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.