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Arun Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 24
The Kargil war of 1999 has assumed new dimensions in 2019 — the Indian armed forces are brimming with a new confidence after the February 26 aerial strikein Balakot, Pakistan, as the celebrations of the success of “Operation Vijay” is in progress in the cold desert region of Ladakh, reliving each and every moment of the Indian valour in trans-Himalayas.
The Balakot strike has changed the mental makeup and training of the soldiers and Air Force personnel for this means what they were barred from doing 20 years ago, can be done today. The soldiers and the IAF planes were strictly prohibited from crossing the Line of Control (LoC) in 1999, now no such barrier exists.
Recalling the events of 1999, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah told The Tribune that the things were turning critical and the Army needed aerial support to move ahead to recapture the Himalayan heights that had been occupied by the Pakistan army. “Then Air Chief Marshal AY Tipnis had pleaded with the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to give a green signal to cross the LoC, but he had declined his request.”
Farooq said when it was pointed out to him that the Army would be at the receiving end and there might be many more casualties than anticipated in the war where fight was not only against the enemy perched on heights but also from the terrain, he relented. But Vajpayee gave clearance to the IAF chief to offer the aerial support on the Indian side of the LoC only. Nothing beyond that.
Now after the Balakot strike on February 26 when the Indian planes flew across the Pakistan border and hit their targets, the whole dimension has changed. Now there are no such restrictions. A psychological barrier has been lifted once and for all, said sources in the Army.
Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat was perhaps referring to this when he observed that the “formation of the space, cyber and special forces divisions is indication of the transformation that the armed forces are going through.”
His remarks at a seminar in New Delhi a few days ago also included specific and clear references to the cross-border strikes in September 2016 following fidayeen attack at the Uri Army camp and Balakot airstrike post February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
These cross-border strikes have not only demons-trated the political-military resolve, but also the transformation that the Army is undergoing at the moment.
Much more has changed on the ground also that has added to the confidence of the Army which is now trekking back to the high battlefields of the Kargil era of 1999, demonstrating that it is far easier for them to access the LoC points, like Tiger Hill, Tololing, Khalubar and Point 4875 — now known as Batra top, where Capt Vikram Batra sacrificed his life to free the height from the enemy.
It is a changed world in the war theatre of 1999. The Army is convinced that Pakistan will never darto repeat misadventurelike Kargil ever.
The changed situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the new confidence among the soldiers should also make President Donald Trump to turn pages of history that how the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had beseeched President Bill Clinton to end the war, Vajpayee had refused to relent. Pakistan withdrew from the few peaks that were still in its control as on July 4, 1999.
It was in the aftermath of the Kargil war that American troops had held joint exercises with the Army in early 2000s.
Barriers broken
The Indian armed forces are brimming with a new confidence after the February 26 aerial strike in Balakot, Pakistan
The strike has changed the mental makeup and training of soldiers and IAF personnel for this means what they were barred from doing 20 years ago, can be done today.
The soldiers and the IAF planes were strictly prohibited from crossing the LoC in 1999, now no such barrier exists
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