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Operation Brasstacks was a military exercise undertaken by the 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 points in the relationship between India and Pakistan with regard to nuclear war. The exercise's magnitude and closeness to the border caused a situation where a war between India Pakistan looked imminent. There is still a considerable debate regarding the purpose of the exercise as many believe that India was preparing for a war against Pakistan.[dubious ]
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Indian army rationale and moves
The Indian army chief at that time was Krishnaswamy Sundarrajan popularly 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 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 province Sindh leading to Pakistani fears that India was displaying an overwhelming conventional superiority and was planning to invade Pakistan and dismember it by surgical strikes.
Pakistani response
Pakistan's response was to mobilize its own forces near the Indian state of Punjab. The 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 each other on the frontiers. The situation could have potentially lead to a war between a de facto nuclear weapon state (India—who had already conducted a nuclear test in 1974) and a state that was believed to be developing nuclear weapons at that time (Pakistan).
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 speculated to have prevented an all out aggression by Indian army, although there have been no strong evidence pointing to that. India responded that it was re-evaluating its options after this disclosure by Khan. Khan retracted his comments after a few days.
End of Operation Brasstacks
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.
References
- http://www.geocities.com/siafdu/sundarji.html
- http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/aug/05hoon.htm Rediff interview by PN Hoon
- http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/brass-tacks.htm
- http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rtanter/S96PS472_Papers/KHAN.ARIFA.PAKISTAN
- http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/Army-Chiefs/Chiefs-Army16.html
- http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1902/19021240.htm V.P Singh's statement on the operation
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