Setting at rest controversy over Kargil, Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Parliament on Wednesday that the Vajpayee government had avoided using air force for 18 days to avert 'escalation' of the conflict and that the army casualties during this period was only 35 out of 474.
In a suo motu statement tabled in both Houses, he said the army's in-house report mentions the fact that despite it asking for employment of air power from May 8, 1999, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave the same on May 25.
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During this period, he said, the Chief of Air Staff was taking the view that air power at those heights could not be properly utilised as helicopters would be extremely vulnerable and there would be danger of escalation of conflict.
"His (Chief of Air Staff) view was that before committing air power, a political clearance should be obtained which was finally done on May 25," Mukherjee said.
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Describing Kargil operation as a 'difficult war fought from a position of disadvantge', he said of total 474 casualties, only 35 occurred between May 8 and May 25, 1999, while the rest, including six IAF officers, occurred from May 26 till the end of Kargil operation on July 26, 1999.
The minister's clarification comes in the backdrop of a media report suggesting that for the lack of decisive action by the then political leadership, 474 army men lost their lives and allowed Pakistan to wrest the initial advantage.
The three-page statement said Army had prepared a six-volume classified report to record the Kargil conflict events and to analyse successes, failures, shortcomings and strengths of the operation for the purposes of campaign study.