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Govt will make Kargil report public: Subrahmanyam

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

Kargil Review Committee chief Dr K Subrahmanyam is confident that the government will make public the report on the Kargil intrusion.

Speaking to rediff.com, he dismissed media reports that the Prime Minister's Office was not in favour of publishing the report. "Such reports are pure speculation and a blot on the Indian media," he said angrily.

He said that the report could not be made public immediately since it contained highly sensitive information culled from the military. "The report contains a lot of information that is sensitive and secretive. All that the government will do is to delete such information before making the report public and that will need a few days' time," he said.

The committee was set up by the government to look into the lapses that led to the Pakistani soldiers and Pakistani-backed militants occupying the heights in and around Kargil. The Indian Army lost over 400 lives and took almost two months to drive the intruders out.

The committee also comprised B G Verghese, retired Lieutenant General K K Hazari, and National Security Council secretary Satish Chandra.

Subrahmanyam, one of India's foremost experts on strategic affairs and former director of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, said that Kargil Review Committee was the first of its kind.

"What makes this committee unique is that it has never been done before. Earlier, we had commissions of inquiry set up by law that went through rigorous processes, taking oaths from the witnesses. We, on the other hand, simply recorded the statements and got them authenticated by the speaker, and on the basis of such statements, our enquiry was made," he said.

In another departure from procedure, the committee literally interviewed the entire top political and defence establishment of India, again a first. "We first questioned the top leaders and officials of India, to get a clear picture of what happened. Then, some of the officers were called again for detailed discussions and questioning, a few as often as three times. Each discussion was recorded and the records authenticated by the person concerned," the committee chief said.

The list of those questioned is awesome. From the political side, it includes Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, former president R Venkatraman, three former prime ministers, and National Security Council advisor Brajesh Mishra.

Others interviewed are Army Chief of Staff General V P Malik, Air Force Chief of Staff A Y Tipnis, J&K Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitley, directors of intelligence, counter-intelligence, and security forces, senior army officers stationed in Kargil, Leh and Srinagar during the intrusion, three former army chiefs, and one former air force chief. All the three armed forces' services also gave a presentation to the committee.

Incidentally, among those questioned is then brigade commander, Brigadier Surinder Singh Oberoi who had claimed that his early dispatches on the intrusions by the Pakistani forces was not acted upon by Army Headquarters, a charge the latter has denied.

Subrahmanyam emphasised that the committee was more concerned with "what went wrong" rather than "who went wrong".

"Unfortunately, too many people are concerned with pointing fingers at particular individuals here and there. Before we blame someone, let us actually find out what really happened, what went wrong, and then we can worry about who's fault it was and who made the mistakes," he stated.

During the course of preparing the report, Subrahmanyam made numerous trips to Kashmir, specifically to Kargil, Leh and Srinagar, to garner information and meet top-ranking officials from various services.

Subrahmanyam declared that the government should make more inquiries in the manner that he had, which was faster and more efficient than setting up commissions of enquiry. "Unfortunately, since this system is new, there is some confusion but it is much simpler and faster," he added.

He said that valuable lessons had been learnt from the Kargil experience, all of which were being applied by the relevant agencies.

Since the report is with the government, Subrahmanyam said he would not comment upon the contents or the conclusions reached. But he was confident that the report would be made public soon. "And by soon, I am hoping for that to happen in a matter of days, not weeks!" he said.

UNI

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