Siachen !

It is called the 3rd pole of the earth. At 21000 ft , it is a frozen river of ice with temperatures from -35º Celsius in summer to -60º Celsius in winter. Added to this the concealed crevasses, avalanches, spine chilling cold winds all make the place thence north to the glaciers an inhospitable and an uninhabitable piece of realty..


That’s exactly what Major-General S.M. Shrinagesh and his Pakistani counterparts thought when they signed the Instrument of Cease Fire Line (CFL) in1949 at Karachi. Little did they know that in just four more years a key sentinel of Mother Nature’s harshness and hostility, the Mt Everest (29,028 ft) would be conquered.

But... a battlefield at 21000 feet? Well that had to wait for three more decades.

A little geography:

Siachen Glacier is what I am talking about. The word “Siachen” literally/ironically means “Place of Wild Roses” in Ladakhi maybe owing to the wild orchids that grow in the Himalayas. Cartographically Siachen is almost trianglular in shape with NJ9842, Indira-Col and Karakoram Pass as its three corners. The 72 km long glacier, one of the longest in the Himalayas lies between the Saltoro Ridge in the West and the Karakoram ranges in the west. It has number of peaks, side valleys and at its head lies the Indira Col, the divide between South and Central Asia. The glacier feeds the Nubra and the Shyok rivers which ultimately turns into the Indus.

Co-ordinates to view Siachen on Google Earth: 35.5° N 77.0° E (Zoom-out slightly to have a complete view of the glacier) . This is how it looks like :

Roots of the conflict:

India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir. In 1949 after the First Kashmir war an agreement which primarily aimed at demarcating the Cease Fire Line (CFL, which subsequently became the LoC after the Shimla Agreement of 1972) between India and Pak was signed by both the countries. As stated earlier in the prelude the demarcation of the CFL unfortunately stopped at a point now known on the maps as NJ9842. Beyond this there was no demarcation. The instrument of CFL just read that the Ceasefire Line would continue thenceforth north to the glaciers.

While India continues the LoC from NJ9842 North-west along the Saltoro Ridge line, the Paki version draws a straight line from NJ9842 to the Karakoram pass. Nevertheless NJ9842 was just another co-ordinate on the map till the late 1970s.

Build-up to Operation Meghdoot:

The whole equation changed in 1977, when Indian Col Narender ‘Bull’ Kumar while leafing through a mountaineering magazine found an article on international expeditions venturing onto the glacier from the Pakistani side. Its like you get up in the morning and there you find a newspaper ad that has put up your house on sale! Now that’s not good.

By late 1970s and early 80s Pakistan had started issuing permits to foreign expeditions; Pak also started showing the whole glacier as a part of its map by drawing a straight line from NJ9842 to the Karakoram pass.


This is very much in contradiction of the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) that India draws from NJ9842 North-West along the Saltoro ridge to Indira–Col.

This alarmed India and it sent an affirmative mountaineering expedition led by Col Narender Kumar in 1978. The Indian mission scaled almost all the important peaks of the glacier including the Saltoro-Kangri and also skied down through most of the strategic passes like Bila-Fondla, Saltoro Pass and the Indira-Col. During this mission Indian forces gathered vital geographic intelligence of the glacier which proved to be of great use in the future.


Operation Meghdoot:

The final blow came when Pakistan gave permission to a Japanese expedition to attempt Rimo peak in 1984. This peak is located in the side valley, east of Siachen. It overlooks the eastern areas of the Aksai Chin. Such an expedition would have firmly linked the western routes with the eastern routes, -- the trade route leading to Karakoram Pass and China.

In the summer of 1984, On April 14th to be precise India launched pre-emptive offensives and the armed forces went to the glacier under an operation codenamed Operation MegDoot . Pakistan soon retaliated and marched its forces into Siachen which was followed by a bloody battle to occupy the Saltoro ridge. Within a week India chased the Pakis away and occupied the Saltoro Ridge and the two passes BilaFond-La and Sia-La. Since then Pak launched repeated retaliatory attacks to occupy the heights, but all such attempts were mowed by India.

