Beyond failure of military intelligence, Kargil represents New Delhi's intellectual bankruptcy. A Ladakhi scholar in New Delhi provides a different perspective.
The Pakistani intrusion in Kargil has a ring of déjà vu about it. Back in 1948, it was also on 9 May that the Pakistani Ibex and Eskimo Forces had captured Kargil and Drass. They advanced towards Leh before being pushed back with the onset of winter.
Later, in 1962, when the Chinese People's Liberation Army marched into Ladakh's eastern flank, an incompetently-led and ill-equipped Indian army was taken by surprise. At that time, too, the issue of intelligence failure had been raised. It was only after strong international condemnation that the Chinese troops withdrew to positions north of the MacMahon Line. A repeat of this situation is likely now on the Line of Control.
One question that will not go away is, why does Indian territory get constantly encroached upon, and why does its military habitually get caught napping? Since the 13th century, Kargil has been a strategic point for invading and defending armies alike. It is uniquely placed at a junction that
opens up onto four valleys (Drass-Suru- Wakha-Indus). While the Tibetan name for Kargil seems to refer to kar (white) and akhil (location/place), it is alternately spelt as gar-gil, meaning "cross-junction", signifying a location at the cross-point between Skardu-Leh and Kashgar-Srinagar.