India is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Kargil war on Friday. On this day in 1999, the Indian Armed Forces won over the infiltrating Pakistani troops and the day is observed every year across the country to show respect and gratitude to the brave soldiers of the armed forces who sacrificed their lives to re-capture all the posts that were seized by the Pakistan Army.
The Kargil War took place between May and July, 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir. The Indian operation to clear the Kargil sector from the infiltrating Pakistani troops is also called Operation Vijay, which means victory.
Kargil Vijay Diwas: What is Operation Vijay?
In 1998-99 winter, Pakistan Armed Forces were covertly training and infiltrating Pakistani troops and paramilitary forces towards the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC).
The infiltration was codenamed "Operation Badr" and the aim was to sever the link between Kashmir and Ladhak and cause Indian forces to withdraw from the Siachen Glaciers, forcing India to negotiate a settlement of the broader Kashmir dispute.
Pakistan also believed that any tension in the region would internationalize the Kashmir issue, helping it to secure a speedy resolution.
It is worth mentioning that the infiltration began even after India and Pakistan signed the Lahore Declaration in February, 1999 in which both the countries mutually agreed to solve the Kashmir issue in a peaceful manner among others.
Soon the Pakistani troops managed to capture a region between 130 to 200 square kilometres.
Seeing the Pakistani troops infiltrating the Indian side, the Indian Armed Forced started to respond with Operation Vijay.
Pakistan, meanwhile, denied that its soldiers were involved in Kargil incursions. Pakistan floated a theory that what happened in 1999 was a doing of some mujahideens and that Pakistan Army got involved only after India's response on the LoC.
Official records available now in the public domain in both Pakistan and India nail the lie spread of Pakistan for years.
The plan of Pakistan was to send its soldiers during the winters when India vacated certain posts.
The glorious Operation Vijay saw the mobilisation of about 2,00,000 Indian troops and brought a swift and final end to the war by recapturing all the previously lost posts and forcing the Pakistani intruders to vacate the posts.
The Kargil was a unique instance of both India and Pakistan facing each other off in a conventional warfare.
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