Operation Kahuta
| Operation Kahuta | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Project 706 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 India Israel |
 PakistanDiplomatic support:  United States | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
 Indian Air Force RAW Israeli Air Force Mossad Shin Bet |
 Pakistan Air Force Air Defence Corps M.I ISI | ||||||
Operation Kahuta refers to a plot by Israel and India to destroy Pakistani nuclear facilities in Kahuta in 1980s to stop Pakistan from procuring nuclear weapons. Due to American pressure on Israel, the strike was aborted. However a dogfight between Pakistani and Israeli planes did occur.[1]
Background[edit]
Pakistan had a history of tense relations with Israel. In 1967, Pakistan Air Force sent a group of its fighter pilots to engage the Israelis in combat during the 1967 Six-Day War and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, greatly bolstering the Palestinians who were suffering repeated defeats to the Israel Defense Forces. A Pakistani fighter pilot, Saiful Azam, had shot down at least four Israeli fighter planes during the Six-Day War.[2] After the Yom Kippur War, Pakistan and the PLO signed an agreement for training PLO officers in Pakistani military institutions.[3] During the 1982 Israel-Lebanon War, irregular Pakistani volunteers served in the PLO and 50 were taken prisoner during the Siege of Beirut.
In 1981, Operation Opera launched by Israel against nuclear facilities in Iraq which led to the destruction of the Iraqi nuclear program [4] raised alarms in Pakistan that Israel could attempt a similar attack on Kahuta.
Plan and preparations[edit]
In the 1980s, Israel planned a possible attack on Pakistan's nuclear facilities with possible Indian assistance[5][6][7][8] that would be reminiscent of the Israeli attack previously carried out on an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. In 1981, three West German engineering firms were targeted in bomb attacks and several others received threatening phone calls, allegedly carried out by the Israeli secret service. All of the companies were suspected of selling dual use technology to Pakistan for use in their nuclear weapons program.[9] Using satellite imagery and intelligence information, Israel reportedly built a full-scale mock-up of the Kahuta nuclear facility in the Negev desert region where Israeli pilots in F-16 and F-15 squadrons practiced mock attacks.[5][6]
The plan was for Israeli Air Force to launch an air attack on Pakistan's nuclear facility in Kahuta sometime during the mid-1980s from an airfield in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.[10] The Israeli F-16 fighters bombers escorted by F-15 air superiority aircraft would also take off from Udhampur Air Force Station in Indian administered Kashmir and then fly low over the Himalayas to avoid early radar detection before attacking the Pakistani uranium enrichment centrifuge complex in the Rawalpindi city of Kahuta,[8] then flying west, out of Pakistani airspace and returning to the Homebase evading RBS 70 MOPADs and Pakistan Air Force.[11] In March 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed off (on) the Israeli-led operation bringing India, Pakistan and Israel to within a hair's breadth of a nuclear conflagration".[10] Israel's plan met with disapproval from some Indian officials on the grounds that Israel would not face any major consequences after the strike while India would surely face full-scale retaliation—possibly nuclear—from Pakistan for its involvement in the Israeli attack.
Indian military officials also went to Israel in Feb 1983 to procure equipment that could neutralise Kahuta's air defences.[10] Indian officials in addition to Mossad, also started collaboration with Shin Bet.[7]
Pakistani response[edit]
Military response[edit]
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Inter Services Intelligence learned of the collaboration between Mossad and Research and Analysis Wing about the plan of attacking Kahuta.[12] The M.I. and Air Intelligence (AI) of Pakistan learned of the Israeli attempted operation when Israeli Air Force's fighter jets flew close to Pakistan's northern border.The PAF responded immediately and Combat Air Patrols were initiated, airspace of Kahuta was declared as No-fly zone.[12]
ACM Shamim told General Zia-ul-Haq that, in the PAF's current state, "Indian aircraft could reach the area in three minutes whereas the PAF would take eight minutes, allowing the Indians to attack the facility and return before the PAF could defend or retaliate". Because Kahuta was close to the Indian border, a consensus was reached acknowledging that the best way to deter a possible Indian attack would be to procure new advanced fighters and weaponry. These could be used to mount a retaliatory attack on India's nuclear research facilities in Trombay in the event of an Indian attack on Kahuta. It was decided the most suitable aircraft would be the F-16 Fighting Falcon, which the United States eventually agreed to supply after the PAF refused to purchase the F-5. In 1983, when the first batch of F-16s reached Pakistan, ACM Shamim informed Zia of the PAF's increasing capability to effectively respond to an attack on the nuclear research facilities at Kahuta.[13][14]
The PAF's aggressor squadron's jets belonging to No. 11 Squadron Arrows intercepted the IAF jets and gained a missile lock on one of the Israeli jets. The Israeli jets pulled back subsequently.[5]
Diplomatic response[edit]
The secretary of science and technology of Pakistan, told his Indian counterpart that if India went through with the operation, it'd face severe destruction. Indian delegate responded with “No brother, we know your capability and we will not undertake such a mission” [15]
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission told the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre "Islamabad would attack Mumbai if Kahuta was attacked." [15]
Abortion of the operation[edit]
The plan was ultimately discouraged due to American interference against the operation [12] and out of the fear of a fourth Indo-Pakistani war starting as a consequence of this operation, and was shelved indefinitely after Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984. A plan was presented by Israelis in 1985 but the Indian government refused to comply.
