Manmohan Singh in Saudi Arabia: A lesson and a few reminders — by Syed Talat Hussain
The Saudis, in their national interest, can get into a tighter hug with Pakistan’ archenemy without fearing as much as a raised eyebrow in Islamabad, because Saudi Arabia is a giver and Pakistan is a taker
Imagine Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu speaking to the National Assembly of Pakistan and saying the following: “We seek cooperative relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Our objective is a permanent peace because we recognise that we are bound together by a shared future. If there is cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia, vast opportunities will open up for trade travel and development that will create prosperity in both the countries and the Middle East as a whole. But to realise this vision, Saudi Arabia must act decisively and stop supporting terrorists who operate in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. If Saudi Arabia cooperates with Israel, there is no problem we cannot solve and we walk the extra mile to open up a new chapter in relations between our two countries.”
Even before anyone can say ‘go’, Pakistan shall have all its special economic and diplomatic privileges withdrawn by the illustrious Kingdom, and its entire civil and military leadership summarily summoned and lined up in the King’s court for an explanation and apology. Admitted, Saudi-India relations cannot be equated with the Pakistan-Israel equation, which diplomatically does not exist. But seen from the security point of view, India is to Pakistan what Israel is to Saudi Arabia — a lingering, permanent danger, whose core intent is hostile, whose propaganda is relentless and actions are exceedingly provocative.
Yet, the entire Saudi Majlis al Shoura intently listened to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s usual refrain about Pakistan’s non-cooperation in the field of terrorism, implying this was the main hurdle to peace and prosperity in South Asia. The perfect hosts graciously overlooked the fact that the honourable guest was in gentle violation of the third country rule (no one country’s soil can be used against another country for propaganda), and that he could perhaps have avoided mentioning Pakistan directly while illustrating his vision. But then it would have been silly to put in a tedious spot the representative of a country with whom Saudi Arabia has forged strategic ties, produced by decades of hard diplomatic work, and which now span the varied fields of defence, security, technology, science education and a dozen other areas.
Also, Saudi relations with India are not subject to Delhi passing the Pakistan test. With a burgeoning bilateral trade of over $ 25 billion, Saudi oil sales to Delhi touching $ 3 billion, plus an expatriate community nearing two million set their bilateral relationship on a footing that is self-sustaining and impervious to extraneous considerations. We should not forget that in 2006 the Saudi King Abdullah came to Delhi as a special guest on the country’s Republic Day, which the Kashmiris mark as a black day. There he described India as his second home.
In 2010, the title bestowed on the visiting Indian delegation was “our dearest friends”. Quite naturally, besides inking various agreements, the two were in line with the Riyadh Declaration, issued at the end of the visit: both “discussed the situation in Afghanistan” and found themselves in complete harmony over the road to stability in that broken country, including protecting the people of Afghanistan from “exploitation by the terrorist organisations…” This detailed reference to Afghanistan is seemingly benign, but the two paragraphs do endorse India’s say in Afghanistan — something that Pakistan is completely opposed to.
What does the visit mean for Islamabad? One easy-to-understand lesson, and a few timely reminders. The lesson is that Delhi is pulling its full diplomatic weight to establish an outreach in areas where Islamabad traditionally had an edge. Delhi’s relations with Iran, its presence in Afghanistan and its deepening engagement with China now have a thickening layer of diplomatic initiative on the Saudi front. This throws a ring of soft offensive around Pakistan’s immediate and important zone of influence. In all the friendly capitals, the battle for the hearts and minds is now going to get tougher for Pakistan. India’s defence spending increases, military purchases and its visceral vileness is one part of the challenge facing Pakistan, the other is the expansive nature of India’s proactive, forward-leaning diplomacy that it is increasingly being used to build a case for its stance on terrorism and Pakistan’s role in it.
And now the reminders. One is that the age of ideology in foreign policy is long over. While much of Pakistan’s worldview has become pretty down-to-earth and is immersed in hardcore realism, the hangover of being part of the Ummah continues to hover around like a patch of bad cloud. The visit’s various facets tell us that co-religionists can be perfectly incompatible in the alliances they forge in pursuit of their national interests and there is nothing wrong with this.
The other reminder is that when these interests converge, countries come together, and when these diverge, countries move away from each other. There is no lifelong bonding to any one country, nor can one be beholden to the other.
