KARGIL BRIEFED .. FINALLY!

And at last, army told it to the Government.

It was 17^th may 1999, when kargil adventure was first brought into the notice of Pakistani government via a briefing by army in ISI office of Ojhri camp. It was done on account of several queries raised by the then secretary defence, lieutenant general (r) Iftikhar Ali Khan. And how did he come to know about this long before started adventure? You may say... LUCK!

He came to know it on 5^th may 1999 and that also from an external source i.e. a foreign journal. The foreign journal reported skirmishes in the highest battle field of the world. He immediately contacted DGMO Major General Tauqeer Zia, got a cold reply

‘Sir, such skirmishes are a usual routine’.

Obviously Gen Iftikhar was not going to buy that.

Meanwhile, PM Wajpai called up PM Sharif, and told him that He has been stabbed at the back. Do remember the diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan were on very good terms those days, the bus service, exchange of prisoners and Wajpai’s statements on resolving the Kashmir issue were one of their kinds in recent years. But as soon as Wajpai told Nawaz what was done backstage, there was the beginning of chaos.

2 days later after Wajpai’s contact with Sharif, a briefing was setup by army in which government was for the first time told about kargil adventure.

From the government side, PM Nawaz Sharif, secretary defence lieutenant general (r) Iftikhar Ali Khan, exterior minister Sertaj Aziz, and federal minister lieutenant general (r) majeed malik, secretary external affairs Shamshad Ali Khan and PM’s principle secretary Saaed Mehdi were invited for the briefing.

On the other side, along with chief of army staff sat chief of general staff General Aziz Khan, commander 10^th core lieutenant general Mehmood Ahmed, DGMO Major General Tauqir Zia, Commander FCNA Major General Javaid Hasan and from ISI, Major General Jamshaid Gulzar Kiani.

DGMO briefed that Pakistani troops have captured check posts of vital importance, Indians are caught by surprise and by no means can they recapture the posts. Gen Iftikhar asked many pinching questions regarding the tactics of this adventure, which were not answered logically. The best logic DGMO came up with was this;

Since the Indian troops are busy in Kashmir and other northern areas therefore they are not in a position to open this new front.

So there you go, Government was told, on 17^th may 1999, nearly after 6 months of when it all got started i.e. 18^th December 1998, first reki carried out by Captain Nadeem and Havildar Lalal Jaan. Do keep this in mind that other two forces i.e. Air force and Navy were still kept in dark!