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In order to "close the infiltration routes," Indians in battalion strength crossed the cease-fire line and occupied a series of abandoned Pakistani outposts. There was a pause of some days, presumably to test the Pakistani reaction. When nothing happened, the Indians moved forward two weeks ago in regimental and brigade strength. Two Pakistani hilltop positions were stormed at dawn. In the Punch-Uri sector, the Indians advanced 25 miles into Pakistani territory. A large salient in the 1949 U.N. cease-fire line that bulged toward Srinagar was swiftly erased, and India announced that the occupied ground was now Indian, as were the 5,000 dazed peasants who lived there.
By last week, the world's eyes were on Kashmir. Pakistan would either have to react strongly or abandon its claims. Within 48 hours, Ayub Khan made his military answer. A rumbling column of 70 powerful Patton tanks rolled across the Kashmir border far to the south, where the land is flat. The Indian villages of Chhamb and Dewa were swiftly taken. Backed by a brigade of infantry, and with its flanks protected by patrols of mujahids, the tanks rolled on, driving Indian defenders from village after village.
Indian jet fighters streaked from the sky to smash the armored spearhead. Fearful of losing the strategic city of Jammu, the Indian high command ordered the drive on Lahore, removing the battle from Kashmir to Pakistan proper, and changing a brush-fire war into a full-scale challenge. The escalation had increased, and the suspense was over. Whatever else Ayub Khan and Shastri accomplished last week, they had noisily reopened the question of Kashmir.
Phone 31489. Ostensibly, both armies were pursuing "defensive" advances, and always with the assurance that they were only being made to protect the national borders. New Delhi insisted that it was not at war with the Pakistan government or the Pakistan people. What then was it doing? Merely trying to convince the Pakistan army that it should not interfere with India's internal affairs, that is, Kashmir.
The same line was coming from Rawalpindi in slightly different wording. Pakistan's object was not to wage war either. Its only task was to convince India by "firmness" that it would be a good idea to let the Kashmiris have their plebiscite.
To the credit of both governments, each was doing what it could to damp down the possibility of religious massacres. Most of Pakistan's Hindus are in the East zone, so far little affected by the war. Pledges of loyalty to India came from many communities among the nation's 47 million Moslem subjects. Two Moslems sit in Shastri's Cabinet, and there are many scattered through the government and the army. Shastri has urged "internal harmony" upon his countrymen.
This was vital, since both nations are in the throes of spy scares. New Delhi offered a $100 reward for every Pakistani spy captured, and an Indian news agency put out a special notice to Delhi citizens: "Anybody having information about paratroopers or any other matter pertaining to the present emergency may convey it to the authorities by phoning 31489."