Former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf (Retd) passed away after a prolonged illness, at a hospital in Dubai on Sunday, at the age of 79, reported Pakistan's Geo News. He was suffering from multi-organ failure.
Musharraf was the main architect of Kargil War
Musharraf was named as the main architect of the Kargil War that took place in the year 1999. India was locked in an armed conflict with Pakistani troops. India's Operation Vijay began after Pakistani soldiers pretending to be Kashmiri militants infiltrated the Line of Control.
At the time of the War, Nawaz Sharif had been the Prime Minister of Pakistan, while the Pakistani Army had been led by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Pervez Musharraf. Following the Kargil War, the two would go on to hold each other responsible for the events that took place. Each had also alleged that the other was falsifying the narrative and lying by omission.
It was claimed that Pakistan Army officials working with Musharraf began the instigation
However, it must be noted that there have been many who claim that it was Pakistani Army officials who had begun the instigation. It is probably not far-fetched then to link Army leader Musharraf to the decision. In June 1999, as the war raged, India had released documents and intercepted conversations that reinforced the claim that Pakistan, and more specifically the Army was involved in the fray.
An exiled Nawaz Sharif later claimed in his official biography that the Pakistani Army – led by General Pervez Musharraf – had moved nuclear warheads for use against India during the Kargil War.
Sharif's shocking claims about Musharraf wanting to involve US in Kargil War
"During my post-Kargil misadventure meeting with American President (Bill) Clinton, I was told by the American leader that the nuclear warheads had been shifted from one station to the other during the Kargil War. I was taken aback by this revelation because I knew nothing about it,” he was quoted as saying in the biography titled Ghadaar Kaun? Nawaz Sharif Ki Kahani, Unki Zubani. Perhaps understatedly, Sharif calls this “a very irresponsible thing to do”. Sharif also claims that Musharraf had “begged” him to involve the US.
The two Pakistani leaders have continued to blame each other, and thus, quite naturally, Musharraf’s memoirs, "In the Line of Fire: A Memoir" are a tad contradictory, claiming that from a military standpoint, “the Kargil operations were a landmark in the history of the Pakistan Army”. In the same, vein, the memoirs ignore many facets of the war that have now been accepted by most as fact – preferring to recount its own version of history.
Musharraf backed Pakistan army post Kargil War
But, while Musharraf claimed that everything Pakistan did was purely defensive, and in response to India’s actions, he also claimed that the Pakistani Army had moved to support militants who had occupied the some of the elevated areas.
