Kargil was Musharraf’s disaster, says Gen Aziz

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Former Lahore corps commander Lt General (r) Shahid Aziz has said that the Kargil war with India was an “unsound military plan based on invalid assumptions, launched with little preparations and in total disregard to the regional and international environment”.
In an op-ed in a local English daily, the former general said the Kargil adventure was “bound to fail”. He said former army chief Pervez Musharraf put a tight lid over the programme and the very reason for such a calling must have been because the mission was a “total disaster”.
Gen (r) Musharraf even put on hold a study commenced by GHQ to identify issues of concern at the lowest levels of command three years after the Kargil fiasco.
“It certainly wasn’t a defensive manoeuvre. There were no indications of an Indian attack. We didn’t pre-empt anything; nothing was on the cards. I was then heading the Analysis Wing of Inter-Services Intelligence and it was my job to know. Our clearly expressed intent was to cut the supply line to Siachen and force the Indians to pull out,” the former general said in his op-ed piece.
“This was not a small result we sought and cannot be classified as a tactical manoeuvre, where no one other than the local commander needed to be aware,” he said.
“The entire planning and execution was done in a cavalier manner, in total disregard of military convention. In justification, to say that our assessment was not wrong, but there was, ‘unreasonably escalated Indian response’ is a sorry excuse for not being able to assess Indian reaction. Assumptions were made that they would not be able to dislodge us and the world would sit back idly.”
Aziz said Pakistani soldiers were made to occupy barren ridges, with hand held weapons and ammunition.
“There was no way to dig in, so they were told to make parapets with lose stones and sit behind them, with no overhead protection. The boys were comforted by their commander’s assessment that no serious response would come. But it did — wave after wave, supported by massive air bursting artillery and repeated air attacks. The enemy still couldn’t manage to capture the peaks, and instead filled in the valleys. Cut off and forsaken, our posts started collapsing one after the other, though the general publicly denied it.” The former corps commander added that the operation never had the capacity to choke Siachen, adding that the country needlessly continued to indulge in bloody enterprises under the hoax of safeguarding national interest.

18 COMMENTS

  1. Is that right Gen.Aziz,I'm a colonel's son and a general's brother and I feel ashamed calling you a general.Why take so long ? Why now ??? what are your motives ??? what are your intentions ??? Ain't nothing good gonna come out of it.

    • Exactly the same questions bother me. Thank you desi for voicing them. We've heard of sleep-walking, this general seems to be sleep-writing. What he says doen't make sense at times. To be fair this is the impression created by the extracts published by Pakistan Today from "an op-ed in a local English daily". I wish Pakistan Today had mentioned the name of the English daily. I would like to read Gen Aziz's full article before piling into it with criticisms.

  2. Goes to show how little sense these people have of performing their own duties and functions, what to speak of running the country and understanding of international relations.
    People like Musharraf are ,in today's world, to be considered semi-literate and of low intellect. Attempts should be made to improve the the basics of their professional abilities instead of their spending time on grand plans.

  3. Gen AZIZ, is a true soldier and he never lies,army is not like a political party..where one can leave on his own sweet will…thanks he has spoken…after retirement…..yes…he was a disciplined soldier pakistan will miss due to musharaff..

  4. .
    Pakistan’s prosecution of Kargil even amidst its pursuit of the Lahore Declaration process was understood to be outrageously duplicitous and devoid of strategic calculus …
    (Rand Corp. study)
    .
    (I think a similar conclusion is made by the US on Afghan issue — thanks to Musharraf again. So, yes, the life has not changed as far as Pakistan is concerned.)
    .

  5. Gen Aziz is a well regarded person in militray circles. He is wonderful human being. I wonder how much of the write up above really is true and relevant to what he may have actually said on the subject; also the necessity to beat this dead horse after this lapse smells. Please Sir, be vary of these yellow journalists. There is a healthy list of retired senior officers succumbing to the natural need for post retirement recognition through these gamesmen playing a totally different sport.

