India's Ex-Army Chief Gen VP Malik's Leadership & Judgement During Kargil War Questionable & Dubious
By Sanjay Sharma, Section News
Posted on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 06:08:14 PM EST
Former Air Marshal Vinod Patney who participated in the 1999 Kargil conflict has raised questions over the attitude of top army officials, including the then army Chief Gen VP Malik, towards the Pakistani action. He has asserted, as have many people, that Gen VP Malik failed to recognize the seriousness of the situation, and he was severely lacking in intelligence about the incursions. Frontline Magazine has more details.
- He also said that there was hesitation to recognise the seriousness of the problem and sought to question the attitude of the then army chief. "The fact is there was a degree of hesitancy within the system. Apparently, there was inadequate information and some hesitancy to recognise that there was a serious problem," the then chief of Western Air Command said.
- Asked whether the absence of the chief of defence staff had in any way affected India's reaction, he said it could be no excuse for being indecisive. "But is the absence of a CDS an excuse for inefficiency?" he asked. "As far as Gen Malik is concerned, did he elect to stay back (in Poland) even after being told that the situation in Kargil was serious?" Vinod Patney said.
Disagreeing that possession of nuclear weapons by Pakistan delayed India's response to the Kargil aggression, a top-ranking former Air Force officer has alleged there was indecision on the part of the government. "To my mind the threat of a nuclear war was a bogey. The value of a deterrent is lost when you shout from the rooftops that you will use nuclear weapons," he said.
