Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Kargil War” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Kargil War 

The booming of guns across the line of control is not new thing but in 1999, when the two sides exchanged fire in the first week of May, there was some surprise, only because just three months earlier, the Prime Minister of the two countries had embraced each other warmly on Wagaha border promising to work towards peace. After Pakistan gave the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee 21 gun salute on his visit it was hoped that the artillery of the two states would fell silent for a while to give the historic Lahore Declaration a chance to succeed.

However, the hope was shattered as quickly as the melting of the snow on the rest line of the Kargil mountains at the approach of summer. Indian army was taken up by surprise when heavily armed Pakistani backed intruders positioned themselves in at heights of 16000 to 18000 ft. On the Indian state of LOC control along on 80 km. stretch north of Kargil and in the first week of May they began attacking the strategic highway linking Sri Nagar and Leh.

Tension increased rapidly when India moved in an entire army division to evict the intruders. Operation Vijay was launched. From the very first start Mr. Vajpayee was absolutely clear that there was no way he was going to allow Pakistan to occupy Indian territory especially in strategic area like Kargil and ordered the armed forces to take any action necessary to evict the invaders.

The army sent up well armed soldiers to fight the intruders but suffered heavy losses due to their disadvantageous position. In the mean time, Pakistan artillery aided by the forward observation posts by the intruders shot down accurate fire on the stretch of the highway and the settlements around Kargil and Drass and later destroyed the main army ammunition which was kept outside Kargil town. The Indian army now realised that they needed help to evict intruders from the heights in the fire of heavy artillery shelling from Pakistani portion across the LOC.

Indian army has always played a major role in India-Pak wars in 1947, in 1965 and in 1971. The IAF quick reaction has succeeded in blunting the invasion. Operation Vijay took a dramatic and unprecedented turn on May 26, 1999. India surprised the enemy when Indian Air Force fighters aired rocket and machine gun fired on the intruders camps hidden out of sight in the high ridges out of reach of the army. Never in the history of the IAF have fighter planes done such service at 18000 ft. height.

By the end of the month a war like situation in Kargil was declared. Army launched a major offensive in Kargil and Drass sectors accompanied by Airstrikes. The foremost plan was to keep the crucial-Leh highway free from the Pakistani threat. On June 13 Army captured the Taluling peak, which was the turning point and by June the troops captured the point 5140. Pressure mounted on the Pakistani the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif from all around the world to end the intrusion. On July 4th Indian Army recaptured Tiger Hill from intruders. Mr Shriff at least succumbed to the international pressure and agreed to pull back the intruding Pakistani infiltrators began to retreat from Kargil. Meanwhile for total withdrawal the then Indian Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari vajpayee declared operation Vijay a success. However the large number of casualties shook the nation. The cream of nations youth is reduced to a mass of blood, scorched flesh and memories of valour. India paid a heavy price.

No doubt it was an intelligence failure, one of the biggest in recent times. The whole country was amazed why an intrusion of such magnitude that must have taken several months to execute went undetected. Plans would have been made in Islamabad and Rawalpindi months in advance, soldiers and officers would have been recruited and trained in the heights of Pakistan occupied Kashmir; equipment and supplies would have been stocked close to the line of control where the battle raged. And still our intelligence agencies could not get the inkling of these activities.

Indeed, after the then Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee bus ride to Lahore the country believed it had entered a new era of bhai-bhai with Pakistan Nevertheless when war was trusted on a mentally unprepared nation, it responded with a daring and energy that a few believed was possible. India lost over hundreds of its brave warriors in battles conducted on some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. The infantry climbed and fought without rest and respite the air force and artillery supported them with deadly precision, while the army doctors struggled to save wounded soldiers in improvised bunkers. It was one of the most difficult wars fought by the Indian Army. Victory, when it finally came, left the Indian flag drenched in blood.

This is the reason, the whole country felt emotionally united. Even the division of caste, community and religion which had dogged the country have been momentarily forgotten. The blood of Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Gorkhas, Biharis, Nagas, Oriyas, Bengalies, Tamils together spilled to keep Kargil for India helped rediscover it soul, its underlying oneness.