Pervez Musharraf made a statement on Thursday, describing former Pakistan chief of army staff Lt Gen (retired) Shahid Aziz as an imbalanced personality who indulged in uncalled for character assassination, former president Musharraf further justified the 1999 Kargil War and stated that there was absolutely no need to inform everyone about the operation.
Rejecting the suggestion that he had willfully put a “tight lid” on details regarding the Kargil war operation when he was Pakistan’s chief of army staff, Musharraf told a private news channel that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was solely to blame for the defeat, and in terms of the military, it was a success as it completely exposed the Indian security establishment’s unpreparedness.
Musharraf said that if Nawaz Sharif had not visited the United States, Pakistan would have conquered 300 square miles of India.
He described the Kargil operation as a localised one, where the exchange of fire was routine.
He added, that Nawaz lost a political front which the army had won militarily.
During the Kargil conflict of 1999, Aziz ran the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) analysis wing.
Musharraf added that the prime consideration of such actions is security and secrecy, so the army leadership decides who is to be informed and when. As the operation progressed and the proper time arrived, a briefing of the corps commanders was also held.
The former president said he was astonished by Lt Gen (retired) Aziz’s claim 10 years later.
Nawaz Sharif was solely to blame for Kargil: Musharraf
