PML-N issues white paper on Kargil operation
August 06, 2006
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Saturday said that the Indian government knew about the Kargil operation plan 11 months before its launching on June 22, 1998, and it had made all necessary preparations to turn this battlefield into a deadly trap for Kashmiri freedom fighters and Pakistan.
Addressing a news conference at party’s camp office here, PML-N leader Muhammad Siddiqul Farooq released a 100-page white paper on the Kargil operation entitled “Kargil adventurism—another huge defeat after Dhaka Fall, who is responsible?”
Farooq said the nation unanimously demanded constitution of a high-powered commission on the Kargil debacle at the earliest that must submit its findings to parliament within six months.
He said that if the Indian government had constituted a commission on Kargil highlighting the pluses and minuses of the operation, what was barring General Pervez Musharraf from constituting a commission in this regard?
Farooq said that a detailed report on the operation had been submitted by the directors of the Indian Intelligence Bureau to the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the interior minister and the DG Military Operations.
“A naive military adventurer General Pervez Musharraf launched the operation without proper planning on May 8, 1999, causing loss of life of officers and Jawans of the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) and Kashmiri Mujahideen while India suffered a negligible loss of 474 soldiers,” he said.
He said the Kargil operation had brought the two neighbouring countries to the brink of a nuclear war. He said the operation code-named “Operation Vijay” was a clear and unquestionable diplomatic and military victory for India, while for Pakistan it was another repeat of Dhaka fall.
The PML-N leader said that despite this military victory, the Indian government constituted a high-powered four-member committee on Kargil under K Subrahmanyum on July 29, 1998, which submitted a detailed report to the Indian prime minister in February 2000 and posted its executive summary on the Internet.
On the other hand, he said, General Musharraf wilfully avoided constituting a commission to fix the responsibility for this huge military defeat that had demoralized the entire nation.
He said deposed prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had constituted a military inquiry committee that recommended court-martial of General Musharraf but the general overthrew the government and ‘stole’ the report from the Prime Minister’s House to save his face.
He said the copies of the white paper have been sent to Chairman Senate Muhammadmian Soomro, National Assembly Speaker Ch Amir Hussain, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Opposition Leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, Alliance for Restoration of Democracy Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, leaders of opposition parties and the speakers of provincial assemblies and their leaders of opposition.
He said the copies of the document would also be presented to the members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies in a couple of days.
Siddiqul Farooq said that right from the beginning, the Indian government started bringing the international community in picture about its human and financial losses in Kargil and succeeded in mustering their support and sympathy while General Musharraf brushed the losses of Pakistan under the carpet bringing a bad name to the country in the eye of the international community.
He said even the brotherly Muslim state of Saudi Arabia, China, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, G-8 countries and a number of friends of Pakistan in the region did not support General Musharraf and asked him to call back Mujahideen and find a solution to the Kashmir dispute in the light of Lahore Declaration signed by Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and the then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Lahore.
He said Nawaz Sharif decided to save the honour and prestige of the Army and at his request the then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed to hold negotiations at the foreign secretary level.
He said that when the then foreign minister Sartaj Aziz reached China on a one-day state visit, he was counselled that Pakistan should avoid confrontation and find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
The PML-N leader said that when Sartaj Aziz reached New Delhi on June 12, the Indian leadership gave him a cold shoulder.
He said on June 12 General Musharraf requested Nawaz Sharif that he and the chiefs of the other two forces wanted to meet him.
On June 13, he said, the then foreign minister Sartaj Aziz and three service chiefs called on the prime minister at the Prime Minister’s House in which General Musharraf informed him about the Kargil situation and told him that Mujahideen’s withdrawal from Kargil was the only honourable course of action for Pakistan.
He said that the prime minister geared up his efforts in this regard.
He said the then US Centcom chief General Anthony Zinnie came to Pakistan on June 24 and called on General Musharraf in which they worked out the details of withdrawal from Batalik, Tiger Heights and Marlpol.
