Operation Brasstacks

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1947 · Operation Gibraltar · 1965 · 1971 · Siachen · Operation Brasstacks · Kashmir (Operation Rakshak) · Kargil · Atlantique Incident

Operation Brasstacks was a military exercise undertaken by Indian Army in Rajasthan during November 1986 and March 1987. It was one of the largest mobilizations 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.

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[edit] Indian army rationale and moves

The Indian army chief at that time was Krishnaswamy Sundarrajan populary known as Sundarji. Sundarji advocated modern methods of warfare and professionalism in the Indian army. According to Sundarji, Operation Brasstacks was carried out 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 exercise since World War II. According to retired Lt General PN Hoon of the Indian Army, Operation Brasstacks was a mobilization of the entire army of India. The entire exercise took place in the deserts of Rajasthan instead of the sensitive regions of Kashmir and the then restive Punjab. At one point of time nearly 400,000 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 mobilize its own forces near the Indian state of Punjab. The then president and army chief of Pakistan, General Zia ul Haq viewed the exercise as a direct challenge and threat to Pakistan and issued commands to his armoured units to move to the front lines.

By mid January, both the Indian army and the Pakistan army were facing eye ball to eye ball on the frontiers. The situation could have potentially lead to a war between the two de facto nuclear weapon states (India had already conducted a nuclear test in 1974 and Pakistan was also believed to possess nuclear weapons at that time).

[edit] Nuclear saber-rattling

The nuclear threat was brought into the picture by the 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] End of Operation Brass Tacks

According to events that played out and stance taken by the Indian army, Operation Brasstacks 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.

[edit] References

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