In a rare public admission, General Asim Munir, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan, has acknowledged the involvement of the Pakistani Army in the Kargil conflict. Speaking at a Defense and Martyrs Day ceremony in Rawalpindi on Friday, Munir included the 1999 Kargil War among the major conflicts fought with India.
The Kargil War, which occurred in 1999, ended with India reclaiming territory that had been occupied by Pakistani infiltrators. India celebrates this victory as “Vijay Diwas” on July 26 each year. During his address, General Munir highlighted the role of the Pakistani military in defending the homeland with the support of its people, referencing various conflicts with India, including Kargil.
Munir stated, “Pakistan is indeed a brave and fearless nation, fully understanding the value of freedom and knowing how to protect it at any cost. Whether it is the 1948, 1965, or 1971 Indo-Pak wars, or the Kargil or Siachen conflicts, thousands of martyrs have sacrificed their lives for the security and honor of the country.”
Initially, Pakistan had attempted to distance itself from the conflict by claiming that only private freedom fighters were involved. However, the scale of the fighting soon revealed that both nations’ armies were engaged in combat. The role of the Pakistani Army in the Kargil War was explicitly acknowledged in the 2006 book “In the Line of Fire” by then-Army Chief Pervez Musharraf, who had sent Northern Light Infantry troops to the region.
Following the war, Pakistan honored Captain Karnal Sher Khan of the Sindh Regiment and Havildar Lalak Jan of the Northern Light Infantry with the highest military award, Nishan-e-Haider.
In his address, Munir also emphasized that the country would not allow political differences to turn into hatred. He stressed that strong relations between the military and the people would serve as the foundation to defeat any adversary attempting to create a rift. Munir noted that the relationship between the armed forces and the nation is a matter of the heart and highlighted that the nation has consistently supported its military across various challenges, including natural disasters, foreign hostility, and terrorism.
The ceremony was attended by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, along with top military officials, senior military and government officers, and families of soldiers.
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