<P> The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the LOC, which serves as the de facto border between the two states . During the initial stages of the war, Pakistan blamed the fighting entirely on independent Kashmiri insurgents, but documents left behind by casualties and later statements by Pakistan's Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff showed involvement of Pakistani paramilitary forces, led by General Ashraf Rashid . The Indian Army, later supported by the Indian Air Force, recaptured a majority of the positions on the Indian side of the LOC infiltrated by the Pakistani troops and militants . Facing international diplomatic opposition, the Pakistani forces withdrew from the remaining Indian positions along the LOC . </P> <P> The war is one of the most recent examples of high - altitude warfare in mountainous terrain, which posed significant logistical problems for the combating sides . It is one of the very few instances of direct, conventional warfare between nuclear states (i.e., those possessing nuclear weapons). India had conducted its first successful test in 1974; Pakistan, which had been developing its nuclear capability in secret since around the same time, conducted its first known tests in 1998, just two weeks after a second series of tests by India . </P> <P> Before the Partition of India in 1947, Kargil was part of the Baltistan district of Ladakh, a sparsely populated region with diverse linguistic, ethnic and religious groups, living in isolated valleys separated by some of the world's highest mountains . The First Kashmir War (1947--48) concluded with the LOC bisecting the Baltistan district, with the town and district of Kargil lying on the Indian side in the Ladakh subdivision of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir . After Pakistan's defeat in the Indo - Pakistani War of 1971, the two nations signed the Simla Agreement promising not to engage in armed conflict with respect to that boundary . </P> <P> The town of Kargil is located 205 km (127 mi) from Srinagar, facing the Northern Areas across the LOC . Like other areas in the Himalayas, Kargil has a temperate climate . Summers are cool with frigid nights, while winters are long and chilly with temperatures often dropping to − 48 ° C (− 54 ° F). </P>

President of india at the time of kargil war