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What Was The First Formal Operation of the Pakistan's Navy in History? Capt. (R) Ahmed Zaheer's Analysis
What Was The First Formal Operation of the Pakistan's Navy in History? Capt. (R) Ahmed Zaheer's Analysis
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00:00So, we have a very relevant person with us in this regard.
00:02I myself have come here as a person who wants to know about this department of Afwaj-e-Pakistan,
00:10about today's day, about today's historical background,
00:15that is, the story that goes on till September 6.
00:18So, Captain Retired Ahmed Zaheer Sahib,
00:21who is a very relevant person in this regard,
00:23he is the director of the UK History and Archive Centre,
00:25which deals with exactly the same issues of history and archives.
00:33He has been in your service for 30 years,
00:35and has been returning from the operation branch of the Navy.
00:38Captain Retired Ahmed Zaheer Sahib, thank you very much for your time.
00:41Sir, if I want to know from the very beginning,
00:43this 1965 came later,
00:46if I ask you that in the history of Pakistan,
00:48the first proper operation of the Navy,
00:51we still remember 1965, we read about it.
00:55Was there a first proper operation before that, and what was it?
00:58Absolutely.
00:58See, when Pakistan was formed in 1947,
01:01we were the senior service.
01:03Right.
01:03Before the Army, the Navy, Army and Air Force were the seniority.
01:09And in Karachi, there was the Naval Headquarters,
01:12and the seat of government was also there.
01:14And there was a lot of relationship with the Navy.
01:16Right.
01:17So, if you look at the history, Lakshadweep Islands,
01:2297% of the population was Muslim.
01:26Okay.
01:27And as per the Batwara, the Radcliffe Award,
01:33it was decided that all the Muslim majority areas will join Pakistan.
01:39Okay.
01:39Accordingly, the 97% population area was supposed to join us.
01:44But my brother, Mr. Patel, who was the Deputy Prime Minister of India,
01:49he decided that no, only the land-contingent areas will come with them,
01:56the island won't matter.
01:57Oh.
01:58When Liaquat Ali Khan found out,
02:00it is on record that the first signal,
02:03the Navy, or the first military signal that he made,
02:06he made to the Navy.
02:08And in that, he said to the Navy, send a ship, a luxury pilot.
02:12And one of our ships was in Tanzania.
02:14He told the ship to reach there and take over the luxury pilot.
02:19Because they are supposed to be, we should come to their help.
02:22So, this was a very important operation.
02:24Number two, we are again on record.
02:27We have to leave this humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,
02:33which we are talking about today.
02:35In 1947, when the Junagarh issue was discussed,
02:41when the Indians tried to annex it.
02:44So, from the Pakistan Navy ship, Balochistan and Sindh,
02:47they went and carried wheat from here,
02:51and carried other rations,
02:53because the entire area was sealed by the Indians.
02:57So, we started doing those operations.
02:59The story starts from 1947.
03:01Yes, from that time.
03:02Even after the establishment of Pakistan.
03:03Yes, yes.
03:04Immediately.
03:04Yes, yes, yes.
03:05After that came Peset.
03:068th September, Yom-e-Behriya.
03:09Why is this celebrated?
03:10What is the historical significance of 8th September?
03:14This was the war of 1965.
03:178th September is the day when our Navy,
03:23the Pakistan Navy,
03:25attacked a three times bigger enemy than us.
03:31India's size multiplied by three.
03:33Yes, absolutely.
03:34And such an enemy,
03:372-3 years before that,
03:39a very big operation,
03:41the Indians had annexed Goa,
03:44and the Indian Navy had a big role in it.
03:47And such an operation,
03:48in which they tried all kinds of things,
03:51to interfere in run-of-catch operations.
03:54So, we know all this, we ask.
03:57What Quaid-e-Azam had said,
04:00courage, determination and fortitude,
04:04keeping that in mind,
04:06we decided to do our job.
04:10Why did we do it?
04:11We did it because Karachi,
04:14when the war started in Chennai,
04:18on that 6th, around 6 in the morning,
04:22the first attack on Karachi,
04:25was from an aircraft,
04:27and it was an Indian Air Force aircraft.
