INDIAN VIEWS KASHMIR WAR 1947-48
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The document summarizes events during the 1947-48 Kashmir war between India and Pakistan, as seen from a Pakistani perspective. It describes how Pakistani troops known as the Gilgit Scouts held off Indian attempts to relieve the town of Skardu and captured key positions like Dras and Zojila Pass. By mid-July, the Scouts had liberated the Northern Areas of Kashmir but could not advance further without risking open combat against better equipped Indian forces. It then discusses Operation Venus, a planned Pakistani counteroffensive to cut Indian supply lines that was ultimately not carried out due to strong Indian defenses. The document ends by recounting the experiences of an Indian prisoner of war, Captain Baldev Singh Bajwa
INDIAN VIEWS KASHMIR WAR 1947-48
- 1. Monday, January 16, 2017 Indian views on my post on Kashmir War Despite all their tangible inferiority the Dogras led by Lieutenant Colonel Sher Jang Thapa; an extremely resolute commander and a
- 2. very chivalrous human being as far as treatment of non- combatants was concerned50 held on till 14th August 1948; when 200 of his garrison broke out towards Kargil, while Sher Jang with the remainder 250 of his troops surrendered51. The Indians had made many attempts to relieve Skardu, but these were foiled by the Scouts/Volunteers who defeated the various Indian relieving columns by laying some very unconventional and brilliant ambushes on the Skardu-Kargil Road.
- 3. Dras on the Kargil-Skardu road was captured by the Gilgit Scouts on 6th June 1947. In June the Scouts finally advanced towards Zojila Pass the gateway to Srinagar Valley from the east. Zojila Pass (11,578 ft) was captured by the Gilgit Scouts under the leadership of Lieutenant Shah Khan on 7th July 1948. The Gilgit Scouts also advanced towards Leh about 160 miles east of Skardu in the Indus valley, but could not capture it since, their relative numerical inferiority, lack of adequate logistic support and
- 4. a majority of non-Muslim population in the area, made the success of their operation doubtful. By mid-July the Scouts, without any regular army troops had liberated the entire Northern Areas and had reached the administrative boundary of Srinagar district holding an area stretching in the west from outskirts of Bandipura 40 miles north of Srinagar, holding Zojila Pass 62 miles east of Srinagar and at Nimu few miles west of Leh.
- 5. The Scouts had achieved more than their actual potential warranted and could only be praised for doing what they did. It was not possible for the Scouts any further, since an advance west south or east of the line they were holding would have brought them into open territory, where high mountains and steep cliffs and high altitude were no longer present to act as force multipliers and where the Indians could effectively employ their regular army
- 6. supported by modern artillery, aircraft, armoured cars and tanks. Posted by unknown at 6:35 AM Labels: THE 1947-48 Kashmir War-Major Agha.H.Amin 7 comments: 1. haseeb ullahSeptember 16, 2011 at 10:59 PM dear sir, i need detais about operation venus. thanx ReplyDelete 2.
