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Vikram Jit Singh
Every dead sepoy of Pakistan's Northern Light Infantry (NLI) fighting the Indian Army in Kargil has been promised a compensation of $10,000 while the families of officers are also to be given a plot of land in any place of their choice in Pakistan.
This may have been done to prevent increasing resentment among the NLI troops, who hail from the federally-administered Northern Areas. POWs Hunar Shah and Naik Inayat Ali of the 5 NLI had told the Indian Army during interrogation that there was great frustration among their rank and file for having been made "sacrificial goats" in the Kargil misadventure.
Indian Army officers say that there is evidence to suggest that when pressed into Kargil, the NLI sepoys were not told that they would be occupying Indian positions. They were told that they were being deployed on their own posts. This maintained a high degree of operational secrecy.
According to information gleaned from Pakistan Army manuals and released by the Corps HQs here, the NLI is a14-battalion-strong force. Three more battalions -- the 15, 16 and 17 NLI -- are being raised. Of these, the 3, 4, 5 and 7 battalions took part in the intrusion across the Batalik-Chorbatla-Turtuk sectors. Elements of the 12 NLI occupied Tiger Hill and the Mushkoh Valley while the 6 and 11 NLI were spread across the Drass-Tololing-Kaksar sectors.
The mystery of the multiplicity of languages in Pakistani radio intercepts is explained by the diversity of the NLI's ethnic composition. According to the manual, the NLI sepoys are drawn from eight major ethnic groups: the Baltees, Shins, Yashkuns, Mughals, Kashmiris, Pathans, Ladakis and Turks who speak the dialects of Balti, Shina, Brushaki, Khawer, Wakhi, Turki, Pushto, Urdu and Persian.
Despite the Northern Areas holding a very small population, the land presents a very diverse picture -- there are four Muslim sects. Of the NLI sepoys, 49 per cent are Shias and 18 per cent Sunnis, while the Ismailees and Noor Bakhshis make up 23 and 10 per cent respectively.Fifty-five per cent of the sepoys come from Gilgit while 35 per cent hail from Baltistan. Most of the officers who led the NLI battalions in Kargil were from other regiments and included Punjabis, Mohajirs and Pathans.
Backed by NLI mountain artillery batteries comprising six each of the 105 British field guns, 25-pounders and 122 mm Chinese field guns, the infantry sneaked into Kargil's harsh terrain fully acclimatised and ready for warfare at high altitudes. Among the qualities of the NLI extolled by the Pakistani Army manuals that came into Indian hands in the Kargil intrusion were repulsing enemy attack by fire and counter-attack, seizing and holding ground and conducting independent operations on a limited scale.
The NLI is deployed extensively in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir under the Force Commander Northern Areas (FCNA) and forms the bulk of the battalions under the Minimarg-based 80 Infantry Brigade, the Skardu-based 62 Infantry Brigade and the 323 Infantry Brigade at Siachen. In 1985, fourbattalions were raised for deployment in the Siachen Glacier.
The NLI operates in close conjunction with three Scouts formations -- the Chitral Scouts, Hunza Scouts and Gilgit Scouts -- who perform the important task of rear area security. These are three of the 15-20 Scouts formations that Pakistan has, in contrast to fewer such formations in the Indian Army (like the Ladakh Scouts). ``Unlike he Indian paramilitary, the Scouts operate in their local areas, are equipped with the weaponry of the Army and also participate in Pakistan Army exercises,'' explained a Field Commander deployed in Kargil.
Being a specialised mountain troop force capable of ``defeating the hostile force by skilful use of firepower and manoeuvre by day and night in any weather and terrain'', the NLI has evolved from the days of the British Raj. During the 1880s, following the annexation of the North West Frontier Province, the British Army raised the Pakistan militia and the Scouts by recruiting local tribals for gatheringinformation and protecting its flanks.
Later, the role of the militia/scouts was changed to picketing and guarding of routes well before the military force was launched. After 1947, the militia/scouts were reorganised and equipped with modern weapons and in 1973 the HQs Northern Scouts, along with its scout wings -- the Karakoram Scouts, Northern Scouts ad Gilgit Scouts -- were reorganised as NLI battalions and placed under the Ministry of Defence. In 1993, the NLI battalions were organised into regular battalions of the Pakistan Army with the Regimental Centre at Bunji near Gilgit.
Indian Army officers analysing the extensive deployment of the NLI in the Kargil intrusion offer specific reasons for their choice beyond their proven capabilities as mountain troops. ``The bodies would not go back to mainland Pakistan, where they would have created a national uproar and encouraged international scrutiny,'' explained one officer.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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