“A desolate spot but one of strategic importance,” is how Alyque Padamsee describes the Haji Pir Pass in this short documentary made by acclaimed filmmaker SNS Sastry.
On 8th August 1965, two Pakistani Army officers – Captain Ghulam Hussain (8 Azad Kashmir batallion) and Captain Mohammed Sajjad (Baluch regiment) were captured by the Indian Army.
Their crucial interrogation revealed Pakistan’s plans to seize Jammu and Kashmir by infiltrating regular Pakistani army troops with militia. Pakistan hoped that seeing their foes, the citizens in Jammu and Kashmir may stand up in revolt against the Indian government.
This, of course, did not work out.
What it Took to Capture the Haji Pir Pass
Major (later Lt Gen) Ranjit Singh Dayal led a 1st Para team (elite special forces unit) to capture the strategic Haji Pir pass close to midnight on 25th August, 1965. The Indian troops, with just biscuits as ration, led the 1st Para team down the Hyderabad Nallah towards the strategic pass. Under the cover of unexpected rain, they managed to evade enemy fire.
Within hours and after hard battle, he radioed back to inform his headquarters that the Haji Pir Pass was in Indian hands.
The Tashkent Declaration brokered by Russia to end the Indo-Pak war of 1965 resulted in the return of the Haji Pir Pass – a move slammed by generations of scholars and soldiers as a grave error.
The Man Behind the Capture
The importance of Major Ranjit Singh Dayal’s role in capturing the Haji Pir Pass can be measured by the fact that the Pakistani Army offered a reward of Rs 50,000 for his head.
Dayal would later call the return of the pass “a mistake.”
It was a mistake to hand it back. Our people don’t read maps.
— Major Ranjit Singh Dayal
Why Was it Important?
P C Katoch, veteran Special Forces officer of the Indian Army wrote about the significance of Haji Pir Pass.
Haji Pir Pass, at a height of 2,637 m, is located on the western fringe of the formidable Pir Panjal Range, which divides the Srinagar Valley from the Jammu region. It is through this pass that a wide, metalled highway connected Srinagar to Jammu via Uri–Poonch–Rajouri, over which bulk of passenger and trade traffic used to ply to and fro. This road is of strategic importance as it connects Uri with Poonch, but since a major portion of road is in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), it cannot be used. It has been a constant source of problems for the Indian security forces in Kashmir as trained militants sneak into Kashmir Valley, Poonch and Rajouri districts via the pass.
— P C Katoch
Another Army veteran, Maj Gen (Retd.) Sheru Thapliyal later wrote that had the Haji Pir Pass remained with India, not only would major infiltration routes have been blocked but also the distance from Jammu to Srinagar through Poonch and Uri would have been reduced by over 200 km.
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