RESPONSIBLE FOR 1965-WAR TOO, IN A WAY

India’s lack of pacts with powerful countries to back it up in case of external attacks (Nehruvian policy (fad) of “Non-Alignment” resulted in it being non-aligned with its own national security interests—Blunder#57), its poor showing in 1962-War, the fact of its continued dependence on outdated armaments of World War-II vintage, the exposure of its gross deficiency in modern military hardware, and little efforts even post 1962-war to strengthen itself, prompted Pakistan to take advantage of the situation and attempt to grab Kashmir militarily in 1965.

India and Nehru did not wake up even as Pakistan equipped itself with first-class, modern military hardware from the USA, following its pact with the anti-communist Western Bloc. Shastri was relatively a new entrant as PM, and he had hardly had time to come to grips with things crying for attention, let alone tackle the huge Nehru legacy of untackled problems. The blame for the fact that Pakistan dared to attack India on account of its known unpreparedness, therefore, rests squarely with Nehru. Further, as per the US advice, had India gone nuclear (Blunder#44), or had Nehru reached an honourable settlement with Pakistan (Blunder#45), Pakistan would not have dared to attack India.