New Delhi: The Indian artillery, assisted by the Bofors gun and multi-barrel rocket launchers among others, caused the maximum damage to the Pakistani Army
during the Kargil war, a fact now admitted by neighbour.
As per the official list of Pakistani soldiers who have been killed during the war period, put up on its website by the Pakistani Army, about 190 of the over 400 dead were
killed because of shelling by the Indian Army.
The reasons for the maximum number of deaths given by the Pakistani army was "En Arty shelling" or "En shelling". `En` stands for Enemy, an obvious reference to Indian troops.
The Indian soldiers also killed another about 160 of regular Pakistani Army men in exchange of fire with their hand-held assault weapons or as Pakistan puts it, "En
Action".
Besides the exchange of fire, the Indian Army men also killed about 90 Pakistan Army personnel by shooting them down.
The reason given to such deaths was "En fire".
Even the Indian Air force, which bombarded certain territories captured by a mixture of Pakistan troops and militants, killed regular armymen.
It was not just the Indian Army that Pakistan had to fight but also rolling stones and avalanches. About 30 enemy troops died in this category.
Interestingly, one of them was killed in lightning. Among other reasons for deaths given were also helicopter crashes.
The Pakistan Army which had been denying its role in the conflict has quietly put the names of 453 soldiers and officers killed in the battle on its website.
The names of those who died in Kargil are tucked away in a list of thousands of personnel killed while on duty that has been posted in the "Shuhada`s Corner" (Martyrs Corner) of the website.
The very first page of the long list of martyrs includes the names of Capt Karnal Sher and Havildar Lalak Jan, who were both killed on July 7, 1999 in Kargil and awarded Pakistan`s highest military award, the Nishan-e-Haider.
Several others were posthumously given other gallantry awards like the Tamgha-e-Jurat (Medal of Courage).
A majority of those who died in Kargil were soldiers from the Northern Light Infantry (NLI), a paramilitary force that was made a regular regiment of the Pakistan Army because of its performance in the 1999 conflict.
During the Kargil conflict and in subsequent years, the Pakistan Army insisted that none of its regular soldiers were involved in the hostilities.
PTI
