Inspite of India's peace policy, she was forced into battles many times with Pakistan and China. Here is a brief summary of all those battles.
1947 1962 1965 1971 1999
India-Pakistan Wars
1947 1962 1965 1971 1999
India-Pakistan Wars
India-Pakistan Wars name given to the series of conflicts between India and Pakistan since 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned and the two countries became independent of Great Britain. The roots of the conflicts lie in the hostility between Hindus and Muslims and, initially, in the disposition of self-governing princely states.
The 1947-48 War
The first war arose over Kashmir , in North West India, in 1947 when Muslim subjects revolted and were supported by Pakistani troops. The Hindu ruler appealed to India for aid, agreeing to concede the state to India in return. India moved quickly to consolidate its position in Kashmir, pushing Pakistan's "volunteers" back. Conflicts also arose in the Punjab and in Bengal. The undeclared war in Kashmir continued until Jan. 1, 1949, when a truce was arranged through UN mediation; negotiations between India and Pakistan began and lasted until 1954 without resolving the Kashmir problem. Pakistan controlled part of the area, Azad (Free) Kashmir, while India held most of the territory, which it annexed in 1957.
The first war arose over Kashmir , in North West India, in 1947 when Muslim subjects revolted and were supported by Pakistani troops. The Hindu ruler appealed to India for aid, agreeing to concede the state to India in return. India moved quickly to consolidate its position in Kashmir, pushing Pakistan's "volunteers" back. Conflicts also arose in the Punjab and in Bengal. The undeclared war in Kashmir continued until Jan. 1, 1949, when a truce was arranged through UN mediation; negotiations between India and Pakistan began and lasted until 1954 without resolving the Kashmir problem. Pakistan controlled part of the area, Azad (Free) Kashmir, while India held most of the territory, which it annexed in 1957.
The 1965 War The second war began in Apr., 1965, when fighting broke out in the Rann of Kachchh, a sparsely inhabited region along the West Pakistan-India border. In August fighting spread to Kashmir and to the Punjab, and in September Pakistani and Indian troops crossed the partition line between the two countries and launched air assaults on each other's cities. After threats of intervention by China had been successfully opposed by the United States and Britain, Pakistan and India agreed to a UN-sponsored cease-fire and withdrew to the pre-August lines. Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri of India and President Ayub Khan of Pakistan met in Tashkent, USSR (now in Uzbekistan), in Jan., 1966, and signed an agreement pledging continued negotiations and respect for the cease-fire conditions. After the Tashkent Declaration another period of relative peace ensued.
The 1971 War Indo-Pakistani relations deteriorated when civil war erupted in Pakistan, pitting the West Pakistan army against East Pakistanis demanding greater autonomy. The fighting forced 10 million East Pakistani Bengalis to flee to India. When Pakistan attacked Indian airfields in Kashmir, India attacked both East and West Pakistan. It occupied the eastern half, which declared its independence as Bangladesh , on Dec. 6, 1971. Under great-power pressure, a UN cease-fire was arranged in mid-December, after Pakistan's defeat. Pakistan lost its eastern half, an army of 100,000 soldiers, and was thrown into political turmoil. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto emerged as leader of Pakistan, and Mujibur Rahman as prime minister of Bangladesh. Tensions were alleviated by the Shimla accord of 1972, and by Pakistan's recognition of Bangladesh in 1974, but tensions have periodically recurred.
The 1999 War
The Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LOC). The conflict is also referred to as Operation Vijay which was the name of the Indian operation to clear the Kargil sector.
The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the LOC, which serves as the de facto border between the two states. During the initial stages of the war, Pakistan blamed the fighting entirely on independent Kashmiri insurgents, but documents left behind by casualties and later statements by Pakistan's Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff showed involvement of Pakistani paramilitary forces, led by General Ashraf Rashid. The Indian Army, later on supported by the Indian Air Force, recaptured a majority of the positions on the Indian side of the LOC infiltrated by the Pakistani troops and militants. With international diplomatic opposition, the Pakistani forces withdrew from the remaining Indian positions along the LOC.
The war is one of the most recent examples of high altitude warfare in mountainous terrain, which posed significant logistical problems for the combating sides. This was only the second direct ground war between any two countries after they had developed nuclear weapons; it is also the most recent.The conflict led to heightened tension between the two nations and increased defence spending by India.
INDIA- CHINA WAR 1962
Nehru and China
After the departure of the British, Nehru should have logically built on what they had started. But his idealism took the better of horse sense and he allowed matters to drift. He committed a fatal blunder in thinking that China was a friend, without realizing that two great powers cannot subsist side by side and one has to bite the dust.
He also in his immature way became so engrossed in the idea as a ‘world leader’ that he forgot the essentials of world leadership is military power and an aggressive policy. The result was that the Army went to seed and India made no effort to establish any form of control on the forward areas, particularly Aksai Chin. Such naivety is hard to digest at this time.Neglect of the Northern Borders
This inaction led to the entire Aksai Chin, as well as Tibet, being occupied by China, while Nehru kept twiddling his thumbs in the halo of a ‘world leader’. When Nehru woke up, it was too late and the Chinese had de-facto occupation of nearly 30,000 sq miles of Indian Territory.The Fatal Blunder
He then committed another fatal blunder. Without beefing up the military might he ordered the establishment of military posts in the forward areas. He also made a silly remark ‘I have ordered the army to throw the Chinese out’. He perhaps didn’t realize the purport of his words. Probably he just meant it for home consumption. But the Chinese were incensed and attacked all along the border and Nehru was caught napping.The Aftermath
It was a colossal defeat for India. Perhaps, had the Army fought or the air force been used the story could have been different, but a shell-shocked Nehru threw in the towel. His world image was shattered and he will go down in history as the man who let India down. A man who surrendered India's inherent right to the leadership of Asia.Courtesy: The Columbia Encyclopedia & www.suite101.com
