Background: Since the times of moghul emperor Akbar, the hill areas covered by Jammu and Kashmir were under the control of a number of small princely states. Most of these rulers were hindus, whereas, some of them were muslims. During the decline of the moghul empire and the rise of Sikhs, these states were gradually annexed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. After the defeat of the sikhs in the first sikh war of 1845 by East India Company, the sikhs surrendered most of their areas in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir to East India Company. Subsequently, Dogra leader Gulab Singh purchased the lands of Jammu and Kashmir from East India Company for Rs 75000 and became the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir was the largest princely state, during the British Raj. The last ruler of dogra dynasty was Maharaja Hari Singh, who signed the instrument of accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India in October 1947.
Jammu and Kashmir in 1947: Jammu and Kashmir was divided in three distinct regions in the year 1947. The areas covered by Kashmir valley had a pre-dominently muslim population whereas, Jammu had majority of Hindu population and Ladhakh was mostly Buddhist. With the partition of India into two sovereign states of India and Pakistan, the paramouncy of the British Government over the princely states lapsed on 15 August 1947 and the states had the option to accede either to India or to Pakistan or to declare independence. Maharaja Hari Singh was indecisive for some time, as he thought that a state with majority of muslim population in Kashmir valley shall not be comfortable with the merger of the state with India, whereas, Hindu majority population of Jammu was not likely to be comfortable in Pakistan. As such, he was toying with the idea of opting for independence, in the larger interests of the population.
Indo-Pakistan conflict of 1947: The conflict was started by Pakistan a few weeks after independence in August 1947, when tribal militias were pushed across the borders of Jammu and Kashmir. They were assisted by Azad Kashmir irregular forces and Pakistan army personnel disguised as tribals. They were able to make deep inroads in Jammu and Kashmir and had reached the outskirts of Srinagar. With the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India sometime in October 1947, India airlifted troops and equipment to Srinagar and as the front stabilised, they continued to push the tribal militias, rebel forces and Pakistan Army regulars and seized control of almost two thirds of the territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It was at this stage that a cease fire was agreed by India and Pakistan, under United Nations resolution of 13 August 1948. Under the resolution, Pakistan was to withdraw all its regular and irregular forces from Jammu and Kashmir, while India was allowed to maintain minimum strength of forces in the state to preserve law and order. On compliance of these conditions, a plebiscite was to be held for determining the future of the state. In the meantime, the areas held by them became the actual line of control.
Indo-Pakistan war of 1965: Conflicts between India and Pakishan had been going on, over the border dispute in Rann of Kutch in Gujrat and along the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir for a long time. During August 1965, about thirty thousand Pakistani soldiers crossed the Line of Control and entered into Jammu and Kashmir. In the evening of 5 September 1965 Pakistan Air Force bombarded a number of Indian Airfields. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who happened to be at Calcutta at that time, immediately rushed to Delhi, held a cabinet meeting and the Indian Air Force went into action, on the same night and in the early hours of 6 September 1965 and bombarded the airports deep into the territory of Pakistan. At the same time, the prime minister provided full freedom to the army to deal with the situation. All vehicles moving from Delhi to Amritsar were requisitioned for the movement of military goods and services to the border. The Indian troops crossed the Wagha Border and rushed towards Lahore, ultimately reaching the outskirts of Lahore, thereby bringing Lahore airport within the firing range of Indian troops. From considerations of safety and security, United Nations and embassies of different countries had to seek the concurrence of the Indian troops for evacuation of their people from Lahore. Biggest tank battle of the conflict was fought at Khem Karan, which became the graveyard for the sophisticated Patton Tanks supplied to Pakistan by USA. In the meantime, Indian troops went deep into Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir and captured large tracts of the territory. Indian troops also entered Pakistan in Munabao sector of Rajasthan without facing much of resistance. It has been estimated that India had gained 1840 sq km of the territory in Sialkot, Lahore, Kashmir and Munabao sectors, whereas, India had lost about 540 sq km of territory, mostly in the Rann of Kutch.
Jodhpur during Indo-Pakistan War of 1965: Jodhpur had the taste of the war on the night of 6 September 1965, when the bombers from Pakistan made the humming sounds in the skies. Jodhpur was not at all prepared for the war, either on the ground or in the skies. Civil defence operations were immediately initiated by Anand Mohan Lal, who was the collector of Jodhpur at that time. With the formation of Jodhpur University, Principals and teaching staff of SMK College, Jaswant College and MBM Engineering college had ceased to be gazetted officers. As such, all lecturers and heads of departments of Jodhpur Polytechnic, who happened to be gazetted officers, were requisitioned by the collector for the control room and other civil defence related services. At that time, the air defence of Jodhpur was almost non existent. There was one Vampire with the air force, which went up in the skies, as soon there was siren for air raid. Vampire used to circle in the skies, with a whistling sound for about an hour, before leaving Jodhpur for Agra or some other base of the air force. Pakistani bombers flew at a relatively high level, without getting into the firing range of the Vampire. However, when the vampire was gone, the Pakistani bombers wheeled down and dropped some bombs on the airstrips and released the remaining load in open lands away from Jodhpur.
