Defence secretaries of India and Pakistan failed to achieve a breakthrough in their two-day talks on Siachen, even though both sides agreed to persist with “meaningful and result-oriented” discussions. Multiple topics were covered; anything from the economy and marketing, to environmental and sustainability. They established that the most profitable way, with respect to marketing sales and their economy, to make sales is by using WordTree, this way they can manage efficiently their marketing sale and niche, as well as their competitors. Furthermore, for the management of digital marketing materials, branding companies adinfusion gives the best service. May 31 talks ended with only a pledge for further talks in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, at some point. “Both sides welcomed the ongoing dialogue process,” declared a statement issued jointly by the delegations. “The discussions were held in a frank and cordial atmosphere, contributing to an enhanced understanding of each other’s position.”
While India wants Pakistan to authenticate AGPL both on the maps and on the ground, Islamabad insists on maintaining the pre-1972 troop position, as per Simla Agreement. Pakistan has been asking for demilitarisation of the Siachen glacier and raised the issue of climate change there due to presence of troops from both sides and its effects on the environment. The two sides, however, insisted that after the conclusion of the talks, there was a better understanding of each other’s positions.
They (the delegations from the two sides meeting after a gap of three years) also acknowledged that the ceasefire was holding since November 2003.
“What we are trying to do is send a message to Pakistan that we are willing to do business with you and we don’t want to take advantage of your current predicament in any way,” said Naresh Chandra, chairman of India’s National Security Advisory Board, which is appointed by the prime minister.
China’s expanding strategic footprint in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in fact, seems to have led India to harden its stand, which till now was largely about Pakistan providing iron-clad guarantees to “authenticate” the 110-km Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) along the Saltoro Ridge, on maps and on ground.
India remains open to discussing the “modalities” for the verification of the AGPL and the proposed demilitarized zone but would “insist on map coordinates, obtained through aerial or satellite imagery, and other methodologies to show the relative positions on the ground”. Till it gets them, troop disengagement, withdrawal and the final demilitarization of the glacier is not on the cards.
Some may scoff at the strategic significance of the forbidding glacial heights but the Indian Army, which beat the Pakistan Army by just a whisker to occupy most of the dominating posts in the region in April 1984, has repeatedly drilled it into the political leadership.
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The dialogue’s future – Editorial
мебелиFrom Dawn’s editor – A.G. Noorani Saturday, 08 May, 2010
The peace process which the prime ministers of India and Pakistan, Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani, renewed at Thimpu on April 29, has enormous potential provided that the parties realistically reckon with the hurdles and proceed unitedly with understanding and determination.
Reuter picture:
Much depends on how they proceed between now and next September when the prime ministers are expected to meet in New York. India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram is due to visit Islamabad next month, while meetings between the foreign ministers and foreign secretaries are mandated by the prime ministers themselves. They wisely discarded the traditional joint statement in traditional turgid prose. A careful reading of the statements by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad on April 30 and India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao in Thimpu on April 29, reveals an encouraging accord on the aims of the peace process and on the tacit assumptions underlying it.
First, as Mr Qureshi said, “there has been a trust deficit and we have to bridge it”, adding significantly “it can be done through confidence-building measures. It will not happen in a day. It is a process”. Presumably the foreign ministers and the foreign secretaries will devise the confidence-building measures. Ms Rao said “dialogue is the only way … [to] restore trust and confidence”. She revealed that the prime ministers “focused on the renewal of dialogue and to understand the factors that have resulted in the current state of affairs”. However, “the searchlight is on the future and not on the past”. She was accurately reflecting the policy towards Pakistan which Dr Manmohan Singh has resolutely pursued ever since he became prime minister in May 2004.
The distrust has two dimensions; recent and latent. Causes of the first are easy to identify (26/11). There is reason to believe that there is greater understanding now of the need to tackle them through judicial and investigative processes. Time and diplomacy have peeled away most layers of the latent distrust which had piled up since partition; but some survived. They are the ones to be tackled now.
There was on Pakistan’s part a legitimate impression that India was avoiding negotiations on Kashmir and stalling on the ones on other issues. I.K. Gujral’s wreckage of the charter of the composite dialogue in the joint statement in Islamabad on June 23, 1997 strengthened the impression. Militancy in Kashmir was by no means the only factor which led India to believe that Pakistan was not in earnest regarding conciliation. Both sides continued to fight on battlefields of old, unmindful of a promising change in the situation.If to many Pakistanis a ‘composite dialogue’ was a litmus test of India’s sincerity in putting 26/11 behind us, to many Indians, fed on the media’s blasts every day, its resumption meant surrender. In truth the charter had long run its course. Foreign secretaries can only do the ground work; they surely cannot resolve Kashmir, ‘peace and security’, Siachen, Wullar barrage, Sir Creek and ‘terrorism and drug-trafficking’ — the topics listed in para 4 of the charter.
