INDIAN EXPRESS FRONT PAGE
Indians recorded phone conversation between Aziz and Musharaff about keeping Kargil operation a secret from Sharif. Conversation at the end of the article
Monday, October 25, 1999
India gave Kargil tapes to Sharif a week before release
expressindia.com
RITU SARIN
NEW DELHI, OCT 24: "This is Pakistan. Give me room No
83315...' Thus began the ill-fated telephone conversation
between Lt General Mohammed Aziz, Pakistan's Chief of
General Staff and his boss, the Army Chief General Parvez
Musharraf. The General was in a hotel room in Beijing,
speaking secrets on an open trunk line and somewhere in the
skies above, the listening posts were whirring.
At least two conversations of May 26 and May 29 -- when
the Kargil hills were afire -- between the two Pakistani
Generals were picked up and ``bull's eye' was the phrase
resounding in the headquarters of the Research and Analysis
Wing (RAW). By June 1, Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee and members of the Cabinet Committee of
Security (CCS) had heard the tapes.
And by June 4, India had taken the audacious step of
delivering the Musharraf tapes, along with a written transcript
to Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself.
If the Musharraf tapes were India's biggest intelligence
breakthrough during Kargil, theundercover operation of
handing them over to Islamabad was equally significant. A
series of high-level meetings were held to discuss it and it was
decided that the best way to convince the Pakistanis about
the authenticity of the tapes was to let them listen to Aziz and
Musharraf talking Kargil. But who would courier the sensitive
cargo?
A via-media between a diplomatic mission and purely a
Track-Two option was found. R K Mishra of the Observer
group, who was in Australia, was asked to return to New
Delhi and assigned the job. Fearing detection, or maybe just
a cumbersome baggage search at the airport, the big-wigs at
North Block decided Mishra must have the cover of
diplomatic immunity. MEA's Joint Secretary, Vivek Katju
was asked to board the PIA flight along with Mishra and
either on the night of June 3 or June 4, the duo landed in
Islamabad.
The Indian Embassy worked late that night, as the Musharraf
tapes were played and re-played for senior members of the
mission.
Those in the know say thatMishra's appointment with Nawaz
Sharif was fixed by a senior member of the Prime Minister's
Office (PMO) for the breakfast hour the following morning.
Mishra went alone at about 8:30 am, handed over the tape
and transcript and apparently made it known that this was
just a sample of the ``evidence' of military involvement in
possession of New Delhi. It is not known whether Sharif
listened to his military commanders' conversations in front of
the Indian emissary or did so afterwards. What is known is
that a worried-looking premier said he would look into the
contents and act accordingly. Mishra and Katju left for New
Delhi the same evening, mission accomplished. Mishra now
says he is not willing to talk about his visit to Islamabad and
says if anyone is talking about his assignment, they were being
``irresponsible.'
From the Indian viewpoint, the Musharraf tapes nailed
Pakistan's lie that the Kargil intrusions were a non-military
affair. Two, they exposed the fact that Musharraf and his
fellow commanderswere dealing with Nawaz strictly on a
need-to-know basis. The Indian A team, which included
former RAW Secretary, Arvind Dave, National Security
Advisor Brajesh Mishra and External Affairs Minister
Jaswant Singh had calculated that once brought face to face
with such evidence -- and the hint of more tapes and
wire-taps in India's possession -- the Kargil situation might
improve.
On June 11 -- a full week after Sharif had heard the tapes
and on the eve of Sartaj Aziz's India visit -- that the
conversations were made public at a press conference,
though everyone was left guessing on the source for the
intelligence scoop.
Members of the intelligence community are still hesitant to
talk about how and where the Aziz-Musharraf conversations
were mapped, saying it would be unwise for India to talk
about such capabilities. But the fact that this was ``our own'
handiwork (and not that of the CIA, for instance) is well
known by now. Those who have heard the tapes say the
conversations are more audible fromthe Aziz end, indicating
that the listening posts got their break over Islamabad, not
Beijing.
Others say that the manner in which Musharraf discussed
operational details of the Kargil war on a public line was
typical of Pakistan's new commander-in-chief. But Musharraf
is optimistic: he has ordered an inquiry and has decided to
turn the tables on Nawaz and make the phone-tapping
incident part of the chain of conspiracy against him.
What the tapes contain
May 26
(The Army Chief is informed that India has begun
strafing and bombing their positions from high altitude.)
Lt Gen Aziz to Gen Musharraf: ``The situation is that we
are along our defensive Line of Control...they (India) are not
agreed on the demarcation under UNs verification, whereas
we are agreed. We want to exploit it."
Musharraf: Has this MI-17 not fallen in our area?
Aziz: No sir. This has fallen in their area. We have not
claimed it. We have got it claimed through the Mujahideen.
Musharraf:Well done.
May 29
(The day Indian air-strikes began)
Musharraf to Aziz: ``The door of discussion, dialogue must
be kept open and rest, no change in ground situation.'
Aziz: ``We told him (Nawaz Sharif) there is no reason of
alarm and panic. Then he said that I came to know 7 days
back, when Corps Commanders were told. The entire reason
for the success of this operation was this total secrecy.'
Copyright ¸ 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay)
Ltd. |
