Operation Brasstacks

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Operation Brasstacks was a military exercise undertaken by Indian Army in Rajasthan during November 1986 and March 1987. It was one of largest mobilization of armed forces in the Indian Subcontinent. Many regard this as one of the most critical point in relationship between India & Pakistan with regard to nuclear war. The exercise's closeness to the border and the magnitude of it caused a situation where a war between India Pakistan looked imminent. There is still a considerable debate about the entire exercise as many believe that India in fact was preparing for a war against Pakistan.

1 Indian army rationale and moves
2 Pakistani response
3 Nuclear saber-rattling
4 Operation carried out without Rajiv's knowledge
5 End of Operation Brass Tacks
6 References

[edit] Indian army rationale and moves

The Indian army chief at that time was Krishnaswamy Sundarrajan populary known as Sundarji. Hailing from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Sundarji was a person who advocated modern methods of warfare and professionalism into the Indian army. According to Sundarji Operation Brasstacks was carried to test new concepts of mechanization, mobility, and air support.

The scale of the operation was bigger than any NATO exercise and the biggest land exercises since World War II. According to retired Lt General PN Hoon of the Indian Army Operation, Brass Tacks was the mobilization of the entire army of India . The entire exercise took place in the desert area of Rajasthan instead of the sensitive region of Kashmir and the then restive region of Punjab. At one point of time nearly 4,000,000 Indian troops were deployed directly across the Pakistani state of Sindh leading to Pakistani fears that India was displaying an overwhelming display of conventional superiority and was in fact planning to invade Pakistan and dismember it by surgical strikes.

[edit] Pakistani response

Pakistan's response was to mobilise its own forces near the Indian state of Punjab. General Zia ul Haq who was the president of Pakistan and also the chief of the Pakistan army viewed the Indian moves as a direct challenge and threat to Pakistan and issued commands to his armoured units to move to the front lines.

By the middle of January, both the Indian army and the Pakistan army were facing eye ball to eye ball on the frontiers. There was a potential that this could lead to a war between the two undeclared nuclear weapon states at that time. Pakistan was known to possess nuclear weapons at that time and India had already performed a nuclear test in 1974.

[edit] Nuclear saber-rattling

The nuclear threat was brought into the picture by the now disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan. Khan stated in an interview to Indian journalist Kuldip Nayyar that Pakistan would retaliate with the nuclear bomb towards any offensive move by India against Pakistan.

This threat by Pakistan was considered to have prevented an all out aggression by Indian army. India responded that it was re evaluating its options after this disclosure by Khan. Khan in fact retracted his comments after a few days.

[edit] Operation carried out without Rajiv's knowledge

According to PN Hoon significant part of the operation was carried out by Sundarji and the then defence minister Arjun Singh without the knowledge of the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. But this is highly disputed. The former prime minister of India V.P.Singh who was in the defence department stated that operation Brasstacks was planned by Rajiv Gandhi witha political motive .

[edit] End of Operation Brass Tacks

According to events that played out and stance taken by the Indian army, Operation Brass tacks was only an exercise and not supposed to be a provocative one . The media was involved after this and intense diplomatic maneuvres followed preventing any further escalation in hostilities.

Indian Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Pakistani President Zia ul Haq involved in Cricket diplomacy to resolve this issue towards a peaceful end.