KARGIL: From Surprise to Victory

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Even as the Indian prime Minister and his Pakistani counterpart huggd each other after signing the Lahore Declaration in February 1999, Pakistan Army personnel, in the garb of jehadi militants, infiltrated into Indian territory at Kargil and triggered off a limited conventional war between the world's newest nuclear-weapon states. The Pakistani Army achieved a tactical surprise, but failed at the Strategic level. The outbreak of war at Kargil also revealed that the Pakistani political leadership was out of synch with the thinking and planning of the country's military top brass. The author analyses the reasoning behind the Pakistani Army moves and tactics and also focuses on the individuals responsible.

This incisive volume uncovers several new details and attempts to answer all crucial questions such as : What was the extent of intelligence and surveillance failure of the Indian side and why? What was the rationale for India's grand strategy of restraint despite being a victim of aggression? What was India's military strategy and how was the war managed? How were the battles in various sectors planned and executed to recapture the strategically important high altitude mountaintops? What was the international response to the aggression due to the nuclear factor and what was the role-played by the USA and China? What was the impact of the war on Pakistan and India? What are the lessons to be learnt fro Kargil on the military, political and diplomatic fronts?

He rounds off the book with a survey of Indo-Pak security relations in the Post-Kargil era. In this context he takes stock of the Peace dialogue and its sustainability given the fact that Pakistan's military rulers have yet to shun terrorism as an instrument\ of state policy.

About the Author:

He was the Chief of the Army Staff from 1 October 1997 to 30 September 2000. Concurrently he was chairman, chiefs of Staff Committee, from 1 January 1999 to 30 September 2000. in both these posts, he played a vital role in planning coordinating that enabled India to evict the Pakistani intruders in Kargil and thus turn the tables on Pakistan.

A graduate from the Defence Services Staff College and madras University, General Malik is an alumnus of the National Defence College, New Delhi. He has been a member of India's National Security Advisory Board and has delivered lectures in many prestigious civil and military institutions in India and abroad. Currently, he heads the Institute of Security Studies in the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.