Quaid post becomes Bana Top:

One such attacks was a ‘celebrity’ attack that came in September1987. A group of elite Pakistani SSG commandos led by Pervez Mushraff ( yes the same one who is currently the Prez of Pak), tried to lay seize on BilaFond-La pass. Mush enjoyed limited initial success. But he and his men were badly beaten back in a daring day-time attack by 8th J and K Light Infantry led by Subhedar Bana Singh.Not only did he re-occupy our posts, he also succeeded in grabbing a Paki post called Quaid. To honor Bana’s exceptional bravery, Quaid post was renamed as Bana-Top!

The last major artillery shelling/gun battle was in Sept 1999. By and large the guns have fallen totally silent since the Nov 2003 cease fire between the two countries. However both the contries have deployed more than 5000 troops on either sides to keep a constant vigil on any mis-adventure that either of the countries may perpetuate.

India can neither come down; nor can Pakistan come up !

Being at a height, India definitely has the tactical advantage over Pak in Siachen. At 21000 ft India can have a close watch on the strategic Karakoram Highway that’s connects Pakistan and China, this according to many defence analysts is definitely a big advantage for India at the time of an eventuality.

All this is fine. But..

Manning your posts at 22000 feet is not a cake-walk.

- It costs India nearly INR 4 crore (approx $1 Mil) per day to maintain . At aprox $ 400 Mil per year it may account to the annual GDP of some of the poorest economies of the world. Pakistan at the same time spends around $0.3 Mil everyday. The difference is mainly because of the heights we control.

- Being at a height is a tactical advantage, but logistically it’s a catastrophe. While Pakistan being in the Siachen valley (at a lower height 10,000ft) can manage to get most of its supplies via road on mules , India has to heavily rely on transport aircraft and Choppers for its supplies. In Siachen an Indian Chapatti costs INR 700 while the same costs Pakistan INR 300 i.e., roughly half of what we spend. In an ironic sense I call that the extra tax we pay to hold a better piece of real estate! This is a real pain for the country’s exchequer.

- Siachen is a battlefield where 80% of the soldiers on either side die of natural calamities like avalanches, frostbites and extreme cold. It’s estimated that one Paki soldier dies every four days and one Indian jawan succumbs to death every second day. Considering the and soldier morale and the high cost that goes into the training/acclimatization of a Jawan, such casualties are definitely unsought for.

But what can be done?

Since 1999 India & Pakistan have had 9 rounds of defence secretary-level talks on the Siachen issue. All failures, Pakistan doesnt recognise the Actual Ground Position Line, we dont recognize their version of LoC extension and so neither of us will pull out. Last June our PM Manmohan Singh visited the glacier , then when he talked about the Siachen Peace park

Siachen Peace Park / Demilitarization: ‘For the Peace Park to happen the region has to be demilitarised first and thats Not so easy’, opines the army. Pakistan cannot be trusted and that too after the 1999 Kargil ‘mis’adventure the mutual trust between the two countries has reached a new low. There has be several small Confidence Building Measures like decreasing the head-count, replacing soldiers with electronic surveillance etc., after which the final demilitarization is possible.

It wouldn’t be so easy for India to walk away from an advantageous position, that too after so much of bloodshed. India fears that Pak may march into the Saltoro Ridge the moment we leave. Electronic/satellite surveillance can just keep a check on who is coming into the Glacier, but again its our jawans who have to shed their blood to drive them back . Mistrust is one motivating factor that keeps the Indians and the Pakistanis in the Glacier.

Conclusion ?

From my current level of reasoning, I am really unable to conclude how exactly this crisis can be ended. But I feel that this conflict cannot be let to go like this forever for these primary reasons.
- It is killing fine young men of our country for no obvious reason ,
- It is boring a hole into our economy and also
- It is ruining the ecosystem of the glacier.

Confounded by the complexity of the situation , for a closing note I chose to leave you with some words that our PM has rightfully said “In the pursuit of peace we cannot accept any changes in the established boundaries, these boundaries are important not only for our security but it relates to the country’s prestige also.”