Daily Times

Ask any Pakistani on the street and they would tell you that Pakistan had defeated India in Kargil. It is also an almost unanimous opinion that Pakistan had India by the jugular and that the war won on the battlefield was lost at the negotiation table. Even today, many believe that PM Sharif’s 4th July dash to Washington and his meeting with President Clinton was without the military’s consent and that Kashmir could have been liberated had it not been for the ceasefire overseen by America.

Kargil remains the last major military conflict between Pakistan and India. In 1998, as winter approached and the mountains turned white, Pakistan and India bilaterally retrograded from forward posts. Making use of the opportune moment, Pakistan Army moved forward and captured the posts vacated by India. The plan that involved cutting the supply lines feeding the forward stations of Indian army and fighting the isolated Indian force, climaxed at liberation of Kashmir. It was expected that the international community would not want to twist a nuclear Pakistan’s arm and with Srinagar captured, Pakistan would be able to negotiate from a position of strength, if not dictate terms. This gross miscalculation remains directly responsible for the international isolation Pakistan faces today.

It was the first decade post-cold war and nuclear tests by Pakistan and India had turned South Asia into a region of special interest. With all eyes focused on this new nuclear flashpoint, both the belligerents were expected to act responsibly. Soon after these tests, as India embarked on a diplomatic onslaught justifying its actions, Pakistan chose to mount a military operation in one of the toughest battlefields. To make things worse, all this happened while both the countries were diplomatically engaged in reconciliatory talks.

In a post-cold war world where Bill Clinton looked to bring allies of the former Soviet Union into the American fold, Kargil provided India just the opportunity it needed.

Kargil made it easier for India to paint Pakistan as the warmonger whose presence necessitated India’s nuclear capability. In a post-cold war world where Bill Clinton looked to bring allies of the former Soviet Union into the American fold, Kargil provided India just the opportunity it needed. Indian Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh met American Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott fourteen times in seven countries on three continents as revealed by the latter in his book Engaging India. Pakistan however, failed to make its case.

Despite having the American sympathy and a basis for its nuclear tests, it could not justify launching a military assault. It was the last time the international community took Pakistan seriously. Overestimation of the newly acquired nuclear leverage painted Pakistan as an ambitious expeditionary who was not to be trusted with power or prosperity. It was only a matter of time that we lost our relevance among the global community. As the battle drew to an end, civil and military leadership blamed each other.

Today, as General Musharraf is no more and Nawaz Sharif is busy fighting newer battles, we realize that if anybody lost anything in Kargil it was not these two main antagonists but the state of Pakistan and its people.

Why did it take more than two decades for the sun to finally set? The answer to this might be found in the ruins of Tora Bora.

The international community had written Pakistan off the moment Kargil fiasco started unfolding. It would not have taken more than a couple of years for Pakistan to reach where it is today. Then, the attack on the World Trade Centre happened. Pakistan, despite being undesirable, became a necessity. It was desperate for legitimacy and would do anything for an embrace. This helped Pakistan secure a bonus life. It saw inflow of military equipment, aid and support fund. Little did Pakistan realize that it was being kept alive only to serve a purpose and would be left stranded as soon as the Americans left. The inevitable eventually happened.

The election of Joe Biden to American Presidency saw a rather hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan and with it left whatever was left of western interest in Pakistan. Since then, Pakistan has only rolled down the hill. It is a surprise we do not understand why we became irrelevant and ponder why the global community stays indifferent to a nuclear nation surviving on a day-to-day basis. What we face today was all written in the snow-clad mountains of Kargil in 1998. There is absolutely no doubt that the young officers and soldiers of Pakistan Army put up an astounding fight despite being outnumbered in a hostile weather but it is also a reality that Kargil war wasn’t needed.

The events of 25 years ago cannot be altered. The past is written and the ink is dry. What saddens is that the events of today are not much different. We are still aloof to the global developments. Despite boasting one of the highest youth percentages, about 40 percent are already below the poverty line. Read the room we are in. Nobody in this room boasts a military power with no economy to back it up. Open trade routes. There is enough bad blood between Pakistan and India to safely say that we can never be friendly but we can trade. Why buy indirectly when we can buy directly and cheaper?

We do not produce anything enough to export or build an economy around it but we do have a brilliant road infrastructure. Let’s put it to good use. Let’s become a trade corridor. Let’s trying becoming India’s gateway to Central Asia and this time, let’s not blow it up like CPEC. A trade corridor might not pay off our debts but it might still lighten our burden. Let’s build a national consensus around economy. Enough of this constant power struggle with no governance in sight. The world is changing at a rapid pace and to keep up with it, we must clean up our act. Let’s make economy our foremost and our only priority. Let’s mend the bridges that were broken. Let’s, for a change, put aside the power politics and invest in human development.

Ask any Pakistani on the street and they would tell you that Pakistan had India by the jugular. Quarter a century later we realize that all along, it has been our own jugular as has been the hand around it.

The writer is a veteran journalist based in Islamabad. He writes on social, political, economic, defence and strategic developments across the South Asian region. He can be reached through email: zm.journalist@gmail.com