Joe Shearer
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It's rather arbitrary, but so is almost everything in life. Ultimately, it's decided based on the current normality.
In 1965, the conflict in the Rann of Kutch was over disputed territory (and I'm not even going to get into who was at fault, that's another discussion), as was the conflict in Kashmir (the border in Kashmir isn't even recognised as an official border by either side, it's just referred to as the "Line Of Control" or "LOC"). Since India breached what is recognised by both parties as the International Border on the 6th of September (which also escalated the fighting from small skirmishes in disputed territory to full-scale operations all over the border between the two countries), that is the official start of the war, as far as I'm concerned.
Fortunately, that happens to be your own personal opinion. It doesn't count for much.I am just pointing out this reality, not publishing a rating.
The point under discussion is not the fact that the territory was disputed; it is about bad faith. Here is the relevant passage from a neutral source.
<<The area was admitted by both sides to be in dispute at the time of the Indo-Pakistani border negotiations of 1960. It was agreed at that time that further discussions would be held to explore the validity of the conflicting claims, and the two Governments agreed that pending further consideration of this dispute, neither side would disturb the status quo.
In the spring of 1965, Pakistani tanks (received from the United States as part of its Military Assistance Program) entered the Rann of Kutch. The memoirs of senior Pakistani officers later revealed that the deployment of this American-supplied armor had two objectives. The first was to entice Indian armor away from northern India, where an attack on Kashmir was planned for later in the year. The second objective was to see how strongly the United States would protest Pakistan's use of tanks it had provided, in clear violation of Pakistan's commitment. The United States did protest, but it was ignored.
The Indians became aware in January 1965 that Pakistani border police were patrolling below the Indian claim line. Pakistani patrolling south of Kanjarkot may have been going on for quite some time without the Indians knowing it. There was little doubt, however, that Pakistani occupation of Kanjarkot would have upset a long-standing status quo. When Indian patrols discovered that Pakistani posts had been established in area claimed by India, they accused Pakistan of aggression in the Rann of Kutch.>>