Was Kargil war an intelligence failure?
Malik: The fact that India was completely surprised about the intrusion at political, strategic and tactical levels can not be denied. It reflected a major deficiency in our system of collecting, reporting, collating and assessing intelligence, as well as poor surveillance on the ground. SP’s: Has anyone been held responsible? Malik: I can speak about the army and not other agencies. Yes, appropriate action was taken against army personnel considered responsible for surveillance and command lapses by various review committees. SP’s: Why was there a delay in the decision to use the Indian Air Force during the war? Malik: The initial assessment was that the use of air power would escalate and enlarge the conflict. (Intelligence assessment, it may be noted, was that we were fighting Jehadi militants and not Pakistan Army. In actual fact, there were no Jehadi militants on the battlefield. This has been confirmed by all post war reports.) Consequently, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS
