About the Kargil war, he reportedly spoke in favor of the conflict and reportedly noted in the televised press conference: bitter fighting has "internationalized Kashmir", and hence was worth the loss of life suffered by the Pakistan Army as well as the Kashmiri freedom fighters involved. In 1999, his tenure was abrupted when Chairman joint chiefs Gen. Pervez Musharraf staged a martial law against the elected civilian government, and placed him trial that sentenced him on a solitary confinement on a conspiracy of treason; he was declared as the prisoner of conscience. In 2000–01, he voiced for the civilian control of the military and the called for the support for the democratic movements in an opined article which "The Washington Post" profiled him as: "Pakistan Keeps Gag on Former Spokesman."