Based on the information provided in the article, let me make a few comments.

I hope this does not bore you....:)

Kargil-Dras region has a very interesting history. In the first India-Pakistan war of 1947, it was taken over by Pakistan and it was a Pakistani territory till 1972. After the defeat of Pakistan in 1972 war, according to the Shimla Agreement of the same year, Kargil-Dras region was taken over by India. Pakistan's interest in the region started in the middle 1980s, after the Indian army occupied the Saltaro Ridge on the Siachen glacier. After years of costly war and deaths, the Pakistanis noticed that the Indian army had only one viable land route for supplying its troops to Siachen. This was the Leh road, which contected Siachen with Indian held Kashmir and it passed through Kargil-Dras. Pakistan's intention was to occupy the heights around Kargil and then, slice this logistics route to Indian held Siachen.

This was the plan and the aim was by cutting off the Leh road to Siachen, Pakistan was hoping to strave the Indian troops on Siachen and thus, force them off the Saltaro Ridge. Given the weather conditions, the Indians would only have the "snow free months", from May to October to supply their troops. Therefore, the Indian garrison on Siachen had to be supplied during this time for the entire year. The Pakistani intention was to prevent this from happening and thus, hinder the Indians' ability to fight on the Siachen.

Given the exterme nature of the climate, it was impossible for the Indians to occupy the heights throughout the year. Therefore, before the onset of the snows, they would leave the heights and come down and each spring, they would re-occupy the heights as the snows would melt. Since 1972, Kargil was a quite sector in the sense not much military activity took place and such, the Indian did not think that there would any serious threat in the region from Pakistan.

Also, since 1972, the Indian army had established a series of reinforced concrete bunkers/observation posts on the heights. These posts were well stocked with food. Indians thought it was feasible to keep them stocked instead of taking the food up and bringing it down every time they left and occupied the heights.

The Pakistanis had noted the cycle of Indian troop movements and thus, came up with the plan - to occupy the heights before the Indians could re-occupy the high ground after the winter deployment to the lower areas. Therefore, when the Pakistani army captured the heights, they simply took over the Indian defensive positions and did not need to bring food, as the food was already present. Hence, the Pakistanis were already in good defensive postions to hold out till the arrival of the snows.

Indians did not realize the scale and scope of the Pakistani intrusion, because Indians did not bother with sending out any patrols to gather new intelligence - they had no idea what they were facing and the strenght of the opposition. As the Indians went up, they encountered armed resistence and to pull back to regroup. Still thinking it was the militants, the Indians counter-attacked with a small force, but were again pushed back.

The Indians then called in their air force, but contary to the popular media impression, the use of the French Mirage 2000s, with laser guided munitions did not work. It did not work simply because the Indians did not have anyone to "lase" the target; that is point a laser beam on the target, which would reflect off the target thus giving the laser guided bomb a "glide path" to home in and hit the target.

Consequently, with air power useless, the Indians had to fight their way up the heights.

Mountain warfare is brutal and nightmarish. Unlike open plains, were the advance would be spread out, an advance up a mountain is limited to a few tracks and paths and this creates a line of soldiers moving up; one behind and other. A person armed with a good rifle and a telescopic sight can easily snipe the advancing columns and can hold off a larger attacking force. This is exactly what happened and the Indian casualities were high.

There is no denying the bravery of the Indian solidiery, but the fact remains; Pakistani troops held to on most of the heights and did not vacate them till Nawaz Sharif told them to withdraw under American pressure. Pakistan suffered around 300-500 dead and the Indian casualities, if a standard 5:1 attacker-defender ratio is used would be much higher - in the 1500 range; plus or minus.

The fighting was brutal and many of the dead have no graves and this means that exact number of the dead is an approximation. The fighting was mostly undertaken by the Northern Light Infantry and Pakistani troops did fight in their uniforms; there were no Afghan mercenaries. In fact, the two Pakistani soldiers who died in Kargil were recommended for Pakistan's highest gallantry award, Nishan-e-Haider, by the Indians!

