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Dinesh Kumar
The Times of India
June 12, 1999
Title: Secret tapes bare the strategy of a state within a state Author: Dinesh Kumar Publication: The Times of India Date: June 12, 1999 In a dramatic development, the government on Friday pulled off a major coup by presenting scripts of two taped conversations between the Pakistani army chief, General Parvez Musharraf, and his chief of general staff, Lt. Gen. Mohd. Aziz, which clearly reveal the extent of the Pakistani army's involvement in the aggression committed in the Kargil sector. Among the significant number of things that the taped conversation between the two senior army officers revealed were: * How the Pakistani army was still a state within a state and continued to play a dominant role in the governance of the country; * How Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was apparently never in the picture about the incursions and learnt of the developments much later, * How the two officers discussed and decided on the agenda of Pakistan's foreign minister Sartaj Aziz during his forthcoming talks with his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh, * The Pakistani army's strategy behind changing the Line of Control, * Proof that it was indeed the Pakistanis who shot down the Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter and that, too, in Indian territory. Interestingly, the taped conversations, played at a packed news conference ad-dressed by external affairs minister Jaswant Singh here, date back to May 26 and May 29 while Gen Musharraf was still in China. In both tapes, the conversation took place when Lt. Gen. Aziz had called up the Pakistani army chief from Pakistan. The tape clearly records the room details (number 83315) of the place where Gen Musharraf was staying while on his week-long visit to China. Although no details were given on how the government managed to procure the tapes, Mr Singh made it dear that the voices of the Pakistani army officers had been authenticated and that this was only a sample of what the government had as further proof of the Pakistani army's involvement in the aggression. The conversation reveals that Mr Sharif had apparently complained at a military briefing that he had got to know of the incursion only around May 19 when Pakistani corps commanders had been informed about it. This holding back of information has been attributed to the need for "total secrecy" in order to "ensure success". In their conversation, the officers discussed and then decided that during the foreign minister-level talks, Mr Aziz "must give no understanding or commitment on the ground situation he should not even accept a cease-fire, that we don't know (anything) but there is no justification about tension along the Line of Control (LoC)". Gen Musharraf then instructed Lt. Gen. Aziz to spell out the line to their foreign minister that the Pakistani army had always been sitting in the current area of incursion, that no post had been attacked or taken, that "we are sitting on the same LoC for a long period". Lt. Gen. Aziz had then suggested exploiting the fact that the LoC had not been demarcated under UN verification, saying, "This is their (India's) weakness." Clearly revealing that the Mi-17 had been shot down (on May 27) "in their (Indian) area", Lt. Gen. Aziz added, "We have not claimed it. We have got it claimed through the mujahideen." To this, the Pakistani army chief replied, "Well done."
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