Salute Kargil heroes on the 10th anniversary celebration

Posted on July 29, 2009
Filed Under Blogging, General, India | 3 Comments

Vande Mataram!!

India is a land of peace and harmony. Imagine this: India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history. Such a country never believes in war and any of its byproducts. Never has it had hegemony against its neighbors or being expansionist like the Red. It greatly believes in Freedom, Human Rights and Sovereignty of other nations under the one framework of Democracy.

But Hindustan was also forced to entangle in a war. The war, only the second direct ground war between any two countries after they had developed nuclear weapons – the Kargil Conflict. The 1999 war patently revealed that India had its lesson from the earlier Sino conflict (Indo-China War) due to its naively pacifistic attitude and was now determined, strong, united and capable to protect its borders from the enemy.

Celebrations are all high this week in India. It was exactly 10 years back on July 26, 1999 that India had a stupendous victory over the Pakistani army. The vicious nature of Pakistan exposed through the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LOC) was apparently the cause of the war.

Doing a perusal of the incident, we come to understand the background of the story, which was not only deplorable, but also points the need for allaying war and bloodshed through peace and dialogue.

Nutshell: Due to extreme cold in the mountain areas of Kashmir, both Pakistani and Indian soldiers abandon some forward posts on their respective sides of the LOC and to reduce patrolling of areas that may be avenues of infiltration. However, the Pakistan army during Feb 1999 not only retained their forces in their positions but also covertly sent forces to occupy the Indian side of the LOC. Subsequently in May the Indian army through a tip-off from a local shepherd realised that much of their posts were already conquered and Pakistan was preparing for a large scale war on India.

The response of India later came to be called Operation Vijay in which 200,000 Indian troops were sent. Later the Indian Air Force joined the war with Operation Safed Nagar which limited bomb loads and the number of airstrips that could be used. It was the first large scale use of air power in the Kashmir region since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. One of the incidents that call for attention is the violation of Geneva Convention by the Pakistani Army who shot at point blank Ajay Ahuja who survived the crash but was killed by Pakistan Army soldiers or irregulars. Another Flt Lt Nachiketa who ejected from his MiG-27 after an engine flameout was paraded naked on Pakistan TV.

After the army, air force, navy too joined the war by a stunning act, which attempted a blockade of Pakistani ports that eventually led to its cut off of supply routes. Later, the then-Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif disclosed that Pakistan was left with just six days of fuel to sustain itself if a full-fledged war had broken out.

The most shocking and deplorable thing for me in the Kargil conflict is Pakistan’s desperate attempt to use nuclear weapon against India. Thanks to US then-president Bill Clinton who was alarmed and sent stern warming to Sharif. Later July 4 Sharif agreed to withdraw Pakistani troops and the fighting came to a halt. The fighting ceased on July 26. The day has since been marked as Kargil Vijay Diwas (Kargil Victory Day) in India.

We all very clearly know that Pakistan was on the wrong side. It was criticised by the entire world for crossing the LoC. What does Clinton have to say in this? Clinton would later reveal in his autobiography that “Sharif’s moves were perplexing” since the Indian prime minister had travelled to Lahore to promote bilateral talks aimed at resolving the Kashmir problem and “by crossing the Line of Control, Pakistan had wrecked the bilateral talks.” On the other hand, he applauded Indian restraint for not crossing the LoC and escalating the conflict into an all-out war.

Casualties

Casualties for both sides were heavy. Pakistani claims gave two figures. The figure of 357 soldiers dead was challenged by some Pakistani officials, who claimed that 4,000 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the conflict. Pakistan also confirmed that more than 665 Pakistani troops were wounded and 8 were captured. According to India, Indian losses stand at 527 soldiers killed, 1,363 wounded, and 1 captured.

A noteworthy act

Indian army stunned by the audacious Karnal Sher Khan of the Pakistani army recommended his name for an award. They (Pakistan) themselves dint realise the role of Khan which only after India informed, they awarded him the highest of Pakistani military award  – the Nishan-e-Haider.

My view

I sincerely pay my tributes to those brave soldiers who gave their lives for the protection of our nation. However, deep inside my heart I have sorrow for the deaths and the aftermath of the war. After the war tension between both the countries amplified and it would take ages to come to dialogue and peace now. I wished the UN could play a more vital role in helping avoid such problems and work for peace between fighting countries. Imagine when two nuclear countries fight; it just gives me thoughts of fear and danger. May Bharat not have to face another such brutal war and may we all Indians strive for peace, unity, love and friendship.

Comments

3 Responses to “Salute Kargil heroes on the 10th anniversary celebration”

  1. Kiran on July 30th, 2009 12:14 pm

    May India live long. Jai Hind!

  2. admin on July 31st, 2009 9:59 am
  3. Rahul on August 4th, 2009 10:50 am

    The Kargil war has been the saddest part of our history. May another such never happen.

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