'Lot of fabrication in Musharraf's book'

Describing Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf as a timid general, former Indian Army chief Gen V P Malik on Tuesday said there was a lot of fabrication about the Kargil conflict in his book In the Line of Fire.

"The book is stingy on truth. From the accounts I have read, it appears to be a narration with no references and there appears to be a lot of fabrication," Malik, who was the army chief during the 1999 conflict, told PTI.

On Musharraf's claims that the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had decided to withdraw troops from strategic features in Kargil sector, Malik said, "In his book Musharraf comes across as a timid general and seems to be passing the buck to Sharif."

Dismissing claims of mujahideen carrying out the Kargil operation, he said Musharraf in his book had admitted to the participation of the Northern Light Infantry in the fighting, supported by other regular troops.

"As regards the casualties suffered in the Pakistani side, immediately after the war ended, our intelligence put these numbers at around 750. However, we have seen some retired Pakistan Army generals giving accounts of this figure varying between 3000 and 4000," he said, adding that Musharraf's claim of a victory in Kargil 'makes me laugh'.

Malik, who recently wrote a book on Kargil titled From Surprise to Victory, said though Musharraf and Sharif could debate on whose decision it was to withdraw the troops, there was information that Musharraf had 'persuaded Nawaz to visit the United States and meet the then US president [Bill] Clinton'.

Rubbishing the claims made by Musharraf that India had planned an offensive against Pakistan, which led to the action in Kargil, Malik said, "This is not true.

"Either he had very poor intelligence or thinks that others are too naive," he said.

Malik said Pakistan may have initially been able to enter Indian territory, but later 'they suffered a humiliating defeat'.

"Everything went wrong for them and it turned out to be a poorly worked out intrusion plan for them," he said.