Kargil was such an embarrassing misadventure for Pakistan that its leaders were ashamed of acknowledging their country’s role in the conflict. During the war in the Himalayan peaks, Islamabad kept denying its military’s presence, even when its deception was visible to the entire world, and even refused to take back the bodies of its soldiers who died in combat. It was Indian soldiers who, in an extraordinary gesture, gave a dignified burial to the dead Pakistani soldiers as per Islamic rituals. Now, over a quarter century later, Pakistan has, for the first time, acknowledged in public its military’s role in the war. Speaking at an event to commemorate Defence Day, Army Chief General Asim Munir spoke about the sacrifices made by the soldiers for the ‘country and Islam’ in various conflicts with India, including Kargil.
The statement marks a significant departure from Pakistan’s longstanding official narrative that portrayed the conflict as mainly carried out by Kashmiri militants and what they call ‘mujahideen’. The general’s remarks directly acknowledged the deaths of Pakistani soldiers in Kargil, a confrontation in which Pakistani forces occupied strategic positions in Kashmir, leading to a fierce military response from India. The operation resulted in a humiliating defeat for Pakistan, with then United States president Bill Clinton forcing then Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif to order the withdrawal of the Army troops from the Kargil sector. In May this year, Nawaz Sharif too made a candid admission that Pakistan violated the 1999 Lahore Declaration – a historic peace initiative that he and then Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had championed.