Indo-Pakistan Wars Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1971 War

The 1971 War between India and Pakistan erupted over the situation in East Pakistan, where the atrocities of the Pakistani Army against the native Bengalis in East Pakistan caused a huge refugee problem, and war began with Pakistani raids on Indian airfields in the Western sector, following an incursion by Indian troops into East Pakistan.

The problems in Bangladesh can be traced back to the second class status Bengali speaking East Pakistanis were reduced to, as compared to the Urdu speaking West Pakistanis.

The last straw came, when despite winning a majority of seats in the national elections, the Awami League party, an East Pakistani party led by Sheikh Mujibur, was not allowed to take power in the legislature, following the annullment of the elections.

Answer: 1971

The 1971 War, which saw the complete rout of the Pakistani Army in East Pakistan in 12 days, also split Pakistan in two, with the new state of Bangladesh created as a result. The Indian Army, supported by the Navy and the Indian Air Force, swept into Dhaka on the twelfth day of the conflict, and recieved the surrender of 90,000 troops, virtualy the entire Pakistani Army in East Pakistan.

There were threats from the US, that it would intervene with the Sixth Fleet if India attacked but it backed down following pressure from the Soviet Union, with which India had signed a 20 year Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Friendship.

Answer: Supersonic aircraft in action against each other

While the war saw all the above except the use of bio-chemical warfare. American made Patton Tanks, used by the Pakistani military, took on older British Centurion and Russian T-55 Tanks, on the Indian side. The Pakistani Air Force had the supersonic Sabrejet, made by the Americans, while the Indian Air Force had the Mig-21 Fishbed, made by the Russians.

Although most of the air combat was between sub-sonic jets and sub-sonic and super-sonic jets, this was still the first time that super-sonic jets were seen in action over the Indian sub-continent

Answer: Rajiv Gandhi

Nehru was the Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964, the longest serving Indian Prime Minster, and was at the helm when the 1948 war was triggered off by the infiltration of Pathan irregulars from Pakistan into then independent Kashmir, whose ruler called on India to intervene.

The Indian government interevened, but only if Kashmir was ceded, and managed to throw the Pathan irregulars back before the regular Pakistani army went into battle. Lal Bahadur Shastri, a compromise candidate for the PM post after the death of Nehru, was the unlikeliest war leader in Indian history, with his sparse figure and Gandhian outlook on life. Yet, he took the bold decision to strike across the border into Lahore, after Pakistani troops invaded India, to try and cut off Kashmir in 1965.

Indira Gandhi attained deity status, after her successful waging of war against Pakistan which cleaved the it into two and saw the creation of Bangladesh. However, to Rajiv Gandhi's credit, he did send Indian troops to Sri Lanka, in a peace-keeping mission to help the government there against the Tamil rebels..only to see the ill-equipped and non-jungle warfare trained Indian Army suffer severe casualties at the hands of the lightly armed guerillas.

This misadventure ultimately cost him his job - and his life.

Answer: False

The Indo-China war in 1962 ended with unilateral cease-fire imposed by China after it took 65,000 sq. miles of Indian territory and 'gifted' some to Pakistan. In 1965, however, the Chinese only threatened to larger numbers, than in 1962, across the MacMahon line, they decided not to intervene.

Answer: Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister in 1997, and was deposed in a bloodless coup by General Pervez Musharraf in 2000 October. Although he was the PM of Pakistan, he was largely unaware of the imminent Kargil incursions until he was told by his then Army Chief, Musharraf. Bhutto was the PM of Pakistan before Nawaz Sharif, and fled to Europe on corruption charges brought against her by her successor. Ayub Khan was the military leader of Pakistan when the 1965 war broke out.

Answer: False

2 Aircraft and 4 helicopters were shot down during the month long conflict, all being brought down by Stinger missiles. Of the two Mig-21 Pilots shot down, 1 died and 1 was returned to India after capture by Pakistani forces. The helicopters were being used as gunships when they were shot down.

Answer: True

The PNS Ghazi was the first submarine acquired by any Navy in the subcontinent region, acquired in 1964. It was formerly the USS Diablo, a Trench Class US Navy submarine which saw action in the Second World War. However, the Ghazi was sunk off the East Coast of India, near Vishakhapatnam, during the 1971 War, but the exact reasons for its sinking are still a matter of intense controversy.

While some theorize it was sunk by depth charges from the destroyer INS Rajput, others believer that an accident on board, involving torpedoes, may have sunk the sub.

Answer: F-15 Eagle

The American made, F-15 Eagle, was never in the PAF, whereas all the other aircraft, F-16, Mirage III and the Chinese variant of the Mig-21, the F-7M, have all been in the Pakistani Air Force, and continue to be in service.

Answer: 1965

The tank battle of Assal Uttar, fatally exposed the weaknesses of the heavier Patton tanks, against a lighter, more maneouverable tank, the Centurion. In fact, so many Pakistani tanks were captured or destroyed that the American Ambassador had to plead with the government not to display them for the benefit of the world press, so that the American weapons are not thoroughly discredited. AN excellent source on this would be this site: http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/india/assaluttar.html