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Kargil tapes: How Musharraf cooked the war

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This is the untold story of the Kargil war and Pakistan’s involvement in the conflict and the damning revelation came from a set of tapes of then Pakistan Army Chief Pervez Musharraf who was caught on tape discussing the war from China.

NewsMobile gives you a rewind of those tapes, and what happened.

This is Pakistan. Give me room No 83315…” Lt General Mohammed Aziz, Pakistan’s Chief of General Staff called his boss the Pakistan Army Chief General Parvez Musharraf who was in Beijing.

May 26

(The Army Chief is informed that India has begun strafing and bombing their positions from high altitude.)

Lt Gen Aziz to Gen Musharraf: “The situation is that we are along our defensive Line of Control…they (India) are not agreed on the demarcation under UNs verification, whereas we are agreed. We want to exploit it.”

Musharraf: Has this MI-17 not fallen in our area?

Aziz: No sir. This has fallen in their area. We have not claimed it. We have got it claimed through the Mujahideen.

Musharraf: Well done.

May 29
(The day Indian air-strikes began)

Musharraf to Aziz: “The door of discussion, dialogue must be kept open and rest, no change in ground situation.”

Aziz: “We told him (Nawaz Sharif) there is no reason of alarm and panic. Then he said that I came to know 7 days back, when Corps Commanders were told. The entire reason for the success of this operation was this total secrecy.”

ALSO READ: Kargil Vijay Diwas today

At least two conversations of May 26 and May 29, between the two Pakistani Generals were picked up by India’s external intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing.

By June 1, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and members of the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) had heard the tapes. Even though what turned out to a tactical blunder,

And by June 4, India delivered the Musharraf tapes, along with a written transcript to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Kargil war, Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, India, Atal Behari Vajpayee,

A middle ground approach was found. R K Mishra of the Observer group, who was in Australia, was asked to return to New Delhi and assigned the job. Fearing detection, or maybe just a cumbersome baggage search at the airport, the big-wigs at North Block decided Mishra must have the cover of diplomatic immunity. MEA’s Joint Secretary, Vivek Katju was asked to board the PIA flight along with Mishra and either on the night of June 3 or June 4, the duo landed in Islamabad.
The Indian Embassy worked late that night, as the Musharraf tapes were played and re-played for senior members of the mission.

Sources said, Mishra went alone at about 8:30 am, handed over the tape and transcript and apparently made it known that this was just a sample of the “evidence” of military involvement in possession of New Delhi.

From the Indian viewpoint, the Musharraf tapes was a damning proof that and exposed Pakistan’s lie that the Kargil intrusions were not carried by Pakistan army.

On June 11 — on the eve of Sartaj Aziz’s India visit — that the conversations were made public at a press conference.

Others say that the manner in which Musharraf discussed operational details of the Kargil war on a public line was typical of Pakistan’s commander-in-chief who later became the President of Pakistan and admitted to the role.

ALSO READ: Kargil Vijay Diwas: Remembering valiant, brave soldiers

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