Date: 17 Aug 2009
KARGIL BLUNDERS: ACCOUNTABILITY Monday, 17 August, 2009, 1:34 AM While the Indian army acquitted themselves with dignity and honour despite very high casualties, the general impression has remained that many precious lives of officers and men could have been saved by their SUPERIORS, planning the strategy and even tactics of those operations in a PROFESSIONAL manner. If a general makes a blunder he is answerable and can be court-martialled and lose his job. But what happens when the CIVILIAN command behaves in an irresponsible manner? How far should one's loyalty and obedience go to overlook THEIR blunders? During the battles for Kargil heights it became clear that the Pakistanis were occupying COMMANDING heights and the uphill slopes were very STEEP. Yet the soldiers were ORDERED repeatedly to launch FRONTAL ATTACKS in violation of basic military principles. It seemed as if either the generals were professionally incompetent (unlikely) or the CIVILIAN authorities, particularly the DEFENCE MINISTER, were on the side of the enemy. Even to a lay man it seemed logical to CIRCUMVENT or BYPASS the enemy positions and take him on, from the sides, preferably from the REAR. Another most desired option was a PARA DROP behind the enemy lines like the CHINDIT operations in Burma. But while the BRITISH commanders BELIEVED in the possibility of either RETREAT by the Japanese or their LINK UP by advancing forces on land, the Indian field commanders and their CIVILIAN superiors had NO such conviction. They seemed to FEAR that the Pakistani troops will stay put on those heights while it will be impossible to extricate the troops dropped behind them. We need to find out the answers to these questions: "Was it the CIVILIAN side, the defence minister and his BABOOS, whose brains and spirits "FROZE"? "Did they INTENTIONALLY cause the excessive casualties on our own side? "Was there a TOP SECRET agenda to this effect with the PRIME MINISTER at the time?" If we recall the SPEED & WILLINGNESS with which the first prime minister of Independent India surrendered Lahore without resistence, and ordered our ADVANCING troops in Kashmir to STOP, even WITHDRAW at places, this is not a far fetched question. I am convinced that there is a case for serving notice of prosecution on the Defence Minster for an APOLOGY and COMPENSATION to all the widows of those brave Jawans who went to their deaths without QUESTIONING the wisdom of their superiors. 16 August 2009 =========== WE HOPE ONE DAY THE NATIONALIST GOVERNMENT OF INDIA WILL BRING THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR BLUNDERS DURING KARGIL BATTLEs IN 1999 TO JUSTICE. 000000000