The Indian response was initially uncoordinated and haphazard, losing quite a few senior officers in the process. However, these initial assaults were just keeping the infiltrators occupied, while elements of the Gurkha and Kumaon Regiments were being acclimated to high altitude warfare. Already famous for their mountain warfare prowess, these elements would, with artillery and air support attempt to directly assault the Pakistani posts and reclaim them. To do this, they had to scale steep mountain rock faces while taking enemy fire. This made these assaults into slow painstaking grinds, as each hill was bitterly contested. However, the Indians eventually started to win fight after fight, owing to air superiority, the excellent performance of Bofors "shoot and scoot" artillery and terrain. As more hills fell, Indian forces also captured sufficient intelligence to make a convincing case to the international media of the Pakistani Army's complicity in these infiltrations. On the other hand, Pakistani media and diplomats were caught completely unawares, as the Army hadn't let the civilian government in on its plan. This allowed the Indian media to win public opinion to their side. Facing intense pressure internationally, Pakistani PM Sharif had to secure American help in convincing his military to pull their remaining troops back. His one upmanship of the Pakistani army proved short lived, as Sharif was deposed in a bloodless coup d'etat and fled Pakistan to go into exile. The end result was the return of military rule in Pakistan and a reversal of diplomatic gains made with India. Diplomatic ties would resume once more only in 2003 when Musharraf with a veneer of credibility brought about by cooperating with the US on Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, visited India.

That action was to send the USS Enterprise's battle group into the Indian Ocean to flex military muscle [[note]] it is unclear if actual military operations would have been conducted, as the US armed forces were just starting to disentangle themselves from the mess in Vietnam, and the American people had no stomach to start another war elsewhere [[/note]]. The Soviets sent a surface warship group into the same region to "counter" American military presence there, but it is unclear if they would have militarily intervened if the Americans initiated conflict. The spectacle of possibly going to war with the US alarmed Indira Gandhi's government in India, who didn't realize that Nixon was probably just bluffing and sabre rattling. Instead of calling his bluff, she apparently caved and invited Pakistani officials to Shimla in India to talk peace. The Shimla Agreement hammered out a few months later offered quite generous terms to the Pakistanis - they would have to recognize Bangladesh, but all captured territory would be returned to them, none of the Pakistani soldiers captured in Bangladesh would be tried for war crimes and Pakistan committed to bilaterally resolve the Kashmir issue via diplomacy with India [[note]] this was a missed opportunity to end the Kashmir conflict once and for all by forcing Pakistan to renounce all claims to it [[/note]]. However, this “Enterprise Incident” forced Indian strategic planners to work on developing a nuclear deterrent so no superpower would ever push them around like this again. ThIs resulted in the development of UsefulNotes/TheThirdEyeOfBharat. In response to this, Pakistan began work on [[UsefulNotes/PakAttack it’s own nuclear program]].

That action was to send the USS Enterprise's battle group into the Indian Ocean to flex military muscle [[note]] it is unclear if actual military operations would have been conducted, as the US armed forces were just starting to disentangle themselves from the mess in Vietnam, and the American people had no stomach to start another war elsewhere [[/note]]. The Soviets sent a surface warship group into the same region to "counter" American military presence there, but it is unclear if they would have militarily intervened if the Americans initiated conflict. The spectacle of possibly going to war with the US alarmed Indira Gandhi's government in India, who didn't realize that Nixon was probably just bluffing and sabre rattling. Instead of calling his bluff, she apparently caved and invited Pakistani officials to Shimla in India to talk peace. The Shimla Agreement hammered out a few months later offered quite generous terms to the Pakistanis - they would have to recognize Bangladesh, but all captured territory would be returned to them, none of the Pakistani soldiers captured in Bangladesh would be tried for war crimes and Pakistan committed to bilaterally resolve the Kashmir issue via diplomacy with India [[note]] this was a missed opportunity to end the Kashmir conflict once and for all by forcing Pakistan to renounce all claims to it [[/note]].

