Prominent Pakistani politician and member of the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, criticized the Pakistani army just days before the anniversary of the Kargil War, saying that Islamabad had “left its martyrs in the hands of Hindus”.
Speaking at a gathering, Rahman, who is the president of the Association of Islamic Scholars, claimed that The Pakistani army concealed its losses during the 1999 Kargil war with India and, to date, has not publicly released the list of Pakistani soldiers killed in the conflict.
In a video clip that went viral on social media, Rahman said: “I know how much you respect your martyrs. Can you tell us, did you tell the country how many of our soldiers were killed in Kargil? And how many coffins of the dead did you receive? You left your martyrs in the hands of Hindus, and a statement came from there that we buried the bodies according to Islamic traditions. There are different numbers, but they are in the hundreds.”
HT was unable to independently verify the timing of the video capture.
He again reiterated that the Pakistani establishment had left the dead in “Hindu hands”.
“You are not ready to receive the coffins of your martyrs. You have handed them over to the Hindus,” he said, adding the story of one of these officers, whom he identified as Captain Karnal Sher Khan. Fazlur Rehman said that Captain Khan’s body was received due to India’s insistence.
Kargil war
Rahman’s allegations stem from Pakistan’s behavior after the Kargil War of 1999. Islamabad did not acknowledge at the time that its regular army was leading the campaign in the Kargil mountains. Pakistan said at the time that Kashmiri militants were the ones who took up arms against India.
India has long maintained that regular soldiers in the Pakistani army were part of the infiltration operation. The bodies of the dead Pakistani soldiers were proof of India’s assertions, but Pakistan refused to acknowledge that they were Islamabad soldiers and therefore refused to accept their bodies.
The Kargil War was fought from May to July 1999 along the border Line of Control (LoC) in Kargil district of Ladakh. The clash began when Pakistani soldiers, disguised as Kashmiri militants, secretly crossed the Line of Control during the winter to occupy fortified Indian military positions at high altitudes.
India responded with a massive mobilization known as Operation Vijay, successfully reclaiming all the sites infiltrated by Pakistan and claiming a decisive victory on 26 July 1999. This historic victory is commemorated annually throughout India as the Kargil Vijay Diwas.
