On the night of 7 September, the Pakistan Navy launched its assault on Western Indian shores. Dwarka was chosen for its proximity (200 km from Karachi port), Its lower defence and historical relevance. The plan called for a fleet of 7 naval vessels of Pakistan to bomb the tiny town of Dwarka. It was aimed at luring the heavy ships anchored in Bombay into attacking the Pakistani ships. The intention was that thesubmarine PNS Ghazi lurking in the Arabian sea would then engage and sink the Indian ships. Accordingly, a fleet of seven ships
Comprising PNS Babur, PNS Khaibar, PNS, Badr, PNS Jahangir, PNS Alamgir, PNS Shah Jahan and PNS Tipu Sultan set sail for Dwarka and bombarded the town.
The warships harbored in Bombay were under refit and were unable to sortie, nor did PNS Ghazi encounter the active combatants on the West coast. The objective to divert the Indian Air Force attacking Pakistan's southern front worked as the Indian Air Force raids on the city Guidance to the IAF fighter jets, which was damaged in the attack.
The Indian Navy's official version of events states that, at around 23:55 hours, the Pakistani vessels fired on Dwarka fired by the Pakistani Cruiser PNS Babur. The report adds that most shells fell between the temple and the railway station, which lay 3 km from the lighthouse. Some buildings were hit, with only the railway Guest House Suffering some minor damages and cement Factory of Associated Cement Company was also Hit. Smoke from the damage was visible to the Pakistani warships approximately 20 Kilometers away.
The radar installation was shelled during the bombardment but neither the radar was damaged nor were any casualties reported by Indian sources. A frigate INS Talwar was in nearby Okha port undergoing repairs and did not intervene. Hiranandani's History of the Indian Navy states that.
Next morning she (INS Talwar) was directed to send a team to Dwarka to assess the damage. The ream found that most of the shells had fallen on the soft soul between the temple and the radio station and failed to explode. The air attack damaged a railway engine and destroyed a portion of a railway guesthouse.
A total of 40 exploded shells were also recovered intact. Interestingly, the shells bore the mark "INDIAN ORDNANCE" these were dated from the 1940 before the Partition of India into India and Pakistan.
Radio Pakistan, however, transmitted that Dwarka was badly damaged.