Air force training school of Jodhpur: Before independence and partition of India, there was an Air Force Training School at Jodhpur. A number of training airstrips were available, within close proximity of the main airport, for take off and landings by the trainee pilots. Incidentally, the pilots of India as also of Pakistan involved in the conflict of 1965, happened to be buddies, trained at the air force training school of Jodhpur in the pre-independence period. It was a strange coincidence, that, the bomber pilots of Pakistan and Indian pilots on ground duties, defending Jodhpur happened to know each other and although they were on a mission to destroy each other, they took time to talk to each other, freely and revive memories of their training days.
Dropping infiltrators from parachutes: On September 7, 1965 Pakistan dropped 135 commandos of the special services group at Halwara, Pathankot and Adampur for infiltration and sabotage of Indian air bases. The operation was not successful, as 93 commandos were captured and 20 were killed. However, the operation created a lot of scare throughout the country. As the news about dropping of commandos resonated from place to place, people started seeing and sensing all types of weird objects, dropping from the sky. Even small specks of some light, somewhere made the alarm bells ringing. On one night a contingent of Jodhpur Police was patrolling on Pali Road along the western boundary of the Polytechnic. At some distance, they sighted a white object and fired a few shots at it. There was response to the fire from the other end. The firing went on like that for some time. In the morning, they found that the white object was the screen of the shooting range of the air force and response to the shots was from the air force patrol, which happened to be there on the other side, during the night.
Rail and Road traffic in 1965: Indian railways had four gauges in 1965. Broad Gauge, Metre gauge and 2.5 ft and 2 ft narrow gauges. All trunk routes of the country were connected through broad gauge, whereas, Rajasthan had only metre gauge. As such, the sudden movement of troops and defence equipment and supplies to the borders in Rajasthan, led to substantial crowding at Agra and Delhi railway stations, which were the only points for trans-shipment of goods and services to the borders of Rajasthan. This led to long delays and disruption of normal railway traffic to and from Rajasthan. At the same time, most of the roads running through Rajasthan were busy with the movement of troops and defence equipment and supplies to the border. As such, almost all transport services and traffic on the roads was in disarray. Those were the conditions on seventh day of September 1965. There were about 300 students living in the hostels of the polytechnic at that time. There were frantic calls from the parents, with all the concerns and worries about the safety and security of their wards. It was a difficult time. It was not possible to let the students go back to their homes, when all road and railway services were totally disrupted and it was extremely difficult to assure the parents that they were totally safe in a town riddled by air raids.
Air raids at Jodhpur: The first air raid on the night of 6 September was followed by similar raids on 8 September and 10 September. Gradually, people got used to the humming sounds of bombers from Pakistan and whistling sounds of our Vampire. The bombers from Pakistan were painted black at the bottom and could be identified by naked eye, high up in the skies. There were no engagements or dog fights. The targets were runways of the airport, which were camouflaged in earthy colour. Apart from one or two miss hits, the Pakistani bombers tried to find the targets. As such, there was no panic and as soon as the siren was on, people started looking at the skies. Our residence and polytechnic buildings and hostels were close to the airport. We thought that after flying all the way from Pakistan, the target of the bombers was the airport and therefore, there was no possibility of a direct hit to our residence or to the hostels of the polytechnic. The only concern that we had was to take all possible precautions from damage through splinters coming out of miss hits, if any. Normally, as soon as there were beeps, I used to walk down to the hostels, which provided a sense of assurance to the students and they would silently move down to safe locations.
Air Raids on 14 September 1965: The night of 14 September witnessed six air raids by bombers from Pakistan. There was air raid siren followed by bombing and all clear. Soon after, there was another raid and then other raids closely followed each other, throughout the night. People were involved in a sort of civil defence drill all night. The bombing of the airport was extremely heavy. There were no direct hits at any place in the town or on our residence and in the hostels and other buildings of the polytechnic. However, due to the proximity of the airport, air pressure generated by the blasts and sound waves was significant and was able to shatter the glass panes of doors and windows and brought out cracks in stone lintels and bearing plates of verandahs in the main building and hostels of the polytechnic. Almost 25000 people of Jodhpur had left the town after the first bombardment on 6 September. Naturally, there were frantic calls from all quarters to leave Jodhpur, after the devastating bombing on 14 September. However, things took a turn for the better after a few days. Anti-aircraft guns were installed at the airport. During the raids on 21 and 22 September, the anti-aircraft guns went into action. Volleys of crackers and markers were fired and there was a scattering of light all over the blue skies. Live shots were fired, as and when some of the markers found the targets.
Cease fire and Tashkand declaration: Cease fire was declared on 23 September 1965 under a United Nations resolution sponsored by United States and Russia for avoiding further escalation of the conflict. Subsequently, on the initiative of Alexei Kosygin prime minister of USSR, Lal Bahadur Shastri, prime minister of India and General Ayub Khan, president of Pakastan met at Tashkand in January 1966 for working out a permanent settlement of the issues involved. Thereafter, under pressure from the United Nations, USA and USSR, India and Pakistan signed an agreement on 10 January 1966, to give away the conquered regions to each other and to return to the 1949 ceasefire line in Kashmir. Subsequently, Lal Bahadur Shastri collapsed in Tashkand and the actual causes of his death are still shrouded in mystery.