Ex-Kargil commander moves SC, seeks fresh probe to correct ‘flawed’ war records

As the nation commemorates the 26th anniversary of the 1999 Kargil conflict, former wartime commander of the Kargil Brigade, Brig Surinder Singh, has moved the Supreme Court (SC), seeking a fresh probe and “corrections" in the conflict’s records.

He was removed from command midway during the conflict, and later his services were terminated for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

Claiming in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed on May 24 that the truth still lies buried under layers of bureaucratic silence and doctored reports, he has sought a de novo inquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge or an existing group of ministers.

Detailing the events that led to the conflict and subsequent actions that took place on the ground, he accused the top military hierarchy of suppressing facts, creating false narratives, reshuffling key appointments, and withholding human and material resources to deal with the situation, despite knowing the grim reality.

He said that the decisions of top generals were contrary to all military teachings and established practices.

The Kargil Review Committee (KRC) set up by the government, he said, had a limited scope and adopted a faulty methodology by not examining direct evidence from the eyewitnesses and the ground troops and commanders at various levels on the frontline.

Most facts were not investigated by the KRC as it was not apprised of them. Despite this grave deficiency, the KRC went ahead to recommend measures to safeguard national security and avert future occurrences of similar kinds.

In his petition, he also referred to a public statement made in August 2006 by Air Chief Marshal AY Tipnis, who was the Air Chief during the conflict, that Army generals deliberately attempted to hide the Kargil intrusions from the government as late as mid-May 1999 because they had been caught off guard.

“The first lesson we ought to have learnt from this, and which I believe the Kargil Committee did not bring out, is to say that whatever the situation, don’t keep it to yourself,” the former Air Chief had said.

“Thus, a highly avoidable war was thrust upon the nation to recover its own area intruded by the enemy over a front of more than 227 kilometers along the Line of Control (LoC),” he said. “The Kargil war would not have happened had the defences asked for in the crucial locations, as correctly assessed and persistently demanded by the petitioner, been provided and troops allotted,” he added.

Brig Surinder Singh averred that Operation Vijay, as the conflict was code-named, was “hastily called off" on July 26, 1999, despite the fact that some important and vital positions had still not been recovered from the enemy, most importantly Point 5353, which overlooks Drass on the Srinagar-Leh highway.

India