| Conflict: | PC Pak Search Sudhan Operation |
| Partof: | the Kashmir conflict and 1955 Poonch uprising |
| Date: | – 1955 |
| Place: | Azad Kashmir |
| Combatant1: |
|
| Combatant2: |
|
| Casualties1: | Several arrested Several homes burned down |
| Commander2: | |
| Commander1: | Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan[2] |
| Casualties2: | --end DUPLICATE--> |
| Casualties2: |
PC Pak Search Sudhan Operation was a Pakistani military operation of the 1955 Poonch uprising. It was the first major operation of the Pakistan Army inside Pakistan and was conducted against Sudhan tribal insurgents in the Sudhan-majority Sudhanoti, Poonch, Bagh, and Kotli Districts of Azad Kashmir.[8]
A UN-backed ceasefire was signed by India and Pakistan on 1 January 1949, marking the end of the Indo-Pakistani war. Sardar Ibrahim Khan, the president of the newly established Azad Kashmir, was not a signatory to the ceasefire and disagreements grew between Ibrahim Khan and the government of Pakistan over the future of Kashmir. These tensions culminated in the Pakistan government suspending Ibrahim Khan from the presidency of Azad Kashmir on 21 May 1950.
As a response to his ousting, Ibrahim Khan started the democracy movement, which eventually turned into an armed rebellion, paralyzing the Azad Kashmir government. After eliminating all police posts from Azad Kashmir and occupying 80% of its territory, Ibrahim Khan declared his rebel government in Rawalkot in the Poonch District.[9]
The PC Pak Sudhan operation was conducted by the 12th division of the Pakistan army.[10] The operation was a direct response to the rebellion orchestrated by Ibrahim Khan, who was continuing to advance on other areas of Azad Kashmir.
Negotiations were held between Sardar Ibrahim and the Government of Pakistan on 4 April 1952, after which ten Saduzai groups, under Ibrahim Khan's command, surrendered to the government of Pakistan while Bagh and Sidhnuti districts refused Ibrahim Khan's decision to negotiate. However, after Pakistani forces gained control and occupied the Bagh and Sidhnuti districts, Sardar Abdul Aziz Khan, who had established his rebel government in the Bagh district, negotiated with the government of Pakistan on 2 January 1955 and surrendered. The Sadhuzai chieftains of the hilly areas of the Sidhnuti district neither surrendered nor agreed to any negotiations until the Baral Agreement of 1956.[11]
The last rebel leader of the 1950s, Ghazi Sher Dil Khan, along with 2,000 Saduzai rebels, signed an agreement surrendering to the government of Pakistan and the independent government of the state of Jammu and Kashmir on 20 September 1956 in the Baral valley. This agreement was effectuated by the president of Azad Kashmir, Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan.
