Times of India editorial

Stand at ease


It’s entirely inappropriate for an army commander in Siachen to advise journalists that a withdrawal from the glacier will render Indian defences weak.

Such decisions are up to the civilian command to make, and only the political leadership can determine where Siachen stands in the context of India’s overall strategic and diplomatic interest.

The peace process has been restarted with Pakistan’s foreign secretary in New Delhi to hold talks with his Indian counterpart; among other things, a date for discussing Siachen will be set.

Siachen is the world’s coldest battlefield, and the contest in this inhospitable region illustrates well the pitfalls of thinking territorially.

The problem springs from this being an undemarcated region in the mutually agreed ceasefire line in Kashmir. Indian troops moving to control Siachen’s heights in 1984 was essentially a pre-emptive move it was to deny Pakistani forces from getting there first.

To some extent it’s like the farcical retreat ceremony at Wagah, where the BSF and Pakistani Rangers attempted to stare each other down with ferocious gestures.

he difference is that Siachen means supplying forces that may be stationed at 22,000 feet and experiencing cold of up to –50 celsius.

Siachen operations cost the exchequer Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore a day, as well as the lives of about 600 soldiers over two decades, most of whom succumbed to adverse weather conditions.

BSF has recently toned down its march at Wagah, tactics that could well be replicated in Siachen. New Delhi and Islamabad could jointly demarcate a zone of peace along the Siachen glacier where, after a certain date, the presence of both Indian and Pakistani troops will be considered illegitimate.

This would be irrespective of who held what position before that date, and irrespective of how Kashmir is finally settled. The fear on the Indian side would be, what happens in case Islamabad reneges on its commitments and occupies the area militarily after Indian forces leave.

However, the strategic cost of this to New Delhi would be small it’s not as if Ladakh will fall if Siachen goes while the diplomatic cost to Islamabad would be high. New Delhi can make it clear that it sees this as a test case of whether Islamabad can be trusted.

It’s unlikely that Islamabad would jeopardise the whole peace process for the sake of small gains in Siachen.