04:29Right.
04:29And the Air Headquarters called the Naval Headquarters,
04:33and Air Marshal Akhtar from there,
04:35asked to arrange for a radar,
04:38which was installed at Dwarka.
04:42And what is the location of Dwarka?
04:44Because Operation Dwarka is very famous.
04:46210 miles away from us.
04:49From Pakistan and Karachi,
04:52about 210 miles away.
04:53Yes.
04:54That was the location.
04:56The Indian Air Force aircraft used to come there,
04:59they used to take a radar,
05:02and through a radio beacon,
05:04they used to tell them to go there,
05:06and attack Karachi.
05:07So they said,
05:08our Air Force is very busy right now,
05:12with Army operations,
05:14up north,
05:15for south,
05:16we cannot afford to spare aircraft,
05:19for this particular thing,
05:21so you knock off this radar.
05:23Okay.
05:24And that's precisely what we did.
05:26The important thing in this,
05:28is that this was not a pre-planned operation.
05:32Yes.
05:33For which you are struggling.
05:35Yes, for which you are struggling.
05:37It was nothing like that.
05:39On 6th, this action took place,
05:41the Naval Headquarters decided,
05:43and they said,
05:44send one aircraft,
05:45at that time,
05:46there were no computers.
05:47There was no such system.
05:48They said,
05:49come and take written orders from us,
05:52and take them,
05:53and on the night of 7th and 8th,
05:55on the morning of 8th,
05:57after midnight,
05:58you have to do this action.
06:00And everything was written on it.
06:02And you went,
06:03none of our aircraft said,
06:05that I don't have enough fuel,
06:07I don't have this thing.
06:08There was no preparation.
06:09Yes, there was no preparation.
06:11They went with their full preparation,
06:13went to the enemy's waters,
06:18went to the coastal area,
06:21and knowingly asked,
06:23that they also have an aircraft carrier,
06:26they have two new,
06:28three new aircrafts,
06:29which they bought in 1962.
06:31We had aircrafts of World War II.
06:34So this was a matter of courage.
06:36And this was professional confidence,
06:39in our force.
06:41It was a high state of morale.
06:44They said,
06:45everything is fine.
06:46So this operation,
06:47how many hours or days
06:49did it take, roughly?
06:51Thanks to good planning,
06:53we identified the location of the aircraft,
06:59and we had to give it treatment.
07:01And that treatment,
07:03in 30 minutes,
07:0530 minutes past midnight,
07:08in 8 minutes,
07:10365 ground,
07:1226 cannons of the Navy,
07:16fell on it.
07:18Without any casualty?
07:19Without, no, no casualty.
07:21Nobody came out.
07:23No Indians came out.
07:26Okay.
07:27And...
07:28They kept going back?
07:29Yes.
07:30Although they had an aircraft carrier,
07:32they could have come,
07:33they could have sent aircrafts,
07:35but nothing came.
07:38And we went and did the operation.
07:40After that,
07:41they could have sent ships,
07:43but they did not respond.
07:45As a layman,
07:48even today,
07:50this is a very historical program,
07:52that in PNS Babur,
07:54this is the first proper talk show
07:56that takes place in any ship.
07:58So, as a layman,
08:00when these ships go into the deep sea,
08:03how long does it take?
08:05What happens?
08:06See, it is different.
08:08It is different depending on the type of the ship
08:10and type of the operation.
08:11Okay.
08:12But,
08:13I just want to identify
08:16that the sea is a very big asset of ours.
08:20Out of 180 countries,
08:23only 90 countries have the sea.
08:27It is not in half the countries of the world.
08:29No, it is not.
08:30They are not blessed enough.
08:32And we have this,
08:33and it is the cheapest medium of transportation.
08:36So, that is why our operations
08:38and looking at our geographic location,
08:40looking at all these things,
08:42it depends
08:44on which operation we are going for.
08:46It can start from 7 days at sea
08:50for an exercise.
08:53Here, these days,
08:54our regional maritime security patrols,
08:57our participation with the American Navy,
09:00they go for months.