His actual name was Leonard Spencer but the world knows him as Winston Churchill (1874-1965). He was a very proud Briton, an outstanding soldier, an accomplished politician, an intelligent planner and a very clear-headed strategist. He, solely and singularly, authored the victory of Britain and its allies in the Second World War (1939-45) that witnessed immense loss of men and material.
He took six long years, between 1948 and 1954, to complete six volumes of his mammoth and monumental work, "The Second World War". No other book in any language provides a more objective, comprehensive and realistic account of what was made to happen to mankind during the eventful 1940s.
Students of military history rate and term this work as an educating window into the details of WW2 and the miseries it caused to human kind. This book earned Churchill the 1955 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Reading through late Sir Winston Churchill's enlightening and illuminating work on WW2 reveals that wars are a very expensive and luxurious affair. Historians believe that mankind has fought over 14,500 battles during the past about five thousand years.
Most devastating of these were the First (1914-18) and Second World Wars in terms of human and material losses. More than 60 million men, women and children were killed in these two wars while another 110 million were crippled or dispatched to crutches and wheel chairs.
Subsequently, the period between 1945 and 1979, alone, witnessed around 150 wars of different size and magnitude in different parts of the world.
The Pak-India wars in Rann of Kachh (1965), Kashmir (1965) and the erstwhile East Pakistan (1971) are among the 150 wars fought between 1945 and 1979.
But the late Sir Winston Churchill was not very right when he said: "wars being unwittingly". Not all wars begin "unwittingly". Some wars are criminally planned by one party and, then, imposed on the other "unwittingly".
The First World War did begin unwittingly between Serbia and Austria but most strategists believe that the Germans were not taken by surprise when the war began.
They already had their sub-rosa Schlieffen Plan available to them under which they victoriously carried out their onslaught on Paris in France.
The war that India foisted on Pakistan on September 06, 1965 was the product of several years of its constant and deliberate planning in New Delhi.
The underlying India philosophy behind this aggressive attack on a smaller neighbour, Pakistan, was to take revenge of the division of India in 1947 and to endeavour to reverse the freedom and independence of the Muslims of Pakistan.
The Indian attack did come to Pakistani military as a major surprise. Using the terminology of the late Sir Winston Churchill, the Indian attack of September 06 on Pakistan can be described as "unwitting" from the Pakistani standpoint because the Pak Army had not prepared itself for such a criminal and blatant violation of International laws and conventions providing for peaceful resolution of mutual differences and crises.
Till then, it was quite widely believed in the diplomatic circles of Pakistan - and elsewhere in the world - that India would opt to behave like a civilised neighbour which, it proved, it was not.
This attack was a naked and totally blatant violation of The Hague Convention of 1907 and of Geneva Convention of 1949. Both these instruments provide that no war can be launched on an independent country without a formal and advance declaration.
Different units of the Pak Army were busy in their routine daily exercises at different border outposts when units of the Indian artillery and armoured suddenly started pounding their positions.
IT WAS EXACTLY HERE THAT THE QURANIC VERSE: "It has happened many a time that a small army defeated a larger army with divine help" inspired the gallant and brave soldiers on guard at different Pak frontiers.
The war that continued with full resolve and determination in the ranks of Pak armed forces on land, air and sea for 17 days proved, once and for ever, that the valiant Pakistani soldiers had not learnt to be cowed down by acts such as Indian threats and intimidation's.
Fully aware that wars are not a means to any end, the valiant Pakistan military dealt resounding blows on the Indian war machinery.
The victory that the Holy Book had promised to the Muslims was theirs for centuries to come. It was proved to the entire world community that the soldiers of Pakistan have all the dedication and determination to defend their soil.
Sixth September 1965 is definitely, and most certainly, not an ordinary event. In the first instance, the war inculcated a firm, popular, self-confidence in the military might of Pakistan. It also generated in the masses of Pakistan an unflinching sense of pride for their Army. A very valuable, unmistakable and unshakeable trust in the fighting potential of their land was sown in the hearts and minds of the people of Pakistan.
Extremely monumental and unparalleled examples of chivalry and gallantry were recorded in national history for the generations to come. A far deeper, and much more well-founded, sense of patriotism was born out of the aftermath of the war of September 1965.
It was during this imposed war that Pakistan could identify and recognise its friends who stood by it. These immensely valuable friends included China, Iran, Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, to name a few.
It is an irony of what historians describe as a "process of time" that Sir Winston Churchill did not live long to see the Pak-India war fought, and won. In his towering capacity as a respectable war veteran, an experienced war-time politician and a really great geo-strategist, he would have showered one of the most lavish praises on the Pak Army for the way it defied the Indian invasion, repulsed the intruding forces and caused maximum damage of men, material and reputation to the aggressor.
One of the most basic lessons learnt from the 5000-year history of over 14,500 wars fought on planet Earth is the economy of war. This, too, has objectively been discussed in Sir Winston Churchill's book about the Second World War. Pakistan proved during the 17 days of its war with India that it was capable of inflicting huge damages on India without suffering in that proportion.
The war of September 1965 is a beacon of light, a source of confidence and a matter of immense pride not only for the people of Pakistan but also for its friends and well-wishers.