Indo-Pak conducted nuclear tests in 1998; India once again proved its supremacy in 1999
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
The Kargil War was the sole instance of direct, conventional warfare between nuclear states- India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control. Both countries conducted nuclear test in 1998, just a year before the Kargil conflict. Since Pakistan and India each had weapons of mass destruction, many in the international community were concerned that if the Kargil conflict intensified, it could lead to nuclear war.
The Pokhran-II tests were a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by India at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range in May 1998. It was the second instance of nuclear testing conducted by India; the first test, code-named Smiling Buddha, was conducted in May 1974.
Chagai-I is the code name of five simultaneous underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan on 28 May 1998. The tests were performed at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of Balochistan Province. Chagai-I was Pakistan’s first public test of nuclear weapons.
In an attempt to defuse the situation, both countries signed the Lahore Declaration in February 1999, promising to provide a peaceful and bilateral solution to the Kashmir conflict.
The Pakistani Armed Forces sends Pakistani troops and paramilitary forces, some allegedly in the guise of mujahideen, into territory on the Indian side of the LOC in 1998-99 winters, in violations of the declaration.
But, by the second week of May, in an utter surprise, the ambushing of an Indian patrol team led by Capt Saurabh Kalia, who acted on a tip-off by a local shepherd in the Batalik sector, led to the exposure of the infiltration. Initially, with little knowledge of the nature or extent of the infiltration, the Indian troops in the area assumed that the infiltrators were jihadis and claimed that they would evict them within a few days. Subsequent discovery of infiltration elsewhere along the LOC, and the difference in tactics employed by the infiltrators, caused the Indian army to realise that the plan of attack was on a much bigger scale.
The Government of India responded with Operation Vijay, a mobilisation of 200,000 Indian troops. The Indian Air Force launched Operation Safed Sagar in support of the mobilisation of Indian land forces on 26 May. This was the first time any air war was fought at such high altitudes globally. The Indian Navy also prepared to blockade the Pakistani ports (primarily the Karachi port) to cut off supply routes under Operation Talwar.
The Indian Army’s first priority was to recapture peaks that were in the immediate vicinity of NH 1. This resulted in Indian troops first targeting the Tiger Hill and Tololing complex in Dras, which dominated the Srinagar-Leh route. This was soon followed by the Batalik-Turtok sub-sector which provided access to Siachen Glacier. Some of the peaks that were of vital strategic importance to the Pakistani defensive troops were Point 4590 and Point 5353. The recapture of Point 4590 by Indian troops on 14 June was significant, notwithstanding the fact that it resulted in the Indian Army suffering the most casualties in a single battle during the conflict.
The Bofors FH-77B field howitzer played a vital role, with Indian gunners making maximum use of the terrain.
The Indian army launched its final attacks in the last week of July in co-ordination with relentless attacks by the IAF, both by day and night, in their totally successful Operation Safed Sagar; as soon as the Drass subsector had been cleared of Pakistani forces, the fighting ceased on 26 July. The day has since been marked as Kargil Vijay Diwas (Kargil Victory Day) in India.
Pakistan was heavily criticised by other countries for instigating the war, as its paramilitary forces and insurgents had crossed the LOC (Line of Control).
Once again India proved its supremacy and knows how to protect its territory. Pakistan had been humiliated diplomatically and militarily. The morale of Pakistan forces after the withdrawal declined. The government refusal to accept the dead bodies of many officers, also provoked outrage and protests in the Northern Areas. Prime Minister of Pakistan of that time, Nawaz Sharif later said that over 4,000 Pakistani troops were killed in the operation.
July,26,2020
