The Kargil War

In the summer of 1999, India fought off the Pakistani intrusion in Kargil. However, the end of the war does not mean the beginning of peace for people on either side of the border. Indeed, the war is just one phase of a predictable escalation of tensions after the Pokhran nuclear tests of May 1998. How did the Kargil war come about? Were warnings of a conflict ignored? Was the war an unqualified military triumph? Was Prime Minister Vajpayee 'betrayed' by Pakistan, or in fact blind to ground realities? What are the connections between the Pokhran nuclear tests and the war? How was the US brought in as a mediator in the conflict? Did the BJP-led government succeed in bringing peace to Jammu and Kashmir? What political consequences will violence in Jammu and Kashmir have for the rest of India? What were Pakistan's objectives in sparking off the war in Kargil and has it really failed? Drawing on his experience of several years of covering Jammu and Kashmir as a journalist, Praveen Swami of Frontline magazine unearths vital data and analyses the long-term reasons behind the war, its course, and its consequences. In this revised and updated edition, the author analyses, among other things, the post-Kargil escalation of militancy in Kashmir, the Report of the Kargil Review Committee, and the recent proposals concerning the 'autonomy' of Jammu and Kashmir.