PNS Ghazi Part 1

PNS GHAZI

MYSTERIOUS SINKING OF PAKISTANI SUBMARINE SOLVED(part 1)

By Zaheeruddin Babar

         Year 1971, in the month of August, the Indian Navy transferred INS Vikrant, its aircraft carrier, to the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam that forced the Pakistan Navy to adjust its submarine operations.

          PNS Ghazi was the only submarine of the Pakistan Navy that had the range and capability to undertake operations in the distant waters controlled by India.

         November13, all the ships of Indian Eastern Command including INS Vikrant set out for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

 November 14, PNS Ghazi quietly sailed 3,000 miles (4,800 km) around the Indian peninsula from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal under the command of Zafar Muhammad with 10 officers and 82 sailors.

          November 16, Ghazi was in contact with the Navy NHQ and Commander Khan charted the coordinates that reported that she was 400 kilometers (250 mi) off Bombay.

         On 19 November, she was off to Sri Lanka and entered in Bay of Bengal on 20 November .

Around this time, the Top Secret files were opened . Ghazi was on a two-fold mission:

the primary goal was to locate and sink INS Vikrant and secondary was to mine India's eastern seaboard which was to be fulfilled irrespective of the accomplishment of the first.

Thus ,the hunt for Vikrant began on 23 November and Ghazi was off to Madras .

        Same day, President Yahya Khan declared a state of emergency in all of Pakistan and told his people to prepare for war.

          November 26, the Navy NHQ communicated with Ghazi that stated: "INTEL INDICATES CARRIER IN PORT Visakhapatnam"

          On 26 November 1971, Ghazi was expected to communicate with the Navy NHQ to submit its mission report but did not communicate with its base. The Navy NHQ repeatedly made frantic efforts to establish the communication and anxiety grew as days passed for her return to the base.

     
             On 1 December , Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan briefed Captain Inder Singh, the commanding officer of INS Rajput, that a Pakistani submarine had been sighted off the Sri Lankan coast and was absolutely certain that the submarine would be somewhere around Madras or Visakhapatnam. He made it clear that once Rajput had completed refueling, she must leave the harbor with all navigational aids switched off.

              What happened between 25th November and 5 December is a Mystery. But both sides are agreed on this that On the night of 4–5 December 1971, Ghazi sunk with all 93 servicemen on board (11 officers and 82 enlisted under the mysterious circumstances off the Visakhapatnam coast.

 December 9,Just before the sinking of INS Khukri  ,the Indian Navy issued a statement about the fate of Ghazi. Indian NHQ, claimed sinking of Ghazi on the night of 3 December India also claimed that the Ins Rajput was responsible for sinking the Pakistan Navy submarine Ghazi.

              Pakistani military oversights into this incident were not immediate instead, the Naval Intelligence took time to conclude its investigations that went on for several years.Over the decades, the military oversights were kept hidden and were not known to the public .

             Pakistan, rejected India's claim of sinking Ghazi and termed the claims as "false and utterly absurd"

            Many Indian military officers and experts were also skeptic about the Indian claim that INS Rajput had sunk Ghazi. Most of them agreed that Ghazi had sunk under mysterious circumstances.

In 1972, the United States  offered to raise the submarine to the surface at their expense. The Government of India, however, rejected this offer  and allowed the submarine to sink further into the mud off the fairway  buoy of Visakhapatnam.

             In 2010, it was reported that Indian navy had destroyed all records of sinking Ghazi submarine. Vice admiral G M Hiranandani who was tasked with writing the official history of the navy. He stated that he was unable to obtain any old files regarding PNS Ghazi sinking. Those old files were destroyed. One of the retired navy officer who saw the action in 1971 said that the destruction of the Ghazi papers and those of army in Kolkata depicts the many instances when Indian war history has been deliberately falsified.

Who destroyed the Ghazi?

Was it an accident?

Or it was result of some technical failure?