Operation Somnath( Operation Dwarka) September 08, 1965
On the night of 7/8 September, a naval squadron consisting of seven destroyers, a frigate, a cruiser and a submarine under the command of Commodore S.M. Anwar launched an artillery operation – an attack on radar installations used by the Indian Air Force in the small coastal town of Dwark Gujrat. The Pakistan Navy launched its assault on Western Indian shores. Dwarka was chosen for its proximity 200 km (120 mi) from the Karachi Port, its relatively weak defences and historical political prominence.
The plan called for a fleet of seven naval vessels to shell the town of Dwarka. The attack was aimed at luring the heavy ships anchored in Mumbai into attacking the Pakistani ships to enable the submarine PNS Ghazi lurking in the Arabian Sea to engage and sink the Indian ships. Accordingly, a fleet of seven ships comprising PNS Babur, PNS Khaibar, PNS Badr, PNS Jahangir, PNS Alamgir, PNS Shah Jahan and PNS Tippu Sultan set sail for Dwarka and bombarded the town. The bombardment continued past midnight.
The Indian warships harboured in Mumbai were under refit and were unable to sortie, nor did Ghazi encounter active combatants on the West coast. According to Pakistani sources, the objective of diverting the Indian Air Force from attacking Pakistan’s southern front worked as air raids on the city of Karachi ceased. This was presumed to be due also to the lack of availability of the radar guidance, which Pakistan claimed was damaged in the attack.
The Indian Navy’s official version of events is that, around 23:55 hours, the Pakistani vessels fired on Dwarka for more than 20 minutes. The ships fired around 50 shells each, which included 5.25-inch rounds fired by the Pakistani cruiser PNS Babur. The report adds that most shells fell between the temple and the railway station, which lay 3 km (1.9 mi) from the lighthouse. Some buildings were hit, with the Railway Guest House suffering significant damage along with a cement factory. Smoke from the damage was visible to the Pakistani warships, approximately 20 km away.
Who was S. M. Anwar?
Sheikh Muhammad (S.M) Anwar was born on 12 September 1920 in Lahore, Punjab, India. After matriculation, he studied at Forman Christian College University, Lahore, graduating in 1940. He joined the Royal Indian Navy in 1941 as a sub-lieutenant and was commissioned, and served briefly in the Burma Theatre of World War II in 1942–43.
In 1958 he was stationed at Rhodes Island, United States. After graduating from the Naval War College in 1959, Commodore Anwar served as an exchange officer on US Navy surface warships for two months. In 1960, Commander Anwar served as the Base Commander of the training establishment PNS Bahadur.
In 1962, Captain Anwar was appointed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for a diplomatic assignment and served briefly as the Naval Attaché at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, DC, USA until 1964.
In 1965, Anwar was appointed Senior Fleet Commander when he took command of the Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK). During the Second War with India in 1965, Commodore Anwar was the officer in the Tactical Command of the 25th Destroyer Squadron, which led the Indian Air Force’s attack and raid radar station at Dwarka, Gujarat, India.
In 1968, the United States awarded him its highest military award, the Legion of Merit, presented by the then U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Eugene Locke. In 1969, he was appointed Chairman of the Karachi Port Trust, a position he held until 1970.
In 1971, Commodore Anwar served briefly in command of the Marine Corps, and later served as Commandant of the Pakistan Marine Academy until 1975. Despite his role and heroic deeds in the 1965 war, his role in the Navy was little known, and he was hardly recognised in the Navy.
He was unknown to the public, and it was not until the 1990s that the ISPR highlighted his role as a war hero when it released a telefilm of the same name of the operation, which was broadcast on STN. His role was played by Talat Hussain in the 1990s.
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