Siddiqul Farooq said that Nawaz Sharif told the media on June 26 that he would be meeting the then US president Bill Clinton to discuss the withdrawal plan. He said Nawaz Sharif went to China on June 28 on a two-day state-visit during which Chairman Li Phang and Prime Minsiter Zu Rongi asked him to close the chapter of confrontation with India.
He said during the prime minister’s visit to China, Washington and Beijing remained in contact. “In the meantime, France also jumped in, telling Pakistan that it would choke the delivery of 40 Mirage-III aircraft if it did not withdraw Mujahideen from Kargil while the United States threatened Pakistan with slapping economic sanctions,” he said.
Siddiqul Farooq said that in these pressing circumstances created by a handful of military adventurers, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif visited Washington on July 4 and met President Clinton at Blair House in the presence of his adviser on South Asian Security Bruce Riddle. He said a withdrawal plan was hammered out during two sessions of 75-minute each.
He said defence analysts and experts had also termed the Kargil operation plan highly defective and said that it was not an opportune time for launching the operation because in those days the entire world wanted solution to all contentious issues between Pakistan and India, including the core issue of Kashmir in accordance with the spirit of the Lahore Declaration. “Economic sanctions in the wake of nuclear detonations by the United States were also tightening the screw on Pakistan,” he said.
Anticipating court-martial in the wake of Kargil debacle, Farooque said, General Musharraf overthrew the PML government on October 12, 1999, to save his neck. “The general wanted to take over in the first week of August, but he had to hold his horses till October,” he added.
Siddiqul Farooq said that General Musharraf often held Nawaz Sharif responsible for calling back Mujahideen, but he sealed his lips when former US president Bill Clinton, the then Centcom chief General Zinnie and secretary of state Colin Powell revealed in their books that Pakistan had called back Mujahideen with the consultation of General Pervez Musharraf.
Similarly, he said general Musharraf’s claim that he had taken Nawaz Sharif into confidence before launching the Kargil operation had also been rejected
“Musharraf not only made the Pakistan Army a laughing stock of the entire world through his misadventure but also misled the nation by hiding facts,” he said.
Addressing a news conference at party’s camp office here, PML-N leader Muhammad Siddiqul Farooq released a 100-page white paper on the Kargil operation entitled “Kargil adventurism—another huge defeat after Dhaka Fall, who is responsible?”
Farooq said the nation unanimously demanded constitution of a high-powered commission on the Kargil debacle at the earliest that must submit its findings to parliament within six months.
He said that if the Indian government had constituted a commission on Kargil highlighting the pluses and minuses of the operation, what was barring General Pervez Musharraf from constituting a commission in this regard?
Farooq said that a detailed report on the operation had been submitted by the directors of the Indian Intelligence Bureau to the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the interior minister and the DG Military Operations.
“A naive military adventurer General Pervez Musharraf launched the operation without proper planning on May 8, 1999, causing loss of life of officers and Jawans of the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) and Kashmiri Mujahideen while India suffered a negligible loss of 474 soldiers,” he said.
He said the Kargil operation had brought the two neighbouring countries to the brink of a nuclear war. He said the operation code-named “Operation Vijay” was a clear and unquestionable diplomatic and military victory for India, while for Pakistan it was another repeat of Dhaka fall.
The PML-N leader said that despite this military victory, the Indian government constituted a high-powered four-member committee on Kargil under K Subrahmanyum on July 29, 1998, which submitted a detailed report to the Indian prime minister in February 2000 and posted its executive summary on the Internet.
On the other hand, he said, General Musharraf wilfully avoided constituting a commission to fix the responsibility for this huge military defeat that had demoralized the entire nation.
He said deposed prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had constituted a military inquiry committee that recommended court-martial of General Musharraf but the general overthrew the government and ‘stole’ the report from the Prime Minister’s House to save his face.
