90199559-Siachen-The-Geopolitics

1 Siachen:The Geopolitics and Strategy in Frozen Battlefield By Shahzad Masood Roomi Aftermath of Gyari Tragedy: The tragic incident of 7th April avalanche that hit the battalion HQ of 6NLI battalion of Pakistan Army in Gyari sector of Siachen trapping 139 Pakistani troops and civilians has traumatized the entire nation. Pakistan Army is desperately trying to reach the trapped persons under the 80 feet high and one square kilometer wide pile of rubble, rock, snow and ice in a rescue operation in an unforgiving weather and constant snow falling at a height of 14000 feet from sea level. The incident was the worst catastrophe since 1984 when India illegally occupied Siachen glacier and Saltoro ridge to its southwest. After this dreadful tragedy, a very shocking and sordid trend emerged in certain media circles within Pakistan, like SAFMA, demanding withdrawal of forces from Siachen. On 9th April 2012, two days after the awful tragedy, SAFMA head Imtiaz Alam stated, ―Why should we be going for an agreement? We should just withdraw. If we do that, Indian domestic pressure will also result in a withdrawal there. They will say it is madness to continue.‖[11] 2 Without giving proper knowledge of background of the incident and history of conflict on world‟s highest battlefield these self-claimed peace preachers began to tell the Pakistanis that it is time to bring our boys home unilaterally because Siachen glacier is melting due to presence of forces there and this deployment of force is futile. Apart from the compromised media elements, the political leadership also failed to show solidarity with the defenders of Pakistan immediately after the incident. The entire nation is on the brink of complete internal chaos and Pakistan Army has been caught in a ruthless and cut- throat battle against the religious and secular terrorists and separatists in ongoing massive 4GW and needs the backing and support of every nook and corner of the country. But unfortunately, the regime in Islamabad remained busy in its survival exercise in Supreme Court isolating itself from every important national security and governance issue like the awful tragedy at Gyari sector. President of Pakistan failed to cancel or even postpone his private trip to India, the country which had put Pakistani troops in this treacherous battlefield in the first place. Parliament is keen to investigate the incident rather than doing anything for the families of heroes of Pakistan Army who gave the ultimate sacrifice. But most disgusting remarks came from the leader of Pakistan‟s second biggest political party PML(N) and former PM Nawaz Sharif who, just like SAFMA, asked Pakistan army to withdraw from the battlefront unilaterally as the solution while the enemy has already 1000 square miles (2600 square kilometer) of Pakistani territory under the occupation of enemy who has plans to capture more in order to complete the strategic goal of cutting off Pakistan from China. For years, Indians have demanded that Pakistan accept the current deployment of forces along the ridgeline (known as Actual Ground Position Line or AGPL) of Saltoro range as permanent border which means accepting the illegal occupation of the glacier by the Indian Army. In this backdrop, the proposal of withdrawing unilaterally is not only completely delusional but is impossible to act upon due to the strategic importance of the region and Indian expansionist designs which turned this glacier into the battlefield. A detailed historical and strategic analysis of Indian policymaking regarding this subtle and critical issue is necessary to understand that why Pakistan cannot withdraw from the glacier in unilateral fashion. 3 Pakistan Army patrolling party There is number of reasons, from financial to environmental, for both the countries to withdraw from this front, even in the presence of core issue of Kashmir. 1989 agreement between both the sides demands the relocation of forces to the positions away from the glacier but not unilaterally. So, anyone who is advising this as solution is either too naïve to understand the gravity of the situation or is deliberately part of something more sinister against Pakistan and its core strategic interests. History of conflict: Ostensibly, the Siachen crisis, just like Kashmir, is the result of uncompleted border demarcation between the two nations but expansionist designs of India are the core reason behind this problem. This is why India is reluctant to implement the 1989 agreement. Historically, Siachen belongs to Pakistan; all of it. All the international climbing and mountaineering expedition teams to climb K2 and other mountains, always got their NoCs from the Pakistani governments. After the initial expedition of Imperial College London in 1957, Austrian and German teams came to Pakistan in 1961, 1962, 1976 and 1978 all got permission from Islamabad to visit the area. Overall, there were 16 major expeditions which went to Siachen and beyond from 1974 to 1981. 