Kargil Vijay Diwas: A Lookback at the War and Why we Need to Remember the Civilians

It has already been 25 years since the Kargil War took place between the Indian Army and the Pakistani militants. The popular celebration of Kargil Vijay Diwas, which is celebrated every year on July 26, at the Kargil War Memorial in Dras and at other locations across India holds prominence for the country's victory. These celebrations also include ceremonies at war memorials.

However, the Jammu and Kashmir region still grapples with the issues of "normalcy", a testimony of which was evident in the recent Pahalgam terror attack and the military conflict that unfolded as a retaliation to that.

At the receiving end of this negligible normalcy is none but the local people and their lives. While a lot of it has been documented, reported and talked about, the lives and the problems faced by the locals due to the war, the recent military conflict, if anything, has got people to talk about one of the most disastrous and difficult wars fought by India. 

When supplies were cut

It started in the first week of May 1999, when five soldiers of an Indian Army patrol team were captured and later tortured to death by Pakistani infiltrators who had already illegally entered and occupied strategic locations on the Indian side of the Line of Control. It was followed by high-altitude warfare between the two countries, which continued for more than two months.

The key locations for the war were Tololing, Tiger Hill, Batalik, Drass, Mushkoh Valley, Kaksar, and, Chorbat La.

According to multiple reports, there were several villages near the Line of Control (LoC) that were directly affected by the fighting, while some of them were destroyed. Along with that, access to essential services and economic activities was also stopped. 

A report published in Economics and Human Biology that assessed the effects of the Kargil War in 'The long shadow of the Kargil War: The effect of early-life stress on education' suggests that the  India-Pakistan War of 1999 had long-term impacts on the educational attainment of children.

The report, after the survey, found out that even after accounting for educational differences associated with the year of birth, military children born around the time of war were "three percent less likely to be literate", two percent less likely to have ever attended school, and four to seven percent less likely to be attending school" by the time of the survey.

Talking to Local Samosa, Captain Yashika Tyagi, the Kargil war veteran, had said, "The intruders were based on the strategic heights, and hence, were in the position to make every possible attempt to hinder the movement of vehicles." Tyagi mentioned how the intruders were aiming to stop the supplies from reaching.

As the majority of the army personnel got deployed in Kargil after the Pakistani intruders called for a war with India, Captain Yashika Tyagi was one of the officers struggling to provide logistics to the Army. "The Indian Army has Advanced Winter Stocking (AWS) that contains clothing, fuel, tents, arms, and ammunition to be provided to the personnel," she said, adding that the locals were facing the same troubles.

Various reports also mention that thousands of people were displaced from their homes and livelihoods due to the conflict that unfolded. Due to the disruption in obtaining education, NGOs like Sarhad were involved in supporting education and development in the regions, which included a special focus on the students from Kargil. 

There are other reports that claim the scarcity of food for the locals of the conflict regions. Several organisations like Oxfam and Save the Children's Fund had to provide immediate relief measures like food packages, blankets, and firewood.

Civilians for other civilians

All in all, the civilians' lives, along with those of the Indian Army personnel, were at the most risk during the infamous war, which often goes unnoticed or unreported during such tragic situations. Devji Jadhav, the secretary of Manav Jeevan Seva Trustee, says, "Civilians in the cities take part in the debates and the discussions filled with hatred, while the civilians at the border fight for their lives. The same happened during the Kargil war and even in the recent Indo-Pak military conflict," he says.

In the country that loves Cricket, Jadhav says, it is the sport, especially Cricket, that interests the civilians who are "safe". "It was an India vs. Pakistan cricket match in the Super Six stage of the Cricket World Cup that was being played and had the major attention of people. This time, many realised what was happening in the country when the IPL stopped," he further adds. 

Despite the ongoing conflict, the match had proceeded as scheduled, with India winning the match. "Civilians living in the border areas need to be given an adequate amount of food, shelter and enough safety above everything," he says, adding that the civilians living in other parts of the country also need to understand how civilians near the border areas struggle during conflicts.

In the 25 years..

While most Indian civilians were able to return home after the war, the last 25 years of the war brought betterment for the civilians who were directly and indirectly affected by the war, and the current state of these regions is comparatively better, especially for Drass, where tourism has boomed. 

Owing to the Kargil War Memorial, which is located nearby, Drass has become a tourist destination. Other than that, the regions of the Kashmir valley have been under distress over the multiple internet blockades, and majorly over the terror attacks that have taken place even after the Kargil war in and around Kargil. There have been instances of terrorist attacks in the Kargil region and surrounding areas since then, as per various reports.

Other reports also claim that in all these years, there have been cases of cross-border firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in both the Kargil and Drass sectors. Terrorist attacks have also continued in the region, which also includes attacks on security forces' camps and civilian areas. 

In 2013, a gunfight across the LoC in Kargil and Drass after 14 years of relative silence had taken place, and after that, a major terrorist attack in the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam resulted in the deaths of 26 people, which shook not just the regions but the entire state.

However, the border regions of Kargil. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has also executed projects like the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DSDBO) Road, which has further enhanced troop mobility and logistical support in remote areas.