Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif said Tuesday that President Pervez Musharraf should be tried for treason for his "misadventure" in the Kargil war against India.
Ex-officer says ISI, Sharif were kept in the dark about the ‘99 ‘misadventure’
LAHORE: While asking the PPP government to set up a high level judicial commission to hold Musharraf accountable for the deaths of thousands of the army jawans in the Kargil ‘misadventure’, the Ex-Servicemen Society, a group of the retired Pakistan Army generals and former Army chiefs, has demanded an open trial of President Musharraf under Article-6 of the Constitution on treason charges, adding that over 2,50,000 members of the Society would join the June 10 long march of the lawyers’ community for reinstatement of the deposed judges if Musharraf did not resign before the deadline.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the Monday interview by a former corps commander of Rawalpindi Lt Gen Jamshed Gulzar Kayani, who had been a close aide of Musharraf since his 1999 military coup, has vindicated his long standing position that he (Sharif) was kept in the dark by General Pervez Musharraf about the Kargil misadventure, adding that the former army chief should be tried by a high level judicial commission for resorting to the operation without the knowledge of the elected government.
Talking to the newsmen at the Lahore Airport on Tuesday morning before his departure to London, Sharif said time has proved that the Kargil misadventure was the brainchild of none other than Musharraf who should be tried for treason charges, he told Geo News it was the Kargil issue that actually caused serious differences between Sharif and Musharraf.
“Being the corps commander of Rawalpindi at the time of the Kargil operation, I can tell you with authority that Sharif did not know anything about the Kargil episode. Despite the fact that he was the PM, the fact remains that Sharif was never briefed on the issue, contrary to Musharraf’s repeated claims”, he added.
Sharif said Musharraf should be tried for the deaths of over 2,700 jawans of the Northern Line Infantry of the Pakistan Army who were eliminated in the war. “The number of the Army jawans martyred during the Kargil war is greater than those who sacrificed their lives during the wars of 1965 and 1971.
As I asked the General as to why so much Army people have lost their lives, he said that it was all because the Indian Army’s resorting to carpet bombing, which was quite unexpected of them. The General further told me that the bunkers on Kargil heights are vacant on the top: sans any roof.
So the bombings straightaway blew off the heads of the jawans. It was Pakistani military leadership which begged me to involve Washington in the dispute and to stop the Indian Army from advancing further, Sharif further added.
Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani, referring to the book authored by Musharraf said “If you catch your enemy by the jugular, he wil react with full force. If you cut enemy supply lines, the only option for him will be to ensure supplies by air.
That situation the Indian Army was unlikely to confront and it had to come up to the occasion. After that Nawaz went to the US. But an attempt was made to create the impression in the media that Sharif was at fault to surrender there.”
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