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India must not withdraw from commanding heights near Siachen Glacier 'Captured after successful meghdoot operation' NIKHIL GUPTA 6/6/2012 10:49:20 PM Indian parliament's honourable resolution on territory of Jammu and Kashmir mentions that terri-torialy whole of the J&K belongs to India. This implies that now only POK needs to be liberated and amalgamated in Indian territory so as to fully honour the parli-ament's resolution. It was in April 1984 that a small body of troops was heli-dropped on Saltoro Ridge which overlooks the Siachen glacier, along its western fringe and within few days the Indian army occupied most parts of long saltoro ridge. Indian army had launc-hed Operation Meghdoot and took control of Siachen in April 1984 by preempting the Pakistan army's operation ababeel aimed at occupying the glacier. According to the parliament's resolution , whole of saltoro ridge and siachen glacier in its vicinity belongs to India and Indian army can deploy or withdraw or redploy troops there . Since then lot of talks and diplomacies have been initiated by both sides so as to somehow remove millitray from the siachen glacial region . First let us understand that it is not the siachen glacier that is fought about but it is actually the saltoro ridge where Indian army after successful operation meghdoot got itself stationed permanently. The control of this ridge effectively blocks pakistan's attempts to cut India's northern boundary with active assistance from China already in possession of illegal transfer of land of POK to china by pakistan . Thus control of saltoro ridge is important for India notwithstanding huge expenditure and casualty rates there as national security is above expenditure or casualty rates. Recently there have been demands from various quarters to vacate siachen glacier by both India and pakistan . This may be a good condition for pakistan which in any case is not even able to see the actual siachen glacier because the Indian army's tough presence at saltoro ridge blocks pakistan from reaching to the siachen glacier . The troop withdrawl by India to pre 1984 positions is not good for India because as soon as India vacates saltoro ridge , there is every possibility that pakistan may occupy it and for recapturing the ridge will take huge lives on the part of Indian soldiers . Second danger is the active formation of China - Pakistan axis in that region and this will put Indian territory in danger. The troop withdrawl from siachen has many concerns for Indian army . The Indian army's position is that unless certain safeguards and conditions favouring India are put in place, it would be a strategic blunder to withdraw from the positions that it currently holds in Siachen. The army believes that any troop withdrawal that gives the advantage to Pakistan would compromise national security . It would be unwise to withdraw from the present Indian position on the Saltoro Ridge where India is in command .If there is a withdrawal from the glacier, it must be after the two armies' positions have been authenticated both by India and Pakistan jointly on a map as well as on the ground. The agreement must have a clause giving each side the right to take appropriate action if there is any violation of the position on ground . The withdrawal can only be to a position which gives Indian troops ample time to redeploy. The Pakistanis have better roads while none exists on this side. Therefore any withdrawal must be decided keeping in mind the number of hours it would take either side to deploy to their present positions. But it should be kept in mind that after toop withdrawl , reverting to the present positions would be close to impossible. It would be nothing short of a suicide mission to win back those heights in the event of a violation by Pakistan.We cannot base an international agreement with Pakistan that is dependent on its goodwill . Instead we should come to an agreement that ensures that we remain in a position of strength. While India wants its present position on the Saltoro Ridge authenticated, Pakistan wants the maps to be made part of the annexures without any mention of the present positions in the agreement. Indian observers feel that if the maps are not authenticated and merely included as annexures they will lack any legal sanctity which can be enforced if there are any violations. The army insists on such conditions as the Saltoro Ridge was won by the army in 1984 with great difficulty. Soldiers had never operated at such altitudes and holding position ever since has involved huge human and financial costs. It is a misnomer that we are actually battling over Siachen,. The focus is on Saltoro Ridge and its strategic importance is considerable. The Indian army sits on the ridge west of the Siachen Glacier and is in a dominating position overlooking Pakistani positions. In other words, vacating the present Indian position without proper safeguards would be a military disaster. Any such agreement without authentication of the present positions would be an unmitigated disaster. In a mountainous region, as per international conventions, the watershed serves as the international boundary and Saltoro is the watershed. India must continue to hold a presence on the 73-kilometre-long Siachen glacier right up to Indra Col in the north. Another concern pertains to the fact that the Chinese maintain a major presence in the Shaksgam Valley, a