What Was The First Formal Operation of the Pakistan's Navy in History? Capt. (R) Ahmed Zaheer's Analysis

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#pakistannavy #PakBahria #armedforces #waseembadami #11thhour #specialprogram   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.

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