The Indian Air Force first struck at PAF airfields, taking them out of the fight effectively, then upon achieving total air supremacy, started hitting Pakistani infrastructure. One of the targets hit during these airfield raids, was a Beech 100 aircraft belonging to Brig GennUsefulNotes/ChuckYeager, who was advising the Pakistani Air Force at that time. The Indian pilot who struck that aircraft was a naval aviator Lieutenant Arun Prakash - the only naval aviator to become Chief of Naval Staff. The Indian Navy in turn struck Karachi port with an entire missile boat squadron. This attack destroyed a lot of fuel stores, sank or damaged a lot of ships in harbor and effectively took the Pakistani Navy out of the fight. A Pakistani submarine retaliated by sinking the Indian frigate INS Khukri, but this only caused the IndiAn Navy to attack Karachi again. This time, all remaining fuel stores were destroyed and while the Pakistani Air Force attempted to respond to this attack, [[EpicFail their reliance on poorly executed reconnaissance by airline pilots, resulted in them sinking the Pakistani Navy frigate Zulfiqaar with all hands]]. Then the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi was sent to try to sink the Indian carrier Vikrant, but [[EpicFail sank under mysterious circumstances]].

The first blows in this war were struck by Pakistan in the form of air raids on Indian airfields, dubbed ''Operation [[UsefulNotes/GengisKhan Chengiz Khan]]''. The Pakistani Air Force was attempting to emulate the success of the [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict Israeli Air Force dawn raid on Egyptian airfields]]. However, Indian intelligence anticipated the attacks and the Air Force moved its aircraft to safety. As a result, the raids only cratered a few runways, which were repaired in four hours, and the IAF was free to retaliate.

Operation Searchlight rounded up a lot of separatist Awami League members, but also convinced Sheikh Mujibur Rehman that political activism wasn't going to cut it anymore. He turned the Awami League into an insurgency called Mukhti Bahimi and did the unthinkable - [[EnemyMine reach out to India, which provided cursory support via its external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.]] The Mukhti Bahimi started prosecuting a war against the Pakistani military's Eastern Command. A few Bengali officers posted to the western part of Pakistan deserted and defected, or died trying. The Pakistani military's response was swift and brutal - resulting in [[RapePillageAndBurn numerous atrocities including mass killings, mass rape and mass displacement of populations]]. Refugees with nowhere else to go [[note]] India is the only country that borders Bangladesh [[/note]], fled in the millions to India. An estimated eighteen million poured in, with three million having been killed, maimed or raped. India at that time, being an impoverished country, just starting to emerge from the ravages of centuries long colonialism, just couldn't absorb that many refugees and take care of them. So, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi [[note]] not related to the Mahatma, she was actually Nehru's daughter, and married a man who was forced to convert from Islam to Zorastrianism and take the surname Gandhi instead of Khan [[/note]] started to apply pressure on the I Dian military to invade Bangladesh and liberate it from Pakistan. At this time, India's army was headed by General Sam Hormus Jamshed Fram Manekshaw, who realized that the monsoon season would soon be upon Bangladesh, turning the terrain into an unnavigable quagmire of bogs and marshes, rendering the large amount of logistics required for an invasion, untenable. Manekshaw knew that area in general, having served in the China India Burma theatre in World War 2 and having been decorated for valor there. He advised Ms Gandhi that the best time for them to invade, was early winter when rains are nonexistent and the river basin that comprises most of Bangladesh is relatively dry, making it easy for vehicles to traverse the roads. Until then, arms and equipment was the only assistance I dia could provide the Mukhti Bahimi.

