Brasstack Crisis 1986-87

1. Home

3. Foreign Policy

5. Back to the American Block: 1979-1988

The distrust between Pakistan and India dates back to the days of the partition that wa
s accompanied by a communal war of succession. Killing and maiming of hundreds of
thousands is evidence enough to support the assertion. But the issue of disputable ann
exation of the princely heightened the existing trust that led both to the warfare thrice.
However, the wars fell short to achieve the aspired ends and contributed instead to m
ultiplying the hatred and antagonism on both sides. The prevalent skepticism was so hi
gh that even the military exercises near the international orders sounded like the drum
beat of an approaching war. The same happened in 1986-87 when Indian army went f
or large military exercise in Rajasthan state near the Redcliff that was recepted in Pakist
an as a declaration of war. These military exercises are known as “operation Brasstacks”.

“Brasstack” was a code name of a military exercise on the part of Indian army. It was t
he brain child of General Sundarji of Indian army and was to monitored and executed
by his instructions. It was very unique in nature and was mainly planned to be conduct
ed near the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan. It composed of at least two lacs and fif
ty thousand troops as well as armour vehicles and air force.

Objectives of the brasstacks were very vague. It was a military exercise in order to che
ck and test the capabilities of Indian forces. But it has a political significance also. It wa
s planned so to put pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting insurgency in Indian Punja
b where Sikhs has started free Khalistan movement.
Pakistan was busy in cutting the Russian bear in Afghanistan in “hit and run” manner. I
t was unaffordable to fight a two front war. So it replied with diplomatic solution. Alth
ough it also deployed its army reserves South and army reserves North to face the im
mediate threat. Even, a general rumor was there that nuclear weapon was to be used
but the reality is that by that time Pakistan was not capable of enriching weapons grad
e Uranium.

Diplomatic efforts from America and other friendly countries persuaded India to limit its
exercise in men and space. De-escalation also took place on Pakistan side by February
1987, the crisis was defused.

Brasstacks has very vast application on the stability of South Asia. It helped Pakistan to
spur its nuclear program. In India, domestic tension arose from the secretive nature of
the exercise which led to the down fall of Defense ministry. Moreover, both sides starte
d amassing enormous weapons and a race of armaments was started that was not a h
appy omen for the region.

Operation Brasstack is an outward manifestation of the sensitiveness existing in the regi

on of fragile security. Since, both the states had possessed undeclared nuclear capacity;
a conflict was paramount to providing a spark to go down of ammunition. Such untow
ard incidents are demonstrations of the trust-deficit between both countries. As discusse
d earlier this scarcity of trust and confidence was a by-product of historical evolution. It
means that such incidents were almost un avoidable because the factors responsible f
or the creation of tense environment can be removed only if the issues that appears t
o be the germinating grounds for such an environment are not resolved. It demands r
esolution of all outstanding disputes especially the issue of Kashmir that is the real bon
e of contention and the reason for both the countries to be at daggers drawn perpetu
ally. But many believe that politics is responsible for non-settlement and in fact, creatio
n of the issues between Indian and Pakistan. So, if the political leadership demonstrates
resolve and political will, the lives of the masses can witness prosperity. Only then suc
h event as operation Brasstacks could be avoided.