Opinion Maker

By Group Captain Sultan M. Hali (Retd.) S. I. (M)

Pakistan Army has been selflessly at the beck and call of the nation at every trial and tribulation. Each calamity, every catastrophe that Pakistan faced ever since its inception, found Pakistan Army responding to the call of the people. Earthquakes, deluge, floods, fires, wars and other calamities, found the Army leading the effort to defend, rescue and rehabilitate the people of Pakistan. It was baptism under fire for the fledgling army in August 1947, when marauding and barbarous Sikh and Hindu hordes set upon the refugee caravans migrating to Pakistan. The mass exodus of the Muslims of the subcontinent from India was ravaged and attacked by the fanatics thus necessitating the Pakistan Army being pressed into the service of protecting the refugee caravans.

1947-1948 Kashmir War. Directly after the partition, Indian forces landed in Srinagar and surreptitiously occupied the Valley of Kashmir, contrary to the diktat of the Indian Independence Act 1947. Pakistan Army was again pressed into the onerous task of trying to liberate Kashmir from the Indian invaders; resulting in the 1947-1948 Kashmir War. Devoid of weapons and arms, the Pakistan Army managed to set free some portions of the Valley, which form Azad Jammu and Kashmir while the rest remains occupied by India. For the last six and a half decades, Pakistan Army has stood vigilant at the Cease Fire Line, which later became the Line of Control, lest Indians attempt further adventurism.

1965 Pak-India War. In September 1965, Indian forces furtively crossed the international boundary with the malicious intent of occupying Pakistan. It was once again the Pakistan Army that picked up the gauntlet of defending Pakistan against the treacherous assault of a force three times its size. The names of the valiant soldiers, who preserved the sovereignty of Pakistan at the supreme sacrifice of their lives, will be emblazoned with gilded letters in the annals of Pakistan’s history. The enthusiasm and spirit of the people and Armed Forces in the 1965 War proved to be Pakistan’s finest hour. The Armed Forces proved their mettle against a vastly superior force and stopped it in its tracks. Pakistan’s valiant sons stood united as one solid edifice to defend their motherland.

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