* The instigating event was an audacious plan hatched by former SSG commando and current Army Chief Pervez Musharraf. The ploy was to sneak in a bunch of irregular "mujahideen fighters" with some regular army and paramilitary personnel embedded with them, over to various mountain summits in the Kargill, Drass, Batalik and Mushkoh Valley sectors in I Dian controlled Kashmir. These mountain summits overlooked the strategically important highway NH-1 that served as an artery between the capital Srinagar and the important Leh Airfield. From their positions on the mountain tops, these infiltrator's were well positioned to call in artillery strikes over any military convoys running supplies between Srinagar and Leh. With this supply route severed, Pakistani paratroopers were positioned to assault and seize Leh Airfield, which would be used as a staging area for an assault on Srinagar. The assault would be bolstered by the fact that NH-1 would fall completely under Pakistani artillery cover. The capture of Srinagar would be used to instigate a full scale rebellion by a Kashmiri Muslim insurgency that Pakistani intelligence was cultivating for nearly a decade. The planners were looking to hamstring the response of Indian forces by threatening to escalate a conventional war into a nuclear one, and thus preventing Indian forces from doing two things that would have compelled the infiltrators to retreat. Due to the terrain of the mountains occupied, the only prudent option was to launch pincers into Pakistan controlled Kashmir, cut off the infiltrators' supply routes and encircle them. Another option was to open a front in the Punjab and Rajasthan border, forcing Pakistan to reallocate forces there. Threats of nuclear escalation had rendered these options untenable. What the Pakistani infiltrators didn't anticipate was India taking [[TakeAThirdOption the least prudent conventional military action - launching frontal assaults on the mountain observation posts]].

Operation Searchlight rounded up a lot of separatist Awami League members, but also convinced Sheikh Mujibur Rehman that political activism wasn't going to cut it anymore. He turned the Awami League into an insurgency called Mukhti Bahimi and did the unthinkable - [[EnemyMine reach out to I dia, which provided cursory support via its external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.]] The Mukhti Bahimi started prosecuting a war against the Pakistani military's Eastern Command. A few Bengali officers posted to the western part of Pakistan deserted and defected, or died trying. The Pakistani military's response was swift and brutal - resulting in [[RapePillageAndBurn numerous atrocities including mass killings, mass rape and mass displacement of populations]]. Refugees with nowhere else to go [[note]] India is the only country that borders Bangladesh [[/note]], fled in the millions to India. An estimated eighteen million poured in, with three million having been killed, maimed or raped. India at that time, being an impoverished country, just starting to emerge from the ravages of centuries long colonialism, just couldn't absorb that many refugees and take care of them. So, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi [[note]] not related to the Mahatma, she was actually Nehru's daughter, and married a man who was forced to convert from Islam to Zorastrianism and take the surname Gandhi instead of Khan [[/note]] started to apply pressure on the I Dian military to invade Bangladesh and liberate it from Pakistan. At this time, India's army was headed by General Sam Hormus Jamshed Fram Manekshaw, who realized that the monsoon season would soon be upon Bangladesh, turning the terrain into an unnavigable quagmire of bogs and marshes, rendering the large amount of logistics required for an invasion, untenable. Manekshaw knew that area in general, having served in the China India Burma theatre in World War 2 and having been decorated for valor there. He advised Ms Gandhi that the best time for them to invade, was early winter when rains are nonexistent and the river basin that comprises most of Bangladesh is relatively dry, making it easy for vehicles to traverse the roads. Until then, arms and equipment was the only assistance I dia could provide the Mukhti Bahimi.

The areas of what comprised Pakistan during the partition of India, were derived from areas that the British colonial overlords had designated as "Majority Muslim". All areas except Eastern Bengal had sizeable Muslim populations owing to proximity to the Middle East. Eastern Bengal on the other hand was majority Muslim only due to a controversial administrative act of Viceroy Lord Curzon. Lord Curzon had ordered the Bengal province to be split into Hindu and Muslim halves, ostensibly for ease of administration purposes, but people there saw it as intentionally stoking religious division to fracture an otherwise United protest movement against British colonial presence. Therefore, Eastern Bengal wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea of Pakistan to begin with. The area was even subdued during partition, in comparison to the violence that erupted between Hindu refugees fleeing Western Pakistan, and Muslim refugees fleeing towards Western Pakistan. This further added to a feeling by West Pakistanis, that the Bengali contingent of their new country hadn't paid their dues. Eastern Bengal being geographically isolated from the rest of Pakistan meant that there were even linguistic and cultural differences that a common faith couldn't gloss over. This led to a feeling of marginalization by Bengalis in Pakistan. That marginalization was exacerbated by the fact that even though the legislative assembly in Pakistan allocated a disproportionate number of seats for that province in comparison to its size and population, this legislative assembly was toothless, with the Army holding de facto power. And the Army was under-represented by Bengalis, especially among the generals.