11 of these were from Japan, three from Austria, and one each from Britain and the United States. Being international expeditions, these were known to the entire world including India. This clearly proves that this area belongs to Pakistan and Indian military presence in the area is no 4 more than an act of war and overt aggression which by default legitimates retaliatory actions from Pakistan. K-2 , A diamond of ice - An ultimate challenge for world mountaineers Apart from this, Siachen has been shown as part of Pakistan in many of international world atlases like UN Defense Mapping Agency (DMA), Historical Atlas of South Asia by Chicago University, Britannica Atlas, National Geographic Society of World Atlas and Times World Atlas. The root of Pakistani claim, apart from afore mentioned published maps by international bodies, stems from the Karachi Agreement, signed under UN auspices, in 1949 which states that from the last demarcated point, Khor (Grid Reference NJ9842), the line would run „thence North to the glaciers‟ [2] and this is what all international publishers (including Indian) did. They extended the line towards North which connects NJ9842 to Karakoram Pass. Sir Oven Dixon was appointed as first UN observer over Kashmir between Pakistan and India. He mentioned Siachen as part of Pakistan‟s Northern Areas (current Gilgat-Batistan) and it was further endorsed by the Indian writer P.L. Lakhanpal in his book “Essential Documents and Notes on the Kashmir Dispute”. Indian defense analyst Ravi Rikhye in his work “The Fourth round: Indo-Pak war” included many maps of LoC and according to these maps Siachen is Pakistani territory. Lt. Gen K.P. Candeth, retired from Indian army in 1984, he wrote his book “The Western Front: Indo Pakistan war 1971”. The maps included in his book also showed NJ-9842 and Siachen as part of Pakistan. 5 The Indian claim is that the line should follow the ridgeline of the Saltoro Range which actually runs in a North Westerly direction instead of going to North as stated in 1949 Karachi Agreement. Indians claimed that this is universally applicable watershed principle for settling border disputes. But this should have been mentioned in the agreement between the two parties which was not there in Karachi agreement or even in the 1989 agreement hence Pakistan has legitimate claim over the Siachen glacier and Saltoro Range. Now, looking at the map of the LoC and Siachen and extending the line towards North, as stated in the 1949 agreement, clearly suggests that not only the glacier but also the two heighest passes (Sia La, Bilafond La) belongs to Pakistan. The battle zone comprised an inverted triangle resting on NJ 9842 with Indira Col and the Karakoram pass as the other two extremities. Gilgat- Baltistan The Conflict Zone Indian Occupation of Siachen: There is a general perception that it was April 1984 when Indians launched the Operation Megdhoot and captured three important passes in impassable Saltoro range at height of more than 18,000 feet from sea level. But in reality Indian Army began planning, way back in 1978, to capture the passes connecting Siachen glacier to Pakistan‟s Gilgal-Baltistan areas and capture the KKH to sever Pakistan‟s road links to China. 6 Lt. Gen. M. L. Chibber, under whose command Operation Meghdoot was launched, confessed in his article “Siachen – An Untold Story. A personal account” published in Indian Defense Weekly Jan 1990 that it was 1978 when Indian army‟s Western Command started planning of this operation. In his own words, general was worried that US tourism department map showed Siachen as part of Pakistan. ―In 1978, when I was DMO, we got information about a foreign expedition from the Pakistan side visiting the Siachen Glacier. The Line of Control terminates at NJ9842. The Glaciers are not demarcated. We sent a patrol next year and it was confirmed that Japanese expeditions has visited the Siachen Glacier. So routine patrolling started. This should give the readers a real background of what happened in 1982-83. It will show that India did not act unilaterally.‖ [3] Here the former commander of Northern Command of Indian Army didn‟t bother to mention the reasons that why Indian Army never raised the issue with Pakistani Army or government regarding the mountaineering expeditions going to Siachen from Pakistani side prior to 1984? As explained earlier that such mountaineering expeditions had been going to the region since late 1950‟s and foreign teams were reaching Pakistan on international visas and there were no signs of any kind of discomfort from Indian side. This patent fact torpedoes the entire rationale of illegal Indian occupation but it must not be surprising for Pakistanis as nothing else can be expected from the Indian Army and policymakers who has been trained with Chankiya‟s Earth-Shaster as primer strategic military and political guide.

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