New Delhi: The war of words between two former Army and Air Force chiefs turned shrill on Wednesday with the then Army Chief, Gen V P Malik, coming out with a point-to-point rebuttal of the charges levelled by former Air Chief A Y Tipnis, who had charged that the Army did little initially to jointly plan and evict the Pakistan-backed intruders from Kargil in 1999.
Contesting the charges, Gen Malik released some correspondence in which Tipnis had applauded the courage and devotion shown by Army personnel.
In a letter purported to have been written by Tipnis to Malik on July 7, 1999, the former Air Chief said: "The whole nation has been witness to the courage, tenacity and single-minded devotion of our Army officers and jawans in Kargil. All personnel of the Air Force join me in applauding the indomitable spirit of our Army. We are happy that we were able to contribute to the joint effort."
Tipnis went on to praise the sacrifices made by soldiers. "We salute our brave comrade-in-arms of the Indian Army, who have fought so valiantly and set a shining example of self-sacrifice in the cause of our motherland."
In his reply of July 10, 1999, Malik said: "These successes could not have been achieved but for our Air Force having jointly performed with equal valour and commitment in complete coordination. The success in the operations is, therefore, attributable to our synergised joint effort."
Gen Malik wrote, "On behalf of all ranks of the Army, I reciprocate the appreciation and express gratitude to you and and all ranks of the Air Force for their important part in Operation Vijay."
Tipnis had created a flutter by stating in an article in Force magazine that the Army was 'reluctant' to inform the government about the presence of Pakistani intruders in Kargil. He also wrote the Army top brass kept saying they could handle the situation in Kargil, but insisted the Air Force should provide helicopter gunships to support ground troops.
The former IAF chief said this was a request he turned down several times as he felt helicopters would be vulnerable to missile attacks and the use of air power would lead to an escalation.
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