When elections were held in all of Pakistan in 1969, the newly formed Awami League that was advocating for the secession of East Pakistan, won a simple majority of seats in the legislature. This was because the voters in East Pakistan were united in their support of the Awami League, while those in the western provinces were fractured into multiple ideologies. The spectacle of a secessionist potentially ruling the country, alarmed the Army. The Pakistani Army Chief Gen Yahya Khan appointed his friend Lt Gen Tikka Khan to oversee martial law in East Pakistan and suppress the Awami League.

'''Pakistan - Punjab, Sindh, Baloochistan, NWFP, Kashmir... and umm [[AndZoidberg Eastern Bengal!!]]'''

Tensions were kicked off during ThePartitionOfIndia back in 1947, which violently split the subcontinent into majority Hindu and Muslim regions, India and Pakistan respectively. Because of the nature of why it occurred, how it occurred, and the immediate conflict over [[UsefulNotes/TheKashmirQuestion Kashmir]] the very next year, the two sister nations relations were soured from birth. This tension would lead to two more massive wars and a couple of smaller skirmishes between the two nations. It also led both nations to pursue nuclear weapons, India getting it first in 1974 and Pakistan in 1998.

* The Kargil conflict served as a fascinating study of mountain warfare tactics, nuclear deterrence strategy and the winning of an information/propaganda war. The impetus for the conflict was the recent nuclearization of India and Pakistan, and the thaw in diplomatic relations between the two. Just recently, Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee had travelled to Pakistan on an inaugural bus route, and had reopened road, rail, cultural and sporting links between the countries, after a nine year embargo. This had given the elected government in Pakistan under Prime Minister Navaaz Sharif a boost to credibility, which the Pakistani military felt was undermining their influence on Pakistani society. They felt that they needed to do something [[WereStillRelevantDamnit to gain approval]]. There was also a perception that a recently nuclearized India was already complacent under its nuclear umbrella and would therefore be disinclined to start or escalate a conventional war. While India had and still has a "no first use" nuclear policy, the Pakistanis had refused to enact the same, [[GodzillaThreshold reserving the right to escalate a conventional conflict to a nuclear one, if Indian numerical superiority was starting to get overwhelming]]. They were therefore confident that a limited low intensity conflict would not balloon into a full scale conventional war, as their own nuclear weapons would deter India from retaliating too strongly.
* The instigating event was an audacious plan hatched by former SSG commando and current Army Chief Pervez Musharraf. The ploy was to sneak in a bunch of irregular "mujahideen fighters" with some regular army and paramilitary personnel embedded with them, over to various mountain summits in the Kargill, Drass, Batalik and Mushkoh Valley sectors in I Dian controlled Kashmir. These mountain summits overlooked the strategically important highway NH-1 that served as an artery between the capital Srinagar and the important Leh Airfield. From their positions on the mountain tops, these infiltrator's were well positioned to call in artillery strikes over any military convoys running supplies between Srinagar and Leh. With this supply route severed, Pakistani paratroopers were positioned to assault and seize Leh Airfield, which would be used as a staging area for an assault on Srinagar. The assault would be bolstered by the fact that NH-1 would fall completely under Pakistani artillery cover. The capture of Srinagar would be used to instigate a full scale rebellion by a Kashmiri Muslim insurgency that Pakistani intelligence was cultivating for nearly a decade. The planners were looking to hamstring the response of Indian forces by threatening to escalate a conventional war into a nuclear one, and thus preventing Indian forces from doing two things that would have compelled the imfiltrators to retreat. Due to the terrain of the mountains occupied, the only prudent option was to launch pincers into Pakistan controlled Kashmir, cut off the infiltrators' supply routes and encircle them. Another option was to open a front in the Punjab and Rajasthan border, forcing Pakistan to reallocate forces there. Threats of nuclear escalation had rendered these options untenable. What the Pakistani infiltrators didn't anticipate was India taking [[TakeAThirdOption the least prudent conventional military action - launching frontal assaults on the mountain observation posts]].
* The Indian response was initially uncoordinated and haphazard, losing quite a few senior officers in the process. However, these initial assaults were just keeping the infiltrators occupied, while elements of the Gurkha and Kumaon Regiments were being acclimated to high altitude warfare. Already famous for their mountain warfare prowess, these elements would, with artillery and air support attempt to directly assault the Pakistani posts and reclaim them. To do this, they had to scale steep mountain rock faces while taking enemy fire. This made these assaults into slow painstaking grinds, as each hill was bitterly contested. However, the Indians eventually started to win fight after fight, owing to air superiority, the excellent performance of Bofors "shoot and scoot" artillery and terrain. As more hills fell, Indian forces also captured sufficient intelligence to make a convincing case to the international media of the Pakistani Army's complicity in these infiltrations. On the other hand, Pakistani media and diplomats were caught completely unawares, as the Army hadn't let the civilian government in on its plan. This allowed the Indian media to win public opinion to their side. Facing intense pressure internationally, Pakistani PM Sharif had to secure American help in convincing his military to pull their remaining troops back. His one upmanship of the Pakistani army proved short lived, as Sharif was deposed in a bloodless coup'd'etat and fled Pakistan to go into exile. The end result was the return of military rule in Pakistan and a reversal of diplomatic gains made with India. Diplomatic ties would resume once more only in 2003 when Musharraf with a veneer of credibility brought about by cooperating with the US on Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, visited India.