A paper published in the U.S. Air Force Air University system—India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb"—also confirmed this plan's existence. It stated that "Israeli interest in destroying Pakistan's Kahuta reactor to scuttle the 'Islamic bomb' was blocked by India's refusal to grant landing and refuelling rights to Israeli warplanes in 1982." India's refusal to cooperate forced Israel—which on its part wanted the attack to be a joint Indian-Israeli strike to avoid being held solely responsible—to drop the plan [16] before agreeing in 1984.[10]
Alleged second attempt[edit]
Israel F-16 aircraft were allegedly twice spotted in Pakistani air space in the days before the 1998 nuclear tests were carried out. Pakistan was so alarmed by the sighting that their then ambassador to the UN, Ahmed Kamal, held an emergency meeting with the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to seek reassurance from the international community that an attack was not imminent.[17]
Aftermath[edit]
In 1998 Pakistan successfully conducted its first series of nuclear weapons testing a few days after India, and the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent a secret courier to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, assuring Israel that Pakistan will not share its nuclear technology with Iran to aide in their nuclear program and in 2001 Pakistan's ISI passed intelligence about the nuclear ambitions of Iran and Libya, whose program allegedly had the help of Pakistani scientists.[18]
In Popular culture[edit]
The Indian Netflix series Mission Majnu is about the story of an Indian RAW agent in Kahuta who learns about the Israeli plan and plays a vital role in cancellation of the airstrike before being discovered as a RAW agent by ISI and killed.
References[edit]
- ^ Kahuta: The Indo-Israeli Plan to Attack Pakistan's Nuclear Plant.
- ^ "Have Jet — Will Travel: The Story of Saiful Azam, Fighter Pilot". 21 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ Mushahid Hussain, "How Pakistan Views Israel and the Palestinians", Middle East International, September 1988, 21; P. R. Kumaraswamy, Beyond the Veil: Israel–Pakistan Relations (Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, 2000), 34
- ^ Ben-Ami, Tzahi. "Operation Opera" (PDF) (in Hebrew). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
- ^ a b c India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb", McNair Paper Number 41, Radical Responses to Radical Regimes: Evaluating Preemptive Counter-Proliferation, May 1995
- ^ a b "India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb"". Institute of National Strategic Studies. May 1995. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
- ^ a b Apocalyptic realm, Jihadists in South Asia.
- ^ a b "When Pakistan feared Israel, India would attack its nuclear weapon sites". The Week. 28 May 2021.
- ^ "Israel's Mossad bombed German, Swiss firms to stop Pakistani nukes - report". Jerusalem Post. 3 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d Levy, Adrian; Scott-Clark, Catherine (2007). Deception: Pakistan, the US and the Global Weapons Conspiracy. Atlantic Books. ISBN 9781843545330.
- ^ "Solidifying India-Israel relations with miltech quid pro quo; 1982 Indo-Israeli plans for Kahuta strike".
- ^ a b c Eating Grass :The Making of the Pakistani Bomb.
- ^ Khan, Iftikhar A. (28 May 2010). "Threat to destroy Indian N-plant stopped attack on Kahuta". Dawn. Pakistan: The Dawn Media Group. Archived from the original on 30 May 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
- ^ Shamim, M. Anwar (2010). Cutting Edge PAF: A Former Air Chief's Reminiscences of a Developing Air Force. Vanguard Books. ISBN 978-969-402-540-7.
- ^ a b "A leaf from history: Defending Kahuta".
- ^ "Air University". www.airuniversity.af.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
- ^ "Israelis dismiss claims of plans to blow up Pakistani nuclear sites". The Irish Times. 3 June 1998.
- ^ Journalist and author George Crile's book, Charlie Wilson's War (Grove Press, New York, 2003)