How the 1999 war exposed Pak policy

A quarter of a century ago, the 84-day war fought by India on the glaciated heights of Kargil sector in 1999 marked the beginning of the end of the West’s pro-Islamabad stance, with much of the world waking up to the fact that cross-border terrorism was part of the state policy of the country that had gone nuclear a year before. The war in which the Indian Army lost 527 soldiers was not only a betrayal of the Lahore peace process by then Pakistan Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf but also showed the extent to which Rawalpindi GHQ would go to claim Jammu & Kashmir. It later emerged that while then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was celebrating a bus trip to Lahore with then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif in February 1999, Gen Musharraf had already given a green signal to his Rawalpindi Corps and Force Commander Northern Areas to cross the verified Line of Control in Kargil sector using Pakistan-based terrorists as cover. The war, fought over a 200 kilometer range from Mushkoh to Chorbat La all within Indian territory was an eye-opener for western supporters of Pakistan, who had chosen to side with Islamabad for the Great Game in Afghanistan; it was the tipping point after which cross-border terrorism replaced terms such as militants and freedom fighters in the context of Jammu and Kashmir. While India decided to evict the intruders by force after PM Vajpayee’s speech on June 7, 1999, it was US President Bill Clinton who forced PM Nawaz Sharif to order the withdrawal of Pakistan Army troops from Kargil sector during the July 4 meeting at Blair House in Washington.