Nineteen years ago, on this day, Indian defence forces successfully recaptured the Indian positions, in Kargil, lost to Pakistani intruders.
Kargil war was a high altitude war fought atop rough mountainous terrain. The war took place between May and July of 1999. The war was fought at the commanding heights of over 16,000 feet and at temperatures as low as -15 °C. This was India’s fourth direct armed conflict with Pakistan and the second after the two countries developed nuclear weapons.
In February 1999, then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee – on an invitation by his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif – travelled to Lahore by bus and signed the Lahore Declaration. The declaration had promised to provide “a peaceful and bilateral solution” to the Kashmir conflict.
But by that time Pakistan had already initiated infiltration into the Indian territory across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kargil sector. The blueprint of the infiltration was designed by General Pervez Musharraf soon after he took over as the Chief of Army Staff in Pakistan in October 1998. But reports suggest that much of the background planning – including construction of logistical supply routes for the intrusion – was done even earlier.
In the peak of the winter, when the minimum temperature in the Himalayan range often dips to as low as -48° C, there was a common practice for both the Indian and Pakistani Armies to abandon troops on their respective sides of the LOC. It was clearly written in the Simla Agreement of 1971, that the decision to abandon troops of both India and Pakistan – during extreme climatic conditions – was made under humanitarian grounds. But, Pakistan used the extreme climatic conditions as an advantage to intrude into Indian territory.
During the winter of 1998-1999, Pakistani troops and Pakistani terrorists in Army gear sneaked 160 kilometer deep into the Indian territory across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kargil Sector. The Pakistani infiltrators were numbered as approximately 5,000. Apart from being equipped with guns and grenade launchers, they were armed with sophisticated ammunitions like mortars, artillery and surface-to-air missiles.
Code named ‘Operation Badr’, the aim of the intrusion was clear – to sever the link between Kashmir and Ladakh and cause Indian forces to withdraw from Siachen Glacier. During the initial days of the conflict, the Pakistani intruders captured some Indian Army soldiers and barbarically tortured them. Remember, how Lt Saurabh Kalia and his five member team were tortured by Pakistani intruders for almost 22 days? They burnt the bodies of the Indian soldiers with cigarettes, piercing the ear-drums with hot rods, puncturing eyes before removing them, breaking most of their teeth and bones, fracturing their skulls, cutting the lips, chipping of nose, chopping off limbs and private organs, and finally shooting them dead.
As soon as Indian Army detected the infiltration, the Indian government led by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee immediately responded with an iron first. The Indian Army launched Operation Vijay. As many as 200,000 Indian troops were mobolised in the operation. Indian Air Force launched Operation Safed Sagar to bombard the enemy posts and to support mobilisation of Indian Army. For the first time air power at the height of 32,000 feet was used to identify Pakistani infiltrators. IAF MiG-21s and IAF Mirage 2000carried out strike missions. As the war intensified, India also used its naval forces to blockade Pakistani ports, dampening its oil import.
Vajpayee asked the defence forces to reclaim every inch of the territory from Pakistani intruders. ‘‘I have confidence in the ability of our armed forces. The armed forces shall accomplish this task and ensure that no one dares to indulge in this kind of misadventure in future,” PM Vajpayee had said while addressing the nation on June 7, 1999.
As the war intensified, Vajpayee strongly indicated that India’s patience was wearing thin and wanted the US and the world to come down sternly on Pakistan. Rattled by a strong military reaction from India, a desperate Sharif made a panic dash to Washington to call on then American president Bill Clinton on July 4, 1999. The US turned its back on Pakistan and a miffed Clinton asked Sharif to pull out all Pakistani troops from the Indian side of the LoC with immediate effect. The Pakistani leader could not but leave Washington promising to restore the “sanctity of the LoC” in accordance with the 1972 Simla Agreement.
By that time 80 per cent of the intruded area – including the most vital points – were back under Indian control. Pakistani intruders were evicted from their last occupied post in Kargil on July 26. India proudly observes the day as Kargil Vijay Diwas.
India won the war, but during the battle 527 soldiers achieved martyrdom. The causality from Pakistani side was a whopping 3000.
Kargil victory tells the story of Indian defence forces’ exemplary courage and bravery. Let’s salute the war heroes.
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