Addressing media persons in Drass in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir during a commemorative event to mark the 20th anniversary of India's victory over Pakistan in Kargil, General Rawat said, “there is a difference between talk and action”. He said, Khan’s promises in Washington should be seen in the context of his country’s present economic condition.
“You know in what condition Pakistan is passing through. Who gives direction and orders there? Now their financial condition is in strains. So they will be prepared to do anything, so that they get money. Once they get money, they will do what they have been doing all this while”, said General Rawat.
The Pakistani prime minister’s US visit was reportedly made to repair relations that had been dented by Washington’s impatience with Islamabad to reign in terror groups operating from its territory. The Trump administration withdrew $300 million in military aid to Pakistan in September last year, as it had not done enough to crack down militants.
Pakistan's Foreign Office said hours after the prime minister’s return home to Islamabad that “relations between Pakistan and the US have been reestablished".
The army chief said that the Indian Army was dragged into the 1999 Kargil war, which lasted over two months and cost the lives of 527 Indian soldiers.
“We were compelled to undertake to throw back those Pakistani intruders, who had adopted the misadventure of occupying the heights around Drass area, Kargil, Batalik and Turtuk", the general said.
A Kargil War Memorial was scheduled to be unveiled by President Ram Nath Kovind, but he could not travel to the location due to inclement weather. The chiefs of three military forces – the Army, Air Force, and Navy – paid homage at the memorial on Friday.
India fought a limited war in 1999 to drive out the Pakistani Army, which had intruded into in the Kargil heights of the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
The conflict which lasted for over two months, ended on 26 July 1999. The official death toll on the Indian side was 527, while Pakistan lost around 400 men.
Islamabad had initially denied any role for its army in Kargil and described the intruders as “Kashmiri freedom fighters”. Pakistan however, decorated its soldiers involved in the conflict with medals later, including the highest gallantry award of Nishan-e-Haider to Captain Karnal Sher Khan, who was killed by the Indian Army.
