The Ghazi Attack (Hindi; 2017)
The diesel-powered Pakistani submarine, PNS Ghazi, started life in the USA as USS Diablo, serving the US Navy between 1945 and 1964. It was decommissioned and downgraded in 1964. It was then loaned to Pakistan to beef up their defence as they were planning to start another conflict with their neighbour in 1965. In other words, it was a watered-down unmodernised submarine, having lost much of its killing prowess when Pakistan acquired it. Nevertheless, it was the first submarine in South Asia, and Pakistan was its proud owner. India received its first submarine, INS Kalvari, in 1967, a Soviet-made diesel one. The day Kalvari was acquired is called 'Submarine Day' - December 8.
The West Pakistanis had to send supplies to their army in Dhaka. Unfortunately, sending supplies via land proved impossible as it involved cutting through India. The only feasible way to do that was by sea. Unfortunately for them, India had the East Naval Command, via its ports of Madras and Vaisakapattinam, controlled the Bay of Bengal and nicely blockaded entry to East Pakistan ports. They decided to attack and destroy India's modern aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. Their other plan was to set mines in Visakhapatnam port. PNS Ghazi left Karachi on November 14 1971, for this mission. Five days, she was spotted around Sri Lanka was the Indian Navy was alerted. Unbeknownst to the Pakistani Navy, INS Vikrant had been sent off to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In its place, an ageing WW2 vessel, INS Rajput, was masquerading.
Lately, somebody proposed the idea of a Russian submarine secretly patrolling the Indian waters as part of an Indo-Russian protection pact. The gunning down of Ghazi must have been by them. The Pakistanis think it is more honourable to be killed by a Caucasian power than to die in the hands of his brown brother!
Director, Screenplay: Sankalp Reddy
1n 1965, as the Pakistani and Indian armies were concentrating on Kashmir, the Pakistani Navy decided to carry out a 'nuisance raid' on Dwarka, seeking to destroy radar installations and Indian vessels using its submarine PNS Ghazi. What actually was the outcome depends on whose version you hear. Whilst the Pakistanis boast of colossal damage to the Indian side, the Indian claimed to have lost only a single casualty, a cow. The shells missed their intended target. Probably reeling from their pre-independence stance of non-violence, the Indians decided not to retaliate.
Unrest started when East Pakistani political parties won the 1970 general elections. The Urdu-speaking West Pakistanis thought they were too high and mighty to be ruled by the dark-skinned Bengalis. Pakistani military marched into Dhaka to systematically suppress dissidence via Operation Searchlight. What followed can be equated to genocide.
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| PNS Ghazi |
The confusing radio signals from INS Rajput made Ghazi believe that INS Vikrant was indeed at Visakhapatnam. By November 27, Ghazi was planting underwater mines near the port. On December 4, a loud explosion was heard off the coast. A few days later, local fishermen found floating debris and remains of the submarine and its crew.
What followed afterwards was quite confusing. The Pakistanis alleged that they had lost communication with Ghazi after it entered the Bay of Bengal. They later said that Ghazi had accidentally entered its own minefield and had an accident. The Indian Navy, on the other hand, had asserted that Rajput had engaged two depth charges upon noticing water disturbances of the sudden plunging of the submarine. In essence, the Indian Navy said that it torpedoed Ghazi or at least ignited the mines causing Ghazi to hit the seabed!
What actually happened is anybody's guess. The Pakistani do not mind being labelled incompetent when they accidentally hit the mines they had laid out for the Indians. As long as they were not killed by their nemesis. The Indians, on their side, had destroyed all logs on the sinking of Ghazi.
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| Chief of Staff of the Indian Army General Jagjit Singh Aurora and Lt. General AAK Niazi of the Pakistani Army signed the papers on December 16, 1971, that ended the war between the two countries and led to the creation of Bangladesh. |
With so many uncertainties surrounding the sinking of Ghazi, the filmmakers took the liberty, with much cinematic licence, to tell their version of what could have happened, with much drama and characters who carry their baggage to war. Instead of an aircraft carrier, the filmmakers decided to make it a one-on-one full-length feature film of underwater warfare, showcasing a clash of submarines between two nations. It is probably the first of such films coming out of India.
A good movie that helps to form the basis to read into the dealings surrounding the 1971 Indo-Pak war and Bangladeshi war of Independence.
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