Year: 1999. Period: During May to July. Location: 1. Kargil District, Kashmir. 2. along the Line of Control (LoC). It was inevitable. It could have been avoidable. Provided the other side had not provoked to an extent where it became unavoidable for this side. It could also have been avoided further if this side had more tolerance and patience. But how far you can keep your calm when your own people are being killed, without any fault of theirs. And when these people are not engaged in any fight. They are just the common people, not doing very well on their economy front. Their fault is only one – that they live near the Line of Control – in the villages around. It was evidently not possible to delay further and the Indian forces had to reply back – in a stern and serious tone.
Photo credit: SaurabhChatterjee via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND
The conflict involved army from both sides – India and Pakistan. Operation Vijay was the name given by Indian Forces. The target was to clear off the Kargil sector from unwanted and illegal militants. These militants had a full support of Pakistan Army. And there was plenty of evidence to prove it. Continuous infiltration of Kashmiri militants and Pakistani soldiers became a serious point of worry for Indian army and it became necessary to fight against these agencies to clean the area. The Line of Control was seriously risky for local residents.
People Living Around Line of Control Are Always At Risk
Although Pakistan Army was continuously denying their involvement in the infiltration activities gradually it was evident. That too with enough evidence and documents. In fact, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff and their paramilitary forces were very much part of the activities. Many of the Pakistani infiltrators were at this side of Line of Control. It was a superlative deed by Indian Army and Airforce to fight at such a high altitude and finally win the battle. It was time to celebrate the day when Kargil conflict came to an end on 26th July 1999. The long series of activities that started on May 3 with Pakistani intrusion saw many twists and twirls during this period.
On July 14, when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared the successful closure of Operation Vijay, many of the true Indians were not far behind to pay their tribute to our soldiers and decided to visit Kargil.
