Col J P Singh, Retd
At the closing end of 20th century, a geo-political crisis erupted in the Himalayan borderlands of Northern India with surreptitious infiltration of Pakistani soldiers in Kargil heights which subsequently led to 4th  Indo-Pak war. It was the last armed conflict of 20th century fought between historically inimical neighbours, India and Pakistan, on the trans-himalayan plateau from May to July 1999.The genesis of Kargil Conflict lie in Pakistan’s repeated failure to annex Kashmir. Three conventional wars, 10 years of failed J&K militancy and 15 years of losing battle of Siachen had actually driven Pak to utter despair. Therefore she resorted to surreptitious ingress of Pakistani soldiers across the LoC in Ladakh in May 1999. It took the country entirely by surprise and generated grave misgivings about the failure of defence apparatus and serious concerns about army’s preparedness. Pakistan called it ‘Kargil Ki Jung’ whereas Indian Army named it ‘Op Vijay’.
Kargil was part of Baltistan District of princely state of J&K. 1947 Indo-Pak war bisected Baltistan giving kargil to india. Kargil town lies at the junction of Shingu and Suru rivers on 205 kms long NH 1D which connects Leh to Srinagar. Many Army posts on the LoC in Ladakh sector, which were 16 to 18 thousand ft high, used to be vacated during the winters when the temperature fell to  minus 40 and re-occupied in summers. It was a routine practice for both sides to abandon such posts. In April-May 1999, Pakistan infiltrated Special Operations Groups (SOG) troops, Northern Light Infantry(NLI) regiments, mercenaries with Afghani and Sudanese terrorists under operational command of Maj Gen Ashraf Rashid to covertly occupy Indian vacated positions from Dras to Chorbat La and Turtok, South of Siachen, 160 kms in stretch. On 3rd May 1999, a grazier informed the army about intrusion in Batalik. On 5th May a patrol led by Capt Saurab Kalia was sent to verify the information.  This patrol was ambushed and all of them  tortured to death. On 9th May Pak  shelled Kargil Ammunition Depot which caught fire causing panic in the town.
After 1971 war there has been no major confrontation except periodic clashes in Siachen. Consequent to nuclear tests by both sides in 1998, tensions heightened. To defuse tensions, Indian Premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a bus journey to Lahore in February 1999 and signed ‘Lahore Declaration’ with Nawaz Sharif. While India was making peace overtures, Pak army was covertly infiltrating in Kargil. Their objectives were to severe links between Srinagar and Leh; to force vacation of Siachen by doing Siachen in Kargil and to internationalise Kashmir issue hoping to secure a speedy resolution.
Indian army responded promptly. Gen Krishan Pal, GOC 15 Corps flew to Kargil to assess the situation immedaitely after capture of Capt Kalai led patrol. Seeing enormous infiltration by aerial reconnaissance, he ordered immediate move of an Infantry brigade and and an Arty Regiment(regt) form valley to kargil. Due to bad weather GOC had to return to Srianagr by road. Enroute he met and cheered the Infantry and Arty regt columns for their breakneck speed to Kargil war zone. This is the professionailsm of Indian army one can be proud of. Pakistani intruders carried out direct firing on the moving columns. Undettered they moved on and reached kargil the same night and were ready for action next morning. Thereafter the other reinforcements followed.
NH 1D had come under close range of Pak intruders. Hence protection of this route by recapturing forward posts became priority right form the beginning. This involved clearing Tiger Hill and Tololing in Dras. Capture of Tololing and Tiger Hill tilted the combat in India’s favor. After gaining control of the hills overlooking the highway, army turned towards depth positions and launched final attacks in July. World watched mesmerized as the Indian soldiers fought yard by bloody yard in the most inhospitable terrain at 16 to 18 thousand heights.
Mountains are said to eat troops. Kargil is a recent exapmle of testing High Altitude Warfare. Besides intelligence failure there were shortages in manpower and equipment.  When asked about shortages, Gen Malik, Army Chief said, “yes, we have shortages. But we will fight with whatever we have”. Shortages in manpower was made up to some extent by raising six Porter Coys of civilian volunteers.
The fighting ceased on 26th July 1999. The day has since been christened as Kargil Vijay Diwas and is celebrated with great fest and fervor more-so because of the price Pakistan paid for the deceit.  Besides military victory, it is celebrated for the shameful political defeat that Pakistan faced after the war. Nawaz Sharif tried to assassinate Gen Musharraf by ordering crash of his aircraft. Survived Musharraf staged a coup and nealrly assassinated premier Nawaz Sharif. Musharraf ruled for 10 years as miliitray dictator and trampled whatever democracy Pakistan had. He was hounded out and is being tried for treason. It is an event of military history which India will never like to forget which Pakistan will never like to remember.
The young officers and men supported by 3000 volunteers did a splendid job on the ground. 527 soldiers and 7 porters of ‘Tanda Tiger Force’ laid down their lives. 1363 soldiers were wounded, disfigured and maimed for life. Histroy of Kargil has been written in their blood. Triumph War Cry of late Capt Vikram Batra, Param Vir Chakra, “Dil Mange More’ thundered from the towering mountains of Kargil. It was heard in Islamabad and New Delhi. It inspired the nation which stood as one during the war.
It is to the sacrifices of these young warriors, Kalias and Batras and volunteer Dogras that this article is dedicated to, in all humility. To God goes the glory. Thank God you sent these warriors  to the Indian Army and led veterans like me also to the service of the nation. Nation owes a lot to the martyrs of ‘Op Vijay’ because of the adverse climatic conditions in which they fought without raising an eyebrow and turned Pak masterly deceit into her shameful defeat.
Pakistan lost 2,700 soldiers in the Kargil Jung; far higher than its casualties during the 1965 and 1971 wars. Pak Premier Nawaz Sharif has said in his memoirs “Ghadaar Kaun? Nawaz Sharif Ki Kahani, Unki Zubani”, that the casualties suffered were so extensive that an entire brigade of NLI was wiped out. Benazir Bhutto called it “Pakistan’s greatest blunder” and ex military and ISI officers lambasted the war as “a disaster bigger than the East Pakistan tragedy”.
Each campaign leaves certain lessons for the posterity and perspectives for future. Kargil war is no exception. In the age of L-e-T and ISIS, all pluralistic democracies face threats from an ideology which is hostile to other religions, freedom, democracy and sexual equality. Islamic world is in turmoil today and hence unstable. In the last decades India has faced a host of military and non military threats from within and outside. China is increasing its military strength in POK. Therefore country will have to be prepared for a conventional war, limited war, proxy war, terrorism, militancy, chemical & biological war as well as nuclear war. It brings out another dilemma, under the circumstances how should India deal with the phenomenon of aberrant neighbors. This needs immediate attention and lot of preparations.

