‘N-missiles had been readied for launch’: Kargil crisis
By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, June 19: The Pakistani military had prepared their nuclear-tipped missile to fight back a possible Indian attack during the Kargil crisis and former US President Bill Clinton had conveyed this news to the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, one of Mr Clinton’s close aides said here.
Bruce Riedel, a special assistant to the president and a senior director of Near East and South Asian affairs at the National Security Council in the Clinton era, was present in the July 4, 1999 meeting between the two leaders.
In a new book, “Pakistan Between Mosque And Military,” Mr Riedel is quoted as saying that Mr Sharif “wanted desperately” to find a solution that would allow Pakistan to withdraw from Kargil “with some cover.”
The author, Husain Haqqani, has spoken to a number of senior US officials who dealt with Pakistan during major crises confronting the country during the last 58 years and includes their description of crises like the 1971 disaster and the Kargil dispute in his book.
“Without something to point to, Mr Sharif warned ominously, the fundamentalists in Pakistan would move against him and this meeting would be his last with Mr Clinton,” says Mr Riedel.
“Mr Clinton asked Mr Sharif if he knew how advanced the threat of nuclear war really was? Did Mr Sharif know his military was preparing their nuclear-tipped missiles? Mr Sharif seemed taken aback and said only that India was probably doing the same.
“The president reminded Mr Sharif how close the US and Soviet Union had come to a nuclear conflict in 1962 over Cuba. Did Mr Sharif realize that if even one bomb was dropped … Mr Sharif finished his sentence and said it would be a catastrophe.”
According to Mr Riedel, during the same meeting President Clinton also raised the issue of Pakistan’s reluctance to help the US catch Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.
“The president was getting angry. He told Mr Sharif that he had asked repeatedly for Pakistani help to bring Osama bin Laden to justice from Afghanistan. Mr Sharif had promised often to do so but had done nothing. Instead the ISI worked with bin Laden and the Taliban to foment terrorism.”
Mr Riedel recalls that Mr Clinton’s draft statement on the Kargil crisis also mentioned Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorists in Afghanistan and India.
Going back to the meeting, Mr Riedel says: “Was that what Mr Sharif wanted, Mr Clinton asked? Did Mr Sharif order Pakistani nuclear missile force to prepare for action? Did he realize how crazy that was? You have put me in the middle today, set the US to fail and I won’t let it happen. Pakistan is messing with nuclear war.”
At the end of that meeting, Mr Sharif agreed to announce a Pakistani withdrawal from Kargil and restoration of the sanctity of the Line of Control in return for Mr Clinton taking a personal interest in resumption of the India-Pakistan dialogue.
