Pak opposition demands probe into Kargil episode

Amid claims that four generals of Pakistan army, led by the then army chief General Pervez Musharraf, masterminded the Kargil conflict with India, Pakistan's main opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), has demanded a judicial inquiry into the episode. The PML-N, led by Nawaz Sharif, was the ruling the country in 1999.

"Following the latest revelations by a close aide of Musharraf, there is no option but to seek the formation of a judicial commission to conduct an inquiry into the Kargil episode," PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the media. He said though more than 500 Pakistani soldiers, including young officers, were killed in Kargil, there has no inquiry till date. "In contrast, India had already carried out a detailed inquiry into the incident and made its report public years ago," he said.

Khan, leader of the opposition in the lower house of Pakistan parliament, made the statement in the wake of disclosures by Lt Gen (retired) Shahid Aziz, who headed the ISI during the conflict.

Aziz who has written a book about his days in the army had told the media that the operation was masterminded by four generals led by Musharraf. He has said that the military commanders were informed about the details of the operation and the exact number of Pakistani casualties is not known yet. "It [Kargil] was a failure because we had to hide its objectives and results from our own people and the nation. It had no purpose, no planning and nobody knows even today how many soldiers lost their lives," Aziz said in a recent interview.

Khan said an independent inquiry into the conflict would ensure that no military officer could act in the same manner in future. "Four generals conducted an operation like thieves while hiding things from the army and the government," he said.

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