Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice

Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice

Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice Peace​‍​‌‍​‍‌ and solitude rule over the sea, a special kind of silence. At the coast you may see the Arabian Sea as an immense calm sheet, stretching in peace underneath the morning light, yet for the men and women charged with the protection of Pakistan's maritime frontiers, those are waters which never give their duty up. The waters ahead of the horizon represent the routes on which the nation’s trade depends, the waters that bind Pakistan to the rest of the world, and the passages through which an adversary can look to pose a threat or challenge the nation.

The Pakistan Navy bears all of this to responsibility. In fact, the Indian Navy in the time of the war in 1965 was much bigger in terms of the fleet, whereas the Pakistan naval force was a much smaller one, their men though did not let that difference in size define the result. Their task was clear-cut: secure the coastline, uphold country defense and not even grant the enemy a tiny chance for gaining superiority at sea. Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice

The Pakistan Army resisted aggression on land, the Pakistan Air Force with its high level of skill took control of the air as its war deeds became a part of military history, but the story for September 1965 is still not the same if you overlook the sailors of Pakistan who defended their country's waters. Being a four-dimensional force, the Pakistan Navy not only proved its capabilities but also lived up to its identity by attacking the enemy from all directions.

A common saying is that the war was over on the morning of 6th September but the fighting was far from stopping. The battlefield on the land and in the air didn't exhaust the energy of war so the maritime part kept being a front too. The Pakistan Navy refused to let the enemy use the maritime route as a weapon against Pakistan by making all their sea attack plans futile. Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice

In face of the substantially larger Indian Navy, the Pakistan Navy fought every battle with courage and professionalism. Not only did their actions frustrate India's expansionistic plans but these actions proved that victory is not about the number of ships only but also how you use them.

The night of 7th September followed and during that time land and air battles raged the navy of Pakistan quietly made its way towards the coastal town of Dwarka, India. The Pakistani warships under cover of darkness initiated Operation Somnath which was an attack on the shore installations at Dwarka during the early hours of the 8th and proved that a relatively small naval force like Pakistan does not necessarily confine fighting and attacking the enemy to defense waters only; it is also possible for them to take the battle to the enemy's doorstep. Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice

For the personnel of the Pakistan Navy, Operation Somnath came up to mean a lot more than just a war-time action. It was the demonstration of how professionals show up when pressure is maximum and yet their courage remains the same and that they also come back on their plans with a lot of assurance. The Navy considers this operation still as one of the most honored chapters in their history and remembers it as a yearly reminder on Navy Day of just how much it is possible with the right amount of effort even when the odds are not favoring you numerically speaking.

Tied to the core of maritime defense of Pakistan was the Pakistan Navy submarine, PNS Ghazi. The presence at sea of PNS Ghazi served as a formidable threat for the adversary fleet. Its position on the maritime borders put the Indian navy in a constant dilemma and also gave Pakistan the upper hand in its sea border despite of its vastly superior Indian fleet. For the submarine Ghazi crew, the mission was more than a simple sea patrol. ​‍​‌‍​‍‌Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice

It​‍​‌‍​‍‌ had to do with putting the enemy in a position where they understood clearly that any kind of provocation against the maritime security of Pakistan would be met with an aggressive and persistent backlash.

The memory of the 1965 war lived on in the next war too. The return of hostilities in 1971 brought a repetition of a very similar story when the Pakistan Navy was struck very severely, for a second time, during the defense of Pakistan. PNS Ghazi, the submarine which had been a bold opponent of the Indian fleet six years ago, went down in enemy waters, very close to Visakhapatnam, and its crew was among the shuhada (martyrs) of that war. Although the year 1971 proved hard, the spirit of the fighting Navy never really faded. PNS Hangor went on to achieve a feat that can hardly be replicated even by any submarine in that region since the days of the Second World War when it sank the Indian frigate INS Khukri on the night of 09th December 1971. The story of that act is still one of the most glorious stories the Pakistan Navy has to tell. The country commemorates these sacrifices on 6th September. Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice

Lions of the Pakistan Navy took on enemies who were much bigger and stronger and offered their lives to keep the nation's coastline safe. Their courage has not died down over the years. In 2025, when tensions with India were again on the rise, we saw the same kind of bravery and determination expressed in "Marka-e-Haq" as they had done before. In this new phase where the enemy developed its naval capacities by launching large warships, stateof-the-art submarines, long-range surveillance aircraft, armed drones, the Pakistan Navy replied to it with no less energy and courage than its forebears had done in 1965.

Besides wartime protection, the Navy also has other tasks besides the wartime protection. During the period of peacetime, too, besides the wartime protection, she is very active along the coastal areas, where the risks might be concealed but real enough. The Navy operates anti-narcotics campaigns designed to break drug trafficking through sea routes connecting the region with drug traffickers and similarly anti-human trafficking operations aimed at stopping the use of Pakistan’s waters as a means to transport people illegally. Though these missions might not find much news coverage, they are very much the same persistent watchfulness of Operations Dwarka and "Marka-e-Haq."

Certainly anyone officer who serves in the Pakistan Navy today has become part of the living memory through the stories of PNS Ghazi and PNS Hangor and of the squadron that carried out the assault on Dwarka. Such a legacy is basically built by a very simple idea: the seafront and the airspace of the country are as sacred and deserving of our protection as the land of the country. The people who gave their lives in 1965 were only willing to be remembered because the country remembered them on one day of the year. Their real intention was that the protection of Pakistan’s maritime sovereignty should be ensured by a vigorous defense at every instance. Although they may differ in their origin, they all share a common belief, passion, and bravery which make them stand up to every enemy together. Guardians of the Sea: Pakistan Navy’s Legacy of Courage and Sacrifice

At the same time, "Hasbuna Allah" is the slogan that continues to be a source of motivation to the new generation of officers of the Pakistan Navy who have to patrol and protect the waters of ​‍​‌‍​‍‌Pakistan.