'The '65' deconstructed

In '65, Pakistan was muscled up with new arms donated by the Americans, courtesy the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation alliance

1965: A Western Sunrise: India’s war with Pakistan

Author: Shiv Kunal Verma

Publisher: Aleph

Pages: 509

Price: Rs 999

This account of the Indo-Pak War of 1965 may seem somewhat confusing at first read. That isn’t the author’s fault. “The ’65” was the most confusing of all Indo-Pak conflicts in terms of underlying geopolitics, battles, and outcomes. The first Indo-Pak War in 1947-48 centred on control of the erstwhile Kingdom of Kashmir; 1971 was about Bangladesh. Why’65 happened at all is less than obvious.

Shiv Kunal Verma speculates, perhaps correctly, that it may boil down in part to personality. Pakistan’s leadership, especially its charismatic foreign minister,