SITUATION IN KASHMIR (REPORT #4 - AS OF 6:00 AM EDT)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00472A001500010004-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2006
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 3, 1965
• Content Type: IM

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OCI No. 1973/65
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Current Intelligence
3 September 1965
State Department review completed
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
JCS review(s) completed.
Situation in Kashmir
(Report #4 - As of 6:00 am EDT)
1. Major fighting continues in the Chhamb-Akhnur
area with the Pakistani advance eastward continuing into
the third day. By last night, a Pakistani column was
reported threatening Jammu city, the summer capital of
the state of Jammu Kashmir and the headquarters of India's
26th Division. Loss of Jammu city would jeopardize
India's overland access to the whole of Kashmir and would
almost certainly provoke the Indians to a major retalia-
tion.
2. According to an official Pakistani briefing,
the decision to mount an armored attack across the cease-
fire line in the Chhamb area was made solely to demon-
strate to the Indians that they could not with impunity
cross the ceasefire line in areas of their own choosing.
The thrust was not made, the briefer contended, for the
purpose of capturing Akhnur. Pakistan hopes that by
refusing to accept confrontation on Indian terms only,
the Pakistanis will force the Indians to call off their
actions across the line in the north.
3. Two officers from the US military supply
mission in India'"visited Jammu city for several hours on
2 September and, in summary, found the situation confused,
the Indian army obviously suffering reverses, and in-
formation limited and undependable. According to
Indian briefers, Pakistani infantry troops had crossed
east of the Tawi River, south of Chhamb, but as of noon
on 2 September Pakistani armor remained on the west side
of the river. This information conflicts with that of
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a- Pakistani'briefing of the same time in Karachi to
the effect that Pakistani 'troops had not crossed 'the
river and that there was no fighting then going on in
the area. The Indians also told the American officers
that 'they were forming a defensive line approximately
14 miles east of the ceasefire line in that area. The
American team was unable to make air observation of
Pakistani positions to check allegations that US armor
was being used; on the Indian side, it did not see any
US-furnished equipment.
4. Shooting continues along most of the ceasefire
line from the Chhamb area on north to Tithwal. A UN
observer reports a possible Pakistani buildup in progress
midway between the Kargil and Tithwal. areas in yet an-
other place where the vital road link from Srinagar to
Leh can be -threatened.
5. Additional encounters have occurred in the air
over Kashmir. India claims 'to have downed at least one
Pakistani Sabrejet this morning over the Chhamb battle-
field and has charged that a Pakistani jet also bombed
and strafed a village 40 miles from Jammu, killing
some 40 Muslims in a village mosque. No losses were
claimed or admitted in air actions yesterday, but there
is an additional report of air action on Monday in which
Pakistan reportedly lost two F-86s. India lost four
aircraft on Monday.
6. The only reaction yet available to UN Secretary-
General Thant?s appeal for cessation of hostilities in
Kashmir has come from Karachi where 'the government is
"studying" the appeal. No official reaction is available
from India at this time. Thant is meanwhile considering
again the dispatch of Under-Secretary Ralph Bunche to
the area in lieu of a Security Council meeting. Ambassador
Goldberg is sounding out Security Council members on the
possibility of a meeting in his capacity as President
of the Council for September.
7. Canada
is. explollng o i i hies o' me is ing the dispute,
according to the press. Foreign Secretary Martin is said
to have met with representatives of the Indian and
Pakistani High Commissions in Ottawa yesterday.
8. A curfew was again imposed in the Indian city
of Poona, some 900 miles south of the fighting in Kashmir,
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as a result of Hindu-Muslim communal rioting there which
has run into the second day. Police and troops are re-
ported to have fired three times on mobs. India's quick
deployment of troops to quell the communal violence in
Poona and reports that the East Pakistan government has
instituted special police patrols to deter potential
communal violence there are indicative of the concern
both governments have with the very real possibility of
a communal backlash to events in Kashmir.
both India and Pakistan appear to have
reinforced-their forces in the Chhamb-Akhnur area with
divisions from the Punjab. Elsewhere, it appears that the
Pakistan Air Force has gone on full alert, and there is
a rumor in Rawalpindi that Pakistani Foreign Minister
Bhutto and senior Pakistani officials have been meeting
with the Chinese Communist ambassador- this rumor is
without confirmation at this time.
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