The Pakistani government was under this false illusion created by the Foreign Minister of the time that India will never cross the International Border. When under pressure in Jammu and Kashmir India attacked Lahore and Sialkot with full force on 6th September 1965. Both countries claimed victory in 1965 war.

Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was asked that Pakistan claims to have won the war, what do you say to this. She replied: Pakistan started this war to get Jammu and Kashmir. If after the war these areas are under Pakistan then they have won, and if they are still with us then we have won.

That apart India and Pakistan have not yet matured enough that they could live side by side in peace and harmony with each other. Both countries have strong influence of extremists, who at times call shots and force governments to move in certain directions. Pakistani extremists say they will destroy India and reduce it to the size of Sri Lanka. The Indian extremists say they will break Pakistan in to 40 pieces; and that they made a mistake in 1971 and should have finished the rest of Pakistan at that time.

After the defeat and surrender in East Pakistan the Pakistan army and the ruling elite were in a state of shock, so it is difficult to say what could have happened if India had continued with the war on the Western front. Some sections of the Indian government and the army wanted to continue the war and finish the ''job'', but it is learnt that the USA categorically told the Indians to call it a day and not to continue the war in West Pakistan.

The situation now has changed. Pakistan is smaller in size, but it is a country with nuclear weapons, and this has changed the whole scenario. Despite this ''strength'' or plus point, Pakistan has many minus points. The country is more divided than it was in 1971, and many Pakistanis don''t envisage a bright future. Economically it is ruined and there is militancy going on in FATA, Swat and other parts of the Frontier province where the government has practically lost its writ. Apart from that for the first time in its history there is a serious danger to Pakistan from its Western border. (ANI)