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26 Years After Kargil: Why Do Critical Questions Remain Unanswered?

Kargil Vijay Diwas (July 26) celebrates India’s hard-fought victory over Pakistan in the 1999 Kargil War. While we salute the bravery of our soldiers, troubling questions persist about how Pakistani troops occupied strategic heights undetected. Decades later, key mysteries remain unresolved.

The Unanswered Puzzles of Kargil
Every July, India commemorates Kargil Vijay Diwas with pride, remembering how young soldiers clawed back icy peaks from Pakistani intruders in 1999. Yet, behind the valor lies a sobering truth: systemic intelligence failures allowed this crisis to unfold. Senior military figures now reveal that warnings were ignored months before the war erupted.

Missed Signals & Overlooked Warnings
Suspicious Troop Movements: Months before the intrusions, Pakistan replaced regular infantry with Northern Light Infantry (NLI) units along the Line of Control (LoC). Military Operations (MO) and Intelligence (MI) units detected this but failed to investigate why.

Critical Gaps in Defense: The 121 Infantry Brigade—tasked with guarding 227 km of treacherous terrain—was stretched thin. With battalions pulled from Mushkoh and Batalik for counterinsurgency duties in Kashmir, winter-vacated posts became easy targets. Brigadier Surinder Singh (then Brigade Commander) urgently requested defense stores and mines to fortify vulnerable points. His warnings were allegedly dismissed.

Whistleblowers & Suppressed Alerts
Brigadier Surinder Singh: Weeks after taking command in 1998, he identified weak spots and war-gamed intrusion scenarios. His requests for resources were denied. During operations, he was controversially removed from command.

Major Manish Bhatnagar (5 Para): In early 1999, he reported Pakistani bunkers and troop activity near Point 5770—a peak later captured in Operation Vijay. His written reports to superiors (including Brigadier P.C. Katoch and Major General V.S. Budhwar) were ignored. Bhatnagar was later court-martialed on disputed charges.
“By March 1999, we had clear inputs about intrusions. Tell-tale signs were visible months earlier.”
— Lt Gen K.H. Singh, Commander of 27 Rajput Battalion during Kargil

Why Do These Questions Matter?
Despite India’s victory, the lack of accountability for intelligence lapses remains unsettling:
Why were tactical warnings from frontline officers like Bhatnagar and Surinder Singh disregarded?
Was the 121 Brigade’s thinning resources a strategic error?
How did Pakistan coordinate such a large-scale intrusion under our radar?
Until these gaps are addressed, each Kargil Vijay Diwas will be shadowed by unresolved history.