The Armed Forces Tribunal has severely indicted the former head of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt. Gen. Kishan Pal (Retd), for his biased annual confidential report in which he denied due credit for the Kargil operations to the then head of the 70 Infantry Brigade, Brig. Devinder Singh (Retd), and ordered that it be expunged.
The tribunal also ordered that corrections be made to the action taken report on the Kargil operations prepared by 15 Corps and the “moderation” of the Kargil war account prepared by the military operations directorate at Army Headquarters. The judgment shows how a Kargil war hero was not given due credit for his valour and has come as a ahuge embarrassment for the Army. Brig. Singh welcomed the verdict as a vindication for himself and the troops that he commanded, and said that justice had finally been done.
Brig. Singh had appealed in his petition that his performance in the Kargil war should be correctly recorded and that his ACR written by Lt. Gen. Kishan Pal should be expunged. He had alleged that Lt. Gen. Pal tried to belittle his performance during the conflict.
The tribunal noted that several portions of the ACR and the “battle performance report” prepared by Lt. Gen. Pal had already been expunged by the government earlier. In its judgment, the tribunal noted: “In view of the fact that Lt. Gen. Kishan Pal was not favourably motivated towards the petitioner (Brig. Singh) as he had made attempts to tailor reports ... and thus belittling the achievement of the petitioner, we therefore, cannot trust the report rendered by Lt. Gen. Kishan Pal as objectively written. It only shows that the ACR was not written in an objective and unbiased manner. A person who writes the ACR in a biased manner cannot be allowed to sustain.”
Lt. Gen. Pal had earlier stated in records that success in the Kargil operations had come about by superimposing another brigadier (on Brig. Singh), but the then head of the 3 Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. V.S. Budhwar, had stated that no one was superimposed on Brig. Singh.
Brig. Singh, who joined the Army in 1970, had warned about the Kargil intrusions during a war game in May 1999, but his projection was allegedly dismissed by Lt. Gen. Pal. Once the Kargil operations began, Brig. Singh assumed command over the Batalik sector and contained the enemy intrusions. Brig. Singh had also assessed that the enemy strength in Batalik was 600 regular Pakistani troops, but Lt. Gen. Pal once again allegedly assessed that there were only 45 militants. Brig. Singh also received formal appreciation for his valour from the then Army Chief, Gen. V.P. Malik, and was cited for award of the Mahavir Chakra, although he was ultimately given a Vishisht Seva Medal.
Army sources said that the Army would read the judgment first before reacting.