Kargil War

Kargil War Part of the Indo-Pakistani Wars Date May–July 1999 Location Kargil district, Kashmir, India Result Pakistani military retreat; India regains control of occupied territory Territorial changes Status quo ante bellum Belligerents India Pakistan Commanders and leaders Ved Prakash Malik Pervez Musharraf Strength 30,000 5,000 Casualties and losses Indian Official Figures: 527 killed 1,363 wounded  1 POW 1 fighter jet shot down 1 fighter jet crashed 1 helicopter shot down Pakistan Military claims 1600  Pakistan Military claims 357-453 killed  665+ wounded 8 POWs Indian Officials claims 700 killed  Pakistan Opposition of Kargil War claims ~1000  — 4000  killed

Location

Before the Partition of India in 1947, Kargil was part of the Baltistan district of Ladakh, a sparsely populated region with diverse linguistic, ethnic and religious groups, living in isolated valleys separated by some of the world's highest mountains. The First Kashmir War (1947–48) concluded with the LOC bisecting the Baltistan district, with the town and district of Kargil lying on the Indian side in the Ladakh subdivision of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. After Pakistan's defeat in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the two nations signed the Simla Agreement promising not to engage in armed conflict with respect to that boundary.

Location of the conflict

The town of Kargil is located 205 km (127 mi) from Srinagar, facing the Northern Areas across the LOC. Like other areas in the Himalayas, Kargil has a temperate climate. Summers are cool with frigid nights, while winters are long and chilly with temperatures often dropping to −48 °C (−54 °F).
An Indian national highway (NH 1D) connecting Srinagar to Leh cuts through Kargil. The area that witnessed the infiltration and fighting is a 160 km long stretch of ridges overlooking this only road linking Srinagar and Leh. The military outposts on the ridges above the highway were generally around 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) high, with a few as high as 5,485 metres (18,000 ft). Apart from the district capital, Kargil, the populated areas near the front line in the conflict included the Mushko Valley and the town of Drass, southwest of Kargil, as well as the Batalik sector and other areas, northeast of Kargil.
One of the reasons why Kargil was targeted was that the terrain surrounding it, lent itself to pre-emptive seizure of unoccupied military positions. With tactically vital features and well-prepared defensive posts atop the peaks, a defender of the high ground would enjoy advantages akin to a fortress. Any attack to dislodge a defender from high ground in mountain warfare requires a far higher ratio of attackers to defenders, and the difficulties would be exacerbated by the high altitude and freezing temperatures.
Kargil is just 173 km (107 mi) from the Pakistani-controlled town of Skardu, which was capable of providing logistical and artillery support to Pakistani combatants.

War progress

Conflict Events

DATE (1999)	HISTORICAL EVENT
May 3	Pakistani intrusion in Kargil reported by local shepherds
May 5	Indian Army patrol sent up; Five Indian soldiers captured and tortured to death.
May 9	Heavy shelling by Pakistan Army damages ammunition dump in Kargil
May 10	Infiltrations first noticed in Dras, Kaksar and Mushkoh sectors
Mid-May	Indian Army moves in more troops from Kashmir Valley to Kargil Sector
May 26	IAF launches air strikes against infiltrators
May 27	IAF loses two fighters — MiG-21 and MiG-27;. Flt Lt Nachiketa taken POW
May 28	IAF MI-17 shot down by Pakistan; four air crew dead
June 1	Pakistan steps up attacks; bombs NH 1A
June 5	Indian Army releases documents recovered from three Pakistani soldiers indicating Pakistan’s involvement
June 6	Indian Army launches major offensive in Kargil
June 9	Indian Army re-captures two key positions in the Batalic sector
June 11	India releases intercepts of conversation between Pakistani Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf, while on a visit to China and Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Aziz Khan in Rawalpindi, as proof of Pakistani Army’s involvement
June 13	Indian Army secures Tololing in Dras
June 15	US President Bill Clinton, in a telephonic conversation, asks Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to pull out from Kargil
June 29	Indian Army captures two vital posts — Point 5060 and Point 5100 near Tiger Hill
July 2	Indian Army launches three-pronged attack in Kargil
July 4	Indian Army recaptures Tiger Hill after an 11-hour battle
July 5	Indian Army takes control of Dras. Sharif announces Pakistani army’s withdrawal from Kargil following his meeting with Clinton
July 7	India recaptures Jubar Heights in Batalik
July 11	Pakistan begins pullout; India captures key peaks in Batalik
July 14	Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declares Operation Vijay a success. Government sets condition for talks with Pakistan
July 26	Kargil conflict officially comes to an end. Indian Army announces complete eviction of Pak intruders