The third reminder is that economic power is the real foreign policy pedestal of countries. Those who are economically sound can have greater foreign policy room to manoeuvre. Besides size, the one thing going for India in its foreign policy is the state of its economy, which, in turn, is related to the quality of leadership and a national vision projected over decades. With money in its pocket, and glory on its mind, Delhi is capable of heightening its diplomatic surge.
Conversely, this is precisely the reason Pakistan is struggling. It is cash-strapped and is led by a floundering pack. The Saudis, in their national interest, can get into a tighter hug with Pakistan’ archenemy without fearing as much as a raised eyebrow in Islamabad, because Saudi Arabia is a giver and Pakistan is a taker. Oil has made one rich. Its rulers have made the other dole-dependent. And dependence, we know, is a super-stripper of dignity, a destroyer of self-esteem, and a breaker of spines. It ties your hands to your feet and hurtles you down in the abyss of choices that are none better than the other.
Foreign policy is an extension of domestic politics, the economy included. A country that is domestically disturbed can, at best, put up a brave face abroad and not wince when its friends make friends with its enemies. And that is exactly what Pakistan is doing in response to Manmohan Singh’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
The writer is a leading Pakistani journalist
Source: Daily Times
The Saudi concern —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
The Saudis must take responsibility for their role in fuelling this extremism. At one level it is the success of Saudi diplomacy that while the “infidels” are blamed for all and sundry that goes wrong in Pakistan, the Saudis get off scot-free
We live in a wired world. Not just electronically. As individuals with our fancy communication toys we are connected to the internet and through it to other people almost all the time. However, we are connected as nations too and that is what the premise of all diplomatic activities and service is. For the foreign service of any country is actually an attempt to maintain mutually beneficial relations with other countries and to foster new ties. Thus, while Facebook recently might have introduced the ‘friends’ option, as countries tied through trade, industry, cultural and other diplomatic ties, we have been interacting for the longest time.
However, some connections are mutually beneficial only in the short term. In the medium and long term, there are some adverse consequences that bring the chickens home to roost. The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan might be an example of this. The operative word is ‘might’ since one does not want to issue a declaration of whether the relationship has been beneficial or not in the long run. However, let’s briefly look at some aspects of the Saudi Arabian-Pakistani relations. It is important to examine this relationship closely now more so because of the recent visit of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saudi Arabia. At the meeting, the Saudis identified terrorism as a global problem and expressed their “concern” over the rise of extremism that fuels terrorism in Pakistan.
The Saudis’ concern over the rise of extremism is a genuine one and one that they can readily understand. For its blueprint is written in clear Saudi terms. It is a matter of political history that the Saudis facilitated and financed the opening of madrassas where their brand of Islam, namely Wahabiism, was taught. By its very existence, Saudi Arabia is a state that represents the political face of Wahabiism. Since its establishment as a sovereign state in 1932, Saudi Arabia has promoted Wahabiism not just within its frontiers but also all over the world, including Pakistan.
According to a study of Wahabiist literature by a research organisation called Freedom House, the publications promote sect ethnocentrism and hate speech. For instance, one such publication calls for “Muslims [to] not only oppose infidels in every way but also hate them for their religion for Allah’s sake.” Fuelled by such sentiments and a very literal belief of Quranic text, it is no wonder that Wahabiists advocate the destruction of graves and authorising the state to become the moral custodian of its population. Historically, the Wahabiists levelled the grave of Zayd ibn al-Khattab, one of the companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). They also support and advocate punishment measures like public stoning of adulteresses — measures that Pakistanis are very familiar with as all these beliefs found their way into the Zia-promulgated Hudood Ordinance, which in a nutshell is bigoted and violates basic legal and fundamental human rights.
According to Islamic political researchers, it is estimated that the Saudis have spent over $ 87 billion over a span of just 20 years to spread Wahabiism globally through key strategic points like Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. To counter and curtail the spread of other sects of Islam, together with President Ziaul Haq, the Saudis were quite happy to spend their petro-dollars to fund madrassas where Wahabiist Islam could be taught.
Thus it comes as no surprise that in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban, these madrassa graduates implemented Wahabiist Islam. Just as in Saudi Arabia, the Taliban in Afghanistan established a Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), which used to flog men and women for any action that they deemed to be objectionable. The fact that the MMA government was inspired by such actions and wanted to implement the Hasba Bill is further cause for concern and a proof of the close nexus between the groups mentioned.
