Indian forces were all set to enter the Pakistan-occupied territory during the Kargil War but the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government took a clear decision not to allow the security personnel to do so due to international pressure, former Army chief General (retd) VP Malik, who led operation in 1999, has said.
“On June 2, PM Vajpayee told the Army not to cross the border. The then national security adviser Brajesh Mishra had said in an interview that the Army was told ‘not to cross the border today, but we don’t know about tomorrow’,” Malik said.
General Malik, who served as the 19th Chief of Army Staff, further said that Vajpayee had to work hard to convince him to let Pakistanis go.
General Malik also recalled that he and the soldiers were ‘very unhappy’ with Vajpayee’s decision.
“It required three long meetings in a single day and a lot of convincing from the then prime minister to make me let them (Pakistan) go. I was unhappy and so were the soldiers. Among the many reasons, one was that the international community pressuring India… another was the general elections (held later that year),” he said.
The former Army chief, however, said that he later introspected about it and realised that it was a ‘right decision’.
The conflict took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the LoC. India launched Operation Vijay to recapture a majority of the positions on the Indian side of the LoC infiltrated by the Pakistani troops and militants.
The Indian Army launched its final attacks in the last week of July and the fighting ceased on July 26 as soon as the Drass sub-sector had been cleared of Pakistani forces. The day has since been marked as Kargil Vijay Diwas (Kargil Victory Day).
Extending full support to the Indian Army’s September 28 surgical strikes in PoK, he said that now ‘India has made it clear that we have courage to go to war’ and ‘New Delhi should be prepared for more action’.
“After the surgical strikes, we don’t have to beg to the international community (to build pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting terror activities against India). We have to tell them that if they (Pakistan) continue to do this, we will have to go to war,” he was quoted as saying in a report published in Indian Express.
He also said that even after the strikes, the existing narrative of Pakistan using terrorism to bleed India will not change.
“I am not optimistic that Pakistan will change after one surgical strike. We must be prepared for more action from them and more reaction from us,” General (retd) Malik, who served as the 19th Chief of Army Staff, said.
Expressing disappointment over political parties playing politics, he said, “We have to tell them that when it comes to national security, we must work together. Also, politicians who do not have the knowledge about national security should not speak (on the matter).”
A highly charged political slugfest has been underway over the strikes and it seems to be only intensifying as the Assembly polls for five states draw closer.