* The war was concluded by the Tashkent Agreement negotiated by Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistani Field Marshall Ayub Khan in a conference at Tashkent. They agreed to withdraw their forces and go back to the older [[StatusQuoIsGod pre war boundarie]].

* The Kargil conflict served as a fascinating study of mountain warfare tactics, nuclear deterrence strategy and the winning of an information/propaganda war. The impetus for the conflict was the recent nuclearization of India and Pakistan, and the thaw in diplomatic relations between the two. Just recently, Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee had travelled to Pakistan on an inaugural bus route, and had reopened road, rail, cultural and sporting links between the countries, after a nine year embargo. This had given the elected government in Pakistan under Prime Minister Navaaz Sharif a boost to credibility, which the Pakistani military felt was undermining their influence on Pakistani society. They felt that they needed to do something [[WeAreStillReleventDamnit to gain approval]]. There was also a perception that a recently nuclearized India was already complacent under its nuclear umbrella and would therefore be disinclined to start or escalate a conventional war. While India had and still has a "no first use" nuclear policy, the Pakistanis had refused to enact the same, [[GodzillaThreshold reserving the right to escalate a conventional conflict to a nuclear one, if Indian numerical superiority was starting to get overwhelming]]. They were therefore confident that a limited low intensity conflict would not balloon into a full scale conventional war, as their own nuclear weapons would deter India from retaliating too strongly.

