A short second stint in office by the corrupt Bhutto government saw its untimely exit through the good offices of its hand picked President on 5^th of November 1996. The elections that followed, brought back Pakistan Muslim League on 3^rd of February 1997 with a resounding victory and the heaviest mandate to date. It appeared then that Pakistan was at last heading towards stability.

On the other hand, the political boat in India was caught in a violent storm and was rocking hard. In a span of less than two years beginning May 1996, India had five Prime Ministers. On the 29^th of May 1996, with a thirteen day stint in office Deve Gowda government resigned. A.B. Vajapyee who succeeded him, could not stay in power for more than six months. He lost a vote of confidence in January 1997. The next government of Deve Gowada lasted just three months. I. K. Gujral, who was sworn in as the Indian Prime Minister on 21^st of April 1997, resigned on 19^th of March 1998 with less than an year in office. In March 1998, a wave of Hindu nationalism swept the right of the center, Bahartia Janata Party into power. India was beginning a journey to shed its secular path. Hindu religious sentiment had made its presence felt.

A frail coalition government at the center had been formed by the BJP with a score of small parties. To shore up its popularity and to appease the extremist element in its support base, the government gave up its policy of nuclear restraint which it had exercised since its first nuclear explosion in 1974. On the 11^th and 13^th of May 1998, India detonated five nuclear devices. Immediately thereafter, the hawks in the government of India unleashed a verbal onslaught on Pakistan, with the defense minister threatening to take ‘Azad Kashmir’ by force. As the days passed, the public in Pakistan became increasingly mute. However, after a wait for sixteen days, which seemed like eternity on 28^th of May 1998, Pakistan exploded six nuclear devices to match India explosion for explosion. The wounded pride of a nation had been restored. The rhetoric of the Indian leaders subsided.

These were the days when the political arena in India was beset by internal discord and dissentions. The political capital which the government at the center wanted to obtain, by the nuclear blasts, had been neutralized by similar blasts by Pakistan.

As opposed to the initial euphoria, now the wisdom of exploding the nuclear devices by the Indian government was being questioned. The coalition government in the center was at the mercy of its’ allies who would occasionally try to blackmail it. On one such occasion, the Vajpayee government failed to relent, leading to the withdrawal of support by a key regional ally. This led to the dissolution of the parliament on 17^th of April 1999. Vajpayee was asked to head the interim government with the responsibility to hold elections. India was falling apart. From the extent of political wrangling and voices of regionalism coming from the corners of the huge country, it appeared that the biggest democracy in the world might be on the verge of disintegrating.

Reconciliatory overtures started coming from India. In the face of severe criticism from hawks within the BJP and the Hindu extremists, Mr. Vajpayee, the Indian Prime Minister traveled to Lahore by bus on the 20^th of February 1999. Considering the nature of the power base of the BJP government and its obvious sympathy for Hindu nationalism, traveling to Pakistan by bus by Mr. Vajpayee, was a reconciliatory gesture of monumental proportions. Unfortunately in Pakistan, the army and the political office bearers failed to fathom the delicacy of the situation. An opportunity of a lifetime that was thrown in our lap was soon to be lost. An opportunity of friendship from a position of dignity and honor was let to slip through our fingers.

During about the same time, it surfaced that the positions vacated by India at the advent of winter, had been occupied by Pakistan backed forces in Kargil. India was stunned. It retaliated, but its ground forces were unable to make an impression. It then relied on its air power, only to lose two of its fighter planes in the first few days of the conflict. The downing of the two planes was hyped as victory by the Pakistan press and the electronic media. The political hierarchy and the army brass tacitly supported this impression.

We never seem to learn from our past mistakes. Similar victory drums were sounded when in 1971 the ‘supposed’ Kashmiri freedom fighters blew up the Indian airlines plane ‘Ganga’, at the Lahore airport. Soon we were to be inflicted with the most humiliating of defeats of modern times. A country born twenty-five years ago after a prolonged struggle and innumerable sacrifices was severed in half.

India soon took stock of itself and sized up the kargil situation. It came out of its initial shock and let loose a diplomatic offensive. Through a very successful campaign run by the Indian government, the international media classified the Pak. army as the rogue army, and the political government as a stooge in the hands of the army. Indian media gave the impression that the adventure in Kargil was without the knowledge and approval of the political leadership. This impression was picked up by the Pakistan media which obliquely portrayed the political leadership as victims of circumstances. The political hierarchy in Pakistan did nothing to stem this impression, with the result that none other than the Chief of Army Staff told the international media that ‘everyone was on board’ on the decision about the kargil operation.