The Saudi government further declared during the Indian prime minister’s visit that they had severed ties with the Taliban when the latter gave sanctuary to Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden was a Saudi and a proponent of Wahabiism, but he took Wahabiism to the next level by advocating a violent jihad. Initially the Saudis supported his call for spreading Wahabiism globally, but distanced themselves from him when he adopted militancy as the only option. However, having said this, it cannot be denied that Saudi Arabia was one of three countries that recognised the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the other two being Pakistan and the UAE. For them to declare that they had severed ties with the Taliban, it would be imperative that this recognition would have been withdrawn. However, this is not the case and the Saudis would do well to remember that while people have short memories, nations do not.
As stated earlier, the Saudis’ “concern” about extremism and extremist attitudes in Pakistan is well founded. However, they must take responsibility for their role in fuelling this extremism. At one level it is the success of Saudi diplomacy that while the “infidels” are blamed for all and sundry that goes wrong in Pakistan, the Saudis get off scot-free. The Western world has invested in social sectors like education, health, infrastructure, to mention a few areas, the Saudis in madrassas and hate literature. No wonder the Saudis are “concerned”.
The writer is an Islamabad-based development consultant. She can be reached at [email protected]
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\05\story_5-3-2010_pg3_4
Why do we have to see everything in the perspective ‘what does it mean to Islamabad?’. India and Saudi Arabia are two sovereign countries. Both can meet each other and anyone they want too and negotiate with them on anything. We shouldn’t be translating it in the perspective mentioned above.
The Saudi advice may seem harsh but has a lot of substance, Pakistan does need to fight extremism more proactively but the Saudi’s should also play their role in ensuring that the financial funding of extremism is curbed down, and rather than funding religious seminaries they can build more schools in Pakistan for a change!
No harm in initiating peace talk with India provided it is backed by well defined and through Institutionalized Decision [I mean thorough debate in Parliament with the consent of Opposition] and also no more “Adventurism” like “Kargil or Operation Gibraltar/Operation Grand Slam” without taking Civilian Government in Confidence when Government was caught its pant down by the International Community and caused much embarrassment and above all those [Musharraf/Mahmood/Aziz/Hamid Javed/Tauqir Zia/Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani] were ran to Nawaz Sharif to save them and later the same group sacked Nawaz Sharif. I learnt about Kargil from Vajpayee, says Nawaz By Our Correspondent May 29, 2006 Monday Jumadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427 http://www.dawn.com/2006/05/29/nat1.htm Musharraf advised against Kargil, says Benazir Staff Report Wednesday, July 02, 2003 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_2-7-2003_pg7_19 LAHORE: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday said President Pervez Musharraf had brought the Kargil plan to her when she was prime minister and he was the director general of Military Operations. “Kargil was an absolute disaster,” Benazir said in an interview with the Third Eye Television. “I asked Gen Musharraf what would happen after the execution of his plan. He said he would hoist the flag of Pakistan atop the Srinagar Assembly. I vetoed the plan because I knew we would have to surrender the territory when it would come to the international community and that’s exactly what happened.”
Excerpts of the conversation between Gen Musharraf and Lt Gen Aziz – External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today released transcripts of the conversations between Pakistani Army chief Gen Parvez Musharraf, who was in China, and Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Mohammed Aziz in Pakistan on May 26 and 29. http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/jun/11talk.htm
Lieutenant General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani’s forthright revelations on a TV channel about Kargil prove what this scribe stated more than 5 years ago.Lieut General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani called Kargil a debacle:–
The Kargil Conspiracy
The Nation 29 May 2003
A.H Amin
There is general consensus on the fact that military juntas are convenient agents of change employed by larger powers to bring desired policy changes in smaller countries.This is more true for Pakistan where the USA has had a record of using the military juntas as agents of change . Ayub was cultivated in the 1950s and proved his worth as USA’s collaborator par excellence in destroying democracy in Pakistan . The Zia coup was US inspired and had complete US blessings since the USA viewed Mr Z.A Bhutto as a dangerously charismatic leader capable of uniting the Islamic/Third World ! Thus Operation Foul Play of 5th July 1977 ! When Liaquat Ali Khan the then prime minister of Pakistan warned the US Ambassador to Pakistan that the Graham Report on Kashmir must be presented in the UN by 15th October 1951 he was assassinated on 16th October 1951 ! Raja Ghazanfar Ali then Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran noted that Liaquat had planned an Islamic conference to discuss Kashmir , Anglo Iranian Oil Company and Palestine !
