Kargil Vijay Diwas: Recalling A Day Of Indian Army’s Victory 20 Years Ago
Mumbai: In the history of India, Pakistan Kargil war would be placed in each one of us heart. The country will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Kargil Diwas’ today.
In 1999 Kargil war came to an end, with Indian soldiers successfully recapturing mountain heights that had been seized by Pakistani intruders.
The Kargil War was the last time India and Pakistan came to a full-blown armed conflict. The Kargil War was also the first time India and Pakistan got into an armed conflict after becoming nuclear powers.
Kargil is a district in Jammu and Kashmir where most of the action took place apart from along the LoC. It is located 205 km from Srinagar, facing the northern areas across the LoC. Like other areas in the Himalayas, Kargil has a continental climate.
The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers disguised as Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the LOC, which serves as the de facto border between the two states.
During the initial stages of the war, Pakistan blamed the fighting entirely on independent Kashmiri insurgents, but documents left behind by casualties and later statements by Pakistan’s Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff showed involvement of Pakistani paramilitary forces, led by General Ashraf Rashid.
The Indian Army, later supported by the Indian Air Force, occupied most positions in the Indian side of the LOC, which was infiltrated by Pakistani soldiers and terrorists. Facing international diplomatic protests, the Pakistani army withdrew from the remaining Indian posts with the LOC.
India called it Operation Vijay and this was the victory! Kargil war is one of the latest examples of war in mountainous areas. This is one of the few examples of direct, traditional war between these two nuclear states.
There were three major steps to the Kargil war. First of all, Pakistan infiltrated forces in the Indian-controlled section of Kashmir and captured strategic places, so that it was able to bring the NH1 within the range of its artillery. In the next phase, India’s infiltration was detected and the army raised its answer.
In the last phase, big battles were fought by the Indian and Pakistani forces, which resulted in India occupying most of the areas [64] [65], which was organized by Pakistani forces and later after international pressure, Pakistani forces across the LOC Has returned.
Some analysts believe that the blueprint of attack was reactivated soon after Pervez Musharraf was appointed the chief of army staff in October 1998.
After the war, Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan during the Kargil conflict, claimed that he was unaware of the plans and that he first learned about the situation when he received an urgent phone call from Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his counterpart in India.
When Sharif agreed to withdraw Pakistani troops, most of the fighting came to a halt, but some forces remained in positions on the Indian side of the LoC. India launched its final attacks in the last week of July in its totally successful Operation Safed Sagar.
The Kargil War was significant for the impact and influence of the mass media on public opinion in both nations. Coming at a time of exploding growth in electronic journalism in India, the Kargil news stories and war footage were often telecast live on TV, and many websites provided in-depth analysis of the war.
The conflict became the first “live” war in South Asia and it was given such detailed media coverage that one effect was the drumming up of jingoistic feelings.
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