campaign, Cold War

Operation Python

Name: Operation Python
Location: Karachi, India

Operation Python was a campaign fought in 1971 at Karachi, in what is now India. Its exact site is not recorded; the atlas places it at Karachi. It was part of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The recorded result: Indian victory, partial de facto naval blockade of Pakistan.

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Fought1971

WhereKarachi, India24.860N, 67.010E, placed at the location, approximate

OutcomeIndian victory, partial de facto naval blockade of Pakistan.

BelligerentsIndiaagainstPakistan

Casualties and lossesNoneand1 fleet tanker damaged beyond repair; Oil storage facility destroyed

Part ofIndo-Pakistani War of 19711971

Where it sits in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

5 placed engagements of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date	1971 (year precision) to 1971
Place	Karachi, India 24.860N, 67.010E
Kind	Campaign, Cold War
Strength	One missile boat; Two multipurpose frigates; One Submarine; (did not participate)	A group of ships stationed off the coast of Karachi
Casualties and losses	None	1 fleet tanker damaged beyond repair; Oil storage facility destroyed; 2 merchant vessels sunk, several civilians killed and injured
Commanders	Rear admiral (India) Elenjikal Chandy Kuruvila	Rear admiral (Pakistan) Hasan Hafeez Ahmed

Placed at Karachi; the exact site is not recorded. with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

Nearest engagements

Siege of Debal AD 712, same recorded site
First Battle of Makli 1770, 91 km E
Second Battle of Makli 1789, 91 km E
Battle of Fatehpur 1519, 93 km E
Battle of Hyderabad 1843, 148 km NE

In the same war

Before: Battle of Longewala 4 December 1971
After: Tangail Airdrop 1971
All 5 engagements of Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Elsewhere in 1971

Operation Python is one of 4,429 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 376 in present-day India.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q3533435, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Operation Python, revision 1379737826, read 2026-11-15, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.