- 7. Omnibus DubitandumSeptember 17, 2011 at 8:26 AM The Pakistani political leadership at last realised that an effort must be made to at least assume a more threatening posture,failing which the Indians emboldened by their success at Poonch and Zojila may attempt an offensive operation which may bring them yet closer to the Kashmir-Pakistan international border112. It may be noted that area south of Poonch is mostly below 5,000 ft and
- 8. operations in this area are not severely restricted unlike the higher area in the north because of heavy snowfall.Keeping this fact in view the Pakistani GHQ felt that an Indian advance towards Mirpur and Bhimbhar was likely unless the Pakistan Army now at last assumed a more responsible and offensive posture. We will now deal with the famous ‘Operation Venus’ which was given the shape of a political controversy by two gentlemen,one an army officer and the other a civil servant! By mid
- 9. November the Pakistani political leadership at last realised that a more active military policy must be adopted in Kashmir. Finally the civilian political leadership was moved from its state of supreme lethargy and indecision and gave the army its first responsible political directive ; ‘The Pakistan Government therefore, directed the C- in-C that, subject only to the defence of West Pakistan frontiers with India,the Pakistan Army was to prevent at all costs, the Indians from
- 10. extending the area of their occupation in the Jammu and Kashmir State’113. This directive was issued in mid November 1948 and following this the GHQ decided to move sizeable forces for offensive action in Bhimbhar Sector in Kashmir. In addition the Pakistani Cabinet asked the C-in-C to ‘examine in detail the military implications of the proposed counterstroke’114. Gracey proposed a counterstroke involving an armoured brigade and infantry
- 11. brigade originating from Bhimbhar area and directed at Beri Pattan on the main Indian supply route from Akhnur to Nowshera-Rajauri and Poonch115. The aim of the projected Operation Venus as the counterstroke was code named was not to recapture Kashmir or even to recapture Poonch but in words of the official history of the Kashmir War to:— ‘FORCE THE INDIANS TO SUE FOR AN IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE ON THE BASIS OF THE STATUS QUO AS THEIR RECENT
- 12. OPERATIONS HAD INVOLVED THE MAXIMUM EFFORT THEY WERE CAPABLE OF PUTTING FORTH AT THAT TIME.THE MANOEUVRES NOW CONTEMPLATED WOULD INSTEAD OF PROLONGING THE FIGHT IN KASHMIR,FORCE THE INDIANS TO TERMINATE THE CONFLICT’116. THE PLAN WAS TO ATTACK BERI PATTAN BRIDGE WITH A
- 13. BRIGADE INFANTRY AND BRIGADE TANKS AND CUT THE INDIAN ROAD LINK OF JAMMU WITH POONCH , THE SAME AS IN OPERATION GRAND SLAM.BUT IN THIS CASE INDIAN POSITION WAS STRONG WHEREAS IN GRAND SLAM INDIAN FORCES WERE VERY WEAK AND PAKISTANIS HAD 6 TO 1 SUPERIORITY IN TANKS AND ARTILERY YOU CAN FIND DETAILS IN THE GHQ HISTORY KASHMIR CAMPAIGN
- 14. ReplyDelete 3. GaryDecember 27, 2011 at 12:52 PM Major Amin I routinely read your blog and its an eye opener. After having studied in US and now working here - I made numerous life long pakistani friends. I sincerely hope and pray these two nations sort their issues and move on - tough thing to do due to vested interests of establishments on both sides and easy scapegoats
- 15. to deflect attention from real issues. Only way out let the common people interact and realize the futility of all this and use their good will for common interest. Enough said the main reason I am posting here is that I saw my Uncles picture ( I think so) as POW in 1948 captured in Gilgit with 6 Kashmir rifles. He probably is the Sikh officer in Attock fort Photo on the extreme right hand side with Lt Col Thapa. His name was Capt Baldev Singh Bajwa
- 16. adjutant Lt Col Majid Khan. He was originally from Kotli Bajwa Narrowal. I did share this link with his son and will post his feedback on my uncles experience as POW - verbatim Best Gary Singh ReplyDelete Replies 1. sanjeet BaliSeptember 17, 2012 at 5:39 AM Hello Gary,
- 17. My brother sent " Indian prisoners at Attack Fort - Skardu " pic to us today... and it just got all of us siblings ruffled up.Our day hasn't been the same since this morning. The Sikh gentleman at the extreme right could be my grandfather too or so we hope :)...and the comparison doesn't end there - his name was "Thakur Singh" Bali ..My grandmother was probably still in her teens and my father 3 year old when my
- 18. grandfather set foot on his war journey. My Grandfather(Baapu)was declared war dead/POW. We have spent most of our childhood dreaming of situations on how one day door will open and he will walk in...of how someday someone will bring us the news that he is still alive.what happened to him still remains a mystery with not a single soul knowing what happened to him. The only account we heard last was from one of his
