In a first, the Pakistani Army has officially accepted that it was involved in the 1999 Kargil War with India.

Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir in a defence day speech on Friday (6 September) said, “1948, 1965, 1971 or 1999 Kargil Pakistan India wars, thousands of Shuhadas (martyrs) have sacrificed their life for the country".

This is the first time that a sitting Pakistani army chief has accepted Islamabad's direct involvement in Kargil war.

Islamabad had previously denied direct military participation in Kargil war, describing the infiltrators as "Kashmiri freedom fighters" or "mujahideen" and claiming that Pakistan forces were only "actively patrolling" while "tribal leaders" occupied the heights.

Officially too, Pakistani Army has refrained from acknowledging its role in the Kargil war.

So far, Lieutenant General (retired) Shahid Aziz, Pervez Musharraf, and Nawaz Sharif have accepted involvement, but once not in the office.

The Kargil War was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh (erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir) and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC).

The conflict was triggered by the infiltration of Pakistani troops—disguised as Kashmiri militants—into strategic positions on the Indian side of the LoC.

During the Kargil war, the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force acted jointly to successfully flush out the Pakistan Army and paramilitary troops from vacated Indian positions along the LoC.