New Delhi:Pakistan has finally come out of its silence on its soldiers who fought in the Kargil war. It had denied for years that any of its soldiers had fought the war.
The country has now honoured 350 of its soldiers, a majority of them from the Northern Light Infantry. The official Indian estimates had put Pakistani casualties in the battle in the range of 1,000-1,200 out of which 200 soldiers were buried in India itself.
Pakistan has honoured its soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the battle by quietly making their names public. The names of 350 Pakistani soldiers, a majority of them from the Northern Light Infantry, have been put up on the official website of the Pakistani Army, in a nondescript section titled 'Shuhada's (Martyrs') Corner'.
The list includes the two "heroes" of Pakistan, Captain Karnal Sher Khan and Havildar Lalak Jan, who were awarded the nation's highest gallantry award, the Nishan-i-Haider, for the operations at Kargil.
While Pakistan has never officially revealed the number of soldiers who died in the 1999 conflict, former President Pervez Musharraf admitted in his 2007 book that 357 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 665 wounded in the war.
For the first time, the list has also revealed the name of the Kargil operation that was adopted by the NLI, the main Pakistani formation used to occupy Indian positions: Koh-e-Paima, which can be roughly translated as 'Mountain of Resolve'.
According to the list, the soldiers died in actions ranging from artillery fire to aerial bombing and "enemy action". Their names have been categorised under two operations - Kargil and Koh-e-Paima - and contain details like rank, name of unit, location, date and nature of death.
A majority of NLI soldiers, including Havildar Lalak Jan, have been listed under the Koh-e-Paima operation. Others, including Captain Karnal Sher Khan, have been listed under Operation Kargil.
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