Keeping this background in mind the fact that a deliberate conspiracy with a design to control and manipulate Pakistan’s geopolitical future with Kargil as the key point cannot be ruled out.It is possible that Kargil may have been designed as the catalyst to create a civil-military political conflict in Pakistan and as a future launching pad of a military coup.
In 1998 Nawaz Sharif often criticized as a man with limited IQ took one of Pakistan’s most decisive strategic command decisions defying USA , not appeasing it as Musharraf took in September 2001 ! It is on record that Nawaz Sharif did not surrender on one telephone call from US president like General Musharraf did and defied US threats not to go on with the nuclear tests despite four telephone call threats from US president Clinton and resolutely went on with Pakistan’s Nuclear blasts ! Recently Dr Qadeer Khan speaking at a function in Karachi on 3rd April 2003 stated that Nawaz even refused an offer of bribe from Clinton wherein Clinton had offered to deposite 100 Million USD in Nawaz Sharif’s personal bank account !
All evidence proves that Nawaz Sharif’s decision to go on with the Nuclear blast was a political decision and the role of the armed forces was merely that of a technocrat consultant ! It appears that from May 1998 the US policy makers came to the conclusion that Nawaz was an irresponsible man and must be taken to task..
By September 1998 it appears that the Americans had succeeded in their manipulations . The then Army chief General Karamat at this stage started pressurizing the political leadership to include the army in the political decision making .
Nawaz had done his homework well.With the ISI firmly under the prime ministers command under Lieutenant General Ziauddin one senior officer Zulfiqar presently chairman WAPDA had been sent to Ukraine to find details of kick backs given to General Jahangir Karamat in the Ukraianian tank deal with Pakistan.Full evidence was prepared of Jahangirs complicity in taking kick backs.Once Karamat asserted his political ambitions Nawaz threatened him with prosecution for taking kick backs ! Thus Jahangir Karamat’s unceremonial exit from power ! USA’s likely agent of change had been removed !
Now comes Kargil. With the appointment of Musharraf as army chief the more Machiavellian geopolitical moves were planned ! Major general Javed Hassan Khan previously military attaché to Washington where many military attaches are successfully cultivated by US intelligence was posted as Commander FCNA incharge of the forces in Gilgit ,Northern Areas including Kargil.The readers may note that this officer presently the commandant of the Pakistan Army’s National Defence College , back in early 1990s made Mughal Emperor Humayun fight in Second Battle of Panipat in his book “India- A Study in Profile�? ! The fact is that Humayun was dead while Panipat was fought and Humayun had no connection with Second Battle of Panipat !
The men who planned Kargil military operation using Pakistan’s 80 Brigade to infiltrate Indian positions in Kargil Sector were instruments of a grand conspiracy to destabilize Pakistans political government which had defied the USA and wanted to make peace with India without US involvement !
Ambition of General Musharraf and his team while planning Kargil had infected the entire military thought process ! The Kargil plan was adventurist,superpower manipulated and its intrinsic violence penetrated and cut open the very arteries of the Pakistani state, spurting out in civil military strife and finally a military coup !
The heroes of those rocky pinnacles are all dead ! Sacrificed in vain ! Diabolically launched into the valleys of death by men who now are dead earnest to make peace with India but propelled by promiscuous and unadulterated ambition wanted to sabotage Nawaz Sharif’s Lahore Peace move in 1999 ! Once Vajpayee came to Lahore on Nawaz’s initiatiave in 1999 he was a vampire but once Musharraf went to Agra later Vajpayee was an angel !
At the super power level Kargil was planned with a view to ridicule Pakistan’s political leadership , embarrass the Pakistani prime minister and to create a civil military divide aimed at a military coup in Pakistan ! Why ! Someone may ask naievely ! Because the USA views the military junta in Third World countries as a more reliable collaborator agent of change than a prime minister who repeatedly defies US threats of retaliation and a 100 Million USD bribery offer !
Thus Kargil operation was launched with an ulterior motive to divide Pakistan’s political and military leaderships ! It is an unfortunate fact of history that Nawaz Sharif was mot aided by a good defence analyst team ! Those who were with him and supposedly considered defence experts were either in secret league with Nawaz’s handpicked military man or too naieve to understand the military intricacies of Kargil !
Kargil in the final analysis stands out as the meticulously planned conspiracy catalyst employed to trigger a chain of events that led to the primacy of the military junta on 12 October 1999 !
