By Ritu Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : On the 43rd anniversary of the war with Pakistan, Arjan Singh, the only Marshal of the Air Force, who led the Indian Air Force (IAF) during that conflict, rues that the war was too “short” and the IAF was not in favour of a ceasefire.
Singh, one of the first few pilots in independent India, is the first and the only IAF chief to be adorned with the rank of ‘Marshal of the Air Force’, the only ‘five-star’ officer in India currently.
“When ceasefire came, IAF was not in its favour as the IAF had consumed only 8-9 percent of its resources. The war was too short,” Singh reminisced in an exclusive interview with IANS. Singh became IAF chief in 1964 at the age of 44 years.
The 91-year-old Singh, who was awarded the rank in 2002, also feels that the IAF’s resources were not fully utilized.
“I feel in the hindsight that had the IAF known that the war was going to be short it could have used the resources in a bigger way,” said Singh.
The Pakistan Army’s incursions in India culminated on Sep 1, 1965, in a massive attack in the Chhamb sector (Jammu and Kashmir) by the Pakistan forces. The IAF finally joined the conflict on Sep 6 with a full-blown war breaking out on the western frontier of India.
The Pakistani incursions in Jammu and Kashmir continued for about a month till the ceasefire was effected under the aegis of the UN Security Council on Sep 23, 1965.
Singh, his memory still razor sharp for his age, says that the IAF, after starting off at a disadvantage, soon gained advantage over the Pakistan Air Force.
“We had an impression that the Pakistan Air Force was better equipped as it had air-to-air missiles, Sabre fighter aircraft and better radars than us. On the other hand our Gnat aircraft had short reach and were smaller,” Singh said sitting stiffly for a man of his age.
He added that Gnat was not famous before and nobody liked to fly it, as it was difficult to fly and did not give any scope of error.
“But as the war progressed the Gnat shot down two Sabre aircraft, boosting our morale. Its small size was also a good advantage because it could not be seen properly on radar,” Singh said proudly.
The IAF was used for the first time in the history of independent India in the 1965 India-Pakistan war. This gave important war lessons that came handy to secure a victory in the 1971 India-Pakistan war, which was won on the strategic use of the IAF.
Close air support missions of the IAF in the Gujranwala sector, in the Sialkot-Lahore-Ferozepur axis and in the Khemkaran Kasur sector in Pakistan, contributed to the destruction of 300 Patton tanks of Pakistan.
“We had planned for a three-month war. Our strategy was to attack Pakistan’s rail and communications and at the same time stopping Pakistan Air Force from attacking our bases and operation areas. We wanted to surround Lahore and not capture it as it would have been difficult to sustain,” Singh said.
Eventually it was the “failure of communication links” that forced the Pakistan Army to retreat.