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'Hundreds of soldiers fell in Kargil': Army kept Govt in dark: Nawaz

'Hundreds of soldiers fell in Kargil': Army kept Govt in dark: Nawaz

Author: Rafaqat Ali
Publication: Dawn, Karachi
Date: June 13, 2000

ATTOCK, June 12: Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday revealed that the military command had kept him completely in the dark while advancing towards the Kargil heights, where hundreds of Pakistan soldiers died.

Talking to newsmen outside the accountability court established in the 16th century Attock Fort, he said he was informed of the Kargil plan sometime in May 1999 when the operation had already started.

"This ill-planned and ill-conceived operation was kept so secret that besides the prime minister, some corps commanders and the chiefs of navy and air force were also kept in the dark."

Nawaz Sharif demanded the setting up of a national commission to investigate the Kargil episode before which he would produce "irrefutable evidence" to show that the prime minister was not aware of the operation.

He said if he had been informed earlier "at least I would have dissuaded the Indian prime minister from coming to Pakistan and there would have been no Lahore Declaration".

During the break in the court proceedings at 11am, the former premier read out to newsmen a written statement he had brought with him.

He said he had kept silent in the greater national interest despite the fact that occasions had arisen during the hearing of the "fabricated" plane hijacking case that required him to unveil the truth behind the operation.

He said time had come that the nation should be informed about the facts which had led to the Kargil operation. The recent statement of the government claiming that the former prime minister was fully aware of the Kargil operation, he said, was a sheer lie, and termed it "shameful".

He posed three questions before giving his view on Kargil: who sabotaged the Lahore Declaration, who derailed the process of dialogue for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, and who was responsible for Pakistan's isolation in the comity of nations?

The deposed premier said that the "ill-conceived" and "ill-planned" operation had cost hundreds of officers and jawans. It was so ill-planned that even supplies to the front could not be ensured. "The soldiers on the front had kept beseeching that if you don't want to give us ration, we will do without but at least provide us ammunition."

He said the operation proved that what his government was doing in the greater national interest, the military command was undoing it with total impunity as it seemed to have a totally different agenda of its own. Like others, he said, he too was still unaware of that agenda. The worse thing about the Kargil operation was that it did not lead Pakistan and Kashmiris to any logical end, he added.

He pointed out that Pakistan had suffered heavy loss of life in the operation. "Our loss on the Kargil heights was more than what we suffered in the 1965's full-fledged war." When he was briefed about the operation he was told that the loss of life would be negligible and would be equal to nothing, he said.

"The fact is," he revealed, "units after units of Northern Light Infantry were wiped out. Every passing day Pakistan was losing posts."

He said he was informed that if something was not done quickly for stopping the conflict then Pakistan was in the danger of losing remaining heights. The heights Pakistan lost, he added, were Tiger Hills and 1514.

The deposed premier said that talks with US President Bill Clinton were started in consultation with the COAS, Gen Pervez Musharraf. "It was his (Musharraf) desire that Pakistan should involve the USA in the issue."

He said if the Kargil conflict had not been halted, there was every possibility of nuclear weapons being used which would have resulted in Pakistan losing thousands of its soldiers.

He said that due to the Kargil operation the Lahore process had been sabotaged.

He said that due to the operation the Kashmir freedom struggle received an irreparable setback as the freedom fighters were being dubbed "terrorists" throughout the world.
 


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