An avalanche that buried more than 120 soldiers in a Himalayan region close to India has put a spotlight on what critics say is one of world’s most pointless military deployments: two poverty-wracked nations engaged in a costly standoff over an uninhabitable patch of mountain and ice, according to a report on Fox News.
Of all the problems plaguing the two countries, Siachen is often described as one of the easiest to solve but it is hostage to general mistrust and hard-liners on both sides who don’t want to give up their claim on territory, however strategically insignificant.
“This absolutely futile, useless fiasco has been going on since 1984,” said Pakistan-India peace activist Tahira Abdullah. “It is a one-hour job to agree on a solution, but it is now an ego problem between the two armies. Both armies should pull back from the heights. Soldiers are dying and my heart bleeds for them, but it’s for nothing.” Temperatures as low as -60 C (-76 F), vicious winds and altitude sickness — the region is just east of the world’s second-highest peak, K-2 — have killed far more than the artillery fire. Casualty figures are not released by either military, but hundreds are believed to have died there.
Analysts say resolving Siachen should be possible before the much more difficult dispute over Kashmir is attempted. Because no one lives in the region and it is of no strategic value, a joint or even unilateral withdrawal from one side could break the logjam.“Why should we be going for an agreement? We should just withdraw,” said Imtiaz Alam, the head of the South Asian Free Media Association.