Defence Day of Pakistan is a national day observed every 6 September to mark the 1965 war, when Indian forces crossed the international border towards Lahore and Pakistan’s armed forces held the line.
Defence Day is called Youm-e-Difa in Urdu, and the Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) now observe the date as Defence and Martyrs Day. This article covers what happened on 6 September 1965, the full timeline of the 17-day war, the gallantry awards that came out of the fighting, and the ceremonies held on the date today.
What Is Defence Day of Pakistan?
Defence Day of Pakistan is the yearly commemoration of the country’s defence during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. The date is fixed at 6 September, the morning Indian troops crossed the international border on the Punjab front and advanced towards Lahore.
Defence Day is a designated national day rather than a gazetted public holiday. The observance covers all three services, and the main national event takes place at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Government and media usage in Pakistan spells the day Defence Day, following British English, and ISPR statements use the longer form Defence and Martyrs Day, or Youm-e-Difa-o-Shuhada, which also covers soldiers killed after 1965.
What Happened on 6 September 1965?
On 6 September 1965 Indian forces crossed the international border at around 3 a.m. and advanced on Lahore along three separate axes, and the Pakistan Army fought to hold the BRB Canal line east of the city. The crossing came five days after Pakistan launched Operation Grand Slam in the Chhamb sector of Jammu.
The main Indian thrust ran down the Grand Trunk Road from Wagah, with supporting advances towards Burki and towards Kasur and Khem Karan further south. Indian units reached Batapur on the eastern edge of Lahore before the advance was checked at the Bambanwala Ravi Bedian (BRB) Canal, the water obstacle that carried the Pakistani defensive line.
President Ayub Khan declared a state of emergency the same day. Fighting on the Lahore front settled into the Battle of Burki, fought from 6 to 11 September 1965.
What Is the Timeline of the 1965 India-Pakistan War?
The 1965 war ran from 5 August to 23 September 1965, and the fighting on the Punjab and Sialkot fronts lasted 17 days from the border crossing to the ceasefire. The table below lists the dated events of the war in order.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 5 August 1965 | Operation Gibraltar begins as Pakistani forces cross the Ceasefire Line into Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. |
| 15 August 1965 | Indian troops cross the Ceasefire Line in reply and take positions overlooking the Srinagar to Leh road. |
| 28 August 1965 | Indian forces capture the Haji Pir Pass, about 8 km inside Pakistan-administered Kashmir. |
| 1 September 1965 | Operation Grand Slam opens in the Chhamb sector with an armoured push towards Akhnoor. |
| 6 September 1965 | Indian forces cross the international border at around 3 a.m. and advance on Lahore on three axes. The Battle of Burki begins on the BRB Canal. |
| 7 September 1965 | Air fighting over Sargodha. The Pakistan Navy shells the Indian radar station at Dwarka on the night of 7 to 8 September in Operation Dwarka. |
| 8 September 1965 | The Battle of Asal Uttar begins in the Khem Karan sector, halting the Pakistani armoured advance. |
| 9 to 11 September 1965 | The Battle of Phillora is fought in the Sialkot sector between Indian and Pakistani armoured divisions. |
| 12 September 1965 | Major Raja Aziz Bhatti is killed at Burki after five days and nights on the BRB Canal. |
| 14 to 19 September 1965 | The Battle of Chawinda is fought in the Sialkot sector and the Indian offensive there is repulsed. |
| 20 September 1965 | United Nations Security Council Resolution 211 demands a ceasefire within 48 hours. |
| 23 September 1965 | The ceasefire takes effect and the fighting ends. |
| 10 January 1966 | Ayub Khan and Lal Bahadur Shastri sign the Tashkent Declaration. |
Why Did the 1965 War Start?
The 1965 war started with Operation Gibraltar on 5 August 1965, when Pakistani forces crossed the Ceasefire Line into Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to trigger an uprising there. The operation did not produce a rising and had petered out by the end of August.
Pakistan followed with Operation Grand Slam on 1 September 1965, an armoured attack in the Chhamb sector aimed at Akhnoor. India answered by opening a second front on the Punjab plain on 6 September, taking the war outside Kashmir.
What Was the Battle of Chawinda?
The Battle of Chawinda was the armoured battle fought in the Sialkot sector from 14 to 19 September 1965, in which Pakistan’s 6th Armoured Division and 15th Infantry Division stopped an Indian I Corps offensive. Around 600 tanks were committed in the sector, and the engagement is commonly described as the largest tank battle since the Second World War.
Indian forces had seized the border area in the Sialkot sector on 7 September and pushed through Phillora before reaching Chawinda, and Indian units withdrew by 21 September. Historians record the outcome as inconclusive rather than a clear win for either army.
How Did the 1965 War End?
The 1965 war ended with a United Nations ceasefire that took effect on 23 September 1965, followed by the Tashkent Declaration signed on 10 January 1966. UN Security Council Resolution 211 of 20 September 1965 demanded an unconditional ceasefire within 48 hours.
Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin hosted the talks at Tashkent, where President Ayub Khan and Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri agreed to pull both armies back to the positions held before 5 August 1965, with withdrawal completed by 25 February 1966. Neither side gained territory, and the Kashmir dispute remained unresolved.
Who Are the Heroes of Defence Day and the 1965 War?
One Nishan-e-Haider, Pakistan’s highest gallantry award, was won in the 1965 war, and it went to Major Raja Aziz Bhatti of the Punjab Regiment for the defence of the BRB Canal in the Burki sector. Eleven Nishan-e-Haider awards have been made since 1947, and Major Aziz Bhatti holds the only one from 1965.
