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| Siachan is now a permanent standoff | | | Sushil Vakil | 6/17/2012 10:53:51 PM |
| As expected, the latest two day India-Pakistan talks on the Saichin issue in Rawalpindi fell flat due to both sides sticking to their stated positions-demarcation and demilitarisation. While India has insisted on the authentication and demarcation of current positions Pakistani side reiterated its call for demilitarising the Siachen glacier and pulling back troops to the positions in 1984. Indian's insistence on Pakistan authenticating the AGPL is based on fears that Pakistani troops could reoccupy the region, once the Indian army moves back. Interestingly, Indian and Pakistani troops have been engaged in a standoff on Siachen, described as the world's highest and coldest battlefield, since 1984. The way talks fail again and again one can safely say that Siachan is now a permanent standoff.
There is no denying the fact that Siachen holds key to India's security as the glacier acts as a buffer against China and Pakistan, given that the former is already conspicuous by its presence in Kashmir's Gilgit-Baltistan region. As a matter of fact, at present, India's position in the snow bound region is much advantageous compared to Pakistan as India holds two-thirds of the glacier and commands two of the three passes including the highest motorable pass - Khardungla Pass.
Speculations are rife that India is under army's pressure not to make any commitment due to its strong position in the area. This fact has been confirmed by Wikileaks cable reports of 2006. According to cable leaks " There has been repeated failure to reach a solution on the Siachen dispute due to the Indian army's resistance to giving up its territory under any condition." According to the 2006 cable classified by the Deputy Chief of Mission Geoff Pyatt, the reasons for the Indian army's resistance are its strategic advantage over China, internal army corruption, distrust of Pakistan and a desire to keep hold of advantageous territory that thousands of Indian soldiers have died protecting. The Wikileaks suspicions have been further substantiated by none other than India's Defence Minister AK Antony who had made it clear prior to talks that "no dramatic announcement" should be expected as Pakistan was showing no signs of agreeing to India's logical viewpoint that demilitarisation of the glacier was possible only when both countries' troop positions on the Actual Ground Position Line were recorded and properly delineated on the ground as well as on the map. The fact also remains that it is the Pakistani side that is renewing its call for demilitarising the Siachen glacier and pulling back troops to the positions in 1984. In fact, Islamabad stepped up calls to demilitarise the glacier in the wake of an avalanche that killed 139 people at a high-altitude Pakistan Army camp on April 7 last year.
Ironically, the matter of demilitarisation has been debated between India and Pakistan for many years now. At the diplomatic level, no less than 12 meetings have been held and on many an occasion it has been said that a breakthrough is around the corner. During the last decade, two Prime Ministers of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, have expressly desired a withdrawal of forces, and their sentiments are echoed my many political leaders in Pakistan, especially Nawaz Sharif. But what happens later on is a mystery.
Like previous meetings the two countries again failed to make any forward movement in ending the military standoff on Siachen as Indian government has made it clear that any settlement must include the authentication and demarcation of current military positions on Siachen. The move is aimed at thwarting the possible re-induction of troops by Pakistan after any demilitarisation of the glacier.
There are reports that Pakistan has been engaging with China against India by trying to combine the glacier with the Karakoram ranges. If that happens, the security of Ladakh will be compromised. Just imagine the fate of India if Siachen is vacated in good faith and one fine morning Pakistani army moves upto the Karakoram Pass and links Pak-occupied Baltistan with China-occupied Aksai Chin. We will then be surrounded from three sides in Ladakh by our two adversaries. Therefore, the Saltoro Ridge and the Siachen glacier have to be held by us at all costs. India should guard itself against falling into any trap. Unarguably, Siachen holds the key not only to India's security in Kashmir, but also to India's territorial claim to the Shaksgam Valley. Keeping in view the strategic importance of the glacier India must insist that any settlement of the Siachen dispute must take cognisance of the actual ground position held by armies of the two countries.
Suggestively, those advocating the pullout of troops from Siachen-where we lost precious lives of 4,000 soldiers while defending the glacier- are looking at short-term political gains rather than long-term national interest. It is also a fact that in Saichin, our troops have been stationed in a nasty, inhospitable environment since 1984. Moreover, we have command over three strategic passes along withthe added advantage of having an eye over the activities of China and Pakistan. Of course, the Indian army argues the Kargil invasion in 1999 had changed the entire discourse and vindicated its position that the Pak army is not to be trusted. Military experts say Siachen is strategically insignificant. Nonetheless, an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Pakistani and Indian troops are deployed there, costing the countries hundreds of millions of dollars.
In case we vacate Siachen, we will not get a second chance to regain it and we will be at the receiving end. Thanks to modernisation of the Army and vision of our senior Army commanders, logistics have considerably improved in Siachen and casualties due to weather and maintenance costs have also reduced. So, let's keep our powder dry. There is no question of vacating our own territory which we have consolidated at a cost of over 4,000 causalities of our men and thousands of crores of rupees in maintaining it.
The writer is a senior journalist and can be reached at: [email protected] |
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