Operation Vijay, All You Need to Know About Operation Vijay

Operation Vijay

Operation Vijay was embarked in the month of May – July 1999, to oust the Pakistani infiltrators who had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) from the heightened areas of the Srinagar – Kargil – Leh highway during the winters of 1998.

They took up residence in fortified defences that overlooked the NH 1A in the Drass and Batalik Sectors of Kargil in the Ladakh region. The total time duration of the war was from May 8 to July 26 in 1999, when India successfully concluded Operation Vijay.

Operation Vijay 1999

It all began during the 1990s when separatist actions were observed in Kashmir, some of which were funded by Pakistan. It was then in Feb 1999, The Lahore Declaration was signed by India and Pakistan to find a peaceful bilateral solution to the issue. Yet, some of the paramilitary elements of the Pakistani Armed Forces were training surreptitiously in Indian territory while some of them were operating under the pretence of mujahideen.

By severing the connection between Kashmir and Ladakh, Pakistan hoped to force the Indian military to leave the Siachen Glacier. If they had been successful, India would have been forced to discuss a resolution to the larger Kashmir problem.

Pakistan X Corps Commander Lieutenant General Mahmud Ahmad, Major Generals Javed Hasan and Ashraf Rashid, and then-Army General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan were the main faces behind the unlawful Pakistani annexation of Kargil. Nawaz Sharif denied being part of this operation.

The militarized insurgency by Pakistan was tackled by India using its conventional military force. Kargil offered a tactical puzzle piece for military strategists as well. It was the first time that the artillery used a direct-firing weapon for the first time. The Indian Air Force was instructed not to cross the LoC at Kargil. Fighter pilots had to come up with new angles of attack because the majority of the enemy was virtually on the LoC.

Pakistani forces were eventually overthrown by the valour of the Indian forces, and on July 26, 1999, they had to withdraw from the occupied Indian territory.