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January 7, 2000
NEWSLINKS
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Kargil review panel submits report to PM
The Kargil Review Committee, set up in end-July to look into the events leading to the Pakistani aggression in the Kargil sector, on Friday presented its more than 2000-page report to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The committee, headed by K Subrahmanyam and comprising B G Verghese, Lt Gen K K Hazari and Satish Chandra, took a little over five months to make its report which recommends measure necessary to safeguard national security against armed intrusions such as the one that took place in Kargil in the summer of 1999. During the course of its inquiry, the Committee accessed highly classified information both in the form of documentation and through its discussions with the leadership, civil and defence officials and retired people. Conscious of the fact that the disclosures of some of this information would not be in public interest for reasons of national security, the Committee has itself excised the same from its report, an official release said. Although the Committee was not statutory in nature, the government had issued specific directions to concerned ministries and agencies to provide it the widest possible access to all relevant documents including Secret and Top Secret papers, and to officials of the Union and Jammu and Kashmir government. Constituted on July 29, the Committee was given a deadline of October 31, 1999 for submission of the report. But because of the Lok Sabha elections and government formations, it was unable to interact with a number of key people and hence asked for extension till December 15. The Committee signed its report on December 15. It took three weeks to organise the compilation, printing and binding of the report which is in 17 volumes and has over 2,000 pages, inclusive of annexures and appendices. The Committee held over 100 meetings and interacted with political leaders including former President R Venkataraman, Prime Minister Vajpayee, former Prime Ministers V P Singh, I K Gujral and P V Narasimha Rao, the home minister, external affairs minister, and defence minister. The three service chiefs gave presentations as did other concerned agencies. The Committee also met the national security adviser, cabinet secretary, secretaries of the ministries concerned, chiefs of intelligence agencies, journalists and young army officers who were directly involved in the operations. The Committee toured Jammu and Kashmir on four occasions to get a feel of the terrain and to interact with local and important leaders. The members also went to Bangalore for discussion with experts on future technological options. The Committee examined media reports which had appeared in the wake of the Kargil conflict to look for useful leads. The two month long conflict on the icy heights of Kargil between mid-May and mid-July left 524 defence personnel dead on the Indian side while 772 Pakistani aggressors were killed. The conflict ended only after the Pakistan army intruders began withdrawing from July 17 onwards. UNI
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