So far the Americans have succeeded ! The Pakistani Nuclear programme is in safe hands ! Pakistan , the beautiful woman in words of General Habibullah has sold herself to , not the highest bidder , but the only bidder at a relatively low price !
The military junta has divided the society ! Bought the pillars of state ! Balkanised the political parties ! Marginalised the society introducing unjust ethnic domination in the army , reduced the Sindhis into a political minority , pitched Punjab against Sindh by Machaievellian agreement to Thal Canal and is all set to strike a deal with India which would ensure that Pakistan’s military junta is given a permanent share in the political hierarchy simply because it is USA’s best and most reliable agent of change ! Life goes on !
Kargil-A Military Analysis
15 June 2003
A.H Amin
Kargil stands as perhaps the final military effort on Pakistans part to settle the Kashmir dispute by military means.
Analysis has mostly centred around political aspects of the operation while the military aspects have been largely left to the imagination of the public.Lately it has been claimed that Kargil was launched to bail out Mujahideen as a last resort ! This is an insult to the memory of the Pakistani armed forces “Volunteers” who died in that Himalayan wasteland without a funeral and in circumstances of unimaginable misery !
Kargil operation cannot be understood unless the personalities and motives of the principal characters are examined ! Every action in history is the final culmination of a personality’s self perception,ambition and subconscious as well as conscious urges.
In this context the Kargil operation was born out of two key factors ! One was the personality of general Pervez Musharraf and the second was the unceremonial manner in which Nawaz Sharif ousted General Jahangir Karamat Musharraf’s predecessor army chief of Pakistan Army.
Musharraf as those who have served with him know which includes this scribe also has always been an intensely ambitious man ! One hallmark of his personality is that he wants to stand out as a great military commander ! Propelled by an enormous ego wherever he served he endeavoured to do something extraordinary ! However fate did not allow him the glory in battle which his other coursemates like shabbir sharif achieved ! In 1965 Musharraf was a subaltern in an artillery unit which saw little action apart from supporting operatiions by indirect fire ! The 16 SP unlike 3 SP which fired on Indian tanks with direct gunsights at Chawinda stayed in conventional artillery role ! In 1971 Musharrafs commando company was not involved in action ! Nevertheless Musharraf compensated for this lack of combat laurels by achieving laurels in army courses and in various command assignments ! His final opportunity came when he ascended to the post of army chief in a situation when the army was in a subservient position vis a vis the civilian head of state , something which was regarded by the military herarchy as worse than blasphemy !
The forced retirement of General Karamat by prime minister Nawaz Sharif was regarded as a personal defeat by the Pakistani military brass and by Musharraf who felt that he would be a far weaker army chief under a strong prime minister who had asserted civilian control over the military machine !
These two factors were the fathers of the Kargil operation ! Ambition accompanied by a perception that the Pakistani public must be convinced that the soldiers were better than politicians.
Kargil at the military level was the brainchild of three men i.e General Musharraf the army chief ,Aziz the then army Chief of general Staff and Mahmud the then corps commander 10 Corps ! Musharraf and Mahmud were motivated by intense ambition to achieve military glory and Aziz was motivated by his Kashmiri ancestry plus military ambition.The person they selected to execute the operation was again one distinguished by out of proportion ambition i.e Major General Javed Hassan , author of a book in 1990s that claimed that India was on its way to disintegration and in which mughal king Humayun was resurrected from the grave to fight at Second Battle of Panipat !
In November December 1998 just one month after Musharraf’s elevation to the post of army chief volunteers were asked for at the army level for an operation in Kashmir ! Many thousand volunteered including both officers and men from various units !
At no stage did any Mujahideen enter Kargil ! This is a piece of fiction and has no veracity !
These were attached to NLI units in the 80 Brigade sector for training.The principal idea of the plan was to infiltrate four battalions of NLI (Northern light Infantry) stationed in 80 Brigade Sector into Kargil Heights overlooking and dominating the Srinagar Ladakh road the lone Indian link with the Siachen and Leh Sectors ! The idea being to cut the lifeline of Indian supplies to Leh and Siachen Sectors ! Indian held heights in Kargil were to be occupied in February 1999 while Indian infantry had abandoned these heights at the approach of winter snow as an annual routine since 1948.In occupying the heights no fighting was involved ! The real issue was that of supplying Pakistani troops holding these heights which was far more difficult from the Pakistani side than from the Indian side !
Plans were kept secret and even the Commander 10 Corps Engineers of was not allowed to enter the Operations Room in 10 Corps Pindi.
