| The major fighting may have finished in Kargil but another
problem has been born for India. After the bitter lesson of the past few months, for the
first time the Indian Army will have to stay back to protect 150 km
along the LoC which it never had to worry about in winter. It's a battle zone harsher
than the Siachen glacier. Indeed, a battle zone unlike any other in the world, with 60
degree slopes, 18,000 ft high peaks, winter temperatures of minus 40 degrees centigrade,
where helicopters can't land, supplies can't get in and the wounded -- or dead -- can't be
brought out. With the onset of winter only
two months away the army faces an enormous task of equipping and keeping thousands of
troops through six months of deep freeze in hell. This logistical nightmare will occupy
India's defence establishment and political leadership for years, draining wealth and
lives -- more people could eventually die of the bitter cold than did fighting the Kargil
war.
Deputy Editor Raj Chengappa, who edited and wrote many of
our cover stories on Kargil, and Deputy Chief Photographer Pramod Pushkarna, who has put
in more time traversing Kargil than some soldiers, spent many days in the Drass sector
with army personnel researching this week's cover story. It deals with the nuts and bolts
of holding on to Kargil. "The morale was very high," says Chengappa. "But
the enormity of the task is beginning to dawn on both officers and men."
It's a sobering thought, and similar thoughts must be in
the minds of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi as they look at poll prospects with
some trepidation because of people we call "The Spoilers", the subject of our
other major feature this week. They are Sharad Pawar, Laloo Yadav, Kanshi Ram, Deve Gowda
and other regional leaders whose electoral performance may well land them, either
individually or collectively, in the enviable position of determining who forms the
government in the event of no party getting a clear majority. The catch is that you ignore
them at your peril -- that is the lesson of coalition politics. Hopefully, it won't be as
messy as the last time. Or the time before that.
(Aroon Purie) |
