Col. Hussain of the Pakistan Army first made the revelation about Gen. Pervez Musharraf crossing the LoC to spend the night in Indian territory in his book Witness to Blunder: Kargil Story Unfolds, which was published in late 2008, but has again repeated the claim. Defence sources in New Delhi, however, said Col. Hussain’s claim could be an exaggeration.
Meanwhile, Gen. V.K. Singh was quoted by PTI as saying, “As far as Gen. Musharraf is concerned, I would like to put it in two ways. One, as a military commander, I would commend Gen. Musharraf for coming 11 km (inside Indian territory) to stay with his troops for a night. It is the courage of a military commander that he came so far knowing that there was danger.” Gen. Singh was quoted as saying, “Second, what was happening on our side you all know, and facts are before you. Why did we allow him to go? Why did we allow them to enter? I would only say that there were some mistakes which need to be rectified.”
Gen. Singh was also quoted as saying, “What happened in 1999? We, including the Indian Army, know that the Pakistan Army started the Kargil war. There is nothing new in it,” adding that Pakistan had been telling lies and “now only its officials are confirming our stand”. In Pakistan, Col. Hussain repeated his assertion on a TV talk show on the Kargil episode in the wake of retired Pakistan Army Lt. Gen. Shahid Aziz’s assertion that the intrusions by Pakistani troops were planned by a group of four generals led by Musharraf. It has been claimed that Pakistani troops first intruded into the Indian side of the LoC on December 18, 1998, when Captains Nadeem and Ali and havaldar Lalik Jan were sent on a reconnaissance mission. These Pakistan Army personnel were apparently not told about the objectives of their mission.
It has been claimed that shortly after this several units were told to cross the LoC and occupy positions on the Indian side. Several units competed with each other to go further into the Indian side. The intrusions were finally spotted by a shepherd who informed Indian troops. It has also been claimed by Col. Hussain that the mastermind of the entire Kargil operation was Maj. Gen. Javed Hassan, then Pakistan’s chief of Force Command, Northern Areas, who drew up the plan to occupy Indian positions along the LoC and convinced the then Rawalpindi corps commander, Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmad, the then Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Mohammad Aziz and Gen. Musharraf to back the venture.
Besides Pakistani troops from the Northern Light Infantry, soldiers from 31 “Azad Kashmir” Regiment, 24 Sindh Regiment, Frontier Force Regiment and artillery units participated in the Kargil operation, Col. Hussain said. “It was a success only till Pakistani forces came face to face with the enemy. In winter, both sides abandoned their positions under a recognised procedure. Our troops crossed the LoC at a time when the enemy was not present. Our troops were not even informed why they were being sent across the LoC,” he said.
“According to my research, there were over 1,000 casualties on the Pakistani side. The official data (on casualties) was hidden and cannot be accessed,” Col. Hussain said. “Our troops crossed the LoC in December 1998 and a lot of things had happened by time Sharif was briefed. Our troops were being relentlessly bombarded (by the Indians),” he added.
Col. Hussain, who wrote the speech that was read by Gen. Musharraf on Pakistani national television after he ousted Mr Nawaz Sharif’s government on October 12, 1999, said, “Because of Kargil, democracy (in Pakistan) was derailed for 12 years. After the upcoming general election, Parliament should discuss this issue and form a commission to make people accountable or else it (Kargil) will continue to affect future politics.” He said he believed Gen. Musharraf overthrew Mr Sharif’s government because he wanted to escape a probe into the Kargil episode.
BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said it was Musharraf’s “cowardliness” to enter Indian territory in Kargil in 1999 like a “terrorist”.