Defence Day
{{short description|1965 war Memorial Day in Pakistan}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=November 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox holiday
|image = Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17 Asuspine-1.jpg
|holiday_name=Defence Day
{{nq|یومِ دفاع}}
|nickname=Youm-e-Difa
|observedby= Pakistan
|duration = 1 day
|frequency = Annual
|date= 6 September
|scheduling = same day each year
|celebrations= Flag hoisting, parade, military exhibitions, award ceremonies, singing patriotic songs, entertainment and military programmes, speeches, fireworks, etc.
|type=National
}}
Defence Day ({{langx|ur|{{Nastaliq|یومِ دفاع}}}} ALA-LC: {{transliteration|ur|ALA-LC|Yaum-i Difāʿ}} {{IPA|ur|jɔːm-e d̪ɪfɑː|IPA}}) (Balti:ཡོམ༌མེ༌དིཔ༎) is celebrated in Pakistan as a national day to commemorate the sacrifices made by Pakistani soldiers in defending its borders.{{cite news | url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1431323/september-6-a-day-to-remember-the-sacrifices-of-pakistans-martyrs | title=September 6: A day to remember the sacrifices of Pakistan's martyrs | newspaper=Dawn | date=7 September 2018}}Taha Siddiqui, [https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/dear-pakistanis-defence-day-stop-celebrating-hate-180905141627473.html Dear Pakistanis, this Defence Day, please stop celebrating hate], Al Jazeera, 6 September 2018. The date of 6 September marks the day in 1965 when Indian troops crossed the international border to launch an attack on Pakistani Punjab in a riposte to Pakistan's Operation Grand Slam targeting Jammu.{{harvnb|Nawaz, Crossed Swords|2008|p=227}}: "Opposing it was the Indian I Corps with its 1st Armoured Division and three infantry divisions, with orders to secure the Pathankot-Jammu road by launching a riposte to an anticipated move by Pakistan against Jammu, the private plan of General Akhtar Malik that his superiors had thwarted." While it is officially commemorated as an unprovoked surprise attack by India, repulsed by the Pakistan Army despite its smaller size and fewer armaments,{{harvnb|Kumar, Prejudice and Pride|2001|p=45}}: "Young Nation, a youth supplement published by the liberal Friday Times of Lahore wrote: It tells an epic tale of our soldiers who being a very small number compared to the Indian and having very little ammunition, weapons and machinery, fought with such spirit, bravery and courage that it stunned the Indian forces, and of the unity of our people." the narrative has been criticised by Indian commentators as representing false history.Air Marshal Nur Khan, Dawn, 6 September 2005, quoted in {{harvnb|Hiranandani, Transition to Guardianship|2013|pp=1963–1964}}: "It was a wrong war and they misled the nation with a big lie that India, rather than Pakistan, had provoked the war and that we (Pakistanis) were the victims of the Indian aggression."
Context of the 1965 War
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 began with Pakistan sending Mujahid into the Kashmir Valley to incite the population into rebellion and dislocate the local installations.{{sfn|Paul, Asymmetric Conflicts|1994|p=111}}{{efn|The infiltration began on 5 August 1965, according to the UN military observers stationed on the Kashmir Line of Control since 1949.:{{sfn|Joshi, Kashmir, 1947–1965|2008|p=213}} Secretary-General U Thant stated: "the series of violations that began on August 5 were to a considerable extent in subsequent days in the form of armed men not in uniform, crossing the CFL from the Pakistan side for the purpose of armed action on the Indian side."}} In the second stage, on 1 September, it launched a tank attack, dubbed Operation Grand Slam, towards the Akhnoor bridge in the Jammu Division. It was intended to be a "short and swift, fait accompli operation."{{sfn|Paul, Asymmetric Conflicts|1994|p=112}} According to scholar Shuja Nawaz, the Pakistani military intended to capture the Akhnoor bridge and swing towards Jammu to cut off India's communications with Kashmir Valley.{{sfn|Nawaz, Crossed Swords|2008|p=213}} The Pakistanis had ignored the Indian Prime Minister's (then Lal Bahadur Shastri's) warnings that India would retaliate against Pakistan if Kashmir were attacked.{{sfn|Paul, Asymmetric Conflicts|1994|p=112}}
On 6 September, according to its "pre-declared strategy"{{sfn|Paul, Asymmetric Conflicts|1994|p=112}} of riposte,{{sfn|Nawaz, Crossed Swords|2008|p=227}}{{efn|A riposte in military strategy involves striking a vulnerable point of the enemy in order to force him to abandon his own attack.{{citation |last=Beaufre |first=André |title=An Introduction to Strategy: With Particular Reference to Problems of Defense, Politics, Economics, and Diplomacy in the Nuclear Age |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJ4rAAAAYAAJ |year=1965 |publisher=Faber & Faber |page=39}}}} the Indian Army crossed the international border in Punjab, intending to cut off the Grand Trunk Road near Lahore. Another Indian objective was to capture the Lahore Cantonment. The attack came as a surprise to the Pakistani commanders.