part of PoK which was illegally ceded to China by Pakistan. This has proved to be a major cause of worry as Pakistan has been demanding that both armies withdraw to the pre-1984 lines. Which means the whole area around the Saltoro ridge becomes a demilitarised zone. This would leave India vulnerable to a China-Pak attack. For the army, such a demand is unacceptable. The only way forward is that authentication of present positions and an internationally-accepted assurance coupled with deterrence is absolutely necessary without any meaningful withdrawl of Indian troops . Even after authentications of all kinds there is no guarantee that pakistan will abide by the authentications of maps . We must remember that the ingress into Kargil by Pakistan occurred despite the presence of authenticated maps in the 1972 agreement . Thus , pakistan cannot be trusted in this case . Our nation must question herself whether Pakistan is abiding by Shimla agreement . If yes then it should not launch proxy war against India which it is currently indulging in . Saltoro is a sharp mountain ridge running north to south and largely under Indian control since the culmination of millitary operation meghdoot in 1984. Fierce sub-unit attacks launched by both sides in these formidable altitudes over the years effected only minor changes till the cease-fire in November 2003 brought an end to fighting. Indian forces have to cross several treacherous routes across Siachen glacier to reach and sustain its defensive positions to the west on the Saltoro. Pakistani forces are mostly west of the Saltoro ridge on lower ground and have to climb sharply in order to approach the ridgeline.The roots of the conflict over Siachen lie in the non-demarcation on the western side of NJ9842 which was the end point of the Line of Control fixed in the 1972 Shimla agreement. The 1949 Karachi agreement and the 1972 agreement presumed that it was not feasible for humans to survive north of NJ9842. The northern-most part of the line ended at Khor and remained undemarcated thereafter with a remark that the line would run "thence north to the glaciers". In the 1970s and early 1980s Pakistan permitted several mountaineering expeditions to climb high peaks on this glacier. This was to reinforce their claim on the area as these expeditions arrived on the glacier with a permit obtained from the Government of Pakistan. Once having become aware of this in about 1978, Colonel N. Kumar of the Indian Army mounted an Army expedition to Teram Kangri peaks as a counter-exercise. This was followed with operation in 1984 and capturing of saltoro ridge by India . The two passes due to Indian military pre-emption Sia La and Bilfond La were secured by India while the Gyong La pass remained under Pakistan control. Since then both sides have launched several attempts to displace each others forces, but with little success.The situation is well under Indian control such that Pakistanis cannot get up to the glacier . Pakistan wants India to give up the Saltoro Ridge, a stretch extending nearly 120km on which runs the AGPL from the border of India with Pak-ceded Chinese territory in the north toIndia's Kargil sector .The strategic significance of the Saltoro Ridge and the Siachen glacier is immense . India has strategic and terrain domination over Pakistan's so-called northern areas (J&K territory merged into Pakistan) and Pakistan-ceded Kashmir territory to China.The saltoro ridge blocks routes of ingress to the vital Ladakh and Kargil sectors.The Indira-Col, the northern most part of Siachen, directly overlooks Chinese occupation that was illegally ceded by Pakistan to China and having a foot on the ground here is the only way for India to legitimately dispute Chinese illegal presence there. Pakistan recognised the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in J&K up to point No. 9842. The agreement signed between the two countries drawing the LAC had stated that the line of demarcation between the two countries from this point would run roughly Northwards but no delineation of this on maps had taken place. Pakistan had subsequently claimed all the territory in J&K from NJ 9842 to Karakoram Pass as within its territorial jurisdiction. This was a unilateral claim, unrecognised by India. Therefore, Saltoro Ridge occupation is staking our claim beyond NJ 9842 in the event of an eventual settlement along the Line of Control and the Actual Ground Position Line. Let us remember that possession is nine-tenths of the law.If the line joining NJ 9842 to Indira Col i.e, the line along Saltoro Ridge is extended to Indo - Tibet boundary, major part of Saksgam Valley illegally ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963 will fall into Indian Kashmir. Chinese will therefore have to negotiate with India for settlement of Saksgam valley since they have steadfastly maintained that status of Saksgam Valley will be decided on eventual settlement of J&K problem. Therefore continuous Indian occupation of Indira col and also saltoro ridge is very important from national security viewpoint. Just as we Indians now know that some of decisions of India were not in best interests of India such as going to United Nations in 1948 when Indian forces were in the process of taking over almost whole of POK . Pandit Nehru then PM of India could have delayed going to UN for few weeks and results would have been very good for India . Similarly signing of discriminatory Indus water