The Siachen glacier is regarded as the world's highest battlefield. Pakistan and India both claim the area and have thousands of soldiers stationed there. The glacier has been in the news recently with the deaths in April of about 140 people, most of them soldiers, on the Pakistani side in an avalanche. Soon after, Pakistan's army chief said Pakistan favoured talks with India to demilitarise Siachen. The two countries have already held 12 rounds of talks over the disputed glacier.
Weather is the biggest foe. Bone-chilling winds whip the landscape and avalanches sweep soldiers into crevasses. The harsh sun burns the skin and, combined with the thin air and sub-zero temperatures, can induce acute depression.
Pakistan and India agreed to a ceasefire over the Siachen glacier in 2003 but thousands of troops are still deployed in the region.
Supplies must be flown in to the Forward Logistics Base by helicopter. India believes that the glacier is of great strategic and diplomatic value. Soldiers adjust to the high altitude by training on an ice wall at the snout of the Siachen glacier. A sign at the snout of the glacier declares it to be the world's highest battlefield.
It started in 1984 with Indian army seized control of the glacier, an area not demarcated by the Line of Control through divided Kashmir. Many more soldiers have died from the harsh conditions in Siachen than in combat. There is a famous local saying: "The land is so barren and the passes so high that only the best of friends and fiercest of enemies come by.''
No comments:
Post a Comment