New Delhi:
It has been 25 years since the Kargil war. This is the war when Pakistan suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Indian Army for the third time. Pakistan invaded and occupied Tiger Hill in 1999, which was of great strategic importance. But due to the bravery of Indian soldiers, Pakistan had to face defeat again. General Ved Prakash Malik was the Chief of the Indian Army during the Kargil War. During ‘Operation Vijay’ he was in charge of border and troops. While his wife Ranjana Malik was the president of Army Wives Association. General (retd) Ved Prakash Malik spoke to NDTV on the completion of 25 years of Kargil War.
General (retd) Ved Prakash Malik has called the Kargil war a failure of intelligence and surveillance. He said that if given a chance, the Indian Army could have taught Pakistan more lessons. Read the exclusive excerpts from the conversation with General (retd) Ved Prakash Malik:-
In February, the Lahore Summit was held between Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif. War started in Kargil in May? How shocking was this?
No doubt this was quite shocking. This was a surprise. I can also say that Vajpayeeji was very sad. He did not believe that Pakistan would do this after the Lahore Declaration. I also remember that at the end of May the Prime Minister sent a man to meet Nawaz Sharif. But what was the result? war. At that time our surveillance was also not good. It can be said that there was a big surprise at every level. From the political level to the military level we were surprised.
How did Pakistani soldiers occupy the hills of Kargil and we didn’t even have a clue?
First of all we must understand that area. It is a hilly area. The altitude goes from 14 to 19 thousand feet. There are big gaps. In such a situation army cannot be deployed everywhere. We suspected that he could have come to Pakistan through those routes, but he did not choose those routes. Pakistanis infiltrate through valleys and canals. Infiltration was done in small groups.
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At that time the distance between our posts ranged from 9 km to 45 km. We also had no surveillance equipment. Nowadays we have UAV, satellite image facility. Earlier we had nothing like ground sensors or radar. So, wherever the Pakistanis saw empty mountain peaks, they captured them. You could say it was a failure of intelligence and surveillance. I say this because none of the intelligence agencies had any idea about it. He kept saying this until the end when the intruders arrived. There were no jihadis among the infiltrators, but Pakistani soldiers. He was wearing a simple uniform.
When did you feel that victory in the Kargil war was certain now? When is it considered a curve?
We started operations around May 25-26. We got our first win around June 13 or 14. When we regained control of the Tololing hills. It pretty much dominates our road. It was a very fierce battle. We lost many soldiers and officers in the war. The way our soldiers occupied the hill and chased the Pakistanis. The turning point started from that day. We felt that now we will not let the Pakistanis stay here and be victorious.
We suffered a lot at the beginning of the war. What thoughts were going through your mind at that time?
No officer wants his soldier to die in battle. This is a very sad thing. But we hide such news, so as not to affect the morale of other soldiers.
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