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“Air & Naval Operations also influenced outcome of Kargil conflict”

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Military History Seminar concludes at Welham Boys’ School

By Arun Pratap Singh

Dehradun, 11 Oct: The Eighth edition of the Military History Seminar at Welham Boys’ School concluded here last evening. Lt Gen  Bhopinder Singh (Retd), who is a former Lieutenant Governor of The Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Pondicherry, was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Before this, a Guard of Honour was given to the delegates by the school in the Orchard Field.

On the second and concluding day of the Military History seminar, 5 sessions and an arts exhibition were held. The main session at the Activity Centre was a discussion on ‘Neighbourhood Geographical Realities’.

The participants were Lt General KJ Singh (Retd) as the moderator along with Lt Gen Harinder Singh (Retd) and Vice Admiral Anup Singh (Retd). Beginning the discussion, KJ Singh stated that on the first day of the seminar, he was asked by many students whether the then government led by PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was indeed justified in directing the armed forces not to cross the Line of Control during the Kargil conflict. Singh said that he strongly feels that under the circumstances that prevailed, the decision was fully justified and, in the end, paid rich dividends to the country. He said that that India of that period is not comparable to the present time India when it is being seen as an emerging superpower. In 1998, India had conducted nuclear tests and it was isolated diplomatically and even faced sanctions. Countries like US were seen as strong allies of Pakistan then and, under those circumstances, India did not want to escalate the Kargil conflict to a full-scale war.

Vice Admiral Anup Singh (Retd) shared a brief comparison between Indian and Pakistan maritime geographies. Reminding that the Indian peninsula is the second largest in the world and just a single country, as compared to the Arabian Peninsula which is the largest but houses around 10 different countries. This offers a great maritime advantage to India though it also possesses certain challenges to man this large territory covering 2.07 million square kilometres. He also added that India has 230 ports of which 13 are major ports as compared to just around 10 ports in Pakistan of which there are only 4 to 5 major ports, the largest being Karachi. He further stated that India is also blessed with a strategic advantage over Pakistan because of its maritime geography.  It has a long coastline with shallow depth around its major ports as compared to Pakistan which makes it difficult for the enemy to send larger submarines closer to the Indian coastline.

Lt Gen Harinder Singh (Retd) said that multiple conflicts are rooted in the history of Kargil. After Independence, 1947-48 also saw intrusions, in 1965, too, attempts were made, and notable intrusions were seen before the Indians drove the Pakistan forces away. Similar attempts were made in 1971, too, before the Kargil conflict in 1999. He reminded that the Kargil capture has remained long on the Pakistani forces’ agenda since the time of Gen Zia Ul Haq, as its accession can block the highway access to Ladakh. Gen Musharraf, too, had this on his agenda and this was the reason why the Kargil conflict occurred. He also noted that, in Pakistan, the senior army officers have dared to take decisions without taking the political leadership or even other wings of the defence forces in the loop.

An interesting session was also held on the importance of Air and Naval Operations in the Kargil conflict. The participants were Lt Gen Mohinder Puri (Retd) as the moderator and Vice Admiral Satish Soni (Retd) and Air Commodore Anil K Sinha. Satish Soni admitted that the major role of the naval force during the conflict was to create deterrence for Pakistan not to dare come near Indian seas. Some hype also was created that the Indian Navy was preparing to launch a naval attack on the Pakistan coastline which created panic among Pakistani forces and influenced the outcome of the war.

Air Commodore Anil Sinha (Retd) said that, since the Kargil conflict was contested at an altitude ranging between 12,000 and 18000 ft, the Air Force was not full equipped for war at such heights and, therefore, there was reluctance to participate in the war. The fighter planes were not made for operating at that height and flying choppers was also risky. Indian Air Force lost fighter planes and a chopper but managed to instil fear among the Pakistani troops in Kargil and, also, destroyed some bunkers and influence the outcome of the war.

A session was also held on restoring the sanctity of the LOC with Lt Gen Amur Aul (Retd), Maj Gen Lakhwinder Singh (Retd), Brig Devinder Singh (Retd) as participants.