Decode Politics: PM Modi says he would have ‘taken’ Kartarpar gurdwara in 1971. Could India have?

Addressing an election rally in Patiala in Punjab Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that had he been around, he would have ensured that the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan was “taken” by India before releasing the 90,000 Pakistani Prisoners of War after the 1971 battle between the two countries.

During the 1971 Indo-Pak War, a pitched battle took place between Indian and Pakistani armies in the Dera Baba Nanak sector in Punjab, just a short distance from the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan. The gurdwara, associated with Guru Nanak Dev, is located barely 2.46 km from the international border.

However, the action in the Dera Baba Nanak sector was restricted to capturing a Pakistani enclave near the gurdwara and denying the Pakistani Army access to a rail-cum-road bridge over the Ravi River which would provide them direct access to Dera Baba Nanak town in the Indian sector, with further road and rail connectivity to the rest of Punjab.

The Army’s Jalandhar-headquartered 11 Corps was responsible for the defence of the area, right from Dera Baba Nanak enclave in the North to south of Anupgarh in Rajasthan. The Amritsar-headquartered 15 Division was responsible for the defence of Dera Baba Nanak enclave, and 86 Infantry Brigade was deployed in the area.

The task given to 86 Infantry Brigade was to contain any Pakistani threat from Kassowal enclave, a portion of Indian territory across the Ravi River which could provide a ready launchpad to the Pakistan Army to attack Indian defences in the area. In addition, the brigade was to hit Pakistani defences in the Jassar enclave, so as to protect the rail-cum-road bridge and defeat any potential Pakistani threat.

There is no literature on the battle available which