The country has come a long way in beefing up surveillance along the border since the Kargil conflict 20 years back to ensure there is no repeat of such an incident, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat said on Saturday. Surgical strikes of 2016 and 2019 show the political resolve of the country in dealing with terror, he stated.
“We are working in a coordinated manner for a cogent and synchronized national response against sub-conventional and asymmetric threats by any adversary. Surgical strikes post Uri and Balakot have amply demonstrated our political and military resolve against terror. Any act of terror will not go unpunished,” Gen Rawat said. He was speaking at a commemorative event for 20 years of Kargil conflict and the lessons learnt organised by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS).
A book ‘Surprise, Strategy and Vijay: 20 years of Kargil and beyond’ was released at the seminar with accounts by various officers who fought in the Kargil conflict and edited by Lt Gen VK Ahluwalia (retd), Director CLAWS.
In the summer of 1999, India was caught off guard as Pakistani regular soldiers dressed up as irregulars occupied the icy heights in Kargil and adjoining areas. After initial losses India eventually recaptured the peaks but as a strategy refused to cross the Line of Control (LoC) or open new fronts.
Talking of the conflict, then Army Chief Gen VP Malik highlighted lack of surveillance, intelligence failure, shortage of equipment and sanctions among the major failures and challenges. “There was absolutely no assessment anywhere that Pakistan Army was planning an infiltration of this scale,” Gen Malik said and added initially the infiltration was thought to be a counter terror operation and different tactics were adopted. “So we suffered high casualties initially,” he added.
Talking of the changing nature of warfare, Gen Rawat observed that future conflicts will be more “violent and unpredictable.” “Unconventional and symmetric wars are gaining pre-eminence. In the future even conventional conflicts are likely to large asymmetric component what is now being called hybrid ears,” he observed.
Talking of the continued import of defence equipment, Gen Rawat said “we can’t afford to be import dependent throughout” and “achieving self-reliance in critical weapon technologies involves revitalization the defence public sector units, private sector participation and impetus to research and development.”
In this direction, he announced that the first ordnance factory that is now being established jointly with Russia to manufacture the Ak-203 is being headed by a serving two star Major General as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
During Kargil, Army relied on heavy troop numbers to offset the enemy’s advantage of height which had cost hundreds of lives. With barren rocky terrain, the mountains offer no camouflage or concealment. Heavy artillery in the form of 155mm Bofors guns and aerial bombardment by the Indian Air Force (IAF) with Laser Guided Bombs turned the tide later in India’s favour.