{{sfn|Paul, Asymmetric Conflicts|1994|p=112}}{{sfn|Hiranandani, Transition to Guardianship|2013|p=1965}} According to Air Marshal Nur Khan, Army Chief General Musa Khan told President Muhammad Ayub Khan on the second day of the war that the Army had run out of ammunition. However, the statement given by Air Marshal Nur Khan was challenged by the Indian commanders themselves Lt. Gen Harwant Singh himself stated that the heaviest firing by the Pakistan Army was started after the ceasefire.{{Cite web |date=2021-09-21 |title=1965 War: General Chaudhury did not order withdrawal behind River Beas |url=http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/1965-general-chaudhury-did-not-order-withdrawal-of-western-army-behind-river-beas/ |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Indian Defence Review |language=en-US}} He states that the Army suffered heavy losses in the war.{{sfn|Hiranandani, Transition to Guardianship|2013|p=1964}} On 23 September, Pakistan accepted a UN-mandated ceasefire.{{efn|India had already accepted various UN proposals for a ceasefire, starting around 14 September.{{harvnb|Joshi, Kashmir, 1947–1965|2008|p=215}}: "in his report of September 16, the Secretary-General chose to be even-handed and told the Council that India had accepted the suggestion, and Pakistan was yet to reply."}}
Pakistan instituted the Defence of Pakistan Day to commemorate the day when the Indian forces crossed into Pakistan. The Pakistan official narrative states that,
"[the] Indian forces sneaked [sic] into the Wagah border, and the Pakistan armed forces, when alerted, put up a valiant defence of the motherland and drove them back, thus taking its name as the Defence of Pakistan Day."{{citation |last=Fair |first=C. Christine |authorlink=C. Christine Fair |title=Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army's Way of War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szaTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA142 |year=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-989271-6 |pages=142–143}}
Air Marshal Nur Khan commented,
"It was a wrong war, and they misled the nation with a big lie that India, rather than Pakistan, had provoked the war and that we (Pakistanis) were the victims of the Indian aggression."{{sfn|Hiranandani, Transition to Guardianship|2013|p=1964}}
Celebrations and Parades
The Pakistan Army displays its latest missiles, tanks, guns, Pakistan Army Aviation helicopters, and armaments used by Engineers, Electrical and Mechanical Corps, Army Air Defense, Signals, Army Service Corps, and the Army Medical Corps.{{cite book|title=Defense Day Celebrations|year=1968|publisher=Illustrated weekly of Pakistan|page=22}} Everyone is allowed to watch such functions live by going to specific places. These shows are also displayed on national TV channels. National songs, special documentaries about 6 September 1965, and the stories of the people killed that day are displayed on TV.
On this day, a change of guard ceremony takes place at Mazar-e-Quaid, Karachi, where the Pakistan Air Force Academy cadets present the Guard of Honour and take charge.{{cite news|title=Defense Day: Soldiers honoured 46 years on|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/246189/defense-day-soldiers-honoured-46-years-on/|access-date=5 May 2012|newspaper=The Express Tribune|date=6 September 2012}}{{cite news|title=Defense Day Observance - Honoring Heroes|url=https://shifafoundation.org/blogs/|access-date=5 June 2012|newspaper=Shifa Foundation|date=6 September 2012}}
See also
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{citation |last=Hiranandani |first=Vice Admiral GM |title=Transition to Guardianship: The Indian Navy 1991–2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w2snz5Cfb0gC&pg=RA1-PA1963-IA2 |publisher=Lancer Publishers LLC |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-935501-66-4 |ref={{sfnref|Hiranandani, Transition to Guardianship|2013}}}}
- {{citation |last=Joshi |first=Manoj |title=Kashmir, 1947–1965: A Story Retold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAT3oENcxDgC |year=2008 |publisher=India Research Press |isbn=978-81-87943-52-5 |ref={{sfnref|Joshi, Kashmir, 1947–1965|2008}}}}
- {{citation|last=Kumar|first=Krishna|title=Prejudice and Pride: School histories of the freedom struggle in India and Pakistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnduAAAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Viking |isbn=9780670049134|ref={{sfnref|Kumar, Prejudice and Pride|2001}}}}
- {{citation |last=Nawaz |first=Shuja |title=Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jKyfAAAAMAAJ |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-547660-6 |ref={{sfnref|Nawaz, Crossed Swords|2008}}}}
- {{citation |last=Paul |first=T. V. |chapter=The Pakistani Offensive in Kashmir, 1965 |title=Asymmetric Conflicts: War Initiation by Weaker Powers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sc0YjTKul5MC |year=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-46621-9 |pages=107–125 |ref={{sfnref|Paul, Asymmetric Conflicts|1994}}}}
{{Public holidays in Pakistan}}
Category:Public holidays in Pakistan