Yeah, sadly you are right!
I am used to it now...
It was exercised, to some extent. Still whatever was done did achieved what i pointed to and what we see to agree on, it helped bring back the Indian army and intelligence back on earth.
Well It took IA by surprise.... and it took some time for them to understand the magnitude..... I dono it would be fair to blame them, because this was the time when both nations were going towards peaceful relationship especially after Lahore bus trip by Indian PM and the mood around both nations was upbeat towards peace....... But then Army job is to keep vigilant and prepared to be back stabbed, which they were not....... I guess RAW had egg on its face, even though there was visible movement in pakistan, they could not judge it or identify the danger.... May be they also were sleeping on the hang over of the lahore yatra....
Bad Shape will be an understatement. It was on back of a decade long sanction!, F-7 with no BVR capability were the most active fighters back then, compare that to squadrons after squadron of BVR capable jet of IAF. That is the point, despite that overwhelming superiority IAF was not able to strike that decisive blow that they could/should have.
2 reasons here......
1) The instructions from GoI was very clear not to cross LOC, so they were not asked use their air superiority....
2) The situation which they were in...... There several odds against IAF.... The terrain, The altitude, Lack of coordination, Less intelligence....... Once they got hold of it, they were having their field day..... IAF bombing was the significant reason for the results of Kargil, probably Mushraff and company did not anticipate the IAF response and cost them dear...... It has been documented by Pakistani agencies too.....
I would say IAF done an excellent job, though they were in to trouble in the initial few days.....
Surely that was not the case but liberating Kashmir was also not a goal. Miss adventures seldom have any defined goals. It was more of a case of " we wont be bullied" statement. THAT, was delivered successfully.
I disagree here..... The ultimate aim was to liberate Kashmir...... First siachin....But you are looking thru a small prism If you thought the ultimate Aim was to convey "we wont be bullied" then the cost paid to convey that message is one of the worst, I would say second to 1971...... Actually this put India into a great advantage......For this message the loss which made diplomatically was huge...... The out come of a kargil for world was.....
1) Pakistan attacked India without any provocation - That too months after Indian prime minister initiated peace process by visiting Pakistan....
2) In spite of being attacked and back stabbed India shown restrain and worked only on throwing the intruders out,
I think GoI handled the situation pretty well.....Diplomatically India was the winner..... Entire nation was behind Goi and army.......where as in Pakistan .... you know.....
Yes, you do! Totally agreed.
Have those gaps been filled, only time will tell. The claims at that time were same as those of today, claims of no gaps and totally superiority.
Well i cant be certain if those gaps are filled, but i am pretty sure that things are much much better today when compared...Superiority ??? When was the last time an Army fought a battle like Kargil and won?