‘Kya Karun, Miyan Saab (Nawaz Sharif) ne joote khane ke liye akele bhej dia': When Pak DGMO came alone for crucial DGMO talks that led to end of Kargil War
DEHRADUN: As Pakistani troops started retreating under pressure in early July 1999 during the
Kargil War
, then-PM
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
called up his Pakistani counterpart,
Nawaz Sharif
, on July 4 to send his Director General Military Operations (DGMO) for talks with the Indian DGMO on a full pull-back beyond Line of Control (LoC).
Subsequently, as per Vajpayee's direction, then-DGMO Lt Gen Nirmal Chander Vij (retd) accompanied by then-deputy DGMO Brig Mohan Bhandari (retd) met Pakistan DGMO Lt Gen Tauqir Zia (retd) at Attari on July 11.
Recalling the developments of the first and only meeting of DGMOs of the two countries during the Kargil War, Bhandari, who later retired as Lt Gen and now lives in Ranikhet, told TOI a day before Kargil Vijay Diwas on Saturday, that to his surprise, Lt Gen Zia arrived alone - something highly unusual for DGMO meetings.
"As per the schedule, we left Delhi at 6.30 am on July 11 for Amritsar, where we reached around 8.15 am. From there, we boarded a chopper to Attari. After reaching the meeting spot, when I went to check on the Pakistani side, I saw Zia standing by himself, smoking, his cap askew. As I met him earlier about 3-4 times during talks on Siachen, I asked him, 'Ye kya hai Tauqir... akele? (How come you are alone?)' He replied, 'Kya karun? Miyan Saab ne joote khane ke liye akele bhej diya'(What could I have done? Miyan saab sent me alone to take the blows)," said Lt Gen Bhandari, adding that 'Miyan Saab' was a reference to then-Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif.
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Then Dy DGMO Brig Mohan Bhandari (sitting crossed leg extreme left) with then COAS Gen VP Malik (sitting at the centre with baton in hand) and other senior Army officers in the shadow of Tiger Hill after freeing it from Pakistani troops. (Images shared by: Lt Gen Mohan Bhandari (retd))
Bhandari added that protocol did not allow that the Indian DGMO could meet the Pak counterpart without an accompanying delegation. "I asked Zia to call over personnel from the Pak Rangers, stationed at the border, for formality's sake. Three officers joined him. But despite that, we deliberately made them wait for 10 minutes as we all were angry with what they did in Kargil amid the ongoing peace talks between the two sides.
"
"The meeting went on for three hours", Lt Gen Bhandari recalled. "During the meeting, our DGMO gave them directions on the Dos and Don'ts while fully retreating beyond LoC. Zia and his three associates just took notes without saying anything, for obvious reasons as they were on the losing side... when our DGMO asked if they had any doubt, Zia just replied, 'No doubt'."
Zia and the three officers from Rangers quietly left after having lunch organised by Indian side. On the conditions laid by Indian DGMO, the veteran , said the Pakistanis were asked not to lay landmines while retreating from Indian territory, but they "did the exact opposite".
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