Kargil Vijay Diwas or Kargil Victory Day is commemorated every year on July 26 to observe India's victory over Pakistan in the 1999 Kargil war.
The Pakistani troops had occupied positions on the mountain tops of Northern Kargil district in Ladakh. The Kargil Vijay Diwas is observed to honour sacrifces of the soldiers of Indian army.
The Prime Minister of India pays homage to the soldiers at India Gate every year.
Countless Indian films like Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Shershaah, LOC: Kargil and others have been made on the subject or soldiers who contributed in the war which has familiarised public with Kargil War which is also known as Operation Vijay in India.
But what prompted the Kargil war? Read the background here
Prior to the Partition, Kargil was a tehsil of Ladakh where people with diverse linguistic, ethnic and religios groups lived in isolated valleys.
The Indo-Pakistan war of 1947-1948 concluded with the Line of Control bisecting the Ladakh district with Skardu tehsil becoming part of Pakistan.
The two countries who again went on war in 1971 later signed Simla Agreement promising not to engage in armed conflict in respect to the boundary.
However, the two countries still had few direct armed conflicts involving the military forces as both India and Pakistan made efforts to control the Siachen Glacier by establishing military outposts.
During the 1990s, the tensions escalated because of separatist activities in Kashmir, some of which were reportedly, supported by Pakistan.
The two nations had signed Lahore Declaration in February 1999 in a bid to provide peaceful bilateral solution to conflict.
However, Pakistani Armed Forces covertly were training and sending Pakistani troops and paramilitary forces, allegedly some of them in guise of mujahideen, in Indian territory.
According to archives, they aimed to sever link between Kashmir and Ladakh and to compel Indian forces to withdraw from Siachen Glacier. Had they succeeded, India would have to negotiate settlement of broader Kashmir dispute.
The Indian Armed Forces though fought fiercely to protect the Indian territory and eventually won.
