Kargil War and The Hindu Revelations

Praveen Swami who specialises in intelligence/defence affairs has made interesting revelations in his recent article titled "Skeletons in the Generals' cupboards," The Hindu 10.08.2009. The edit page article explains the "command failures during the Kargil war". The article begins with what happened in May 1999 Yaldor sector and documents the various developments in the sensitive border area, quoting the communications sent by senior military officers, alerting their superiors about the impending disaster. Praveen Swami writes:"WhenTroops of 5 Para Regiment spotted movement on the top of Point 5770, a strategic height in the southern Siachen area.....The officer who reported the Pakistani intrusion Major Manish Bhatnagar was removed from the area and the loss of the peak hushed up." The article reveals that "even after fighting broke out, top commanders refused to engage with reality. During the war, repeated efforts were made to hush up failures." He says innocent officers were court-martialled and sacrificed to protect higher commanders from responsibility for their failure. The article concludes by quoting former Union Defence Minister George Fernandes who said,"The truth about what went wrong, where and why should not embarass anyone and it is a must so that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past." Qudos to Praveen Swami for the brilliant write up.