— Aakanksha Jha As the snow started melting on the 3rd May of 1999 on the tops of Saltoro Ridge, unusual movements were seen by a shepherd of Changpa tribe, Tashi Namgyal, in the high mountains of Kargil and Batalik range. Namgyal had gone up in the ridge to look for his missing yak. Instead, he noticed camouflaged Light Infantry soldiers of Pakistan invading the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC). This was a sort of repeat of an old strategy that Pakistan deployed in October of 1947, targeting the then Jammu and Kashmir Riyasat of Maharaja Hari Singh. The Bakarwals, a nomadic tribe of the Kashmir Valley, had warned of the untoward incident at that time. But this time the target was rather vague and took the Indian defence establishment by surprise. What Pakistanis were doing quietly in the high hills of Saltoro was part of an operation, code-named “Operation Badr”. Genesis of the Kargil War According to Surinder Singh, (commander of the Kargil Brigade during the 1999 war with Pakistan), the genesis of the Kargil war can be traced back to 1984 when the Indian Army in the secretly planned Operation Meghdoot established full control over the highest defence point of the world – the Siachen Glacier. This had rubbed the Pakistani Army in the most hostile way. They couldn’t get access to the roving eye point to both Leh Plateau and Srinagar Valley. The intrusion and capture of Kargil was done with the goal of securing access to the main highway NH 1A. The highway connected the town of Srinagar on the western side and Leh on the eastern side. Kargil was and is a defining link to both Kashmir and Ladakh. Gen V P Malik, the then Indian Army chief, noted in his several works recollecting the events of the war that this invasion by Pakistan was the most surprising of all. On all the previous three occasions of war with Pakistan, there were ample intel inputs and warnings. In February 1999, then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with his Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee signed the Lahore Agreement. This was done with much fanfare and bonhomie between the two governments. The Lahore Agreement was specifically talking about nuclear deterrence, enhancement of confidence-building measures and bringing the two nuclear-armed nations to the negotiating table. However, unlike other previous agreements, the Lahore Agreement was not a result of a war but rather led to one. Operation Vijay The Kargil war commenced shortly after the signing of the Lahore declaration when the Pakistani army infiltrated the Indian side of the LoC and occupied the winter vacated posts of the Indian Army. Following the detection of the intrusions, the Indian Army launched its military operation - Operation Vijay - with an aim to ‘Contain-Evict–Deny’. The soldiers of 3 Infantry Division were tasked with the job. Additional forces of 8 Mountain Division were given the task of periphery goals (the responsibility for the conduct of operations in the Dras and Mushko Valley sub-sector). The aim was to deny the heights of Tiger Hill and block the access to Batalik and Turtuk sub sectors which gave the enemy links to Siachen. Fortuitously the Zoji La Pass opened which allowed rapid troop movements in May. On May 26, 1999, the first operation named Safeed Sagar was carried out by the Indian Air force. India decided to use the full spectrum of tri services and a Naval operation off the coast of Dwarka - Operation Talwar - was launched too. According to Major General Alok Deb, former Deputy Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, the challenge for the Indian Defence establishment was to call out Pakistan’s belligerent misadventure while making sure that the escalation doesn’t reach the cold bunkers of nuclear arsenals. In short, to fight a conventional war in an unconventional manner. End of the war Operation Vijay was the result of two months of rigorous shelling on the steep hills of Kargil ridge. Going against the dictum of ‘Mountains favouring the defendants’, the Indian Army with the help of Air power was able to wrest control of mountain posts. Long-range guns like 155mm Bofors were deployed in Drass to shatter enemy bunkers. MiG 27 was fine-tuned to support operations at the height of 16000 ft. Counting 527 martyred and 1363 wounded, the Kargil War became a symbol of India’s military perseverance and retaliatory prowess. Acts by young officers like Vikram Batra (whose success signal to his commanding officer was “Yeh dil maange more”), Manoj Pandey, Vijayant Thapar, Balwan Singh, and soldiers like Sanjay Kumar can never be forgotten and have been immortalised by the Indian film industry and popular culture. All these were acts of immense valour and courage. With the siege of Tiger Hill drawing to a close by 8 SIKH Brigade and subsequent capture by 192 Brigade on July 4, 1999, India had an upper hand on the ground. This forced Pakistan to open diplomatic channels for talks. After a set of brief ceasefire between July 12 and July 18 to allow the withdrawal of Pakistani troops, the war officially ended with the Indian side winning. Kargil Review Committee After the end of the war, K Subramanyam Committee popularly known as the Kargil Review Committee was constituted to have an in-depth analysis of the war. It was released to the public unlike the Henderson Brooks – Bhagat Report (post 1962 India-China War). The committee made several landmark recommendations which have been made part of India’s Defence architecture. Some of the recommendations include: 1. Creation of the Office of Chief of Defence Staff 2. Creation of Tri Service War theatres (Andaman and Nicobar – first tri service command) 3. Employment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and 4. Reducing the age of Commanding Officers Why Kargil War was different from earlier wars with Pakistan The Kargil War led to the de-hyphenation of India-Pakistan in international diplomatic circles. Bruce Riedel, Special Secretary to President Bill Clinton noted that the July 4, 1999 meeting between President Clinton and Pakistan’s Prime Minister was instrumental in the withdrawal of forces from the Kargil domain. What followed was a closer India-US relations and subsequent state visit of President Clinton in the Spring of 2000. The Kargil War also exposed the gaps in the military and civilian establishments in Pakistan. Misadventures of Rawalpindi generals were called out recently in the speeches of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The Kargil War was supposed to be the summit of Pakistan’s strategy to intensify militancy in the Kashmir region. Attempts were made from the early 1990s to destabilise the peace process in the Valley by creating tensions in Hazratbal Mosque, the abduction of the daughter of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed (Former Home Minister of India) and the exodus of Kashmiri pandits. The Kargil War also happened to be the first televised war in Indian history. Conflicts where the stakes are high put pressure even on diplomats of India’s civilian establishment. Every meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security was reported in the press. Even the all-weather ally of Pakistan, China, advocated restraint and cautioned the Pakistani misadventure. Post read questions The Kargil War of 1999 was a significant military conflict between India and Pakistan. What were the reasons behind the war? Discuss the challenges Indian troops faced during the Kargil War. How did they overcome it? How was the Kargil War different from other wars between India and Pakistan? Name the committee constituted after the end of the Kargil war. Discuss its major recommendations. How did the Kargil war end? Discuss the role of the international community in it. (Aakanksha Jha teaches at the Delhi University.) Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.
