Kargil War
| date | May – July 1999 |
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| place | Kargil District, Kashmir, India |
| output | India regains control of the occupied territories. |
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The Kargil War , also known as the Kargil Conflict , or, more rarely, the Fourth Indo-Pakistani War or the Third Kashmir War , was a near-war armed conflict between the South Asian states of India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region, which was claimed by both sides, in 1999. The immediate cause was the intrusion of armed forces Units from Pakistani-controlled to Indian-controlled territory. India accused Pakistan of supporting these units. The war ended with success for India, but did not solve the Kashmir problem that had existed since 1947.
The conflict is particularly important because both states were already nuclear powers at the time of the outbreak . During the fighting, both sides avoided the term "war", which today, however, can often be found in the media of the participating states as well as abroad.
Causes and Background
The dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir has been simmering since 1947 and led to two wars before 1999 ( First Indo-Pakistani War 1947–1949 and Second Indo-Pakistani War 1965). The Indian part of Kashmir has been a federal state since 1957 under the name Jammu and Kashmir . The Pakistani part is divided into the semi-autonomous region of Azad Kashmir ("Free Kashmir") and the special territory Gilgit-Baltistan (until 2009 called Northern Regions).
Since the late 1980s there have been regular incidents at the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir established by the United Nations by the UNCIP / UNMOGIP in 1949 ; In addition, terrorist attacks are repeatedly carried out on Indian facilities in the Indian part of the disputed area. The tense relations between the warring states were fueled by the election victory of the Hindu nationalist BJP in India in March 1998. In April both countries successfully tested their medium-range missiles, which are also suitable for nuclear warheads. India carried out five underground nuclear weapons tests from May 11-13, 1998, to which Pakistan responded on May 26 with six underground nuclear weapons tests. In the months that followed, the situation worsened.
occasion
Despite the Lahore Declaration signed in February 1999 , in which both countries agreed on a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue, armed men from the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir crossed the ceasefire line around the same time. They occupied mountain positions, which the Indian army usually leaves in winter due to the extreme climatic conditions, on a 160-kilometer border strip of the Kargil district in the far north of Jammu and Kashmir . Between May 6 and May 14, India discovered 800 to 900 units , presumably including regular Pakistani soldiers , who had moved into the positions since the beginning of May, but this was denied by the Pakistani side. They had good high-mountain equipment, well-organized supplies and medium-weight weapons, including mortars , artillery and anti-aircraft guns . By the end of May, India was concentrating troops and war material in the region.
Fighting
On May 26, 1999 India finally began an offensive with air support ( Operation Vijay ). The aerial attacks proved to be ineffective. A MiG plane and a helicopter were shot down. Due to the difficult terrain - most of the occupied positions were over 5000 meters above sea level - and the associated clear defense advantages of the opposing units, the Indian army initially made little progress.
Of paramount importance to India was the protection of the National Highway 1D from Srinagar to Leh , which served as a supply and deployment route but was constantly exposed to artillery fire. The first attacks therefore focused on securing the National Highway . Only after this goal was achieved, Indian troops could move against higher positions. Key positions were initially the peaks of Tololing and Tiger Hill near the village of Dras in the west of the contested area, where the attackers were most vulnerable. From the beginning of June India succeeded in gradually pushing back the enemy, mainly through the use of howitzers . Persecution across the armistice line was deliberately avoided in order to avoid further escalation and expansion into open war. Tololing and Tiger Hill were captured on June 12 and June 20, respectively. From the end of June, Indian troops were also successful in the other sectors of the front. By July 11, most of the occupied positions had been recaptured.
On July 4th, after talks with US President Bill Clinton in Washington, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif agreed to withdraw the units known as "freedom fighters". Until then, Pakistan had denied having any influence over these units, let alone deploying members of its regular armed forces. With the withdrawal declaration, it indirectly admitted its participation. The fighting ended on July 14th.
Around 30,000 Indian soldiers , including paramilitary units, were deployed in Kargil alone, and troop strength throughout Kashmir was increased to 730,000. The number of pro-Pakistani units involved was at most 5,000. On the Indian side, around 500 to 600 soldiers were killed. There are no reliable estimates of the number of deaths on the Pakistani side.
Results
All units that had invaded Indian territory before the outbreak of the armed conflict withdrew from the occupied positions, so that the pre-war territorial status was restored. The conflict did not resolve the Kashmir issue.
The Kargil War subsequently played an important role in domestic and foreign policy in both India and Pakistan. The successful military coup by General Pervez Musharraf against Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in October 1999 is attributed, among other things, to differences of opinion between Sharif and the army leadership on the Kargil issue. Musharraf is assigned the planning of the occupation from the Indian side. In India, the government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee , led by the Hindu nationalist BJP, was able to derive political benefit from the euphoric victory that is often overstated in the media. In the wake of the patriotic mood in the country, it won the parliamentary elections in September / October 1999 by a superior margin.
In terms of foreign policy, the conflict led to rapprochement between India and the USA , which had supported the Indian position. Pakistan, on the other hand, found itself isolated by foreign policy pressure to withdraw the armed forces. Its stance that it had no connection with the anti-Indian units in Kargil was viewed by most states as implausible in view of the withdrawal announced by Sharif and the award of several high military awards to Pakistani soldiers, some posthumously . In addition, critics argue that mujahideen or Kashmiri separatists are unlikely to have been able to operate at altitudes above 5,000 meters without Pakistani support. China , one of Pakistan's most important allies since the 1960s, had increased its troop presence on the border with India.
See also
Web links
- Information on the Kargil War from the Research Group on the Causes of War at the University of Hamburg
- Analysis of the war by Shaukat Qadir, Journal of the Royal United Services Institution (English, PDF, 885 KiB)
- Warfare information on globalsecurity.org
- The kargil crisis , information at rediff.com (English)