Musharraf’s memoirs : Kargil was a tactical victory

[Skeptic786]

Kargil was a tactical victory

OUR MONITORING DESK
In a freewheeling account of his life, General Pervez Musharraf emphatically states that “whatever movement has taken place so far in the direction of finding a solution in Kashmir is owed considerably to the Kargil conflict,” reported BBC.
In his memoir ‘In the Line of Fire,’ Musharraf adds that unlike most leaders, he is a soldier in the thick of the fight against terrorism, caught right in the middle.
His training, he adds, made him constantly ready for the assignment.
“1999 may have been the most momentous year of my life. It is time to lay bare what has been shrouded in mystery.”
With those words in his memoir, Pervez Musharraf is trying to rewrite the image of a swashbuckling General at the height of the Kargil conflict.
“A plan calling for plugging the gaps between our positions was formally presented and approved toward the middle of January 1999. Our manoeuvre was conducted flawlessly, a tactical marvel of military professionalism.
On May 15, I ordered the FCNA to improve our defensive positions in co-ordination with the freedom fighters.”
He insists Kargil was a tactical victory for his men trying to undo Indian adventurism.
“There was specific information of a possible Indian attack in the Shaqma sector... It was aimed at positions we had used to shell the road between Dras and Kargil in early summer 1998.”
Calling Kargil a glorious victory for the Pakistani army, the General said:
“Considered purely on military terms, the Kargil operations were a landmark in the history of the Pakistani army. As few of five units in support of the freedom fighter groups were able to compel the Indians to employ more than four divisions, with the bulk of its artillery coming from strike formations meant for operations in the southern plains.”
Musharraf then refutes former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s claims that the General hadn’t taken him into confidence.
“The Army briefed the Prime Minister in Skardo on January 29, 1999 and in Kel on February 5, 1999. During these briefings our defensive manoeuvre was explained as a response to all that was happening on the Indian side. He subsequently was also briefed on March 12, 1999 at the Directorate General Inter Services Intelligence.”
But was Pakistan actually preparing its nuclear arsenal for an attack on India?
“I can also say with authority that in 1999, our nuclear capability was not yet operational... Any talk of preparing for nuclear strikes is preposterous.”
General Musharraf was the first Mohajir, one of Pakistan’s minority groups that fled India during the partition, to head Pakistan’s military machinery and Musharraf says Nawaz Sharif made the cardinal mistake of underestimating him.
“He had probably thought that being the son of migrant parents, I would feel more insecure and vulnerable. He couldn’t have been more wrong.”
It’s a memoir smattered with personal references and a far more mellow political General tries to deal with the pressure of siding with America, then in 1999 and now after the war on terror.
Musharraf’s memoirs have reportedly been ghost written by his long-time friend and columnist Humayun Gohar and are set to release in New York on Monday with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in attendance.

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/sep-2006/24/index2.php

 

[Cheetah786]

If i see nawaz sherif sitting on the sun and i see him melting and he tells me he is melting i still wouldnt belive him.he is a theif and a lier.
general has done a lot for pakistan sherif brought us near bankruptcy..braugh wahbisum funding from his protectors in saudia spread nothing but garbadge in pakistan.now he claims this and claims that he was a peice of s---

 

[Kaiser]

Man know im seriously into buying this new book!

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

I already ordered the book through amazon. Should be here on the 30th. Musharraf is a great pakistani. One of these days the pakistanis will give him the respect he deserves.

