Guess who was disinvited from dinner?
For over 50 years we have been living a lie about an open secret. And this dual-faced policy has eroded our credibility to the point of extinction. On the one hand we very rightly say we fully support the just and indigenous struggle of the Kashmiris for freedom, on the other hand we mar its credibility by insisting that it is only moral support and no material help is involved. Since we are atrocious at duplicity and India is a past master at it, our holier-than-thou enemy has taken full advantage of the situation to focus this falsehood on full display to defame us in the eyes of the world. We definitely have a point about the world being callous about ignoring Indian atrocities in the part of Kashmir under occupation, an insipid media strategy formulated over the years in an amateurish fashion has contributed to our isolation in this regard, the low point being reached with the Kargil disaster.
The PM should have had the courage to come clean about Kargil. He was well briefed by the military high command in a presentation in GHQ about the necessity of jump-starting the process to uplift the morale of the Mujahideen who were engaged in a bloody struggle against barbaric and overwhelming odds. GHQ re-hashed an old plan in an area that was virtually no-man’s land, what the khakis probably failed to impress upon the PM was that the cutting off of the best part of two Indian divisions in Ladakh and Siachen would be a disaster whose magnitude would be unacceptable to the Indians. It would be surprising if the PM was not told of the possible escalation as one cannot believe that the General Staff had not war-gamed possible Indian responses. The Army’s greater priority to sending troops for meter-reading to WAPDA may be an indication that the hierarchy themselves under-estimated the Indian reaction. The Kashmiri Mujahideen in Kargil were well beefed up by Northern Light Infantry (NLI) troops backed up by Artillery Observation Posts (OPs) in the no-man’s land since the Line of Control (LOC) in this area is neither demarcated nor delineated. Then we indulged in an exercise in self-glorification and made the cardinal mistake in accepting that Mujahideen were across the Line of Control (LOC). This blunder rebounded on us so badly that what was won on the battlefield with the blood of our young men has been subsequently lost in hard-talking on a negotiating table in a land far, far away. Our stance should have been clearly that “yes, the Mujahideen have occupied dominant positions in no-man’s land but our regular troops will ensure that they will not start anything unless they are attacked.” The world would probably still have come down upon us like a ton of bricks but we would have retained our credibility and the downing of two Indian MiGs on our side of the LOC would have been difficult for the Indians to justify. Once caught muddying information we lost our credibility, thereafter the Indians had a field day in disseminating disinformation and misinformation. Quite literally, they went overboard.
As is usual for Pakistan, everyone knows the truth but for the sake of the nation and the Army everything is discussed in hushed tones in private gatherings. Because of a misconceived notion about patriotism (and secrecy, if you please), nobody has the courage to speak up. And in doing so we demean the honour that our brave boys in Kargil bought for Pakistan with their blood. Make no mistake it was a bold and brilliant plan, wherein history has a composite group of between 1,000 to 1,500 men able not only to isolate more than two divisions but to tie down the best part of the Indian Infantry? The Indians had to bring in the best part of six infantry divisions, some from as far away as North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and Assam, virtually also denuding their two strike forces in the plains of Punjab and the Rajasthan desert. Our boys accomplished a virtual miracle, we should be proud of them instead of disowning them.
Almost every Bofor gun of the Indian artillery was brought to bear, deploying along that small stretch of highway for only 65 Kms. Our boys took an immense pounding from the air and artillery, enough concentrated fire power to drive ordinary human beings mad, yet they took it and stood firm. In the face of mounting casualties and high rate of desertions, the Indians had no option but to mount a “Bollywood” campaign complete with “Tiger Hills.” The maximum they captured was a few measly ridges, these also only because of local defensive adjustments for tactical reasons once the Indians deployed their Agra-based Parachute brigade to probe possible openings in the defences of our composite force. Our boys have taken a tremendous toll of the Indians but because of the bankruptcy of the master political plan we cannot acknowledge their valour and sacrifice.
Once we had got caught in a credibility vise, the Indians exploited the situation for all it was worth. To cover the loss of morale, men and material of the Armed Forces they went into over-drive with their war-hype. As bodies started to pour in they created an illusion that was virtually a re-creation of the NATO briefings for Kosovo and much earlier in the 80s, the British briefings with respect to the Falkland Islands. Regretfully we lost the media battle even before it started because we lacked professionals to handle our account and they did. The Americans love the underdog and if there ever was an underdog (other than Israel in their understanding of things) it was Pakistan, yet the Indians managed to turn the tables on us.
It is no use embellishing the truth by claiming that the PM did not know about Kargil. The PM should have known about the Kargil operation, if he was not clearly briefed about the extent or the consequences thereof, then he must take the blame as the chief executive of the state. His inner-circle should have the mechanism to define the geo-political circumstances as they would develop. While responsibility devolves upon him, it does not absolve responsibility from the shoulders of those who briefed him about their plans. As a civilian he would have limited knowledge of an unfolding military scenario, it should have been spelt out to him carefully in unambiguous terms in language that he understands.
A lot of people have died, a lot of blood has been spilt, who will answer the lady from Jhelum who wrote an anguished letter lamenting about her son being sacrificed in vain? Somebody has to have the courage to own up and accept responsibility. The PM should have taken that on his own shoulders, he would not have become any less a leader for it. Someone also has to have the courage to speak up in closed doors even at the risk of their careers, if not to the peril of their lives, as per their oath of allegiance on commissioning. There is a commitment to the nation that should surpass loyalty to the individual and if those who are privileged to hold higher rank have lost this binding principle then they are failing in their basic responsibility to the men that they command and the nation they profess to serve. The unfortunate part is that today we have the best crop of generals that we have ever had in the army for the past 50 years. Yet a great battlefield victory was lost on the negotiating table even before it was fully fought out because we did not fully “appreciate” the negative consequences. We won the battle and lost the war. It is believed that the COAS clearly told the Defence Cabinet Committee (DCC) that the Indians were bluffing, they did not have any resources to fight an offensive war. On the military side, everything was coming up aces. The Indians got a drubbing, they lost heavily in man and morale, their limitations were exposed and when they panicked they reached the bottom of the well. So why did we turn the other cheek? Though it does take greater courage to avoid war than to engage in one, there has been inordinate damage to the morale of the nation and the Armed Forces that may well exceed the price of peace. We may have succeeded in internationalising the situation but at what cost? Yet the Indians survived all through their bluff and we lost out despite the fact that our men had carved out a major victory.
A week or so ago I was disinvited from a dinner when my host-to-be took umbrage as to what had appeared in a newspaper column under my name. One would rather forego dinner than be guilty for sending the flower of our youth to their death without a justifiable return. Dinner invitations can wait, will time and tide for this nation with indifferent leadership that passes the buck instead of accepting responsibility?
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