  6. shame for all ,those did not resist to stupid Musharraf ideas.Pakistani army generals prefer their personal interest rather national interest . They had lost east pakistan and now kashmir . I am afraid one day nation will lose country if they continue sly play in hand of foreigner masters

  7. So an Army Chief caued the death of hundreds of soldiers and nearly risked a nuclear war on an "unsound military plan based on invalid assumptions, launched with little preparations and in total disregard to the regional and international environment”.
    Something must be seriously wrong with the senior officer selection process in the Army if such idiots can get to the top.

  8. Shame on you Aziz…we are ashame to have generals like you..instead of speaking this bundle of lies for political millage and to have cheap publicity, you should have been dumped under foots of………….shame on u aziz…

  9. Whats the meaning now.. we should admit that we lost the war with India.. And the history book which our kids will read will always say that India Pakistan had 3 wars from which India won 2 and Pakistan only 1. LIVE WITH IT.

  10. If one wants to become a Gen in Pakistan Army , you should never disagree with your seniors,even you have been screwed.A bright upright outspoken officer can not rise beyond the rank of a MAJOR if he expresses his views not in line of a senior(Formal or informal discussion) . All those Gen who speak against the policies/operations of the army after their retirements are shameless with no moral guts. They just got the Gen rank because they were the best bootlickers. MAY GOD SHOW THEM THE RIGHT PATH> AMEEN

  11. Unfortunately this is the breed of Generals we are producing now. They are true paper tigers who have reached this level coz they were good at pleasing their bosses throughout. How do you accept a person like this to ever have the courage to speak the truth or develope the moral courage to stand up for the right thing. COWARDICE AT ITS BEST. If you want to recognize them here is the trick. They all are hypocrats. Some start talking about use of chemical weapons in Lal Masjid Operation, some start criticizing about Kargil and so on, only after their retirement. In service they cant risk loosing sham perks and privileges they and their kin and kith enjoy. Shame on You all.

    • Paper tigers indeed…but only at home! See them in front of Americans and they are like bhigi billis. And remember almost all these 'generals' have never seen battle (unless it is in Balochistan or Northern Areas).

      What General Aziz is saing is NOT news, btw. Just surprized it took him this long to come out.

      Yes, Nawaz was the "PM" at the time of the pullout (like there was a choice as Gen Aziz just confirmed it) but the orders came from ELSEWHERE! Slaves ALL!!!

  12. In my experience as a doctor even a post mortem examination some times cannot establish the exact cause of death and one is left with hypothesis. Such is the case with Kargill Skirmish or war depending upon who defines it.
    When one goes to war there are three fronts one must cover. 1) The military 2) Domestic 3)The Diplomatic.
    The military may carry on planing in secret but gradually the public has to be sensitised in a subtle way. It is after all going to accept casualties . Finally the Diplomats have to defend their country on the international front. In Kargill episode nothing happened . We woke up to a announcement to a brilliant attack by freedom fighters but later on the pakistani army did accept tacit support though not direct participation. On the diplomatic level our diplomats were absolutely quiet. The foreign office had nothing to say to the foreign journalists. I speak from personal experience in Scandanavia. On the contrary the Indian Ambassdor won the diplomatic war outright.
    Our PM appeared to be non plussed by the events and could not make a coherent statement and rushed after sometimes to President Clinton for support. Remember Clinton's quote "Nawaz this happened under your watch". WE LOST ON ALL FRONTS.
    Though we did not win the 1965 war atleast we had done all the three things properly.
    Again President Ayub in his naivity accepted ZAB's assurances that India would not attack on the international border was a mistake of grotesque proportion–we almost lost Lahore. It is often said that war is too important to be left to the Generals alone but our PM of the day had not read history. He wanted acclailm rather than blame and when this happened he tried to kick the out the COAS in the air with disastrous result. Let us stop this post mortem now. It is getting more painful than ever.

  13. What a bright General we have here who barbecues higher command of Army telling us that everything happened under his nose yet he knew nothing. Revealing information that any sane person would classify and then speaking against his own Army Chief who, obviously, was far sharper than General Aziz is!
    Its general's like Aziz who need to be disciplined, their words play pivotal role in demoralising army. These are the traitors who were cleansed by General Musharraf after taking up as COAS.
    Plan didn't work successfully, we lost the war. So be it. Didn't USSR lose war? did any General in that Army speak against failure of plan or failed governance by COAS. They have something called dignity which General Aziz doesn't.

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