treaty with pakistan was not in best interests of India as it reserved almost four fifths of Indus basin water for pakistan and it didn't care for any future needs of India . Pandit nehru's hindi - chini bhai bhai slogan had no effect on China who gave defeat to India in 1962 battle.Therefore there should not be any undue haste in making troop withdrawl from very vital saltoro ridge near siachen glacier. At the same time India must make efforts to repair relations with China . It was the very correct effort of Lt GENERAL SUSHEEL GUPTA , the then Deputy Chief of army staff of Indian army in 2007 to start real time millitary exercises with China . Enacting a real combat scene, Indian and Chinese troops carried out a mock anti-terrorism drill in a hilly terrain in Yunnan province of China , marking the climax of the first-ever joint military exercise between the world's two largest armies that took their ties to a new high.In the simulated 80-minute anti-terror war game, combat forces launched a joint attack using battle tanks, artillery and helicopters on 50 armed terrorists who infiltrate the Sino-Indian border area covertly, set up a training camp and attempt to launch strikes on the trade passes along the border and take hostages before they are neutralised by the troops. Similiar exercises with bigger partner China should be continued for developing good millitary relations with China whom India cannot defeat millitarily . At the same time India must also be ready to face both pakistan and China in the event of their joint attack on India . All this necesasitates that India keeps control of saltoro ridge . Pakistan says that India should take bold initiative in siachen . I say that yes India must take bold initiative and in line with 1992 parliament resolution that whole of Jammu and kashmir including POK belongs to India , our nation must launch full scale war on paksitan and liberate POK thus mitigating the weakness shown by pandit nehru in 1948 and if pakistan uses even one nuke against India then that should be the end of pakistan and history will remember that pakistan came into existence in 1947 and ended the day it used its first nuke against a peaceful , democratic and civilised nation of India. It is my humble opinion that only true warriors should be chosen as leaders of nation and such true warriors should honour time tested Kshya-triya tradition of India.The concept of Kshya-triya is very simple and it is beyond purview of any one community i.e. pandits cannot decide who is kshyatriya or who is not . This decision can be based only on the sword. I have read that King Shivaji who carved his own kingdom within life time of Aurangzeb had to call some pandits from north India for his coronation . Its my humble opinion that King Shivaji should have got himself corronated by the strength of his sword as he was a true warrior or kshyatriya of India who stood against tyranny , rape , plunder and loot of his times. Now in our country there are lot of myths and lies propagated by various communities over a period of time but such myths or lies cannot stand against simple and plain hard facts. For example , Prof Baldev singh Panthi has clearly mentioned in his article on castes about various castes of Panjab viz. Jats , Mazhabis or ramgaria , khatri etc and he says that Jats are landowning caste primarily engaged in agriculture and khatri and Arora caste is primarily a caste of businessmen engaged in trading , shops , business etc. I humbly opine that we Indians should choose only those warriors or kshyatriyas as leaders of our country who can defeat enemy and take India forward. In my opinion THE ROYALE GUPTAS , THE ROYALE MARATHAS and THE ROYALE TAMILS are the best kshyatriya warriors who can deliver our nation from various evils . It is to be noted that we cannot choose those who get defeated quite often or who refuse to take hard decisions when nation needs such decisions . Even the freedom warriors like SURYA SEN , ANANDA GUPTA , DEBA GUPTA , TEGRA BAL , PREETILATA WADDEDAR , KALPANA DUTTA GUPTA etc were kshyatriya warriors who didn't care for their life and chose to fight the British instead of serving them like many people did at that time. Similarly the maratha warriors like S H GUPTE of kshyatriya maratha caste were great warriors who ventured in north , defeated almost all powers there and imposed chauth and sardeshmukhi on rajputs of Rajasthan during the turbulent period of 1757 and captured territories up to Attock in upper Sindh region . Those great maratha warriors literally liberated panjab from tyranny of those times. Similarly Tamils are great warriors who captured even parts of Sri Lanka . Thus , my humble and learned submission in the end is that we Indians must not choose such people to lead India who take bad decisions and let India take defeats or who don't show guts in times of war . But instead we must choose the true kshyatriya warriors like THE ROYALE GUPTAS , THE ROYALE MARA-TAHAS and THE ROYALE TAMILS to lead this country so as to deliver her from various evils and to usher in very peaceful , democratic and secular India. The content has no bearing on any person or any organisation and the author is guided by the motto " THE ROYALE GUPTA WARRIORS NEVER FIGHT FOR THEMSELVES BUT FIGHT FOR A BIGGER CAUSE " . Vande Matram and Jai Hind .   Share This News with Your Friends on Social Network     Comment on this Story

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