| Kargil: The Real Truth |
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There are two ‘truths’ about Kargil. The first one is the version of defeatist Pakistanis who can’t see us doing any good. And the second truth is the Indian one.
Surprisingly, some fair minded former Indian army officers are willing to give a balanced verdict on the Pakistani performance in Kargil than the ridiculous assessments of some defeatist and self-hating Pakistanis who have no problem making fun of their homeland and their military just because they differ politically with Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
I would like to give some of these defeatist Pakistanis a shock: The revealing statement to a Pakistani newspaper, The News, of an Indian army officer having something good to say about the Pakistani military capability as demonstrated in Kargil in 1999. Some of the defeatist, self-hating Pakistanis will find this difficult to swallow since they are m
ore accustomed to criticizing Pakistan, not praising it.
Read the letter below by retired Col. Harish Puri from the Indian army’s Corps of Signals. He uses many of the Indian propaganda lines that raise doubts about the end result of the Pakistani operation, how the Indian people came together in those days to support their military, and how Islamabad underestimated the Indian response.
All propaganda points. But then he makes two points very clear that I wish some of those self-hating defeatist Pakistanis, especially the ones in our English-language liberal newspapers, read and feel some shame – just a little – about how they have been putting Pakistan down whenever discussing Kargil and facilitating the propaganda victory of the other side.
The two points that Col. Puri makes are:
- It is correct to praise the brilliance of the Pakistani tactical maneuver of stealthily occupying the heights and the massive Indian intelligence failure exploited by the Pakistani military.
- The Pakistani military in professional terms ranks among the best in the world, along with the Indian army according to Col. Puri. The implicit irony here is that India is fives times larger than Pakistan. For Islamabad to create this balance of power in just five decades is a Pakistani achievement.
This is not about clearing the name of Gen. Musharraf. History, and military analysts, will do that. Our job here is just to tell those few, self-bashing, defeatist-minded Pakistanis this: Please spare us your self-hatred. We are good at anything we want to be good at if we put our mind into it. Celebrate your strength instead of wallowing in your weaknesses.
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Kargil – nine years later |
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Letters to the editor, The News International, Karachi. |
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Sunday, May 18, 2008
War is too dangerous a game to be left to generals alone. Fortunately in India, the civilians call the shots, and Vajpayee’s conscious decision not to allow his troops to cross the LoC was a major factor for India’s gaining the high moral ground. But let us as army men salute the spirit of the soldiers on both sides — professionally, both our armies rank among the best in the world. Col (retd) Harish Puri Indian Army (Corps of Signals), Pune, India
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Users' Comments (6) |
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(0 vote)
02-11-2008 00:01, , Guest the difference between pakistan army and indian army is that pak would fight for saving of life of millions in kashmir,whereas indian army fight for kashmir-A piece of Land
22-08-2008 21:09, , Guest that you are utter liars, untrustable to the core.... having peace talks with a nation, and at the same time, attacking it too, that too like cowards ??? (it was muuuch later that you guys even accepted your army's role !) get out of the mental recess yoiu have put yourself into, and try to think, realise and re-question your attitude, policies. .....
22-08-2008 21:07, , Guest In other words, lets all sugar coat Pakistan's defeat and give it a nice spin? WTH is the point?
22-08-2008 21:04, , Guest you actually feel proud that your country had put the lives of MILLIONS of people in danger ? that while talks were on to restore peace, some people like you(all cannot be like you, else there'd be no pakistan today) were trying to cheat and back-stab?
21-08-2008 04:04, , Guest Thanks for sharing .... very nice
21-08-2008 03:08, , Guest very nice article thank you for sharing all information |
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