 

[Skeptic786]

Amazon Review of Mushy book; In the line of fire;

Reviews
Synopsis
It is almost unprecedented for a head of state to publish a memoir while still in office. But Pervez Musharraf is no ordinary head of state. As President of Pakistan since 1999, his is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and he continues to play a crucial role in the global war on terror. A one-time supporter of the Taliban, a general who fought in several wars, President Musharraf took a decisive turn against militant Islam in 2001. Since then he has survived two assassination attempts; rooted out militants in his own government; helped direct countless raids against al-Qaeda both in his cities and in the mountains; and tracked Osama bin Laden with technical and human intelligence. IN THE LINE OF FIRE is astonishingly revealing and honest about dozens of topics of intense interest to the world. Among its many revelations: exactly how Pakistani authorities tracked down and smashed three major al-Qaeda control centres in the mountains; how al-Qaeda's many-layered structure was revealed after the assassination attempts; Bin Laden's current position within the al-Qaeda hierarchy; what it has been like to deal with Bush and Blair; how Pakistan and India have avoided nuclear confrontation; and much more. The terrible earthquake of 2005, killing nearly 40,000 Pakistanis, is just one chapter in a life and career that has been filled with danger and drama. The worldwide launch of President Musharraf's memoir promises to be a sensation.

 

[Skeptic786]

Who is in this line of fire?
President’s book being termed election manifesto

By Kamal Siddiqi

Editor Reporting

KARACHI: Political analysts have said that the soon to be released book of President Musharraf titled “In the line of fire” is in fact an attempt to show General Musharraf as the saviour who brought out Pakistan from the brink of extremism and saved the country for the world.

The international media says that the book, although written in a direct, often dramatic style, is “nothing short of a self-congratulatory election manifesto.”

One analyst observed that the General “has every intention of being re-elected and keeping his uniform, and his memoirs, divided into six sections with a Prologue and an Epilogue, are a clear attempt to show him as an international leader of stature able to transform a deeply conservative, often extremist, society into what he calls a modern and moderate Islamic state.”

Much of the remarks that the president has been making on his current US visit have to do with the launch of his book. However, different quarters say that while the book has been hyped up in the US, its sales in Europe, where the publishers had hoped a major chunk would be bought, have been lukewarm.

The Armitage threat seems to have been made to create interest in the book. The question that many are asking is what should be disclosed and what should be kept under wraps, “in the national interest.”

An Indian paper has reported that leaked copies of the book are said to be in circulation and the Indian Prime Minister’s Office has reportedly received extracts related to Kargil and the failed Agra talks.

There are conflicting reports about exactly how much the president was paid for his travails undertaken with the help of a Pakistani columnist. The rumoured figure coughed up by the publisher is anywhere between a hundred thousand and a million dollars.

Papers are now quoting from the book extensively. The prologue sets the tone, with the General, Rambo-style, emerging unscathed from the several assassination attacks against him. “I have confronted death and defied it several times in the past because destiny and fate always smiled on me,” he explains.

Through the rest of the book the General justifies his every action, heaping plaudits on himself for Pakistan’s economic recovery and attempting to portray himself as the only viable option before Pakistan.

As things stand, the challenges before the president continue to mount. Many of these challenges have been created by his own government and set of advisors.

This week also saw the indefinite postponement of the Women Protection Bill which the government, despite its majority in the parliament, has decided to shelve. This indecisive attitude of the government seems to have left a bad taste in the mouth. However, our prime minister has clarified that there was “no outside pressure” involved on the bill.

At the same time, some members of the Council of Islamic Ideology have taken the right step of quitting from the CII in protest for being ignored on an issue which is right up their alley. The CII is a constitutional body meant to advise the legislature whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Islam. But this body was bypassed when evaluating and drafting the Women’s Protection Bill.

More significant has been the convening of the Grand Jirga by the Baloch Sardars in Kalat this week which was fairly representative. It is an irony that thanks to the short sightedness of the government, the Baloch Sardars have the dubious pleasure of championing the rights of the poor of that province.

In all this, the people of Pakistan beg to differ. It is they who are in the line of fire and have been for some time now. Little has changed for them despite all the claims made by different rulers.

