Kargil War Revelations: Fact or Fiction?

In presence of numerous other conundrums, a new Pandora’s Box on Kargil war has been opened. The revelations made by a retired Lt Gen. Shahid Aziz in his book “Yeh Khamoshi Kahan Tak? Aik Sipahi Ki Daastan-e-Ishq-o-Junun” has given birth to several controversies and after a decade the subject is again very much in the debate. The first and foremost that strikes is the ‘timings’ of this revelation. Why so late? Why to reveal now?

It has regrettably become a trend that people after getting retired are coming up with such disclosures about institutions they used to have served and should have a high regard for. Shahid Aziz must be having strong affiliation with the army as his father and brother happened to be in the army and his son is today in the army too. His book, however, does not exactly support this argument.

In his book he explicitly blames the Pakistan Army’s institution in the name of ‘truth’. After enjoying many years of retirement Lt Gen. Shahid Aziz is suddenly caught up into ‘Kargil fever’ and as a result various factual or fictional avowals are coming up. The retired lieutenant general who was Director General Military Operations (DGMO), Chief of General Staff and Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) must be having an insight to imperative information and would have remained part of critical decisions, though he is deducting his role. It is astonishing that he remained oblivious to happenings but more astonishing are the paradoxical statements given by him.

In his interview with Hamid Mir he throughout condemned Gen Musharraf for his decisions and policies. While criticizing he stated that Musharraf was not used to sharing details and when the Kargil operation began in the spring of 1999, it was known only to Musharraf, Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Mohammad Aziz, Force Command Northern Areas chief Lt Gen Javed Hassan and 10 Corps Commander Lt Gen Mahmud Ahmad. He further said that later he was told by Musharraf that Kargil war would cut down the supply line of India and in consequence India will be forced to leave Kargil, in addition India will be pressurized by the international community to start culminating negotiations on Kashmir in order to push back a possible nuclear war.

However in his interview with Kamran Khan he gave contradictory remarks to his previous allegations. When Kamran Khan asked Shahid Aziz that in meetings with NATO and US whether the army stakeholders were on board in decision making or the areas which were related to army, defense and national interest were kept implicit? In response Shahid Aziz said ‘No, I don’t think so’. He admired Musharraf for various things; he admitted that in corps commanders’ conference, Musharraf used to conduct detailed discussion for the policies and decisions related to Army. He affirmed that in Army it is not necessary to convey intact information to all so only required information is provided. Musharaf was handling national issues as well; war on terror was on peak so it was not obligatory to update all the military personnel’s, the necessary information was conveyed to me and others.

In Jasmine’s show Shahid Aziz refuted his own statement that casualties in Kargil were in thousands and some of our soldiers were buried by Indians. Whereas Dr Shahid Masood also said that ‘when late Gen Jamshed Gulzar told the same about Kargil in my show (2007) Gen Shahid Aziz refused to endorse that!’ Though all these interviews were meant to understand the ambiguities but these statements have further confused the nation. It has thrown the nation into a needless debate.

Many people are criticizing the former Chief of General Staff for his revelations and paradoxical statements at this point of time. The debate has also dragged in another book “Witness to Blunder: Kargil Story Unfolds” by former member of ISI – a Pakistan Army Colonel Hussain. The book revealed that on March 28, 1999 General Musharraf crossed 11 km beyond the LoC on a helicopter. Musharraf, who was accompanied by Brig Masood Aslam, then commander of 80 Brigade, spent the night at a spot called Zikria Mustaqar. However Gen. Musharraf is being admired for this daring move. While commenting on the revelation Bharat Varma said “it was a major setback to India if true as far as security. It was a major setback for Indian Army and Intelligence if an Army chief of enemy country with four star ranking is spending a night inside 11 km of Indian territory. It is the total collapse of intelligence services of Indian, whether it is RAW, IB or MI. The General of Pakistan Army can come in, can plan, and can sleep inside the Indian territory. Here we are not talking of across the border intelligence we are talking of intelligence failure right inside the border which is very difficult to digest for the people of this country. The problem is that the amount of money, the tax payer is spending on the defense architecture is not giving the relevant output that should have come to secure the nation. The nation is getting more and more insecure due to these continuous failures”.

Commenting amid a controversy over whether General Pervez Musharraf crossed the Line of Control in 1999 and spent a night in the Indian-controlled territory, the former chief of the Indian army General VK Singh has said, "As a military commander, I commend General Musharraf that he came 11 kms into enemy territory and spent the night with his troops. It is a testament to his internal courage. On the other hand, from our side, what was happening all of you know. Why did we let them in? There were some lapses on our part." Hence if Lt Gen. Shahid Aziz’s revelations were to defame Gen. Musharraf, then targets are surely not achieved after these statements by Indian side.

The facts about Kargil war are still ambiguous but one thing is very clear that these revelations are maligning the Pakistan army. Lt Gen (R) Shahid Aziz’s blunts on media have questioned the army for having a rift among army men which pops up after their retirement. Shahid Aziz’s case is being projected by media as the inside stories of army which should be considered as propaganda since army works on ‘need to know’ basis and the viewpoint of few individuals does not mean that every army man is against each other. The former Chief of General Staff is trying to show truth after enjoying promotions, high ranks and many years of retirement. The person, who lacks courage to speak truth at right time, does not deserve to be admired.

At this point of time when Pakistan is already stuck in various issues, his ‘revolutionary movement’ is increasing the existing rumpus. Now he should also bear out that his moves are not politically motivated. The bottom line is that whole episode benefited nothing but damaged Pakistan’s standing in international world. Bringing military’s internal issues on screen is institutional violation itself and he should be prosecuted under the Army Secret Act. Besides, there should be some rule and regulation in the military for such sensitive revelations. Revelations are facts or factual, no one should be given the right to ruin the reputation of our prestigious institutions because it brings bad name to Pakistan.