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.