Meanwhile, the pundits are asking what will happen first ñ the re-election of the president or the general elections of 2007.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=25533

 

[Skeptic786]

Kargil boosted Kashmir cause: Opposing US would be disastrous, says Musharraf in book


By Jawed Naqvi


NEW DELHI, Sept 23: President Pervez Musharraf’s yet-to-be-released book — In the Line of Fire — has painted a bleak picture for Pakistan had it not joined the United States in the war on terrorism and says that the 1999 Kargil standoff with India boosted the cause of freedom for Kashmir, The Hindu reported on Saturday.

The newspaper said copies of the book, due to be released on Monday in New York by The Free Press, and imprint of Simon and Schuster, had been leaked and that the Indian prime minister’s office was understood to have excerpts on chapters dealing with Kashmir, including the Kargil standoff.

Pakistan’s decision to side with the United States was taken after Gen Musharraf “war-gamed the US as an adversary.” Could Pakistan withstand a US onslaught? “The answer was no, on three counts.” Militarily Pakistan would be destroyed, thus wiping out the “military parity it had achieved with India”.

India would exploit the standoff to gain “a golden opportunity vis-à-vis Kashmir. They might be tempted to undertake a limited offensive there; or more likely, they would work with the US and the United Nations to turn the present situation into a permanent status quo. The US would certainly have obliged ... and India needless to say would have loved to assist the US to the hilt (in destroying Pakistan’s nuclear installations).”

The third reason for cooperating with the United States was that failure to do so would end up in the destruction of Pakistan’s economic infrastructure.

UNPLEASANT MEETING: Referring to the unpleasant post-9/11 meeting between US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Pakistan’s intelligence chief, Gen Musharraf says: “In what has to be the most undiplomatic statement ever made, Armitage added to what Colin Powell had said to me (‘You are either with us or against us&#8217 and told the Director- General that not only had we to decide whether we were with America or with the terrorists, but if we chose the terrorists then we should be prepared to be bombed back to the Stone Age. It was a shockingly barefaced threat, but it was obvious that the US had made up its mind to hit back and to hit back hard.”

The book is divided into six sections with a Prologue and an Epilogue. The Hindu wrote that it could be “a clear attempt to show him as an international leader of stature able to transform a deeply conservative, often extremist, society into what he calls a modern and moderate Islamic state.”

The Prologue sets the tone, with the Gen Musharraf emerging unscathed from the several assassination attacks against him. “I have confronted death and defied it several times in the past because destiny and fate always smiled on me,” he writes.

Recounting the December 2003 attack against him, Gen Musharraf says he heard a loud muffled thud. “As my car became airborne I immediately realised what was happening — I was staring terrorism in the face... While leaders of other countries only visit scenes of carnage later or see it on their television screens, I was personally in the midst of it. Not only that, I was the target. But unlike most leaders, I am also a soldier, Chief of Army Staff and Supreme Commander of my country’s Armed Forces. I am cut out to be in the midst of battle —- trained, prepared and equipped. Fate and the confluence of events have seen to it that Pakistan and I are in the thick of the fight against terrorism, caught right in the middle. My training has made me constantly ready for the assignment.”

FORMER PREMIERS: Through much of the book Gen Musharraf is strongly critical of former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. He believes that Mr Sharif’s personality was thoroughly crushed by his autocratic father Abbaji.

Describing a dinner in the Sharif’s household, Gen Musharraf remarks: “So domineering was Abbaji’s personality that both Nawaz and Shahbaz (Chief Minister of Punjab) sat demurely like little children trying to remain in their father’s good book ... they were more like courtiers than sons.” He says the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto “masqueraded as a democrat but ruled like an autocrat.” He blames Bhutto for breaking the back of a “nascent industrial base” and for encouraging corruption.

The First Section of the book deals with his early childhood, the family’s move from Delhi to Karachi and the future General’s antics as a naughty and irrepressible schoolboy, The Hindu says.. In Section Two, Gen Musharraf talks about his life in the Pakistan army, which he calls “the best in the world,” while Section Three deals with the hijacking drama and the subsequent coup that brought him to power. While on the aircraft as it makes its way from Colombo to Pakistan, Gen Musharraf’s one worry was that he would be forced to land in “enemy” India.

