Could the Kargil conflict have been avoided?
General (Retd) V.P. Malik (Malik): The ‘intention’ to wage a war comes before any war planning. The intention originates in the mind of the rulers. In his book ‘Four Wars One Assumption’, Altaf Gauhar, a former Pakistani minister for information and broadcasting, stated that at the instance of General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan Army had hatched a plan to launch an attack in Kargil in 1987. The plan was dropped on account of military and political inappropriateness. Pakistan Army under General Pervez Musharraf initiated the war apparently believing that nuclear balance between India and Pakistan permitted offensive actions to take place with impunity in Jammu and Kashmir (J & K). Admiral J C Wylie in his papers ‘Military Strategy: A General Theory of Power’ has stated that “Despite whatever effort there may be to prevent it, there may be a war.” Another assumption on war planning stated by the same author in the book is that ‘we can not predict with certainty the pattern of war for which we p
