Real truth Kargil WAR..

Real truth Kargil WAR..

There are two ‘truths’ about Kargil. The first one is the version of defeatist Pakistanis who can’t see us doing any good. And the second truth is the Indian one.
Surprisingly, some fair minded former Indian army officers are willing to give a balanced verdict on the Pakistani performance in Kargil than the ridiculous assessments of some defeatist and self-hating Pakistanis who have no problem making fun of their homeland and their military just because they differ politically with Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

I would like to give some of these defeatist Pakistanis a shock: The revealing statement to a Pakistani newspaper, The News, of an Indian army officer having something good to say about the Pakistani military capability as demonstrated in Kargil in 1999. Some of the defeatist, self-hating Pakistanis will find this difficult to swallow since they are more accustomed to criticizing Pakistan, not praising it.

Read the letter below by retired Col. Harish Puri from the Indian army’s Corps of Signals. He uses many of the Indian propaganda lines that raise doubts about the end result of the Pakistani operation, how the Indian people came together in those days to support their military, and how Islamabad underestimated the Indian response.

All propaganda points. But then he makes two points very clear that I wish some of those self-hating defeatist Pakistanis, especially the ones in our English-language liberal newspapers, read and feel some shame – just a little – about how they have been putting Pakistan down whenever discussing Kargil and facilitating the propaganda victory of the other side.

The two points that Col. Puri makes are:

• It is correct to praise the brilliance of the Pakistani tactical maneuver of stealthily occupying the heights and the massive Indian intelligence failure exploited by the Pakistani military.

• The Pakistani military in professional terms ranks among the best in the world, along with the Indian army according to Col. Puri. The implicit irony here is that India is fives times larger than Pakistan. For Islamabad to create this balance of power in just five decades is a Pakistani achievement.

This is not about clearing the name of Gen. Musharraf. History, and military analysts, will do that. Our job here is just to tell those few, self-bashing, defeatist-minded Pakistanis this: Please spare us your self-hatred. We are good at anything we want to be good at if we put our mind into it. Celebrate your strength instead of wallowing in your weaknesses.

Kargil – nine years later

Letters to the editor, The News International, Karachi.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

This is in reference to an article “Kargil — none years on” by Brigadier Sher Khan published in your newspaper on May 6. It was an absorbing article which transported me back to my days in the Indian army, and that particular conflict. My reflections, nine years on, focus on the utter futility of the whole exercise — it doesn’t matter which side you’re on, a soldier’s life is always precious, and sadly, expendable as well.

You’re right about the brilliance of the tactical manoeuvre of occupying the heights so stealthily, and about the massive intelligence failure on our part. But the

Pakistan army underestimated both the ferocity of the Indian reaction as well as the resolve of the Indian nation – never have I seen an entire population come together as one nation as in those days. That was heady stuff — a young Capt Vikram Batra declaring “Yeh dil maange more” only to lose his life the next day. And the bravado of Capt Kamal Sher Khan is the stuff legends are made of. But, in the ultimate analysis, to what end?

War is too dangerous a game to be left to generals alone. Fortunately in India, the civilians call the shots, and Vajpayee’s conscious decision not to allow his troops to cross the LoC was a major factor for India’s gaining the high moral ground.

But let us as army men salute the spirit of the soldiers on both sides — professionally, both our armies rank among the best in the world.

Col (retd) Harish Puri

Indian Army (Corps of Signals),

Pune, India

pakistani1 added 2 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...

The Kargil Conflict between Pakistan and India took place in Kashmir between May and July 1999, the objective of the whole conflict was to cut off the link between Kashmir and Ladakh by hitting National Highway No.1 (NH 1) and cause Indian forces to withdraw from the Siachen Glacier forcing India to negotiate and resolve the decade old Kashmir dispute.




Detailed map of Control Line showing the flash points Kargil and Drass sectors with NH 1 passing along them.




Controlling the peaks of Kargil




Pakistan Army shelling Indian Army positions.




A Mujahid takes position on a ridge in a battle with the Indian Army during the Kargil conflict.