Tables had turned. Seeds of friction had been sown between the army and the political leadership. The fragmented nation of India was uniting under a wave of patriotism irrespective of creed or colour, race or religion. All the politically divisive forces had forged their strength with one common aim to defeat the combined enemy, ‘Pakistan’. Buoyed by the newfound mass support from within the country and from the international community, the Indian government earmarked massive resources for the onslaught in kargil. Heavy armory and thousands of troops were moved to the battle heights. Villages after villages were vacated for the imminent battle. As the casualty figures of the Indian armed forces mounted, so did their resolve. Our agencies picked up movement by the Indian troops close to the southern border with Pakistan. This indicated that India planned to open other fronts to commit Pakistan’s forces elsewhere.

The latent nexus of India and Israel went into play. India was being aided by material and information by forces skeptical to a country which they perceived was irresponsible and not able to handle the burden of a nuclear state. As the conflict progressed, there was talk of a possible lightening strike by the Indian airforce aided and guided and possibly manned by Israeli personnel on the nuclear facilities in Pakistan. There were suggestions to neutralize the military capability of Pakistan on the pattern of Iraq. The desperate diplomatic overtures by Pakistan towards Saudi Arabia and China met with an extremely ‘cool’ response. Subsequent to the nuclear blast, the emissaries that had been sent to the Four Corners of the globe with a ‘bowl in hand’ had returned without success. In the community of nations, Pakistan was standing alone desperately trying to defend its actions by standing on the moral platform of the Kashmir issue. No one was prepared to hear it.

When at last, reality dawned on the political and the military leadership, they almost begged the developed nations in general and USA in particular to mediate. Such suggestions were spurned by India leaving Pakistan in the lurch. At last, Mr. Bill Clinton gave a breakfast appointment of 4^th of July 1999 to the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Grasping the opportunity as heaven sent, the political leadership in Pakistan scrambled to make the appointment. After the meeting, a face saving statement was given that Pakistan would use its good offices to prevail on the Kashmiri freedom fighters to come down from the kargil heights unilaterally. Soon the guns on both sides fell silent.

The kargil episode had created miserable conditions for the native Muslim population of held Kashmir. Hundreds of fighters be they of Pakistan army or Kashmiri Mujahidin lost their lives. A fragmented and ready to disintegrate India had at-last found a common cause to unite. They had to fight the common enemy ‘Pakistan’. A wave of patriotism was flowing through the length and breath of India. Immediately after the kargil conflict, riding on a wave of international sympathy and mass indigenous support, the government of India dared to shoot down an unarmed Pakistan Navy reconnaissance ‘Atlantique’ aircraft, on the 10^th of August 1999. The propeller driven plane, was flying inside Pakistan territory close to the ‘Run of Kutch’ border with India. It killed around seventeen people on board. The international media gave an apologetic condemnation showing the degree of isolation Pakistan had earned. The successes of India in the kargil sector and the downing of the Pakistan reconnaissance aircraft catapulted the popularity of the interim Vajpaee government to new heights. Resultantly the ensuing elections returned the BJP and its allies to power in October 1999, which resulted in the creation of a stable government in India.

As fate would have it, Pakistan stepped into the shoes of India of the pre-kargil period. The younger lot in the army was thoroughly distraught by their leadership. They vowed never to volunteer for high-risk ventures for they considered themselves let down by their superiors. The kargil venture when viewed in isolation was a brilliant tactical move. However, when viewed in the broader spectrum of its political implications, was a catastrophe of monumental proportions. It united a fragmented India. It made out the Pakistan army as a rogue and adventurous force which needed to be checked. It isolated Pakistan in the community of nations. It gave a stable government to India. It brought the military and the political leadership in Pakistan to blows. It ended the much-cherished period of democracy in Pakistan. This is what the Kargil operation has achieved. For this, the military and the political leaderships in Pakistan are equally to blame.

The lack of depth in planning and inability of the leadership to perceive the political fallout of such operations shows that there are serious gaps in our decision making. No one doubts that India has flouted world opinion and has brutally suppressed local opinion on Kashmir. There is also no doubt that India had been persistently and systematically been toying with the line of control. But one has to realize that to neutralize a force as potent as that of India, one needs formidable depth in planning, military strength and diplomatic support.

India masterminded and brilliantly executed the severance of Pakistan in 1971 through a concerted approach of an internal uprising by the mukti bahini, diplomatic support propped by the ‘eastern block’ and ably backed by a formidable indigenous military power liberally supplemented by a super power of its time, the USSR. None of the three elements for a successful military operation were present in the kargil episode. Innocent, young and daring sons of the soil were made to lose their lives due to the ill planning of our leadership. We have to pause and think for a while. We should not brand every independent mind as a traitor. It may very well be, that supposedly the most ardent of the patriots bring the greatest harm to the country as we have seen in the kargil operation.