 The final stage involved major battles by Indian and Pakistani forces resulting in India recapturing some territory held by Pakistani forces and the subsequent withdrawal of Pakistani forces back across the Line of Control after international pressure.

Occupation by Pakistan

Infiltration and military build-up.

During the winter season, due to extreme cold in the snow-capped mountainous areas of Kashmir, it was a common practice for both the Indian and Pakistan Armies to abandon some forward posts on their respective sides of the LOC and to reduce patrolling of areas that may be avenues of infiltration. When weather conditions became less severe, forward posts would be reoccupied and patrolling resumed.
During February 1999, the Pakistan Army began to re-occupy the posts it had abandoned on its side of the LOC in the Kargil region, but also sent forces to occupy some posts on the Indian side of the LOC. Troops from the elite Special Services Group as well as four to seven battalions of the Northern Light Infantry (a paramilitary regiment not part of the regular Pakistani army at that time) covertly and overtly set up bases on the vantage points of the Indian-controlled region. According to some reports, these Pakistani forces were backed by Kashmiri guerrillas and Afghan mercenaries.
Pakistani intrusions took place in the heights of the lower Mushkoh Valley, along the Marpo La ridgeline in Dras, in Kaksar near Kargil, in the Batalik sector east of the Indus River, on the heights above of the Chorbatla sector where the LOC turns North and in the Turtok sector south of the Siachen area.

Casualties

Memorial of Operation Vijay

Pakistan army losses have been difficult to determine. Pakistan confirmed that 453 soldiers were killed. The US Department of State had made an early, partial estimate of close to 700 fatalities. According to numbers stated by Nawaz Sharif there were over 4,000 fatalities. His PML (N) party in its "white paper" on the war mentioned that more than 3,000 Mujahideens, officers and soldiers were killed. Another major Pakistani political party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, also says that "thousands" of soldiers and irregulars died.Indian estimates stand at 1,042 Pakistani soldiers killed. Musharraf, in his Hindi version of his memoirs, titled "Agnipath", differs from all the estimates stating that 357 troops were killed with a further 665 wounded. Apart from General Musharraf's figure on the number of Pakistanis wounded, the number of people injured in the Pakistan camp is not yet fully known although they are at least more than 400 according to Pakistan army's website. One Indian Pilot was officially captured during the fighting, while there were eight Pakistani soldiers who were captured during the fighting, and were repatriated on 13 August 1999.
India gave its official casualty figures as 527 dead and 1,363 wounded.

Kargil War Memorial, India

The main entrance of Kargil War Memorial by the Indian Army at Dras, India

The giant Indian flag at the memorial

Kargil War Memorial

Pak sentry post captured by the Indian Army during the Kargil war

Kargil War memorial, built by the Indian Army, is located in Dras, in the foothills of the Tololing Hill. The memorial, located about 5 km from the city centre across the Tiger Hill, commemorates the martyrs of the Kargil War. A poem by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, father of veteran Bollywood actor, Amitabh Bachchan is inscribed on the gateway of the memorial greets visitors. The names of the soldiers who lost their lives in the War are inscribed on the Memorial Wall and can be read by visitors. A museum attached to the Kargil War Memorial, which was established to celebrate the victory of ‘Operation Vijay’, houses pictures of Indian soldiers, archives of important war documents and recordings, Pakistani war equipments and gear, and official emblems of the Army from the Kargil war.
A giant national flag, weighing 15 kg was hoisted at the Kargil war memorial to commemorate the 13th anniversary of India’s victory in the war.