Operation Safed Sagar: How IAF took the fight to Pakistan at 18,000 feet in Kargil

In the summer of 1999, the attention of the nation moved away from the cricket World Cup and on to the barren and desolate peaks overlooking Kargil, a till-then unheard-of town in a remote portion of the country.The early days of May had already signalled trouble. First, the locals reported unusual activity in the high peaks, thousands of feet above the valley floor. The first patrol, led by Captain Saurabh Kalia, was captured after a firefight.Members of this team were inhumanely tortured to death. Another patrol, sent up around May 17 and tasked with locating the first patrol, came under heavy attack and could only extricate itself due to the heroic and self-sacrificing actions of Captain Amit Bhardwaj and Havildar Rajvir Singh Sheoran.As the scope of the infiltration became clear, things moved swiftly and decisively. The Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the use of air power.