The Hindu : National : Retired Army officer contests Gohar's claims

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Saturday, Jun 04, 2005

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Retired Army officer contests Gohar's claims

V. Geetanath

"A Brigadier is not aware of overall plan"

Khan's lame excuse "an insult"
"99 out of 100 officers never fall for such baits"

Flooding as a tactical weapon succeeded

HYDERABAD: The claims of Gohar Ayub Khan, son of the former Pakistan President, Ayub Khan, that it was "bad luck "' that prevented Pakistani troops from penetrating into Punjab in the 1965 war are being contested by a retired Indian Army officer, Lt. Col. (retd) Sushil Kumar Srivastava.

Lt. Col. Srivastava, Commanding Officer of 51 Engineering Regiment, Bengal Sappers, Corps of Engineers in Ambala, Punjab, during the war, asserts that it was the valiant fight by the Indian Armed Forces that put paid to the enemy plans.

"It was our Infantry's gallant fighting, the limited armoured contingent, effective artillery fire, the Indian Air Force that kept them at bay for three days allowing us to lay the anti-tank mines and flooding the irrigation canals," he says.

Mr. Gohar Ayub Khan, while alleging that an Indian Army Brigadier was bribed for secret war plans, also stated that the march of the Pakistan Army was halted because one of their tanks hit the bank of a bridge, damaging and blocking the route.

"Mr. Khan's lame excuse is an insult to Pakistani engineers themselves. No professional army will accept that a tank couldn't be removed or a bridge repaired in three days during war," says Lt. Col. Srivastava.

As for allegations of bribery, he says a Brigadier is not aware of the overall plan and "99 out of 100 officers never fall for such baits."

However, Mr. Khan's admission that Pakistani forces were held back proved that flooding as a tactical weapon succeeded. "In fact, this operation in Battle of Asal Uttar was the turning point of the war," the Lt. Col fels.

A product of Rashtriya Indian Military College and Indian Military Academy, Mr. Srivastava retired in 1971 after 22 years of service.

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