The distance involved in reaching the heights varied from 15 to 35 kilometres from Pakistan side over mountains as high as 13 to 19,000 feet .To do this each battalion was divided into two parts , one acting as porters taking supplies forward and one half occupying the heights .
The heights were occupied as per the plan but the four units while doing so were severly exhausted ! In March-April the Indians discovered the Pakistani presence and reacted severely ! Severe fighting continued till July once the Indians finally re-captured the heights after Pakistani troops had been left to the mercy of Indian artillery and overwhelming troop concentrations as a result of the Blair House Accord !
A brief military examination of the plan reveals following weaknesses.(1) Failure to assess strategic repercussions of the operation at geopolitic and national strategic level .(2) Logistic failure in incorrect appreciation of supplying the troops . (3) Failure to understand that by occupying the heights the Indians were driven into a corner and had no choice but to retaliate , not for glory as was the Pakistani military’s case but for pure military survival . (4) At a more subtle level the use of the Chora-Batalik Sector as a future spring board for Pakistani operations against India was sealed since Indians heavily fortified this sector for any future war.
The Pakistani planners failed to assess that war as an instrument of policy is no longer in vogue at the international level and their temporary military success would only bring greater international censure and a negative war mongering image without any corresponding military gain at the strategic level.
This scribe interviewed a former commander of FCNA and 10 Corps about logistics and General Imtiaz Warraich replied as following :–
” We initiated this operation but failed to support it with comprehensive operational planning and above all buildup for essential logistic support without which no operation can succeed”……'” the principal reason for our heavy casualties and lack of progress was unimaginative and callous logistic operations to support the units”.
At one point the sepoys who had volunteered to fight and had come from many other infantry units to the NLI units refused to act as porters carrying supplies over 15 kilometres and were so exasperated that they defied Javed Hassan’s personal orders in unit durbars to carry supplies and when Javed Hassn threw his cap on the ground threatened to march over it unless they were not employed as porters ! One such volunteer told this scribe that we had volunteered to fight ,not to act as porters ! The same fact was also mentioned in ISI chief Ziauddin Butt’s secret report to Nawaz Sharif prepared by an Engineer officer on Zia’s staff in ISI !
The failure to assess the “Enemy” factor was another strategic planning failure at the highest level .I asked General Warraich this question and he stated ” Capture of Kargil Heights would totally stop all Indian movement to Leh and Ladakh Sectors unlike Pakistan in Siachen and Indians had no option but to do and die ” !
Lust for glory and honour in battle are perfectly reasonable aspirations as long as they are accompanied by commensurate military talent in the generals who are at the helm of affairs ! This was sadly lacking in the Musharraf team who planned the operation. Their egos were many times larger than their real military talent !
By promoting an intensely ambitious man to the rank of army chief Nawaz did a favour which could only be repaid by betrayal ! The plan was based not on sound military reasoning but on burning ambition and an unrealistic desire for glory by men far away from the heat of battle ! No one above major level died , yet in a report to the military secretarys branch Javed Hassan recommended retiring 75 % of officers involved in the operation below colonel level !
The prime minister was not fully briefed because of ulterior motives ! Had the operation succeeded it would have been projected as a proof of Musharraf’s Napoleonic brilliance and if it failed as it did Nawaz Sharif would have been made the scapegoat !
The operations planners were distinguished neither by loftiness of thought,nor audacity in the conduct of battle athe operational or strategic level.Thus boldness at tactiacl level was sacrificed because of operational and tactical timidity at the highest level.
No one appreciated that the army men who were employed , and it is a fiction that there was a single Mujahid in Kargil , had flesha nd blood ! These men mourned by a few hundred families were sons husbands fathers and brothers !
The Kargil operation at the military level is a watershed ! Idealism that propelled many hundred to die in those Himalayan wastes is buried for good ! Now there is a new breed which dominates the army ! The ones who aim at going on lush UN secondments or to KESC,WAPDA or as well paid consulatants !
What can one conclude ! It was the human heart that failed in Kargil and this heart which failed was housed in the ribcage of men sitting in the GHQ and not on the rocky pinnacles of Kargil ! Once the supply lines were closed under Indian threat of a counter attack , these brave men all Pakistan Army regulars were abandoned to die , pounded by artillery fire , bayoneted by overwhelming numbers , weakened by starvation ! Who can hear their cries ! Our ears are covered with heaps of lies ! Truth died at Kargil ! What remains is a body guard of lies!
ho