What to do if General Sundarji was such a nervous wreck
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This document discusses General Sundarji's actions during the 1987 Brasstacks military exercises and the propaganda surrounding it. It makes three key points: 1) The author, who served in the Pakistani armored division at the time, sees claims that General Gul strategically outmaneuvered Sundarji as exaggerated propaganda. There was no strategic brilliance - the units were defensive and morale was low. 2) Sundarji wanted to provoke Pakistan into war to gain glory, but Pakistan did not take the bait. When he lost track of Pakistan's armored division, Sundarji lost his nerve due to his own weak character, not because of any Pakistani actions. 3) After tensions normalized
What to do if General Sundarji was such a nervous wreck
- 1. What to do if General Sundarji was such a nervous wreck Major A.H Amin (Retired) What to do if General Sundarji was such a nervous wreck December 2020 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.35626.85443 Project: How History Moves
- 2. Agha H Amin In 1987 much propaganda was done in Pakistan about the strategic genius of General Hameed Gul in moving the armoured division and unnerving the Indian army chief Sundarji. Some officers like Brigadier Khalid (Gujjar) credited General K.M Arif of my parent regiment for this so called Herculean strategic master stroke ! As an officer serving in the armoured division I saw this propaganda as a big joke and massive exaggeration of facts as we saw in December 1986- January 1987 ! Possibly INDIA TODAY was HEFTILY BRIBED by some to PUBLISH the story about SUNDARJI being unnerved !
- 4. INDIA TODAY HAS TO SELL . EMPLOYEES HAVE TO BE PAID . BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU MAKE BULL SHIT OF HISTORY . INDIA TODAYS ZIA-RAJIV 1987 CONFLICT BULL SHIT-COMMENTS Agha.H.Amin 1-during my course of stay in afghanistan this subject was much discussed with indian retired officers visiting afghanistan. 2- my regiment was part of 1987 mobilisation from november 1986 to march 1987.we were issued first line tank ammunition in 1st armd div. 3-archival evidence reveals that indian army chief sundarji was looking for glory in brasstacks , the idea to provoke pakistan into war.pakistan army did not buy the idea , did
- 5. not get provoked because pakistan was in no position to fight a war .the reason why the indians lost track of first armoured division which was largely hameed guls brilliance , although i dont agree with many of his ideas. hameed gul alone , not even saroop the corps commander who wanted to give hameed gul a bad report ? There was no glory in the moves.the units were morose . the commanding officers were lifeless.it was a very defensive move . That sunderji was unnerved was a weak mans response. I am perfectly aware that the GHQ ordered the move but the brilliant way in which it was executed was the real reason why the indians failed to detect where the division went. Here the deception plan of First Armoured Division and the secrecy with which the move was executed was crucial.
- 6. And by the way there was great confusion on pakistan side as the areas of move were changed about 30 times. Perhaps I will rephrase the assessment . i have no interest in projecting hameed gul. Such was the state of demoralisation that when Maj Gen Hameed Gul asked for a volunteer squadron commander to take an advance position near the border , only one man Captain Tariq Khan volunteered . He was later marched in and given a reprimand for disagreeing with both 5 Armoured Brigade Commander and Hameed Gul . Now LTG Tariq Khan made a very interesting remark when asked by Gul about his ideas.He said words to the effect that it was technically sound but tactically stupid. We were hiding in forests and told not to move anywhere but later when Sundarji lost
- 7. his nerve because of his own weak character many Pakistanis tried to take glory for this event.This glory part started appearing after April 1987 when the situation had normalised. The bastard child zia regime which was never exactly popular in Pakistan projected the event as a great military achievement of zia . Ironically Indian press made this job easier ? We at a very personal level knew that the period November 1986 to March 1987 was not exactly very glorious.There was an air of gloom everywhere . At a personal level when both saroop and hameed gul who did not get along well except on one point , getting me dismissed from service for boozing were snubbed by the then army de facto chief , the VCOAS K.M Arif who snubbed them and told them that he will
- 8. not sign dismissal orders of an 11 Cavalary officer.Here a short whisper in his year by his ADC and my dear friend Captain Khalid Gujjar that I was old 11 Cavalry did the miracle !This was March 1987. Credit to Hameed Gul that he exonerated me later on 19 March 1987 from all charges in writing . However when he left for the ISI his orders were not honoured by his successors. Interestingly it was not the main intention of Pakistanis to terrorise Sundarji by moving the First Armoured Division.The intention was to move into a central position from where a counter offensive could be launched against the expected Indian attack. However Sundarji lost his nerve when he lost track of Pakistans First Armoured Division and simply lost the moral courage and resolution to do what he intended.I discussed
- 9. this incident to the ire of many in Command and Staff Colleges Citadel Journal in 1993. 4- even rajid gandhi never bought the idea as revealed by various archives including principal secretary S.S Gills testimony . 5- in the end sundarjis ambition failed . brasstacks did not provoke pakistan , rajiv gandhi also did not bite sundarjis bait. 6- real threat to pakistan was in september- november 1984 when my regiment was part of 1 corps mobilisation. at that time only two sikh officers saved pakistan by pumping bullets in durga devi .
- 11. Read this stunning piece on General Zia.
- 12. = View Post on Facebook 揃 Edit Email Settings 揃 Reply to this email to add a comment. Indian civil servant SS Gill denied that Sundarjis grandiose plans to attack Pakistan in 1987 had any official approval:-- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319256927_The_Dynasty- _Critical_Triple_Biography_of_Jawaharlal_Nehru_Indira_Gandhi_and_Rajiv_Gandhi_by_emin ent_Indian_bureucrat_SS_Gill-Book_Review
- 14. I was pleasantly surprised to see my 1999-2000 friend Col Gill quote my article in Pakistans Daily Nation newspaper ( Pakistans most influential because of slanted agenda and not paying thosewho write most quoted articles on its oped pages-This paper of crooks never paid this scribe for over 50 articles published on its OPED and Editorial pages between 2001 and 2011) in the NATO DEFENSE COLLEGE research paper titled as below:--