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New Delhi, July 24: A report revealed that two Indian Air Force (IAF) Jaguar’s flying near Line of Control (LoC) had locked and were about to bomb a Pakistan Army’s base during the Kargil war when Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif was addressing a military gathering there. Pakistan’s then Army Chief Parvez Musharraf was also present at the base at the time and pilots were unaware of their presence. It was a pure coincidence that a Commodore was also air borne at that time, who ordered the pilots to not bomb the base. The limited conflict in Kargil would have turned into a full-scale war between two nuclear-armed countries had the Commodore not displayed his presence of mind.
The incident occurred on June 24, 1999. At around 8:45 am, a Jaguar had lased a Pakistan Army base, confusing it with an armament depot, a government document accessed by the Indian Express said. The report said that one Jaguar had lased over Gulteri across LoC, and another was ready to bomb it. The mission was aborted at the last moment when an air commodore intervened. It was realised later that Sharif and Musharraf were present in the base. The bomb was later fired on the Indian side of the LoC.
Air Marshal A K Singh (retd), a Jaguar pilot, told the Express that he received a communication from a pilot that he had locked a logistics dump across the LoC and the other Jaguar flying nearby was ready to bomb it. The pilot informed him that the dump had people in it. Singh, then a Commodore by rank, smelled something fishy. He realised that it was Gulteri across LoC. He realised that the pilot was flying across LoC, which was against the rules. He aborted the mission. The captain of the Jaguar later realised that it was Gulteri indeed. Singh said that it was a pure coincidence that he was airborne at that time and he received the communication.
A newspaper report by a Pakistani daily published later that Sharif and Musharraf had been present at the base on June 24. “Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Thursday reiterated his call for dialogue with India for defusing a war-like situation along the Line of Control (LoC). “I invite the government of India to adopt the way of reconciliation,” so that all disputes including Kashmir could be solved through peaceful means, he said while addressing the troops at the height of 11,600 feet here. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf, Defence Secretary Lt Gen (Retd) Iftikhar Ali, Hummayun Akhtar, the Chairman Board of Investment, were also present on the occasion,” the report read.
Indian government at the time had ordered IAF to limit its operations to the Indian side of LoC.
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