From Clinton To Nawaz

From Clinton To Nawaz

Nawaz Didn’t Know About Kargil? Read This Actual ConversationBetween Clinton And Nawaz, Word For Word

WASHINGTON, D.C.—This is an excerpt from the book by Strobe Talbot, the former senior U.S. Department of State official, who was in the room with Bill Clinton when the U.S. president received Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, then the Pakistani prime minister, who came to see Clinton regarding the war in Kargil:

“Kargil War between India and Pakistan took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir. According to India the cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control, which serves as the de facto border between the two states. During and directly after the war, Pakistan blamed the fighting entirely on independent Kashmiri insurgents, but documents left behind by casualties and later statements by Pakistan's Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff showed involvement of Pakistani paramilitary forces. The Indian Army, supported by the Indian Air Force, attacked the Pakistani positions and, with international diplomatic support, eventually forced a Pakistani withdrawal across the Line of Control (LoC).

At the height of the Kargil conflict, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is said to have told then US President Bill Clinton that he was prepared to help resolve the crisis if India committed to settle the 'larger issue' of Kashmir in a specific time-frame, but the American leader snubbed him saying it would amount to a 'nuclear blackmail.' When Sharif visited Washington in 1999 to discuss Kargil with Clinton, he insisted, 'I am prepared to help resolve the current crisis in Kargil but India must commit to resolve the larger issue in a specific time-frame,' former US deputy secretary of State Strobe Talbot writes in his new book Engaging India - Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb.

'Clinton came as close as I had ever seen to blowing up in a meeting with a foreign leader,' and told Sharif, 'If I were the Indian Prime Minister, I would never do that. I would be crazy to do it. It would be nuclear blackmail. If you proceed with this line, I will have no leverage with them. If I tell you what you think you want me to say, I will be stripped of all influence with the Indians.' 'I am not - and the Indians are not - going to let you get away with blackmail, and I will not permit any characterization of this meeting that suggests I am giving in to blackmail,' Talbot writes, adding, Clinton also refuted Sharif's accusation that the Indians were the instigators of the crisis and intransigents in the ongoing standoff. When Sharif insisted he had to have something to show for his trip to the US beyond unconditional surrender over Kargil, Clinton pointed to the dangers of nuclear war if Pakistan did not return to its previous positions. Seeing they were getting nowhere, Clinton told Sharif he had a statement ready to release to press that would lay all the blame for the crisis on Pakistan. 'Sharif was ashen.'

'Clinton had worked himself back into real anger - his face flushed, eyes narrowed, lips pursed, cheek muscles pulsing, fists clenched. He said it was crazy enough for Sharif to have let his military violate the Line of Control, start a border war with India, and now prepare nuclear forces (U.S. had received intelligence Pakistan was preparing nuclear forces for attack against India) for action,' Talbot says in his book. 'Sharif seemed beaten, physically and emotionally' and denied he had given any order with regard to nuclear weaponry. Taking a break, Clinton spoke to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee over phone and told him what had happened until then. 'What do you want me to say?' Vajpayee asked. 'Nothing,' Clinton replied, he just wanted to show he was holding.”

Now Nawaz Sharif and his paid clients in Pakistani politics and media are blaming Musharraf for Kargil, claiming he had no idea about Kargil, when even Clinton knew that it was planned by Nawaz Sharif and the paid retired officers who are now singing the song of Noon League.

The question is: If Nawaz Sharif didn’t know about Kargil, why was he negotiating on Kashmir in such a confident way with Clinton?

It’s Nawaz’s word against Talbot’s, but we already know who is not telling the truth. With due respect to Mr. Sharif, if he can lie about not signing a deal to save himself from jail in 2000, he can lie about anything.

Stop destabilizing Pakistan and showing the whole world our dirty laundry. Both you and your personal enmities are not more important than Pakistan, its people and its interest.

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Kargil: The Real Truth

Kargil: The Real Truth

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—There are two ‘truths’ about Kargil. The first one is the version of defeatist Pakistanis who can’t see us doing any good. And the second truth is the Indian one.

Surprisingly, some fair minded former Indian army officers are willing to give a balanced verdict on the Pakistani performance in Kargil than the ridiculous assessments of some defeatist and self-hating Pakistanis who have no problem making fun of their homeland and their military just because they differ politically with Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

I would like to give some of these defeatist Pakistanis a shock: The revealing statement to a Pakistani newspaper, The News, of an Indian army officer having something good to say about the Pakistani military capability as demonstrated in Kargil in 1999. Some of the defeatist, self-hating Pakistanis will find this difficult to swallow since they are more accustomed to criticizing Pakistan, not praising it.

Read the letter below by retired Col. Harish Puri from the Indian army’s Corps of Signals. He uses many of the Indian propaganda lines that raise doubts about the end result of the Pakistani operation, how the Indian people came together in those days to support their military, and how Islamabad underestimated the Indian response.

All propaganda points. But then he makes two points very clear that I wish some of those self-hating defeatist Pakistanis, especially the ones in our English-language liberal newspapers, read and feel some shame – just a little – about how they have been putting Pakistan down whenever discussing Kargil and facilitating the propaganda victory of the other side.

The two points that Col. Puri makes are:

1. It is correct to praise the brilliance of the Pakistani tactical maneuver of stealthily occupying the heights and the massive Indian intelligence failure exploited by the Pakistani military.

2. The Pakistani military in professional terms ranks among the best in the world, along with the Indian army according to Col. Puri. The implicit irony here is that India is fives times larger than Pakistan. For Islamabad to create this balance of power in just five decades is a Pakistani achievement.

This is not about clearing the name of Gen. Musharraf. History, and military analysts, will do that. Our job here is just to tell those few, self-bashing, defeatist-minded Pakistanis this: Please spare us your self-hatred. We are good at anything we want to be good at if we put our mind into it. Celebrate your strength instead of wallowing in your weaknesses.

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