To relieve pressure on the southern front, Pakistan decided to send its navy to launch a strike on the Indian coast.

The primary objective of the attack ostensibly was to destroy the radar station at Dwarka which was believed by Pakistani naval intelligence to have a Huff-Duff beacon to guide Indian bombers.

The mission objectives of the Pakistan Navy were:[5] Many Pakistani sources describe the operation as at least partially successful, while many Indian ones dispute this.

Dwarka was chosen for its proximity 200 km (120 mi) from the Karachi Port, its relatively weak defences and historical political prominence.

[7] The Indian warships harbored in Bombay were under refit and were unable to sortie, nor did Ghazi encounter active combatants on the West coast.

[7] The Indian Navy's official version of events is that, around 23:55 hours, the Pakistani vessels fired on Dwarka for more than 20 minutes.

[6] Hiranandani's history of the Indian Navy states that:[6] Next morning she (INS Talwar) was directed to send a team to Dwarka to assess the damage.

[13] The lack of response by the Indian Navy to the attack on Dwarka led to questions being asked in the Parliament of India and a challenge to be answered by others.