How True Are The Events Depicted in Ghazi?

The trailer for Ghazi & The Ghazi attacks came out yesterday and it has started up a lot of discussion on social media with people wondering how much of it is really even true. While a quick Google search could have saved them the trouble, it made for an interesting conversation none-the-less.

People commented on the Dharma Productions’ Facebook page as to how much of the movie made would be true if the operation was classified. But then, like we said, one Google search reveals details of the operation that took place in 1971. This also means that there might be soldiers who took part in the operation who could still be alive.

Conspiracy theorists are afoot commenting that because the PNS Ghazi sank mysteriously, there was no such submarine in the first place. A former commander of the Indian Navy, Alok Mathur, put this conversation to rest when he posted –

It is a fact that Pakistan had positioned PNS Ghazi on India’s east coast with the sole aim of snaring INS Vikrant. Little did they know that Vikrant had been removed to the Andaman islands area much earlier.

Unfortunately Ghazi, which was operating close to Visakhapatnam, was detected by the Indian destroyer INS Rajput as she (Rajput) was leaving harbour. Rajput attacked Ghazi with depth charge and sank her a few miles outside Vizag harbour. A lot of items subsequently picked up by the Indian salvage team are on display at the Naval museum inside INS Circars, the Naval base in Visakhapatnam.

While it is true that INS Rajput attacked the submarine, truth is it sank due to an internal explosion or an accidental blast of mines. To brush up on history, it all started when the Eastern Naval Command had effectively created a blockade isolating East-Pakistan in the Bay of Bengal. So Pakistan sent in its best submarine to find and sink INS Vikrant and lay mines on the Indian Eastern seaboard most importantly. PNS Ghazi, that was previously USS Diablo, was loaned to Pakistan on a four year contract by the US Navy. Ghazi was an old submarine that was already experiencing equipment failures.

Many theories have come forward since its sinking that even the naval authorities have destroyed records of the sinking of Ghazi.