KARGIL EPISODE: The Kargil conflict is dealt with in the second half of the book, but gets just a handful of pages and is portrayed as a victory for President Musharraf.

The conflict, according to him, began with India trying to find a casus belli by reporting “make belief attacks” from the Pakistani side. He therefore decided to reinforce Pakistan’s forward positions along the Line of Control since Indian forces has been “creeping forward” since and despite the Shimla Agreement.

Pakistani manoeuvres were conducted “flawlessly” with the Indians being “completely oblivious” of Pakistan’s new strength. India’s response, claims Gen Musharraf, was a steady build-up throughout the month of May 1998. In international fora, India exploited the situation, which had a demoralising effect on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the book says.

Gen Musharraf calls the operation “a landmark in the history of the Pakistan Army” since just five units “in support of freedom fighters” compelled the Indians to employ more than four divisions. He describes the withdrawal “as no negotiation at all” but a capitulation by Mr Sharif to demands made by US President Bill Clinton.

He asserts that Prime Minister Sharif was involved throughout the planning and execution of the plan. Gen Musharraf concludes that because of his personal foresight the “Indian plan of an offensive was pre-empted.” The chapter concludes with a telling claim: “I would like to state emphatically that whatever movement has taken place so far in the direction of finding a solution to Kashmir is owed considerably to the Kargil conflict.”

AGRA TALKS: Commenting on the India-Pakistan peace process, Gen Musharraf blames the failure of the Agra talks squarely on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s advisers. “I met Prime Minister Vajpayee at 11 o’clock that night in an extremely sombre mood. I told him very bluntly that there seemed to be someone above the two of us who had the power to overrule us. I also said that today both of us had been humiliated. He just sat there speechless ... “

Although he has cordial words for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whom he found to be “positive and genuine,” Gen Musharraf feels the initial flexibility displayed by the Indian leader has diminished. “I think the Indian ‘establishment’ -— the bureaucrats, diplomats and the intelligence agencies and perhaps even the military -— has had the better of him.”

In the Line of Fire ends with an Epilogue entitled ‘Reflections’, in which Gen Musharraf speaks of the leadership needed to steer Pakistan out of a difficult spot. “I started with the biggest domestic challenge of having to steer the ship of state out of troubles waters before it sank ... Things were moving well domestically despite the negative external constraints on me being exerted by the west in its demand for “democracy” ... Then came 9/11 and its aftermath. The whole world changed ... Counterterrorism, nuclear proliferation, democracy, human rights and narcotics. Pakistan sits in the centre of each, the external pressures are diametrically opposed to domestic feelings ... I believe my positions on all these issues are in our interest and morally strong. But there are times when the behaviour of our western allies undercuts our alliances.”

FREEDOM STRUGGLE: In defence of his oft-repeated definition of Kashmir’s freedom fighters, Gen Musharraf declares: “The west rejects militant freedom struggles too broadly. The US and Europe too often equate all militancy with terrorism, in particular equating Kashmir’s struggle for freedom in Held Kashmir with terrorism. Pakistan has always rejected this broad brush treatment.”

However, according to The Hindu, he does concede that Pakistan’s position becomes difficult to sustain when the Mujahideen in “Held Kashmir are guilty of terrorist activities in other parts of India and around the world ... My efforts towards rapprochement with India and the significant thaw in our relations have saved Pakistan to a large extent from the blame of abetting what the world calls terrorism and what we call freedom struggle in Indian Held Kashmir.”

According to the newspaper, “the rumoured figure coughed up by the publisher is anywhere between a hundred thousand and a million dollars.” The book will be published simultaneously in Urdu, says the report.


http://www.dawn.com/2006/09/24/top1.htm