From personal stories to letters sent home by soldiers, here’s a look at books on the 1999 war
CHANDIGARH: In the countdown to Kargil Vijay Diwas, on July 26, we got to read thousands of stories, firsthand accounts and trivia about the war. A friend of mine, too young to remember the war to reclaim the Kargil Sector that had been taken over by Pakistani insurgents, hit local bookstores and libraries with gusto, me in tow.
ARCHIVES■ July 26, 1999: Indigenous Milan missile targeted at enemy positions in Kargil’s Drass Sector.
Those wanting to revisit the conflict may want to first pick up Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s A Ridge Too Far: War In The Kargil Heights, which has detailed studies of all the battles that were fought during the war.
General VP Malik (retd), chief of the Army staff from 1997- 2000, provides a personal account of the war in his book Kargil: From Surprise To Victory, which is a must-read, says Ajay Arora, proprietor of Capital Book Depot, in Sector 17. Malik, who was instrumental in planning and coordinating the military operations, gives an interesting insight into the crucial war.
Pankaj P Singh, owner of The Browser Library and Bookstore in Sector 8, recommends Colonel SC Tyagi’s The Kargil Victory: Battles From Peak To Peak.
However, an account of the Kargil is grossly incomplete without reading the Pakistani version of the war. Nasim Zehra’s From Kargil To The Coup: Events That Shook Pakistan and Witness To Blunder: Kargil Story Unfolds by Col Ashfaq Hussain of Pakistan’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, also give one a glimpse of the happenings across the border.
Ever wondered what goes on in the minds of soldiers when the hopes of the nation and the fate of their comrades rest on their shoulders? Lt Gen Mohinder Puri’s Kargil: Turning The Tide is a gripping account of the operations of 8 Mountain Division, which was tasked to evict the enemy from the Drass-Mushkoh Sector.
Twenty years on, it isn’t just the war but its impact on the soldiers and their families that has to be understood. Letters From Kargil: The Kargil War Through Our Soldiers’ Eyes is an epistolary account of the war. Author Diksha Dwivedi in her bookgives readers an insight into the soldiers’ lives through letters posted to their loved ones. Lt Praveen Tomar writes home to say “Baptism by fire makes you a man,” and when the war is over he exults, “We did it and we did in style.”
Other books being read in the tricity are India’s Most Fearless by Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh; A Soldier’s Diary Kargil: The Inside Story by Harinder Baweja and The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories by Rachna Bisht.