Panchkula (Haryana) [India], September 13 : Lt Gen Manoj Kumar Katiyar, Chief of Western Command, on Saturday underscored the importance of remembering and learning from the 1965 war, saying it was a turning point in India's military history and carried lessons still relevant.
Speaking at an event to commemorate the sacrifices of soldiers in the 1965 conflict, he said that it was very important for the new generation to know its lessons.
Lt Gen Katiyar said, "The 1965 war was a very important war for us. It is very important that the new generation knows about the 1965 war. There are a lot of things that we have learned from the 1965 war, like how to keep the coordination of the Army and the Air Force, how to plan the defensive and offensive operations."
Lt Gen Katiyar recalled the 1965 India-Pakistan war as a "glorious chapter" in the Army's history and said the lessons from that conflict remain relevant, drawing a parallel with the recent Operation Sindoor.
"60 years of victory, and in the 60th year, we had another engagement with Pakistan -- Operation Sindoor. So I'll go back to 1965, and for us, 1965 is a glorious chapter in the history of the Indian Army and Western Command," he said.
Lt Gen recalled that Pakistan's designs were foiled in Kutch and later in Kargil, where its troops occupied peaks in May 1965.
"For the Western Command at that time, the area of responsibility was very huge, starting all the way from Leh, Ladakh, to Rajasthan and operations in 1965 began in Kutch, where Pakistan tried to occupy some disputed areas," he said.
He added, "We defeated the Pak designs, we repelled the Pakistanis where they had come. Thereafter, in May 1965, Pakistan came and set down on certain peaks in Kargil, like they did in 1999 later. Again, our army very bravely evicted all the Pakistani soldiers from the peaks near Kargil."
The Army Commander recounted that Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar in August 1965 by sending infiltrators into Jammu and Kashmir, but failed.
He said, "Thereafter, in August 1965, Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar in Jammu and Kashmir, where they infiltrated a very large number of infiltrators, Razakars, who were trained by the Pakistan Army, and their plan was to infiltrate and take the help of the locals of Jammu and Kashmir and kind of capture Jammu and Kashmir thereafter. However, the Indian Army again foiled their plan. With the help of local people of Jammu and Kashmir, we captured most of the Razakars and evicted them, and killed a large number of them."
He said that Pakistan's attempt to capture Akhnoor in September 1965 was also foiled, after which Indian forces launched offensives towards Lahore and Sialkot.
"Post that, in September, Pakistan tried to capture Akknoor to cut off Jammu and Kashmir. Again, we foiled that attempt. And then thereafter, we decided to launch an offensive, and our 11th Corps launched an offensive towards Lahore, and one Corps launched an offensive towards Sialkot."
Drawing a parallel to the present, he said Pakistan again attempted to destabilise India in 2025.
"Like I said, 60 years later in 2025, again Pakistan tried to destabilise us, launched the terrorist attack in Palgam and we again responded, reacted and carried out destruction of the terrorist bases in Pakistan and also a large number of posts, their headquarters, their air bases were destroyed and damaged," he said.
He said India never wanted war but has always retaliated when provoked. "In 1965, we did not want a war but once Pakistan provoked us, we retaliated and defeated them badly, and we did the same in 2025," he said.