- 19. staff(who was with him)being told to look for a route when they found themselves lost in snow..( we met that gentleman almost 15-20 years back ) and he confessed that he did find the way but was too scared to risk his life by going back . His account is that he either died in the snow in Skardu or was POW. To us these accounts remain just stories.. this family seeks a closure on him and unfortunately there is no one who can give a credible end to this
- 20. one...we have sought this for years.Only Vaheguruji or he knows what really happened. To be honest - i don't know why am i writing all this to you - maybe in hope that someday someone would chance upon this and give us some information about him. if there is any possibility of your cousin being interested to get in touch and share some information,i would really appreciate. Your note does mention that your cousin is gravely
- 21. ill. God bless and i hope he is recovering fast. Delete 2. sanjeet BaliSeptember 17, 2012 at 7:01 AM Sorry about the goof-up about the name. somehow mis-read it. Apologies. Delete Reply 4. Omnibus DubitandumDecember 30, 2011 at 1:28 AM thanks for the feedback
- 22. Gary ReplyDelete 5. GaryJuly 13, 2012 at 1:41 PM Brief background about my Uncles family – He was fourth generation officer serving for Kashmir State Army son of Subedar Thakur Singh Bajwa. His grandfathers name was Lt Col Ishwar Singh Bajwa and was veteran of WW1 – Mesopotamia and Afghan wars. My maternal grand father was S Gurbachan Singh Bajwa a lawyer in
- 23. Sialkot/Narrowal and a two term MLA from Sikh Rural seat of the same district. Capt Baldev Singh was nephew of Gurbachan Singh – his elder brothers son. Lt Col Ishwar Singh was a very straightforward, upright and god fearing pious person. A trait that runs through the family . Bajwa family after partition settled in Qadian and Sirsa – Lt Col Bajwa settled here. Lt Col Ishwar Singh Bajwa was instrumental in getting mosque built at Bunji cantonment. A deed that was one of the reasons
- 24. my Uncle was spared and also amazing assistance provided by few of his Muslim jawans and Maulvi. Summarized below is what I was told by my cousin the last surviving son of my late uncle Lt Col Baldev Singh Bajwa. My cousin resides in US and is gravely ill. Hopefully when he recovers I could get some more details. I can’t attest to these facts therefore posting as verbatim: CO Lt Col Majid Khan was very close to my Uncle ( his Adjutant) but always appointed a Muslim officer
- 25. as quartermaster – this reportedly was detrimental to Dogra and Sikh troops plight. My uncle was very critical of Col Khans action who per him was complicit in latter events. All of the non muslim troops had no service weapons when they broke out except their personal weapons. They couldn’t have fought back. These folks would hide during day and move around at night. They couldn’t go to the water sources streams etc since they were guarded by troops and snipers. To quench thirst they would
- 26. lick moisture of trees, stones and were living of tree barks etc. Once they made a rope out of turbans so that a jawan could climb down to bring up two canvas buckets of snow to suck on.Once they did manage to capture a goat and cooked it on fire but everyone got sick after eating it. Things were so hopeless that a close family friend could not bear thirst anymore and in spite of my uncles dire warnings made a dash for the stream and was fatally shot. Out of despair few of the officers and jawans
- 27. committed suicide with their weapons.Finally they all surrendered and Pressure was for conversion with executions.Every one had made the decision not to get converted. Prisoners informed their captors that if senior officer Capt Baldev Singh converted they all would follow. My uncle was reportedly pressed upon – “ you eat halal with us in the mess so whats the issue?” or “We will forcibly shorn your hair” he reminded them as a friend and colleague he would share
- 28. their food or the fact that religion is in ones heart and they would need to kill him first. He was then subjected to daily mock execution drill to break him down. In these dark days and times few of his jawans played a big role in keeping his moral up. One was paltan maulvi who somehow secured a Sikh prayer book and gave it to my uncle – which bucked up his spirits. This maulvi also reminded every one that local mosque was built by this officers grand father. There were two jawans who assured my
- 29. Uncle that they would die first protecting him. They ensured that one of them was always on guard duty around. One of jawans name was Nazir Hussein. Unit tailor gave Rs 100 to my uncle against his protests and told him its not a loan.Eventually the POWs were transferred to Attock fort. Years later I met a civilian Kashmiri Sikh who was also interned at Attock and remembered Capt Bajwa.