‘Soldiers sacrificed their lives’: Pakistan Army admits role in Kargil war for the first time
The statement marks a departure from Pakistan's long-standing official narrative that portrayed the conflict as mainly carried out by Kashmiri militants and what they call “mujahideen”
Pakistan’s Army has for the first time publicly acknowledged its involvement in the 1999 Kargil War against India.
Addressing an event in Rawalpindi to mark the country's Defence Day, Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir said several soldiers had laid down their lives while fighting the wars in 1965, 1971 and in Kargil in 1999.
“Be it 1948, 1965, 1971, or the Kargil war of 1999, thousands of soldiers have sacrificed their lives for Pakistan and Islam,” the Army chief said at the event.
Interestingly, never before the Pakistani army has publicly admitted its direct role in the Kargil War. The statement marks a departure from Pakistan's long-standing official narrative that portrayed the conflict as mainly carried out by Kashmiri militants and what they call “mujahideen”.
General Munir’s remarks directly acknowledged the deaths of Pakistani soldiers in Kargil, a face-off in which Pakistani forces occupied strategic positions in Kashmir, leading to a fierce military response from India.
Pakistan suffered a crushing defeat in the 1999 war, with Indian soldiers successfully reclaiming the positions occupied by infiltrators on the Indian side of the LoC in the Kargil sector, including Tiger Hill, after a nearly three-month-long battle in Ladakh.
The day is observed as 'Kargil Vijay Diwas' to commemorate India's victory over Pakistan in the war. A total of 545 soldiers laid down their lives fighting the Pakistani intruders.
India has consistently asserted that the conflict was a direct act of aggression by the Pakistani military. India has several evidences of the Pakistani army’s involvement in Kargil war, including prisoners of war, their pay books, uniforms, and weapons.
The Pakistani Army had refused to accept the bodies of soldiers killed in Kargil. Subsequently, the Indian Army buried several dead Pakistani soldiers in Kargil after the war.
Relations between Pakistan and India remain strained over a host of issues, including the territorial dispute over Kashmir and cross-border skirmishes along the Line of Control (LoC).