1947-48 WAR , KASHMIR WAR INDIAN PARTICIPANTS RELATIVES VIEWS ON THE KASHMIR WAR

1. Thursday, November 23, 2017
1947-48 WAR ,
KASHMIR WAR
INDIAN
PARTICIPANTS
RELATIVES VIEWS
ON THE KASHMIR
WAR
As received

2. Compiled by Major A.H
Amin (Retired)
1947-48 WAR , KASHMIR WAR INDIAN PARTICIPANTS RELATIVES VIEWS ON THE
KASHMIR WAR
• November 2017
• DOI:
• 10.13140/RG.2.2.12340.53125
• Project:
• MILITARY HISTORY
• Agha H Amin

3. 87 Page-267-The Kashmir Campaign-Op Cit.

5. Posted by unknown at 6:35 AM
Labels: THE 1947-48 Kashmir War-Major Agha.H.Amin

6. 7 comments:
1.
haseeb ullahSeptember 16, 2011 at 10:59 PM
dear sir, i need detais about operation venus.
thanx
ReplyDelete
2.
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 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

7. servant! By mid 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 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 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 OPERATIONS HAD

8. 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 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
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

9. 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 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 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,

10. 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 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 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

11. and unfortunately there is no one who can
give a credible end to this 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 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 Gary

12. 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
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 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

13. ( his Adjutant) but always appointed a Muslim
officer 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 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 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

14. share 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 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.