Pak lost 2,700 men in Kargil war: Sharif
** Thursday, July 06, 2006 09:23:45 **
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army lost 2,700 military personnel in the Kargil conflict, far higher than its casualties during the 1965 and 1971 wars with India, former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said in his memoirs.
Giving his account of the 1999 conflict in the book “Ghadaar Kaun? Nawaz Sharif Ki Kahani, Unki Zubani”, Sharif said the casualties suffered by the Army were so extensive that an entire brigade of the Northern Light Infantry based in the Pakistan-controlled Northern Areas was wiped out. Sharif reiterated his contention that Gen Pervez Musharraf, the then Army chief, had not taken him into confidence on the situation in Kargil and that he learnt the details from his Indian counterpart, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“As a prime minister, I was not taken into confidence on Kargil. I came to know what the Army was doing from Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. Even the Air and Naval Chiefs as well as many Corps Commanders of the Army did not know about the Kargil operation,” Sharif said in a series of interviews to journalist Sohail Waraich that were compiled and published in the book in Urdu.
Sharif said he was told by Musharraf, who toppled him later in 1999, that the Kargil operations were being conducted by mujahideen and not the Pakistan Army. “I was told the Army itself will not participate in the fighting. Only mujahideen invasion will be enough but when the conflict began the entire Northern Light Infantry was wiped out and 2,700 personnel were martyred and hundreds others injured. The number of those martyred was more than those killed in the wars of 1965 and 1971 together,” he said
Thats what a lot of people were saying at that time that Musharraf did something wrong there. Pak Army had to suffer a lot. We pretty much lost that battle specially at the time when govt. was making plans of improving political relations with India. So we showed the world that our govt. and army went opposite ways. It surely wasn't strategic.
1...."As a prime minister, I was not taken into confidence on Kargil. ....
2. **Sharif said he was told by Musharraf, .....
"I was told the Army itself **will not participate in the fighting. Only mujahideen invasion will be enough **but **when the conflict began the entire Northern Light Infantry was wiped out ......
OK in #1 Sharif says, he wasn't informed. Then how could he use future tense in his description in #2? As accepted, Sharif knew about the operation. He may not have known about the exact operational details. Still he knew. Otherwise he would have talked in past tense.
Success has many fathers, and failure is as usual an orphan!
Nobody in Pakistan really believes any of his lies. Every year he tries to make more and more desperate revelations, in a ploy to get attention for himself. When I was in Pakistan last, people thought it laughable that a man who takes credit for something as highly secretive as the nuclear tests (in 1998), knew nothing about Kargil a year later. In fact it makes him appear traitorous and ridiculous especially when he claims the Indian's told him about Kargil. Fool.
Mush miscalculated India's resolve in repulsing Kargil attack. He thought he could just waltz in particularly with initial Chinese support. When Chinese leadership pulled back PLA, he had no choice but to back off. Chinese themselves were not prepared to enter into a full scale war with India, soon to become their biggest trading partner in Asia.
Kiyoon bhatti saab, mushy twadey naal ki kitti wei? Sharif was one of the best leaders we had after Ayub Khan and Zia. He was both a gentleman and a good muslim.. Sad he is in exile :(
So how many pakistani soldiers did Die in Kargil. Shouldn't the Pakistani govt be brave enough to recognize their soldiers actions and death?
These soldiers laid their lives for Pakistan yet Pakistan denies their existence and death.
Even though I am Indian, I respect these soldiers for making the ultimate sacrifice for their country, but does the Pakistan military?????????