Siachen tragedy

Where is our Supreme Commander of armed forces?

This column is in honour of the many nameless and valiant Pakistani soldiers who have served their country in the world’s harshest and coldest battlefield at the Siachen Glacier. Today the nation mourns its 138 sons including 11 civilians still trapped deep under the snow after a massive landslide hit the Army base-camp at the height of 20,700 feet.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the stranded soldiers and with their families in this most terrible and trying time. We salute the spirit of more than 450 rescue workers braving the hostile weather conditions to retrieve the missing sons of the soil.

Shortly after the tragedy the Army Chief was in Siachen to oversee the search and rescue operation. But even almost after a week of the incident no one from the top civilian leadership – the president, the prime minister or the defense minister – has bothered to visit the site. Perhaps too absorbed with their own personal and political agendas they did little more than express shock, grief and issue instructions to relevant authorities to do their best. President Zardari as head of the state and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces should have given this matter top priority and gone there immediately to express solidarity in this moment of grief, adversity and challenge to show compassion.

Notably, the Siachen tragedy occurred on the eve of President Asif Ali Zardari’s officially private visit to Delhi where he had an official luncheon meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The hellish incident signaled the need to resolve the almost three decades old Siachen dispute between Pakistan and India. It was a wake-up call for the top civilian and military leadership of the two nuclear-armed neighbours engaged in this senseless contest.

In February, India also lost 16 soldiers as a consequence of a deadly avalanche.

The Siachen tragedy is a sad reminder of the high cost both countries are bearing in terms of human loss. The financial and environmental cost is no less. Shocking statistics were recently quoted in a section of the press about the casualties and astronomical expenses to maintain troops in this faraway wasteland of snow where more soldiers die of biting cold, natural calamities, accidents than in active combat.

Reportedly, since 1984 over 8000 soldiers have been killed on both sides. It costs Pakistan around Rs 15 million a day to maintain troops in that freezing and daunting terrain, while India spends an estimated Rs 50 million a day. According to defence sources, currently, close to 7,000 Indian soldiers and around 4,000 Pakistani troops are deployed on the Siachen glacier at the elevation of more than 6,300 meters.

Despite several rounds of talks between Pakistan and India on the Siachen glacier issue at various levels, including almost a dozen defence secretary-level meetings, it has not been settled. According to former Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri the settlement is just a signature away, conveying that the ball is now in the court of the top political leadership.

In January 2007, at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart here, Mr Kasuri had declared “a lot of work had already been done” on the Siachen issue and given the political will it could be resolved within days. He specifically mentioned that the then Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan had handed over a “detailed plan” in this regard to his Indian counterpart during the official talks in New Delhi in November 2006 which addressed concerns of both sides. Later in March, the Indian foreign secretary also acknowledged that the two countries were looking at “a common set of ideas” and categorically stated: “We are hopeful.”

The Indian demand for authentication of troops’ current position has remained a sticking point. Apparently, last round of defence secretary-level talks in April 2007 broke down after the Indian delegation insisted on authentication of the existing positions which was not acceptable to Pakistan.

Pakistan and India came very close to an agreement on Siachen in 1989. An understanding had been reached at that time between the then Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto, for disengagement of troops to the time of 1972 when the two countries signed the Simla Agreement. It was then left to the defence ministries of the two countries to work out the modalities.

In 1992, Defence Secretary of Pakistan, Salim Abbas Jilani, went to India to sign the agreement with his Indian counterpart Mr N N Vohra. However, at the last moment India backed out because the then Prime Minister Narishima Rao did not want the agreement to be signed, stating certain political difficulties. The change of heart at the last minute even prompted criticism in the Indian media. Late, J N Dixit, former Indian National Security Advisor, wrote in an article that it was not a prudent policy that India had adopted at that time.

Siachen heights had been under Pakistan’s control since 1947 but these were forcibly occupied by India in 1983-84 in violation of the 1949 Karachi Agreement and the 1972 Simla Accord which precluded use of force by parties, and in this particular case the Indian move was seen as an aggression by Pakistan as well as the international community.

Now after the much-publicised thaw in Pakistan-India relations with President Zardari’s recent visit to Delhi, highest priority ought to be given to break the ice on the 27-year-old Siachen conflict over the world’s harshest battlefield. It is hoped that the “fruitful” meeting of the top political leadership in Delhi last week translates into a decisive move towards a mutually acceptable and expeditious solution to the Siachen issue. The impoverished nations stand to gain from it. Also, it will end the misery of thousands of soldiers who suffer from serious psychological problems due to the extreme isolation and dehumanising living conditions there.

The calls from both sides of the border for de-militarising the Siachen Glacier and converting it into a ‘peace park’ merits serious consideration. If the Indian prime minister could offer Pakistan assistance for rescue operation at Siachen and President Zardari flown to Ajmer Sharif in an Indian Air Force chopper, this is also possible.

The writer is a senior journalist and has been a diplomatic correspondent for leading dailies. She can be reached at: [email protected]