[18] The Marpo La ridge originates from the Pakistani side of the Line of Control and consists of a succession of mountain peaks that overlook the Mashkoh and Dras valleys in the Indian-administered Kashmir.

[15] Even before the Kargil war, the Pakistani military planners had been becoming increasingly concerned about their vulnerabilities in this region, having lost posts on the LoC at Marpo La to India before in the pre-Kargil period.

[22] The Indian Army says that the Pakistani occupation of Point 5353 does not pose a great threat to the National Highway or to its supply lines, and that the peak is not comparable in strategic importance to Tololing and Tiger Hill.

[12] Former Lt. Col. Kuldip Singh Ludra states, Point 5353 "dominates, by observation and fire, the complete area on both side of the Line of Control.

"[5][6][7][8][9][23] In 2000, Praveen Swami claimed in his reports that from Point 5353, the Pakistani army could direct artillery fire up to a 20 km stretch of the Indian highway.

In retribution for the shelling, the Indian senior commanders had ordered Bawa's 17 Jat, besides 14 JAK RIF, which was till then held in reserves, for carrying out offensive operations across the LoC.

Bawa narrates that his unit was allotted the task of capturing Point 5353, "across the LoC, close to Marpo La", with a view to silence the artillery observation post that had been supervising the shelling on the Indian highway and elsewhere in Dras.

Its commanding officer, Colonel Pushpinder Oberoi, Bawa learned through liaison, was not keen on the prospect of carrying out offensive operations across the LoC, as he thought that would entail changing the status quo, which would have created tensions in the region.

Bawa was still contemplating about his course of action, when, in late September, 1998, the Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee initiated a peace process with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, in the form of back channel efforts.

[12][38][39] For instance, PTI reported in August 1999, "Meanwhile, fighting is still going on for recapturing the point 5353 in Mushkoh valley, situated on the Line of Control (LOC), which Islamabad claims to be part of Pakistan.

"[40] Soon after the Kargil War was over, some Indian media reported that Point 5353, a strategically important peak in the Dras sector, was still under Pakistan's control.

In the negotiations carried out between the Brigadier Aul and a Pakistani interlocutor called Colonel Saqlian in mid-August 1999, both sides committed themselves to leave the points 5353, 5240, 4251 and 4875 unoccupied.

Swami believed that the Indian Army then attempted to force a territorial swap by taking positions on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in the Batalik sector, which lies to the east of Kargil.

He noted that, in one such operation on 14 April 2000, the troops of the 14 Sikh Regiment occupied the until then unheld Point 5310, which was situated one kilometre inside the Pakistani side of the LoC.

This prompted the then Indian Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Nirmal Chander Vij to issue a press release, with detailed maps and notes, in which he asserted that the LoC passes through Point 5353 as per the Simla Agreement.

"[17][43] However, Praveen Swami stood by his report, stating that The Hindu had in its possession copies of the "army's own one-inch maps" as well as orders issued to the commanders to capture Point 5353 on 18 May 1999.

He went on to note that "this assessment was vindicated during the artillery clashes in 2001-2002, when the Pakistani observation posts on Point 5353 were unable to bring accurate fire to bear on either the highway or nearby Indian positions.

The Indian troops were able to tie down the Pakistani position with accurate fire, rendering it near-impossible for its superior altitude to be used to good effect.

He wrote, "Consider, for example, the case of Point 5353, named for its height in metres above sea level, from the summit of which the LoC takes a gentle southeastern turn.

"[24] In this context, General Ved Prakash Malik, who was the Indian Army Chief of Staff during the Kargil war, stated: "The LoC in this area was drawn in 1972 by joining several heights (points) with straight lines.

[22] At a press conference on 30 August 2000, an opposition party leader, Ram Kumar Anand, alleged that Point 5353, along with five other peaks that belonged to India, was still in the occupation of Pakistan, contrary to what the Indian Parliament had been told.

He claimed that India stationed army personnel on Point 5353 in 1992–93, who then cut off the supply routes of the Pakistani positions along the Line of Control for almost two months.

[51][52] Ashok Mehta said that in the encounter with RK Anand, the Indian Army was "forced to reveal certain information, which in national interest should have remained under wraps", adding that "Pakistan was prompt to report that it had not violated the Line of Control in Kargil.

[54]The Point 5353 controversy erupted once again during "Operation Parakram" (India's Code name for its military mobilization along the India–Pakistan border) which began on 13 December 2001, in response to the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament.

"[58] The Telegraph of 27 August 2002, reported that "In a map shown to The Telegraph today at the army headquarters, Point 5353 is depicted on the Line of Control, at an aerial distance of about 12 km from Dras", and a battalion of the Pakistan Army's Baloch Regiment was in possession of the peak, which it said was flanked on either side (east and west) by a battalion each of Northern Light Infantry and Punjab Regiment, supported by the Pakistani brigade headquarters at Gultari.

In 1999, Pakistani intruders occupying the heights in this sector were directing artillery fire on Dras and National Highway 1A and were alleged to have planned to secure routes for infiltration into the Valley."

Nonetheless, it noted that "even if Fernandes is taken at his word, the continued occupation of Point 5353 by the Baluch battalion means that Pakistan has departed from “normal practice”.

The Pakistani troops launched several counter-attacks but failed to retake Point 5070, as the Indians, despite suffering heavy casualties, continued to hold onto this feature.

Richard Armitage, then American Deputy Secretary of State had arrived in Delhi a few days earlier, where he had revealed General Musharraf's pledge, in his words: "To end cross-border terrorism permanently, visibly, irreversibly and to the satisfaction of India.

Pakistani troops on Point 5353 were first hit with smoke-filled mortar shells, to flush them out of their bunkers, and then with air-burst artillery, which showered down shards of metal at great speed.