What is KARGIL WAR?
Kargil War also called as the Kargil conflict was an armed conflict between Indian and Pakistani forces that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and along the Line of Control.
Why the War started?
The war started because the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers into the Indian side of Line of Control. Pakistan had send their militants into areas on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LOC) to occupy military posts of India vacated in the winter.
Reasons/Causes:
Siachen War:
In 1984 India occupied Siachen peak which is known as world’s highest battle field. Siachen is situated above line of control. In winter Pakistani forces withdraw from the peak and in summer they come again. So there is gap of time between winter and summer. When no army of Pakistan was present India took a benefit of the situation and send its army troop to Siachen at night time and captured whole Siachen glacier. Pakistan was unhappy and wanted to take an action against India by capturing some of their territory. That's why Pakistan planed Kargil operation to capture some of the Indian post and will demand Siachen in return as in bargaining chip. It was a very secretive operation.
Military Domination:
At the time of Kargil war the military was very much dominant. The whole Kargil operation was planned by the four Army generals (known as the Gang of Four) Leading by General Musharaf. The whole operation took place without knowing anyone even the Prime Minister of that time Nawaz Sharif didn’t know anything about the operation. Basically the whole operation was planned and conducted by the military, the government didn’t know about the operation till mid-May.
Casualties:
Indian:
The number of casualties in India after the Kargil war was 527 dead and 1363 wounded.
Pakistan:
Reports have been varied with various branches of the Pakistani military/government/political parties giving conflicting numbers. Initially, the Pakistan Army gave a casualty repot of 453 dead but not the number of Injured.
Later, Nawaz Sharif disputed it along with many sections of the Government and political parties - stating that the casualties were between 3000-4000 which they published in "White Paper".
India also stated that there were at least 1042 Pakistani soldiers killed from our filed Action reports and bodies collected (the Pakistani Military/Government initially refused to collect the bodies of their war dead saying that they were terrorists till very much later) during the course of the conflict.
International sources confirmed the number of India's war dead and injured but were only able to approximate Pakistan's dead and injured due to the murky nature of the entire event on their side, the political maneuverings, secrets, etc BUT said that at least 700 Pakistani soldiers were killed and over a 1000 injured.
The NGO's/Civil Society/Activists/etc in Pakistan confirmed that the number of Pakistan's dead and injured was closer to Nawaz Sharif's estimates than the one given by the Pakistani Military and Musharaf - they verified it by visiting the regions the regiments were drawn up from (North West Pakistan - they were called the Northern Light Infantry) and confirming it with the families and local administrators.
Objectives:
In 1984 India occupied siachen peak which is known as world’s highest battle field. Siachen is situated above line of control. In winter Pakistani forces withdraw from the peak and in summer they come again. So there is gap of time between winter and summer. When no army of Pakistan was present India took a benefit of the situation and sends its army troop to Siachen at night time and captured whole Siachen glacier. Pakistan was unhappy and wanted to take an action against India by capturing some of their territory. That's why Pakistan planed Kargil operation to capture some of the Indian post and will demand Siachen in return as in bargaining chip. It was a very secretive operation.
They planned to capture kargil peak because in winter season Indian army withdraw its soldiers from that area. They have also planned to destroy the supply line of India which is NH-1. NH-1 connects main India to Leh, Ladakh and Kashmir, the highway has very strategic importance in situations like war.
Who was Involved?
In the year 1999 chief of Pakistan army Parvaiz Musharraf create a plan regarding the kargil operation. The three other people who also play very important role in drafting of this plan were Chief of general staff (Muhammad Aziz), General Mahmood and Brigadier Javed hassan. The group of these four people is also known as gang of four.
Musharraf arranged a meeting with then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and told him about the plan but Musharraf didn’t tell the actual plan to PM instead he just told him that the plan is to capture the Kargil peak. He told him that we will use mujahidin for this work and there is no involvement of Pakistani army but the actual truth was different they send Pakistani soldiers dress up like mujahidin to confuse Indian army.
Effects of the War:
Internally:
Fall of the government
Rising tension between the political parties
Clash between the army and the government
Internationally:
Become isolated from the world
Faced embarrassment
Lost America’s support
Consequences:
The government fall
Musharaf became the Chief Executive
Flawed Plan
Jahadi were not happy with Pakistan
Pakistan economy weakened by the war
Rising tension between Government and Military
High causalities
America stopped supporting Pakistan and shook hand with India.
Withdrawal and Final Battle:
Aftermath of Kargil War:
