1971 Indo-Pakistan War Legendary Pakistan Navy Submarine and Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore

The Pakistan Navy War College

The Pakistan Navy War College, Lahore celebrated its 50th anniversary three years ago. I was fortunate enough to be part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations being an alumnus of the College, on invitation by then Chief of Navy Staff (Navy Commander) of Pakistan.

I was a member of a course conducted by the college in 1995/96. It was the last course conducted in Karachi before it was shifted to Lahore, the beautiful Garden City of Pakistan, and seat of Muslim Mogul Empire, almost 500 years ago- from Emperor Akbar to Emperor Aurangzeb. 

The course was ten months long with number of industrial visits, military exercises and a foreign tour. Approximately 70 students, majority from Pakistan Navy and two each from Pakistan Army and Air Force attended the course. Ten officers from friendly foreign countries were also invited and I did the 24th course in 1995/96. At that time the college was known as ‘Pakistan Navy Staff College’. Foreign officers and their families were offered very comfortable housing and I was with my young family. My son was only three years old and started going to Kindergarten in Karachi. Pakistan military personnel are very fond of Sri Lankan military so, they were always respectful towards us. They always helped us. With the lucrative foreign allowances paid by our country, we had very comfortable lifestyle at Karachi and I worked very hard in my studies and took part in inter staff college sports activities. At the end of the course,, I was able to secure BSc (Hons) (War Studies) degree from Karachi University, and also became the first Sri Lankan Naval officer to do so. Above all, it was the year (1996) our Sri Lankan cricket team won World Cup at Gaddaffi stadium, in Lahore. 

Produced Navy Commanders

Among the distinguished foreign alumni of the War College for the last 53 years , eight officers commanded their respective Navies. They were Major General Rowland Leslie Makandu of Tanzania Navy 1989, Staff Brigadier Khaflan Al Room of UAE Navy 1996, Major General Said Shusan Omary of Tanzania Navy 2006, Staff Major General M Al Muhammad Ahmed of UAE Navy 2005, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Othman Bin Hj Suhaili of Royal Brunei Navy 2005, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi of Islamic Republic of Iran Navy 2007 and Colonel Hishan Kharkiv Aljarrah of Royal Jordanian Navy 2013. I was the Commander of the Navy of Sri Lanka in 2015 and only foreign alumni to become a Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of Armed Forces. Further, I was the only recipient of highest medal of Pakistan - Nishan-e-Imtiyaz (Military) medal (Order of Excellence) from Pakistan President at a special ceremony in February 2019 in Islamabad. Therefore, I was specially invited for the Golden Jubilee celebrations and traveled as a guest of Pakistan Navy Chief via Doha to this celebration at Lahore.

Golden Jubilee celebrations started with the alumni dinner. The chief guest was Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi, the Chief of Naval Staff, Pakistan. On head table next to me was a tall, very smart old gentleman who introduced himself as “Vice Admiral Tasnim retired from Pakistan Navy”. He mentioned  during our short conversation at the dinner table that he is 86 years old and he did his basic Naval training at Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), Dartmouth, UK with ‘Midshipman Asoka Silva’ in 1950, and I immediately knew that  Admiral Asoka Silva was our 9th Navy Commander from 1983 to 1986. His son, Sajith was one year senior tome in Royal College and we both were keen scouts at that time. Vice Admiral Tasnim said that he was in the PN Staff College in Directing staff and later became the Commandant of Pakistan Navy Staff College. 

That night with the intention of finding more details about this senior Pakistan Naval officer, I searched on google. He was a war hero of 1971 India-Pakistan war where Pakistan lost and where the new nation Bangaladesh was created. Exactly 53 years ago, in 1971, Indian Army led by General (later Field Marshal) Sam Manekshaw walked in to East Pakistan to stop refugees influx into India from its Eastern borders. Indian action made in this 13-day war, from Dec 3 to 16, 1971 made Pakistan surrender . Indian troops were supported by freedom fighters of Bangaladesh, Mukthi Buhani. More than 93,000 Pakistan Army troops surrendered to Indian Army and India was declared victory. They created Bangaladesh, a newly independent nation led by Mukthi Buhani leader of Shiek Mujebar Rahaman ( father of former Bangladesh PM Begam Shiek Hasina). 

However, Naval action out at sea was somewhat different. Indian Admirals carrying out ‘out of the box’ thinking, towed three OSA class missile boats by bigger war ships and targeted Karachi harbour and fuel tanks in harbour, which burnt for days.

The action of Pakistan Navy Submarine PNS Hangor (S- 131) ( nicknamed Shark) a French made Daphne class Sub,  sinking Indian Navy ASW Frigate (UK built type 14) on 9th Dec 1971 was the highlights of the Naval battle between two countries. This was the first time after World War ll, a submarine was able to sink a war ship, until in 1982 during Falklands war, when Argentinian Navy battle ship General Beltrano was sunk by a Royal Navy Submarine in Antarctic Sea.

Submarines and Surface Ships

I was so impressed with this Pakistan Navy war hero, who was awarded with Medals Hillary-e-Imitiyaz medal, Sitar-e-Jurat medal twice, Sitar-e- Imitiyaz (Military) and Sitara-e- Basalat. That was the first and last time I met him three years ago. Being an anti- submarine specialist trained in India, I was always fascinated and impressed with action by submariners; specially against surface ships, who are determined to hunt them down. I recommend everyone to read the international best seller book by Tom Clancy ‘Hunt for Red October’  to understand hide- and-seek operations in deep seas, surface ships verses submarines.

In 2023 December, I was appointed as Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Islamabad, Pakistan. My Pakistan friends, specially the serving and retired senior military officers and their families were extremely happy to see my family in Islamabad and there, I decided to look for Vice Admiral (R) Ahamad Thasnim, the bravest Submarine Commander of our time, who was 91 years old ! The Pakistan Navy able to help me in locating him, living only few kilometres away from my official residence in Islamabad with his wife. Even at age of 91 years, he never missed his 5-kilometres walk every morning.  I was waiting for a good opportunity to invite him and his wife to have delicious Sri Lankan food , which he had liked very much when he had visited Ceylon several times for JET Naval Exercises- where IndianNavy, Pakistan Navy, Royal Australian Navy and Royal Navy took part at Trincomalee almost 60 years ago.

The Sri Lanka Air Force Commander Air Marshal Udeni Rajapaksa visited Islamabad last month and it was a great pleasure for me to invite this legendary submariner and his wife to join us.

It was a great experience to be with Vice Admiral and listen to his stories from his Britannia Royal Naval College time to sinking of Indian Navy Frigate in 1971 during India- Pakistan War. People with such noble careers and memorable experiences are rare these days and only a person who can understand the commitment and bravery of a soldier relate to such.

He had only one wish, which he wrote down on my visitors book at High Commissioner’s Official Residence “God, be kind enough to get me an opportunity to visit the beautiful harbour of Trincomalee again, before I die”. 

The writer is the former Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy and the former Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Pakistan