Kargil spells trouble. A year later, confirmation that the war is still haunting Pakistan's establishment came when Nawaz Sharif's recent statements generated a fresh debate in the country. Now, many voices are demanding an independent commission to probe the matter and let the people know the truth behind the fiasco.
But just what is Sharif up to? Are his remarks about the army's role in Kargil a sinking man's effort to clutch at straws? Far from it, say some. Sharif is anything if not shrewd. However, to say that he knew nothing about operations in Kargil is stretching it a bit too far. But there is some truth in his revelations that the nation doesn't know the entire story. And, perhaps, he also feels it's time someone else wore those handcuffs.
It's because the focus is once again on bilateral relations between India and Pakistan that Kargil is proving particularly spicy right now. Initially, Sharif was provoked by Gen Musharraf's repeated statements that he was ready to talk to a reluctant New Delhi. Sharif feels that when he was trying to improve relations and initiate the Lahore process, Musharraf was trying to sabotage it by planning the Kargil exercise. "Today he wants to talk to the Indians," ridicules Sharif. As the state reacted angrily to Sharif's tirade and pro-establishment Muslim Leaguers hid behind whatever skirts were available, it was only the defiant Kulsoom Nawaz who struck back. "If the peace policy pursued by Nawaz Sharif was wrong, why are the conceivers of Kargil following the same course for a solution to Kashmir and other disputes? A few generals were responsible for the tragedy in 1971 and that's precisely the case now. If the military and political leaders responsible for 1971 had been punished, planners of the Kargil operation would've thought a thousand times before going ahead," she said.
Sharif also found sympathy from an unlikely source. Says advocate Hina Jillani, secretary of the human rights commission of Pakistan, "The junta's lack of respect for human rights couldn't have been better exposed. Only a few weeks after a much-publicised human rights conference, they acted with utter disregard for civilised norms of state behaviour by handcuffing the former PM and his brother and tying them to their seats in the aeroplane while taking them to Karachi. Those who remember history can expect no better from an authority that hasn't hesitated to use the whip on journalists, political activists and anyone who dares to question their legitimacy and methods of governance."
Many recall the absence of the military leadership at the Wagah border to welcome the Indian PM Atal Behari Vajpayee last February. A senior general had then said that the military saluting Vajpayee would have sent wrong signals to freedom fighters in occupied Kashmir. Ironically, when this scribe tried to meet disabled soldiers at the military hospital last summer, government sources confided that no coverage of these Pakistani heroes was allowed!
Sharif's statements have also, to some extent, highlighted the issue of whether the political leadership should in the future be privy to national secrets. Former military intelligence chief, Gen (retd) Assad Durrani, recalls that on a visit to Washington in 1989, Benazir Bhutto was reportedly shocked to learn some hitherto 'unknown' facts about her country's nuclear strides. "Among other things, the current (military) reformers have taken upon themselves to improve our political culture. Perhaps they should also think about protecting us from this sort of political gamesmanship. Given enough rope, those who love to misinform and mislead will indeed hang themselves. But since the burden of high office could be too heavy for some, maybe we should deny them all access to classified information. We'll then happily believe the politicians whenever they say they didn't know," he says, speaking like a true general.
Among the political parties, the Awami National Party of Esfandyar Wali Khan and Altaf Hussain's Muttahida Qaumi Movement have both demanded a Kargil commission. The PPP is maintaining a silence though Benazir has revealed that she'd vetoed the Kargil exercise twice as PM. But the Musharraf regime is in no mood to oblige. Says advisor on national security and the newly-inducted information minister, Javed Jabbar, "It's not binding on the government to respond to every demand made by the former prime minister. Had the Sharif government thought that a commission to investigate the Kargil episode was necessary, it would've formed it." Jabbar also feels that the Lahore declaration didn't mean that India could dictate to Pakistan.
No one is expecting a commission immediately, but as Zafar Iqbal Mirza, columnist for the daily Dawn, points out, "At the end of the day, the encouraging aspect is that issues which've so far been treated like sacred cows are now being debated in public. This can only strengthen the democratic process. Sharif thus may have done some service despite his desperate histrionics. There's been a universal demand for a commission on Kargil and it should be accepted. We've had too many convulsive events in our history left unexplained, most notably the fall of East Pakistan and the Ojhiri camp disaster. A start should be made somewhere."
Meanwhile, the view from Lahore is that Sharif's statement is bringing to the surface cracks in the Punjab establishment. "If a politician who has for long been accepted as a spokesman for the interests of the Punjab is no longer hesitant to speak out against the military, which was once its patron, then somebody has a big think coming. Perhaps the repeated exposure of the army to political life is partly to blame for this," says Mirza. All told, Kargil has taken its toll on the political leadership. But the question is: is Kargil now awaiting another martyr?
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