Hope this helps and since, I have bored you enough, I will deal with the consequences of Kargil in another post. :)

air strikes couldn't be done by india...?! come on now...have you ever heard of tiger hill?

well there is another side of the story as well. in kargil air strikes cudnt be done by india. the cost of life on both sides remained to minimal. india or pakistan cant go to a full scale war and both nations know it. the project of pm was some 11 years old and was not intended for him to take power. mmm there is a place called neelum valley and india occupies a poistion of hieght and can strike the supply of pakistani troops crossing the bridge of river neelum. pakistan by occupying kargil wanted to push indian army 3 miles backwards from river neelum bridge as a clause of peace pact post kargil war. kargil was a successful operation as mr bajpai had accepted the terms laid down by pakistan and mushahid hussain had prepared the transcript of that so called peace pact as well. l k edwani and george fernandas didnt want that to happen but india was strategically helpless. 2-3 more days of occupation and indian army in siachin wud be in severe trouble. thats where pentagon interfered in the matter and george fernandes was advised by ppl in USA not to negotiate with pakistan and mian nawaz sharif was called by president clinton to come to US and explain the pakistani offence. thats where pakistan cudnt get wat they wanted. good plan if u look at military strategy. bad planning if u see international relations may be the best a soldier cud think of.

However, I think Kargil was not as much of an Indo/Pak issue as it was a Pervez Musharraf issue. He used it as a means to gain power.

With the overwhelming use of air power, India was able to minimize its casualties on the ground. The significance of which Pakistan had perhaps failed to take into consideration - since such extensive use of air power at these heights had never been carried out before by any air force in the world. Anyways the rest is history.

The induction of the IAF in the Kargil conflict on 26 May. The IAF was thus drawn into this battle fought over some of the highest terrain on earth. Never before has any air force been tasked to achieve such military objectives. The war was to be fought within Indian territory.

Indian Response - The Indian Army detected the intrusions between May 3-12. From May 15 - 25, 1999, military operations were planned, troops moved to their attack locations, artillery and other equipment were moved in and the necessary equipment was purchased. Indian Army?s offensive named Operation Vijay was launched on May 26, 1999. Indian troops moved towards Pakistani occupied positions with air cover provided by aircraft and helicopters.

As events unfolded, Zoji La opened early on account of the unseasonal melting of snows and the Indian Army's reaction was far swifter than Pakistan had expected. Further, Pakistan also did not expect the reaction of the Indian Army to be as vigorous as has been demonstrated manifested.

There had existed a sort of "gentleman's agreement" between India and Pakistan that the armies of either side will not occupy posts from the 15 September to 15th April of each year. This had been the case since 1977, but in 1999 this agreement was cast aside by the Pakistani army in hopes of trying to gain the upper hand in Kashmir

The terrain of the Kargil and surrounding regions of the LOC is inhospitable in the best of times. Some of the characteristics of the region are jagged heights of up to 18,000 feet and harsh gusts of wind and temperatures plunging to about -60 degrees Celsius in the winter.

This is where Kargil comes in. The intrusions, if effective, would enable Pakistani troops to secure a number of dominating heights from where the Srinagar-Leh National Highway 1A could be interdicted at a number of places. The intrusions would also draw in and tie down Indian Army reserves. The intrusions would, further, give Pakistan control over substantial tracts of strategic land area across the LoC, thereby, enabling Islamabad to negotiate from a position of strength. The intrusions would irrevocably alter the status of the LoC.

Pakistan on its part realized that the areas that its forces occupied in 1947 are still in its control due to this very reason. The heights are easy to defend.

This plebiscite has not been held to date since neither nation has changed their position on the matter. Kashmiris in general would probably want to stay independent...hence they formed the 'Azad' Kashmir government in 1947. However India fears that this independent state would still be a vasal to Pakistan. Something Pakistan probably wants (if not total control) and India will not allow...especially due to the strategic location of Kashmir. The heights are important and whoever controls these heights has a strategic advantage militarily.

Since then both India and Pakistan claimed that a plebiscite of the population should be held to determine the ultimate fate for Kashmir. Pakistan's position has been that Bahadur's accession to India is invalid, that Indian troops must be withdrawn, and that only then can an internationally conducted plebiscite be held. India has argued that all Pakistani troops must be withdrawn, including from Azad Kashmir, that the accession was legal, that Indian troops must stay to preserve order, and that only then can a plebiscite be held.

In May 1948, Pakistan sent in troops to prevent the Indian army to regain the lost territory. Ultimately, both India and Pakistan appealed to the United Nations, a peacekeeping force was sent to the border, and on January 1, 1949, a cease fire line (LOC) was agreed to by both nations.

Shortly thereafter, several thousand tribesmen from Pakistan invaded Kashmir and headed toward Srinagar. Bahadur acceded his kingdom to India and asked for assistance. India sent in troops to protect the capital and fighting soon raged throughout Kashmir.

Well here is one side of the story - I'll start with 1947. Kashmir was ruled by a hundu ruler with a predominately muslim population. Maharaja Hari Singh Bahadur refused to accede to either India or Pakistan. In October 1947, Muslims in western Kashmir set up an Azad Kashmir government at Muzaffarabad and organized an army, which soon received supplies from Pakistan.