It was an early and breezy morning of September 7, 1965 when Pakistani troops had ‘entered’ Jammu city!      

         Sounds unbelievable, especially to those who are witness to the Indo-Pak war of 1965 and also to all patriots conscious of the heroic deeds, might and capabilities of brave Indian Jawans that such a thing must never happen even in future.  

         But that is what the Pakistani media had claimed and disseminated amongst its anxious citizens and also to their troops in a vain bid to lift their sagging morale.   Not only that…. the enemy media   had those days even spread rumors of having “bombarded’’ South Delhi and having captured some villages of Kashmir and Punjab, bordering Pakistan. Through these misdeeds, they could only make a laughing stock of themselves.

Pakistani Media Propaganda on Delhi, Punjab

The monitoring of Radio Pakistan during 1965 war had interesting things to reveal! Its morning news on September 6, 1965 was based on the opening lines like: “ our fighters today shot down two enemy super-connies near Agra…..”   Another false news was broadcast next day which began like this: “ our forces have entered Jammu and are about to move in Gumat area’’…   The evening bulletin on the same day had claimed that ‘‘ Pakistani troops were about to capture some prominent cities of Punjab…..’’.

       Although such stuff from across the border  was aimed at creating chaos and confusion  among  the masses, All India Radio was, however, there to counter Radio Pakistan, which had earned the name of “Radio Jhootistan’’ for its notoriety.

        Former Union Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Lal Bahadur Shastri’s Cabinet, C R Pattabhiraman in his transcribed radio talk, broadcast over All India Radio, Delhi in October 1965 recalls how Radio Pakistan had shamelessly claimed that her “ planes had reduced South Delhi to ashes and damaged Jamana Bridge’’. The former Minister also makes a mention of Radio Pakistan’s rabid propaganda when it had spread rumours that “ cars in Delhi were stranded for want of petrol’’.

Pakistan’s Operation Gibraltar fiasco

     Pakistan’s Operation Gibraltar fiasco

  Radio Pakistan’s anti-India stance was a part of “Operation Gibraltar”. (1965 war was code-named by the enemy). Under this plan, some Pakistani soldiers, who had initially been infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir for kicking up violence and subversion, were guided by Radio Pakistan’s coded messages. Four infiltrators who were captured by the Indian security forces in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir had later described the whole plan of “Operation Gibraltar’’ in a broadcast on All India Radio on August 8, 1965. This has a mention in a foreword written for Air Marshal Asghar Khan’s book “The First Round, Indo-Pakistan War 1965’’ by Altaf Gauhar, the then Pakistan’s Secretary of Information and Broadcasting.

  

 

Pak’s blatant lies on Kashmir, Jammu

It was not only Radio Pakistan involved in anti-India propaganda but a section of Pakistani print media was equally the culprit in fanning the disinformation campaign. `The Pakistan Times’ in one of its issues of September 1965 had headlined a news item: “ Jammu city was cut off from rest of State. Mujahideen on town’s outskirts’’. The same paper had also published a main lead under the heading “Pitches battles in Srinagar. Indian battalion near Baramulla wiped out’’. There was not an iota of truth in these blatant lies.

                        The story of Indo-Pak war of 1965 is now 58 years old but the Nation continues to suffer till date at the hands of Pakistan’s proxy war. And their media propaganda is a part of this proxy war, which is showing signs of escalation every moment.