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50 years ago (on December 3, 1971), Pakistan launched Operation Chengiz Khan which marked the official beginning of all-out war between India & Pakistan, culminating in the fall of Dhaka on December 16. Indian incursions into East Pakistan had already begun in late November 1971.
Pakistan's strategy for defense of East Pakistan called for offensive in the West, therefore the PAF launched pre-emptive strikes against several air bases in western India on the evening of December 3, and soon after the Pakistan Army began offensive all along the western front.
PAF's pre-emptive strikes were inspired by the Israeli Air Force's pre-emptive strikes at the beginning of the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, which had a crippling effect on the opposing Arab air forces and had allowed Israel to maintain crucial air superiority throughout the war.