Major Raja Aziz Bhatti, Nishan-e-Haider
Major Raja Aziz Bhatti was born in 1928 in British Hong Kong and moved to Pakistan before 1947, and he was commissioned into the Punjab Regiment in 1950. In September 1965 Major Aziz Bhatti served as a company commander in the Burki area of the Lahore sector.
Major Aziz Bhatti held forward positions on the BRB Canal for five days and nights under tank and artillery fire, directing his own artillery from an exposed observation post after being warned to take cover. Pakistan Army and Associated Press of Pakistan accounts record that he was hit by a tank shell and killed on 12 September 1965. The Nishan-e-Haider was conferred posthumously, and the title Muhafiz-e-Lahore, meaning defender of Lahore, is attached to his name in Pakistani records. Major Aziz Bhatti appears alongside decorated figures from other periods in the list of national heroes of Pakistan.
Squadron Leader Muhammad Mahmood Alam
Squadron Leader Muhammad Mahmood Alam flew an F-86 Sabre with No. 11 Squadron of the Pakistan Air Force from Sargodha. The Pakistan Air Force credits Alam with shooting down five Indian Hawker Hunters over the Sargodha area on 7 September 1965 in a single sortie, a claim later disputed by several historians and by some PAF accounts, which put the confirmed figure at two aircraft with a possible third.
Alam received the Sitara-e-Jurat and a bar to the Sitara-e-Jurat for actions on 6 and 7 September 1965. Pakistan observes 7 September as Pakistan Air Force Day in recognition of the PAF’s role in the 1965 war. Later PAF service records are covered elsewhere on this site, including the biography of PAF fighter pilot Marium Mukhtiar.
The Pakistan Navy and Operation Dwarka
Operation Dwarka was the Pakistan Navy bombardment of the Indian radar station at Dwarka in Gujarat, about 200 km from Karachi, carried out on the night of 7 to 8 September 1965. The squadron was built around the light cruiser PNS Babur with six destroyers, PNS Khaibar, Badr, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Alamgir and Tippu Sultan, while the submarine PNS Ghazi operated in support.
Pakistani accounts state the raid was intended to knock out a radar beacon guiding Indian bombers and to draw Indian air effort south. Indian accounts state the installation was not damaged. The results remain disputed.
How Is Defence Day Observed in Pakistan Today?
Defence Day is observed with gun salutes at dawn, a national ceremony at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, a change of guard at Mazar-e-Quaid, and wreath laying at the graves of martyrs. The main observances held on 6 September are listed below.
- Gun salutes. The day opens with a 31-gun salute in Islamabad and 21-gun salutes in the provincial capitals.
- GHQ ceremony. The main national ceremony is held at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where a floral wreath is laid at the Yadgar-e-Shuhada martyrs monument and families of the fallen attend as invited guests.
- Change of guard at Mazar-e-Quaid. Cadets of the Pakistan Air Force Academy Asghar Khan take over guard duties at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi. In 2024 the contingent numbered 74 cadets, 13 of them women.
- Ceremony at Mazar-e-Iqbal. The Lahore Corps Commander lays a wreath and recites the fatiha at the tomb of Allama Iqbal in Lahore.
- Tributes to Nishan-e-Haider recipients. Armed forces contingents present salutes at the graves of martyrs and Nishan-e-Haider recipients, and officials visit the families at their homes.
- ISPR broadcasts. Inter-Services Public Relations releases national songs, known as milli naghmay, along with documentaries on the 1965 war, and broadcasters carry them through the day.
- Special prayers. Mosques across the country hold prayers for the martyrs and for the country.
Because Defence Day is a national day rather than a public holiday, these ceremonies run alongside a normal working day.
FAQs About Defence Day of Pakistan
Why is 6 September celebrated as Defence Day in Pakistan?
6 September marks the morning in 1965 when Indian forces crossed the international border and advanced on Lahore, and Pakistan’s armed forces held the BRB Canal line. The date commemorates that defence and the soldiers killed in it.
Who attacked first in the 1965 war?
Pakistan opened the fighting in Kashmir with Operation Gibraltar on 5 August 1965 and Operation Grand Slam on 1 September 1965. India crossed the international border onto the Punjab plain on 6 September 1965.
Who won the 1965 India-Pakistan war?
Neither side won. The war ended in a United Nations ceasefire on 23 September 1965 and the Tashkent Declaration of 10 January 1966, under which both armies withdrew to the positions they held before 5 August 1965.
Who received the Nishan-e-Haider for the 1965 war?
Major Raja Aziz Bhatti of the Punjab Regiment received the only Nishan-e-Haider awarded for the 1965 war. He was killed on 12 September 1965 while holding forward positions on the BRB Canal in the Burki sector of Lahore.
Is Defence Day a public holiday in Pakistan?
Defence Day is a national day, not a gazetted public holiday. Offices, banks, schools and businesses stay open on 6 September, while military ceremonies, gun salutes and commemorative broadcasts run through the day.
Last Thoughts on Defence Day of Pakistan
Defence Day of Pakistan fixes one dated event in the national calendar: the border crossing of 6 September 1965 and the 17 days of fighting that followed on the Lahore, Kasur and Sialkot fronts. The record of those days is specific rather than general, running from the BRB Canal line at Burki to the armoured battle at Chawinda, the ceasefire of 23 September 1965 and the Tashkent Declaration of 10 January 1966.
The war also shaped Pakistan’s later defence planning, a chain that runs to the Chagai tests set out in the account of how Pakistan became a nuclear power. On 6 September each year the ceremonies at GHQ, Mazar-e-Quaid and Mazar-e-Iqbal return to the one name the 1965 war produced at the highest level of recognition, Major Raja Aziz Bhatti, Nishan-e-Haider.
