Pakistan can't sustain long war due to poor economic conditions: (Retd) Col Robin Das

Guwahati, May 11: It will be impossible for Pakistan to sustain a long war because of the country’s poor economic condition and low morale of its army personnel, said Col Robin Das (Retd).

Talking to The Assam Tribune, Col Das, a veteran of the 1971 war with Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh, said that even during the 1971 war, the morale of the Pakistani army personnel was very low. “The main reason behind this is that the officers of the Army of Pakistan do not treat the jawans and the JCOs as equals. When we fought the war, we stayed with the jawans in the same trenches and eat the same food. But in case of Pakistan, the officers stayed around 15 kilometres inside the border and sent the jawans and JCOs to the front. In such condition, the morale of the army goes down,” he added.

Col Das pointed out that even now, the Pakistan army chief and other prominent persons of the country have already sent their families outside the country.

In such a situation, the morale of the army personnel and the common citizens goes down and a country cannot fight a war. Moreover, everyone knows about the present economic condition of Pakistan. It will be impossible for Pakistan to sustain a long war, he asserted.

Col Das revealed that towards the end of the 1971 war, General Sam Manekshaw sent a radio message to Pakistani Army personnel and that led to the surrender of a huge number of them. He pointed out that there were over 93,000 prisoners of war after the Pakistan army surrendered. “India treated them well under the provisions of the Geneva Convention and they were sent back. Even just before the start of the war, when we were in a trench, three Pakistani planes entered our area and opened machine gun fire on us,” he said.

The next day, they came again but we were ready for that and our planes from Hasimara air base brought down one of their planes and the pilot, Parvaiz Mehdi, was arrested by us. We treated him well and sent him back. Later he went on to become the Chief of Pakistan Air Force,” he added.

Hailing India’s attack on terrorist bases in Pakistan, Col Das said the escalation of the war would depend on Pakistan. If Pakistan tries to hit India again, India will definitely hit back. Pakistan should know that it cannot afford a full-scale war with India. In 1971 war, Pakistan lost one part of the country. They may lose Balochistan if they try to go for another war with India and there will be starvation in Pakistan, he warned.