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Kargil panel blames military intelligence, local commanders

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The unexpurgated report of the K Subrahmanyam Committee set up to inquire into the causes of the Kargil conflict, to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow, blames military intelligence and the local army unit for the crisis, top government officials revealed today.

Subrahmanyam, a noted defence expert and convenor of the National Security Council, headed a three-member committee that went into the reasons for the conflict.

The officials told rediff.com that the report has "given less blame" to the Intelligence Bureau and that MI and the local army unit in Kargil "share the major rap".

The report's thrust, however, is on the measures to be taken to counter any such crises in future.

The report is in three parts -- an executive summary, the main report, and appendices and recommendations.

The Opposition parties, chiefly the Congress, are gearing up to put the government on the mat on the report by accusing the ruling National Democratic Alliance of trying to shift the blame from its own failures on to others.

"The Congress will not spare this government on Kargil. We are waiting for the report to be tabled in Parliament and we will voice our displeasure if the report gives cause for concern. After all, this government is known for its deviousness," said senior Congress politician Priyaranjan Das Munshi.

Das Munshi's enthusiasm to corner the government on Kargil and other issues became apparent with the party leadership holding a series of meetings on the opening day of the budget session of Parliament today. The Congress has been alleging from the time of the conflict that it was a failure of the government for which it should own up responsibility.

Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi said the party would "react appropriately" after the report was tabled in Parliament. He said his party is determined to "pull out various skeletons from the government's cupboard" because "it is exposing its true colours each day".

"This government has been indulging in duplicity of all sorts and, therefore, we have to be alert when it makes the Kargil report public," Somnath Chatterjee, Communist Party of India, Marxist, leader in the Lok Sabha, said. "We want the truth to come out on Kargil. We will settle for nothing less."

Former defence minister and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said, "Yeh sarkar Kargil ke mamle mein hamari aankhon mein dhool nahi jhonk sakti hai (This government cannot pull wool over our eyes on Kargil)."

He hinted that as a former defence minister, he has extensive contacts in all levels of the establishment and would come to know immediately if the government tried to hide facts that show it in a bad light.

Veteran CPI Lok Sabha member Geeta Mukherjee said she would wait for the report to be released before reacting to its contents. She, however, hinted that her party would join hands with the others in the Opposition if the government tried to misguide the people.

The Kargil Conflict: The complete coverage

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