Reminiscences of Kargil War

As the nation celebrates the silver Jubilee of the victory in Kargil war of 1999, I am flooded with memories of the event that I covered for All India Radio 25 years ago.

Kargil was largely a deserted town when I entered it for four days to report on the war in the first week of July 1999. A total of 527 Indian soldiers laid down their lives as they evicted the Pakistani intruders from the commanding heights of the Himalayan ranges.

I was part of an army-conducted media team from Srinagar. The group, comprising correspondents from major media networks, had waited over three weeks in Srinagar to receive army permission to move into the battlefield.

I was traveling in a van with the Film Division team. They had stocked a sufficient supply of bread, butter, biscuits, and rice to cope with the possibility of getting stranded in some isolated part of the war zone.

In addition to my usual tape recorder, I also had a satellite phone.

Crossing the 12,000-feet-high Zojila Pass, our first halt was at a Bofors gun battery that was pounding Pakistani army positions across the high hills, providing covering fire to our advancing troops. It was quite a spectacle for the visual media, and the artillery unit obligingly demonstrated their firepower. We were convinced of the gun's effectiveness, which had otherwise been embroiled in allegations of commission during its purchase from Sweden under a previous regime.

Shortly ahead, senior army officers conducted a briefing on the area and the position of the Indian Army. The Tololing Ridge, overlooking Drass town, had been cleared of intruders, who consisted of Pakistani soldiers and militants.

Some young officers were in high spirits as we spoke to them during the lunch hour. I gathered that the main focus at that time was on Tiger Hill, which stands tall behind Drass town. The flashes of bombardment from guided missiles were visible as we crossed Drass, taking a right turn toward Kargil town.

The narrow road runs along a river, with some sections falling within the firing range of Pakistani troops positioned on the high hills of the Karakoram Range.

At a checkpost, a BSF soldier stopped our vehicles to issue urgent precautions.

"You are in the enemy’s firing range. Keep a distance of about 100 meters between vehicles. No lights after dark. Drive fast and don’t stop, even if fired upon."

The last instruction was particularly chilling. We saw the wreckage of several vehicles down in the river, which heightened our sense of fear.

By late evening, we reached a hotel in Kargil. The town had faced daily artillery shelling from across the Line of Control.

The hotel was a three storied structure but all media persons wanted the first floor rooms. By now they had learnt that the top floor could face a direct hit from an artillery shell and if the shell exploded in the hotel compound, its splinters could get into ground floor rooms.

Most people from Kargil town had been shifted to tents at a safe place some distance away on the Zanskar road. We visited them the next day to listen to their tales of woe. They had abandoned their animals as there was none to look after them in home steads.

Next day we were taken on to the road that leads to the five villages (Dah, Hanu, Beema, Darchik, and Garkon) along the Indus river in the Batalik range which are inhabitedby Dard Brokpa community who are referred to as the last Aryans of Ladakh. They have distinct features and look very different from Ladakhi people.  They usually work as labourers for the Army.

It was an Aryan shepherd who first noticed the armed intruders and informed the Army. A recce team from the army was ambushed by the Pakistani soldiers. All its members were brutally killed and their highly mutilated bodies were handed over to the Indian Army. This was in clear violation of the international norms. We talked to the Aryan people who gave details of Pakistani intruders.

Back into the hotel next evening, the owner cum manager came to my room as I just finished filing my dispatch to All India Radio newsroom in New Delhi over the satellite phone. He said he knew me through my frequent ‘bylines’ (name of the journalist filing the news-story) in All India  Radio news bulletins. I had functioned as AIR's Senior Correspondent in Srinagar for over six years before being transferred to Delhi.

We got talking and I found in him an interesting person. He gave his version of Pakistani intrusion which I shared with senior army officers but for obvious reasons did not include in my dispatches to AIR.

The Army spokesman in New Delhi, Colonel Bikram Singh announced that the Tiger Hill had been recaptured. Col. Bikram Singh was to become the Chief of the Army Staff in due course of time. In between he had a stint in Anantnag as a Brigadier.

The saga of the recapture of Tiger Hill would unfold in the weeks and months that followed. Sepoy Sanjay Kumar was later awarded the highest gallantry honor, the Param Vir Chakra, on Republic Day in 2000.

This is the history that will continue to be told year after year, whenever the story of how the Kargil War was won by brave Indian soldiers is recounted—soldiers who thwarted the evil designs and machinations of a devious enemy, defeated many times but still refusing to give up.

Ajeet Singh is a freelance journalist based at Hisar in Haryana. He was All India Radio's Correspondent in Jammu and Kashmir for over 19 years. He retired as Director of News, Doordarshan Hisar. He can be contacted on phone9466647037.