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New Delhi: January 1966 was an eventful month. India’s Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died in Tashkent (now Uzbekistan’s national capital, then a provincial capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—USSR) on the night of January 11 soon after signing the Soviet brokered agreement with Pakistan’s Ayub Khan, under which India and Pakistan were to withdraw from each other’s territories occupied during the indecisive war fought in September 1965.
Initial reaction in India to the Tashkent pact was not enthusiastic—withdrawal of forces from strategic Haji Pir Pass and other areas regained from Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir—threw up questions. However, these were mulled over as tribute to a man who had led the nation in defending its pride and failing Pakistan’s bid to grab J&K through its diabolic Operation Gibraltar. Shastri in 1965 had somewhat retrieved India’s pride, which had b...
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