* The plan was to airdrop multiple commando teams of the recently formed Green Beret trained Pakistani Special Services Group. They would link up with what the Pakistanis anticipated was a local Muslim population sympathetic to their cause and eager to rise up in rebellion. The initial plan failed when the local population ''didn't'' rise up, and instead tipped off local authorities to the presence of the SSG commandos. In order to prevent the Indian army from mobilizing in Kashmir and rolling up the commandos, the Pakistanis opened a second front in the Punjab and Rajasthan border. Their hope was that they could quickly seize territory while the Indians concentrated on the SSG teams, and then use that captured territory as a bargaining chip to exchange for Kashmir. This second front comprised of [[TankGoodness armor]] did advance forward, but was emphatically stopped at the [[CurbStompBattle Battle of Assal Uttar]]. An attempt to send in regular infantry was stopped at the [[HoldTheLine Battle of Longewalla]]. As the Pakistani offensive ground to a halt, the Indians decided to launch a retaliatory invasion of Pakistan and capture the city of Lahore. Despite early successes at the Battle of Khem Karan, Indian armor also became stalled at Sialkot.

* The Kargil conflict served as a fascinating study of mountain warfare tactics, nuclear deterrence strategy and the winning of an information/propaganda war. The impetus for the conflict was the recent nuclearization of India and Pakistan, and the thaw in diplomatic relations between the two. Just recently, Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee had travelled to Pakistan on an inaugural bus route, and had reopened road, rail, cultural and sporting links between the countries, after a nine year embargo. This had given the elected government in Pakistan under Prime Minister Navaaz Sharif a boost to credibility, which the Pakistani military felt was undermining their influence on Pakistani society. They felt that they needed to do something [[WereStillReleventDamnit to gain approval]]. There was also a perception that a recently nuclearized India was already complacent under its nuclear umbrella and would therefore be disinclined to start or escalate a conventional war. While India had and still has a "no first use" nuclear policy, the Pakistanis had refused to enact the same, [[GodzillaThreshold reserving the right to escalate a conventional conflict to a nuclear one, if Indian numerical superiority was starting to get overwhelming]]. They were therefore confident that a limited low intensity conflict would not balloon into a full scale conventional war, as their own nuclear weapons would deter India from retaliating too strongly.

* The plan was to airdrop multiple commando teams of the recently formed Green Beret trained Pakistani Special Services Group. They would link up with what the Pakistanis anticipated was a local Muslim population sympathetic to their cause and eager to rise up in rebellion. The initial plan failed when the local population ''didn't'' rise up, and instead tipped off local authorities to the presence of the SSG commandos. In order to prevent the Indian army from mobilizing in Kashmir and rolling up the commandos, the Pakistanis opened a second front in the Punjab and Rajasthan border. Their hope was that they could quickly seize territory while the Indians concentrated on the SSG teams, and then use that captured territory as a bargaining chip to exchange for Kashmir. This second front comprised of [[TankGoodness armor]] did advance forward, but was emphatically stopped at the [CurbStompBattle Battle of Assal Uttar]]. An attempt to send in regular infantry was stopped at the [[HoldTheLine Battle of Longewalla]]. As the Pakistani offensive ground to a halt, the Indians decided to launch a retaliatory invasion of Pakistan and capture the city of Lahore. Despite early successes at the Battle of Khem Karan, Indian armor also became stalled at Sialkot.
* The war was concluded by the Tashkent Agreement negotiated by Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistani Field Marshall Ayub Khan in a conference at Tashkent. They agreed to withdraw their forces and go back to the older [[StatusQuoIsGood pre war boundarie]].

!The Siachen Conflict
!The Kargil War

!!Examples of the following tropes
* ForeverWar - Seems that way so far, even with tensions subsiding as of late.
----

The Indo-Pakistan Conflict refers to the tense relationship and subsequent cold war between the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Tensions were kicked off during ThePartitionOfIndia back in 1947, which violently split the subcontinent into majority Hindu and Muslim regions, India and Pakistan respectively. Because of the nature of why it occured, how it occured, and the immediate conflict over Kashmir the very next year, the two sister nations relations were soured from birth. This tension would lead to two more massive wars and a couple of smaller skirmishes between the two nations. It also led both nations to pursue nuclear weapons, India getting it first in 1974 and Pakistan in 1998.

The Indo-Pakistan Conflict refers to the tense relationship and subsequent ColdWar between the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.