I haven't fudged any war report: Lt Gen Pal

After being indicted by the Armed Forces Tribunal for showing bias against a Brigadier and falsifying the accounts of the Kargil war, Lt Gen Kishan Pal on Thursday said he had "not fudged any war reports" and whatever he wrote about the battle was "unbiased".

"I have not fudged any reports or records, I have written one confidential battle performance report about Brig Devinder Singh and as a Corps Commander, the report I wrote about him was totally unbiased and true," he said in New Delhi.

The former 15 Corps GOC said he had no personal animosity with Brig Singh, who led 70 Infantry Brigade in the Batalik sector in the Kargil war, and wished him luck for the redressal the former commander got from the tribunal.

Asked to comment on the Brig Singh's contention that he and the 70 Brigade Commander differed on the number of intruders occupying the peaks, he said, "this is not correct. Whatever assessments were made, are available in the situation reports from the Batalik sector."

He alleged that the "real progress" in operations in the Batalik sector was made during the last 7-8 days of the war and Brig Singh was not present there at that point.

Asked if he would apologise to Brigadier Singh for showing bias against him as said by the tribunal, Lt Gen Kishan Pal said, "No, not at all. I would not comment against the Tribunal as it is a court."

On Brig Singh's contention that he had dismissed warnings emerging from a war game suggesting that a Kargil-like intrusion could take place, Lt Gen Kishan Pal said, "No, this is not correct. I had only ordered those wargames and a number of things had come up. For the last 50 years, lot of places remained unoccupied and after the wargames, a road from Mushkoh valley was built."

Asked about the role of then 3 Division deputy GOC Brig Ashok Duggal in the battle, he said, "Brig Duggal was there in the Batalik sector for 72 hours when the crucial progress in operations took place. Can Brig Singh tell the truth about his whereabouts in the last seven-eight days?"