The Kargil surrender

The latest book of Col. (Retd) Ashfaq Hussain under the title 'Witness to blunder' concludes with one lucid sentence. "The fact was that if the replacement of the COAS had materialized, those responsible for initiating the Kargil operation without approval of the competent civilian authorities would have faced court martial". The sad episode planned by the 'gang of four' resulted in unprecedented loss of life and material for the Pakistan Army.

Due to lack of clear objective and suspension of supplies of both food and ammunition to troops stranded on the hilltops, without air cover I might add, Kargil became a graveyard of our soldiers. The book reveals criminal neglect in planning of a fatally flawed operation doomed for failure. Due to not fixing responsibility for this botched operation, we gave an impression to the world of having a 'rogue' army. -DR M. YAQOOB BHATTI, Lahore, via e-mail, October 29.