He said the copies of the white paper have been sent to Chairman Senate Muhammadmian Soomro, National Assembly Speaker Ch Amir Hussain, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Opposition Leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, Alliance for Restoration of Democracy Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, leaders of opposition parties and the speakers of provincial assemblies and their leaders of opposition.
He said the copies of the document would also be presented to the members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies in a couple of days.
Siddiqul Farooq said that right from the beginning, the Indian government started bringing the international community in picture about its human and financial losses in Kargil and succeeded in mustering their support and sympathy while General Musharraf brushed the losses of Pakistan under the carpet bringing a bad name to the country in the eye of the international community.
He said even the brotherly Muslim state of Saudi Arabia, China, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, G-8 countries and a number of friends of Pakistan in the region did not support General Musharraf and asked him to call back Mujahideen and find a solution to the Kashmir dispute in the light of Lahore Declaration signed by Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and the then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Lahore.
He said Nawaz Sharif decided to save the honour and prestige of the Army and at his request the then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed to hold negotiations at the foreign secretary level.
He said that when the then foreign minister Sartaj Aziz reached China on a one-day state visit, he was counselled that Pakistan should avoid confrontation and find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
The PML-N leader said that when Sartaj Aziz reached New Delhi on June 12, the Indian leadership gave him a cold shoulder.
He said on June 12 General Musharraf requested Nawaz Sharif that he and the chiefs of the other two forces wanted to meet him.
On June 13, he said, the then foreign minister Sartaj Aziz and three service chiefs called on the prime minister at the Prime Minister’s House in which General Musharraf informed him about the Kargil situation and told him that Mujahideen’s withdrawal from Kargil was the only honourable course of action for Pakistan.
He said that the prime minister geared up his efforts in this regard.
He said the then US Centcom chief General Anthony Zinnie came to Pakistan on June 24 and called on General Musharraf in which they worked out the details of withdrawal from Batalik, Tiger Heights and Marlpol.
Siddiqul Farooq said that Nawaz Sharif told the media on June 26 that he would be meeting the then US president Bill Clinton to discuss the withdrawal plan. He said Nawaz Sharif went to China on June 28 on a two-day state-visit during which Chairman Li Phang and Prime Minsiter Zu Rongi asked him to close the chapter of confrontation with India.
He said during the prime minister’s visit to China, Washington and Beijing remained in contact. “In the meantime, France also jumped in, telling Pakistan that it would choke the delivery of 40 Mirage-III aircraft if it did not withdraw Mujahideen from Kargil while the United States threatened Pakistan with slapping economic sanctions,” he said.
Siddiqul Farooq said that in these pressing circumstances created by a handful of military adventurers, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif visited Washington on July 4 and met President Clinton at Blair House in the presence of his adviser on South Asian Security Bruce Riddle. He said a withdrawal plan was hammered out during two sessions of 75-minute each.
He said defence analysts and experts had also termed the Kargil operation plan highly defective and said that it was not an opportune time for launching the operation because in those days the entire world wanted solution to all contentious issues between Pakistan and India, including the core issue of Kashmir in accordance with the spirit of the Lahore Declaration. “Economic sanctions in the wake of nuclear detonations by the United States were also tightening the screw on Pakistan,” he said.
Anticipating court-martial in the wake of Kargil debacle, Farooque said, General Musharraf overthrew the PML government on October 12, 1999, to save his neck. “The general wanted to take over in the first week of August, but he had to hold his horses till October,” he added.
Siddiqul Farooq said that General Musharraf often held Nawaz Sharif responsible for calling back Mujahideen, but he sealed his lips when former US president Bill Clinton, the then Centcom chief General Zinnie and secretary of state Colin Powell revealed in their books that Pakistan had called back Mujahideen with the consultation of General Pervez Musharraf.
Similarly, he said general Musharraf’s claim that he had taken Nawaz Sharif into confidence before launching the Kargil operation had also been rejected
“Musharraf not only made the Pakistan Army a laughing stock of the entire world through his misadventure but also misled the nation by hiding facts,” he said.
