Kargil Operation and its Effects on the Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the reasons of strained civil-military relations between the Army under General Pervaiz Musharraf as Chief of Army Staff and the civilian government under the premiership of Nawaz Sharif. A mixed method approach has been adopted for collection of primary and secondary data for this descriptive, theoretical, and qualitative study. The analysis shows that the relations between the two institutions i.e., the civilian government and the military were deteriorated due to an ill-fated Kargil war launched by the then Army Chief solely on his own decision. The war under the guise of Kashmiri mujahedeen movement became an unpleasant event for Pakistan in the international community. The situation compelled the elected government to declare withdrawal of the para-military forces unilaterally thus causing further damages in terms of human and material losses. The military, opposition parties and other groups in the country blamed the civilian government for this failure. Therefore, the post Kargil war developments became a major source of contention between civil and military leadership. The events and reasons leading to the removal of Army Chief, dismissal of elected government and dissolution of national and provincial assemblies have been critically analysed in this study.