Sensitive information 'excised' from Kargil panel report

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JAN. 7. The K. Subrahmanyam Committee, that probed the ``intelligence failure'' which led to the Pakistani incursions in the Kargil sector in April 1999, submitted its report today to the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee. However, the Committee said that it has ``excised'' from the report sensitive information as ``the disclosure of some of this information would not be in the public interest for reasons of national security''. On an explanatory note, the Committee has argued that this excision ``has followed a well-established procedure prevalent in many democracies''.

Government sources, however, insist that they would study the voluminous document (running to 2,000 pages in 17 volumes) and decide whether the report - or parts of it - ought to be made public, though Mr. Subrahmanyam himself expressed confidence that the contents of the (sanitised) report would be shared with Parliament. After the report is ``processed'', it would be discussed in the Cabinet Committee on Security, before a final decision on making or not making it public is taken, according to the Prime Minister's Office.

The Subrahmanyam Committee was constituted in the wake of criticism by the Opposition parties and in the media that the Vajpayee Government had failed in its duty to be sufficiently vigilant in defending the integrity of the nation's borders. The charge against the Government was that there was a massive intelligence failure, which allowed a large Pakistani military contingent to occupy strategic heights in the Kargil sector, and which required a major military offensive - and international intervention - before the intruders were allowed a safe passage.

However, the Government chose to call it a ``review'' committee. The committee had only two terms of reference: ``(1) to review the events leading to the Pakistani aggression in the Kargil district of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir; and, (2) to recommend such measures as are considered necessary to safeguard national security against such armed intrusions.''

Besides Mr. Subrahmanyam, the members of the Committee were Mr. B. G. Verghese (media personality), Lt. Gen. (retd.) K. K. Hazari, and Mr. Satish Chandra, Secretary, National Security Council Secretariat, who also acted as the Committee's member- secretary.

The Committee was constituted on July 29, 1999 (though the decision to appoint it was announced on July 24 by Mr. Pramod Mahajan, then minister for Information and Broadcasting, after a Cabinet meeting); and it was expected to submit its report by October 31, 1999. Still, because of the Lok Sabha elections, the Committee found it difficult to interact with a number of ``key actors'', and therefore requested - and got - an extension till December 15, 1999.

According to the probe panel, despite the fact that it was not a statutory body, it was gratified that the Government had issued ``specific directions to the concerned Ministries and agencies to provide it the widest possible access to all relevant documents including `Secret' and `Top Secret' papers and to officials of the Union and the Jammu and Kashmir Governments''.

Those who interacted with the Committee include Mr. Vajpayee; the former Prime Ministers, Mr. V. P. Singh, Mr. I. K. Gujral and Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao; Cabinet Ministers in charge of Home, Defence, and External Affairs; the National Security Adviser, Mr. Brajesh Mishra; the Cabinet Secretary and three Service Chiefs, besides officials of intelligence agencies.

The Committee says it also interacted with ``young Army officers who were directly involved in the operations''.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : U.S. warns Pak. against Masood's activities
Next     : Nepal to make public hijack probe findings