General Pervez Musharraf overthrew the Nawaz Sharif Government in 1999 to escape a possible court martial over Kargil "misadventure" after an inquiry commission held him guilty of it, says an associate of the deposed prime minister in a new book.
In the book Kargil: Adventure or Trap, released on Sunday, Muhammad Siddiqul Farooq, Joint Secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also claims that India was aware of Pakistan army's plans to launch the Kargil operation a year before it was put into action.
The Indian intelligence agencies kept the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other top Ministers and officials informed about the plans being drawn up Pakistan Army, he says claiming that when "Vajpayee came to Pakistan on 'Dosti bus' on a two day visit, he was aware of Gen Musharraf's plans".
Musharraf, Farooq writes, "stole" the report of an inquiry commission set up by Sharif to probe Kargil defeat and toppled his government to avoid possible court-martial in the light of the panel's recommendations.
Declining to reveal names of those who conducted the inquiry, Farooq says Sharif constituted the committee consisting of military officers in order to avoid such incidents in future.
{{/usCountry}}Declining to reveal names of those who conducted the inquiry, Farooq says Sharif constituted the committee consisting of military officers in order to avoid such incidents in future.
{{/usCountry}}"It recommended court-martial of Gen Musharraf and those responsible for the Kargil misadventure," he says.
The excerpts from the book were published by the Dawn daily on Monday.