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Pakistan politician reminds Islamabad how its army refused dead bodies of soldiers in Kargil
Fazal-ur-Rehman, who is the President of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, alleged that the Pakistan Army concealed its casualties during the 1999 Kargil War.
Top Pakistani politician and Member of National Assembly (MNA), Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, has hit out at the Pakistan Army just days ahead of the Kargil war anniversary, saying that Islamabad “left its martyrs in the hands of the Hindus”.
Speaking at a gathering, Rehman, who is the president of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, alleged that the Pakistan Army concealed its casualties during the 1999 Kargil War with India and, to date, has not publicly released the list of Pakistani soldiers killed in the conflict.
“I know how much respect you have for your martyrs. Can you tell us, have you told the country how many of our soldiers were killed in Kargil? And how many coffins of those killed did you receive? You left your martyrs in the hands of the Hindus, and a statement came from there that we have buried the bodies according to Islamic traditions. Different numbers are given, but it's in the hundreds,” Rehman said as per a video going viral on social media.
HT couldn't independently verify the timing of the video's capture.
He again repeated that the Pakistan establishment left the dead in the “hands of the Hindus”.
“You are not ready to receive the coffins of your martyrs. You handed them over to the Hindus, he said, adding the story of one such officer, whom he identified as Captain Karnal Sher Khan. Capt Khan’s body, Fazal-ur-Rehman said, was received due to India’s insistence.
The Kargil war
Rehman’s allegations stem from Pakistan’s behaviour after the 1999 Kargil war. Islamabad did not acknowledge at the time that its regular army was spearheading the campaign in the Kargil mountains. At the time, Pakistan said that it was the Kashmiri militants who had taken up arms against India.
India has always maintained that the Pakistan army’s regular soldiers were part of the infiltration. The bodies of the dead Pakistani soldiers were proof of India’s assertions, but Pakistan refused to acknowledge that they were Islamabad’s soldiers, and by extension, refused to accept their dead bodies.
The Kargil War was fought from May to July 1999 along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kargil district of Ladakh. The clash began when Pakistani soldiers, disguised as Kashmiri militants, covertly crossed the LoC during the winter to occupy fortified, high-altitude Indian military outposts.
India responded with a massive mobilisation known as Operation Vijay, successfully reclaiming all positions infiltrated by Pakistan and declaring a decisive victory on July 26, 1999. This historic triumph is commemorated annually across India as Kargil Vijay Diwas.
