The Hindu : Kargil war skeletons to be exhumed in courtroom

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 01, 2003

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Kargil war skeletons to be exhumed in courtroom

By Praveen Swami

New Delhi Nov. 30. The last shots of the Kargil war are scheduled to ring out in a New Delhi courtroom this week. At stake: the honour of a young officer, the reputation of several senior commanders, and above all, the truth about the acts of negligence which enabled Pakistan to occupy positions along the Line of Control in the build-up to the Kargil war.

On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court will hear the petition of Major Manish Bhatnagar, who claims he was persecuted by the Army top brass for having reported Pakistani intrusions in the Siachen sector in January and February 1999. Maj. Bhatnagar claims that this information was suppressed by his superiors and that he was subsequently removed from service to cover up their errors.

During Maj. Bhatnagar's third tenure on the Siachen glacier, in January 1999, troops at an Indian post named Saddle began experiencing heavy and unusually accurate enemy fire. At least five soldiers sustained injuries in one exchange on January 25. Then, on February 1, two Pakistani troops were observed above Saddle, and fired upon. Saddle is some 700 metres from the dominant mountain feature in the area, Point 5770-metres. If Pakistani troops were indeed on Point 5770, the intrusion had very serious implications. The peak not only overlooked the Gulab complex, which supplied major Indian posts around Point 5770, like Saddle and Shatrujit, but also dominated supply lines to the southern Siachen glacier. With troops positioned on Point 5770, Pakistani forces could bring accurate fire to bear on these supply lines. According to Maj. Bhatnagar's petition, his immediate superior, Colonel A.K. Shrivastava, responded by asking him to stop sending written reports.

In April 1999, just before the Kargil war broke out, Maj. Bhatnagar was sent on leave. After the conflict began, however, the officer voluntarily cut short his vacation, and returned to active duty. On June 10, 1999, six days after returning from leave, Maj. Bhatnagar was asked to make the three-day journey to the headquarters of the 70 Infantry Brigade, along with four junior officers and 80 men from separate companies of the 5 Para Regiment.

On arrival, by his own account, Maj. Bhatnagar told Brigadier Devinder Singh that his men were too tired for offensive operations.

What happened next has long been the subject of Army controversy. In November 1999, Maj. Bhatnagar was charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy. This charge was later dropped, and replaced with the offence of having disobeyed the direct orders of a superior. The Army claimed that Maj. Bhatnagar had refused to cooperate with the orders from Brig. Singh to assault Point 5203-metres, a key position in the Batalik sector occupied by Pakistani troops.

At least three elements in these charges turned out to be curious during subsequent in-house proceedings. First, Brig. Singh himself denied having ordered Maj. Bhatnagar to occupy the mountain. Then, Maj. Bhatnagar's colleague, Captain S.S. Bisht, who replaced the Major in subsequent operations, supported many of his contentions. Capt. Bisht told an Army Court of Inquiry that Maj. Bhatnagar's fresh-from-Siachen troops' "morale was low." He also asserted that his colleague had told Brig. Singh that "if ordered, we will go for any task."

As important, the orders given to Maj. Bhatnagar also illustrated considerable official disinformation on the course of combat operations in Kargil. The Union Government had declared Point 5203 re-captured by Indian troops under the command of Captain Amod Kalia on June 10, 2003. Maj. Bhatnagar was asked to commence offensive operations to take the mountain five full days later. Captain Bisht led the final assault on Point 5203 only on June 19.

Maj. Bhatnagar has not asked the Delhi High Court for reinstatement in service, but for a full official inquiry against Col. Shrivastava, the 102 Brigade Commander, P.C. Katoch, and the controversial 3 Infantry Division Commander with overall responsibility for Kargil and Ladakh, Major-General V.S. Budhwar.

It has been established by several military histories that the 121 Brigade tasked to defend the Kargil sector up to the fringes of the Siachen sector was not informed by the 102 Brigade of the Point 5770 intrusion. Had warnings been circulated, it is at least possible that the 121 Brigade would have been considerably less lax about its winter patrolling that it eventually proved to be.

Senior Army officials contacted by The Hindu refused to comment on record on the affair. "It is very sad all this has had to end up in court," one officer who participated in the Kargil operations said, "but it is time the truth was told."

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