ISLAMABAD: The latest in the Nawaz Sharif-Pervez Musharraf battle over Kargil is a "white paper" from the Pakistan Muslim League (PML).

The former Prime Minister's party claimed that Pakistan's decision to withdraw from the mountain heights that it occupied during the operation was at the behest of General Musharraf, the then Army chief, who said it was the only "honourable' option left.

The PML demanded that President Musharraf should "admit his blunders" in launching the operation that caused the deaths of 3,000 officers and soldiers of the Northern Light Infantry and the Kashmiri mujahideen.

It also asked him to "present himself for a court martial," the Dawn newspaper said on Sunday.

100-page white paper

Distributing copies of the 100-page "white paper" at a press conference on Saturday, Siddiqul Farooq, PML (N) joint secretary, said at a meeting with the Pakistan Cabinet on June 2, 1999, General Musharraf, who had then just returned from China where he had been told to pull back from Kargil, "begged Nawaz Sharif to play his role in saving the prestige of the Pakistan Army." On June 12, General Musharraf sought a meeting for all the three forces chiefs with Mr. Sharif.

At the meeting the next day, at which the then Foreign Minister, Sartaj Aziz, was present, General Musharraf "informed [Mr. Sharif] about the Kargil situation and told him that withdrawal of the mujahideen from Kargil was the only honourable course of action" left.

When the U.S. Centcom chief, General Antony Zinni, visited Pakistan on June 24, he and General Musharraf "worked out the details of withdrawal from Batalik, Tiger Heights and Marlpol."

Pressure on Pakistan

Meanwhile, there was pressure on the Pakistan Government from every corner of the globe.

While the U.S. was threatening sanctions, France said it would cancel the delivery of 40 Mirage jets unless Pakistan ended the confrontation.

It was under these circumstances that Mr. Sharif went to Washington for a meeting with President Bill Clinton, where the withdrawal plan was "hammered out," Mr. Farooq said.

Mr. Sharif, who has launched a battle for his political comeback jointly with his former archrival, Benazir Bhutto, earlier alleged he did not know about the Kargil operation until he got a telephone call from the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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