Our brave soldiers

Captain Vikram Batra was serving with 13 JAK RIF during Operation Vijay.  On 07 July 1999 he volunteered to assault and recapture the area north of Point 4875 from where an enemy locality was interfering actively in the operations of 13 JAK RIF.  The task involved an assault along a narrow ridge with sharp cuttings on either side to clear a heavily fortified feature.
Personally leading the assault Captain Batra engaged the enemy in a fierce hand to hand  fight and killed five enemy soldiers at point blank range. During the assault he sustained grievous injuries. Despite his injuries, Captain Batra crawled towards the next enemy sangar and continued to hurl grenades and fire from his AK 47.  Despite stiff resistance from the enemy this gallant officer refused to yield ground.  He was focused on only one direction of movement and that was forward. He rallied his men, pressed home the attack and finally succeeded in achieving what had seemed to be a militarily impossible task. Inspired by this extraordinary display of fearlessness and raw courage by their leader the troops fell upon the enemy with a vengeance and vanquished him.
Earlier, on 20 June 1999, Captain Vikram Batra then leading ‘D’  Company had displayed sterling leadership qualities by leading from the front to physically assault enemy positions on point 5140 in the Drass sub-sector. He had launched a daredevil assault on the enemy, who was well entrenched and armed to the teeth with sophisticated weapons pouncing on the enemy, he had personally killed four intruders in a hand to hand fight.  With victory at this feet and cries of  “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Durge Mata ki jai” resounding in this ears this brave son of India made the supreme sacrifice and wrote a new saga of courage that will further  enrich the traditions of the Indian Army. For his unparalleled feats of conspicuous personal gallantry and fearlessness in the face of enemy, exceptional fighting spirit, exemplary junior leadership and selfless devotion to duty Captain Vikram Batra was posthumously awarded the Pram Vir Chakra, India’s highest  gallantry award.

Rifleman Sanjay Kumar volunteered to be the leading scout of the attacking column tasked to capture area Flat Top of Point 4875 in the Mashkoh Valley on 04 July 1999.  Enemy’s  automatic fire from one of the sangars posed stiff opposition and stalled the advance. With utter disregard for his personal safety in the ensuing hand to hand combat, he killed three of the intruders and was himself seriously injured.  However, despite his injuries, he continued to fight and charged on to the second sangar that had been interfering with the attack. The enemy got stunned by this breathtaking display of raw guts and fled from the scene, leaving behind one UMG. Rifleman Sanjay Kumar picked up the weapon left behind by the fleeing Pakistani soldiers and shot them dead. Although by this time, Rifleman Sanjay Kumar was bleeding profusely from his wounds, he refused to be evacuated. This super human display of courage by Rifleman Sanjay Kumar steeled the resolve of his comrades and motivated them to wrest Area Flat Top from the hands of the enemy. For his fearlessness, uniquely aggressive fighting spirit and most conspicuous gallantry against heavy odds, leading to the capture of a difficult but important objective, a grateful nation honoured Rifleman Sanjay Kumar with Param Vir Chakra, India’s highest gallantry award.

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