Remembering a proud insignia...

By: Hittu Saluja

No matter what all you said... to Ma whose cataract-affected eyes are still waiting... to Bablu whom you bought a willow bat and a tennis ball, which is still kept untouched for the moment when he can play cricket with you... and to your loving wife Savita who is still in the state of denial that you will ever return... The reason why you broke all those promises... to deliver the promise you made to your motherland and guard her numberless sons and daughters... This is not an apocryphal anecdote. It`s the true story of brave soldiers who crashed the vituperative voices of the enemy during the Kargil war. They were sent as valiant warriors, performed as national heroes and returned as martyrs. The chronicle may sound symphonic but it is not without criss-cross of pains. Wearing the Tricolour was their dream and eventually it came true. Wreathed in the sacred saffron, pure white and glorious green; garlanded by fresh flowers, lulled by the gun fire and grief-stricken yet proud salutations…the entire Nation stood by them... Perhaps it was a war waged on the roof of the world. Plains of Delhi could only understand the bare politics of power and diplomacy without understanding the crude concept of war. When the Indian government was busy impressing the innocent masses by bus diplomacy and dodged dialogues, Pakistan Army planned the misadventure of Kargil. PM Vajpayee took the bus to Lahore as a champion of peace, whereas Pakistan Army Chief Parvez Musharraf sent his arms-equipped men for intruding into the Indian territory. Infact, when the world expected success out of the high-flying diplomacy, the two fateful neighbours shocked all with blood-raging battle. Theatre of war It all began in early May of 1999 when Indian military patrolled near Kargil. On the basis of some information from local herdsmen, soldiers were sent to investigate if Pakistani infiltrators were occupying Indian bunkers along a series of 5,000-m-high ridges in the Batalik sector. Indian Army found that intruders had crossed the Line of Control and made hideouts seven kms inside Kashmir. This was just the tip of the iceberg. Pakistani Army allocated the job of intruding into Indian territory to men from the Northern Light Infantry Regiment and the Khyber Rifles backed by Kashmiri guerrillas and Afghan mercenaries because they could easily adapt to high-altitude weather conditions. They are believed to have disguised in Mujahideen outfits to create the impression that Pakistan Army was not involved in this operation. Indian Army jawans found traditional Salwar Kameez clad men wearing Islamist beards and traditional white religious skullcaps. The Indian Army retaliated once they spotted and identified Pakistani soldiers inside the de facto Line of Control. The total number of Indian soldiers that were involved in the military operation on the Kargil-Drass sector was close to 30,000. And nearly 20,000 of them were involved in the Operation Vijay as the war came to be famously known as. However, because of the nature of the terrain, division and Corps operations could not be escalated; the scale of most fighting was at the regimental or battalion level. The Indian Army embraced a very difficult strategy of direct frontal ground attack. It took a heavy toll on the Army, as more force was required to fight from the front. The Indian Army had to acclimatise in the extremely cold conditions ascending the steep height of more than 18,000 feet over a stretch of 150 km from Kargil to Zoji Pass. The `limited conflict` soon turned into a theatre of unending, gradually succeeding events. The operations were carried out under the cover of darkness with the risk of temperature falling as low as -11 °C to -15 °C (12 °F to 5 °F) near the mountaintop. A Memorable Redemption

According to records, the total area seized by the ingress was between 130 km² - 200 km². However, Pakistan claims it to be 1,300 km² of Indian territory during the war. Kargil War was fought in three phases. It started off with Pakistan intruding into the Indian territory and attempting to capture strategic Indian points, responded by the Indian Army first capturing strategic transportation routes, and then pushing Pak Army back across the Line of Control. The Indian Army, supported by the Indian Air Force, attacked the Pakistani positions and, with international diplomatic support, eventually forced withdrawal of Pakistani forces across the Line of Control. The biggest surprise was that the Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif’s statement. He said, "I learnt about Kargil war misadventure of Musharraf against India from the Indian Prime Minister". This misadventure of Musharraf was full of lies as the Army blamed the fighting entirely on Kashmiri insurgents. The Pakistan`s involvement was finally revealed through documents recovered from the dead Pakistani soldiers. The `N` Factor Already entangled in the bashing from the International front, domestic front and the war front, Pakistan found itself in an awkward position. It is believed that the frustrated Army`s last monstrous thought was that of a nuclear strike on India. The news spread all across and the International community reacted strongly. The then US President Bill Clinton even warned Sharif of dire consequences. World opinion International scholars adjudged the battle by the racket it made -the thumping arms, the whining jet engines and the history of conflicts between the two nations. Karl Inderfurth, US assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs said, "After that there could be a cessation of the fighting and a resumption of the Lahore process, which we see as potentially the greatest casualty of this dispute. The bus from Delhi to Lahore was not supposed to go from Lahore to Kargil. We want to get back to the Lahore process." Why Kargil was targeted? India and Pakistan share a fretful history of as many clashes and conflicts as affinities. Partition of the country into India and Pakistan created the divide that could never be bridged and from there erupted various disputes. Before the Partition of India in 1947, Kargil was part of Gilgit-Baltistan, a region of many diverse linguistic, ethnic and religious groups, due in part to the many isolated valleys separated by some of the world`s highest mountains. War that erupted in Kashmir in 1947-48 brought most of the Kargil region in India. And it`s an area of significance for both India and Pakistan as it is a 160 km long stretch on the border of the LoC and an important highway on the Indian side of Kashmir. Pakistan chose Kargil for intrusion because first it`s a Muslim dominated area and second the topography allows an ideal hide out for the enemy to carry on any such operations in hills and snow serving as the fortress of war. Lessons learnt There were many lessons that both sides across the Line of Control learnt. India was caught napping because the whole military-manoeuver of Pakistan could not be executed overnight. Whether it was the intelligence failure or the implementation failure, the fact of the matter is that diplomacy and border security are two parallel issues and one cannot be ignored or stalled on the cost of the other. For Pakistan it was a routine yet a significant message that either it should mend its ways or face the music. On the domestic front it was an embarrassment for Pakistan as the war was master-minded and launched by General Musharraf on his own personal decision and initiative, without taking PM Nawaz Sharif into confidence. Even the attempt of internationalising the issue of Kashmir through Kargil bore no fruits and Pakistan remained malaise. The Kargil war brought further sprain in the Indo-Pak relations and both the nations suffered in a tinderbox. Time is a great healer and only it could dilute the tensions thereupon. From there continued another phase of diplomacy. Dialogue was resumed but with a lesson of suspicion and distrust. Now it`s business as usual. Political leaders on both sides still pose picture-perfect for the diplomatic pacts and amidst these bulky fake-bashings and weighty promises the sacrifice made by more than 500 soldiers seems to be lost somewhere.