Author: V P Malik
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 436
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8172236352
Description
A fist-person account of the 1999 Kargil war-its rationale, planning, conduct and impact-from the man at the helm of affairs.
Even as the Indian prime minister and his Pakistani counterpart hugged each other after signing the Lahore Declaration in February 1999, Pakistan Army personnel, in the garb of jehadi militants, infiltrated into Indian territory at Kargil (located high in the Himalayas in the state of Jammu and Kashmir) and triggered off a limited conventional war between the world’s newest nuclear-weapon states. The Pakistani Army achieved a tactical surprise, but failed at the strategic level. The outbreak of war at Kargil also revealed that the Pakistani political leadership was out of synch with the thinking and planning of the country’s military top brass. The author analyses the reasoning behind the Pakistani Army’s moves and tactics and also focuses on the individual responsible.
This incisive volume uncovers several new details and attempts to answer all crucial questions such as: What was the extent of intelligence and surveillance failure on the Indian side and why? What was the rationale for Indian’s grand strategy of restraint despite being a victim of aggression? What was India’s military strategy and how was the war managed? How were the battles in various sectors planned an executed (including tales of exemplary dedication and gallantry) to recapture the strategically important high-altitude mountaintops? What was the international response to the aggression due to the nuclear factor and what was the role played by the USA and China? What was the impact of the war on Pakistan and India? What are the lessons to be learnt from Kargil on the military, political and diplomatic fronts?
General Malik rounds off the book with a survey of Indo-Pak security relations in the post-Kargil era. In this context, he takes stock of the peace dialogue and its sustainability, given the fact that Pakistan’s military rulers have yet to shun terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.
Contents
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PROLOGUES
The Gathering Storm
War Planning or Conspiracy?
A Line Uncontrolled
The Dark Winter
The Fog of War
The Reckoning
Turning the Tide
We Shall Fire the last Shot
Combat and Logistic Support: A Crucial Input
The Army Family Support System
Partners in Victory
The Pakistani withdrawal
Crying Nuclear Wolf
We Shall Fight with Whatever We Have!
The China Factor
Leave Us Alone: We Are Apolitical The Information Battle
The Kargil Impact
India and Pakistan: Beyond Kargil
Pakistan: Blowing Hot, Blowing Cold
EPILOGUE
APPENDIX 1: Text of Documents Signed at Lahore
APPENDIX 2: Records of Telephone Conversations
APPENDIX 3: A Summary of the Kargil Review Committee’s Recommendations
APPENDIX 4: Press Note from Army Headquarters
INDEX