Kargil War: Since the country gained independence, relations between India and Pakistan have never been good. There have been many wars between the two countries, especially over Kashmir. The Kargil war is prominently mentioned in this. In 1999, when Pakistani soldiers in plain clothes sat on the heights, a shepherd was the first to see them. After this, Pakistan secretly occupied many peaks.
This incident happened when a few months ago, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif met in Lahore. After which an agreement was reached and a cordial atmosphere was created. Recently, Nawaz Sharif expressed grief for the first time in public regarding this and told how Pakistan betrayed India. The infiltration in Kargil broke all the promises and directly attacked the sovereignty of India.
How did we miss the opportunity to take POK?
According to a blog published in the Times of India, during this war, the Indian Army held the front for two months. Restored the LOC. Before this, 527 brave soldiers were martyred. Also, the Indian soldiers ensured that Batalik got the advantage of blocking the return route of Pakistani soldiers going towards PoK. This was the exact moment when after the Kargil victory, there could have been a hidden opportunity to cross PoK and regain it with minimum loss.
When Nawaz Sharif asked for US intervention
It was July 4. America’s Independence Day that year, when fearing the defeat of the Pakistani army and facing a Bangladesh-like situation, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif went to meet the US President and pleaded for intervention. As a result, the DGMOs of both Pakistan and Indian Army first spoke on the hotline and later met at the Attari border on July 11 and soon after that the date for ceasefire was announced.
Indian Army slowly started moving towards POK
In this blog written by Colonel SC Tyagi, it was told that when the battle was going on in Dras and the focus was on pushing the Pakistanis back towards the LoC, Batalik was not given priority. The reason behind this was that it was deep inside and not on the National Highway. However, the soldiers were slowly moving towards the LoC. He says that the battles in Gol Tekri, Khalubar, Stang Ba and Padma Go were also not told. Our soldiers had reached the LoC in the first week of July?
Most of the locations in Gultari, Shakma or Skardu in PoK were within strategic reach. The Army had already reached the LoC. This would have not only recaptured the vital communication routes in PoK but also forced the Pakistani Army caught in the middle to surrender, as happened in Bangladesh in 1971.
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