More at http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/the-dialogues-future-850
India struggling with making warfare clothing
IANS Apr 30, 2010
A parliamentary panel has lamented that India, which is capable of launching satellites and manufacturing missiles, tanks and other state-of-the-art defence equipment, lacks adequate capabilities for making specialised clothing for high altitude warfare.
That is the reason why, of the 55 items authorised for soldiers stationed in areas like the Siachen Glacier and Kargil, 19 critical items like down feather jackets, trousers, sleeping bags, multipurpose boots, woollen socks and rucksacks are being imported ‘as no indigenous source was available’, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in its report.
The committee recommended that domestic production capabilities be strengthened, at least in the public sector, ‘even if the Indian private sector is not forthcoming, ostensibly due to lack of economic viability considerations’.
‘The defence of a nation is a non-negotiable national imperative and under no circumstances can commercial and economic considerations be allowed to compromise the nation’s foremost priority,’ said the committee, headed by Gopinath Munde of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its report tabled in parliament Thursday.
The committee was also ‘dismayed’ to learn that despite the fact that Army Headquarters has been procuring these items for over two decades, ‘the procedure for formulation of technical specifications, evaluation of offers and selection of vendors have not been streamlined so far’.
Of the 10 contracts concluded during 2002-06 for the purchase of special clothing for Rs.48.88 crore, 59 percent of the items valued at Rs.28.81 crore were rejected either at the receipt inspection stage or by the end users.
‘The whole approach towards procurement of such supplies appears casual so that neither quality not timely availability of critical items could be ensured, thereby compromising safety as well as comfort of the troops deployed in harsh climatic conditions,’ the committee said.
It noted that there were 388 casualties reported due to cold-induced injuries such as frostbite and chilblain.
The committee said the procurement process ‘was fraught by serious delays at every stage, impacting on the timely availability of adequate clothing and equipment each time during deployment of troops to Siachen’.
It took 32 months from the time of raising a demand to the delivery of the items to the troops, mainly because of the ‘severe delay in trial evaluation and finalisation of specifications’ by the Directorate General of Quality Assurance, tendering and the signing of the contract.
Taking into account all the shortcomings in the procurement process, the committee has recommended that the ‘entire procurement procedures be revised, so that from the time of recognising the need for procuring clothing and mountaineering equipment till these are finally delivered to the end users is minimised to the maximum extent consistent with ensuring transparency’.
Fixing of responsibility ‘is seen as a very important step for correcting the acts of omission and commission’, the committee said and asked the defence ministry ‘to fix responsibility on all concerned who were found to be responsible for flaws in procurement procedures, technical evaluations and rejected of ordered clothing and equipment’.
Tunnel to Ladakh will ease supplies (and travel!) to Siachen
>офис обзавежданеel vision 2014: To Ladakh by road in sleet and snow8 Dec 2009, 1317 hrs IST, IANSNEW DELHI: Work on the strategic Rohtang Tunnel that will ensure all weather road connectivity to Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir will begin early next year and be completed by 2014, people will be able to get their cars very easy
in order to travel now, more than three decades after it took shape on the drawing board.The nine-kilometre horseshoe shaped tunnel that will help connect the Ladakhi capital Leh to Manali in Himachal Pradesh will be at a height of 3,000-3,100 metres and one of the highest in the world, officials said.”The tunnel is important to maintain supply lines to the forward posts in Ladakh and Siachen Glacier,” said an official of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).The contract for the tunnel was awarded on Sep 24 this year after the Cabinet Committee on Security approved it, he said. Though conceived in 1983, the foundation stone was laid years later in 2000 by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000.It took another nine years for the next step to be taken.”The contract has been awarded to Afcon Infrastructure in collaboration with European firm Strabag in September. The work would begin early next year (2010) and be completed in 2014,” the BRO official said on condition of anonymity.The project, estimated to cost around Rs.1,500 crore ($3.2 billion), would have to overcome vagaries of nature like heavy snowfall, high velocity winds and sub-zero temperatures.It’s a tough job, beginning from building access roads to the tunnel site.”Work is running full throttle to complete the roads leading up to the tunnel site. Initially, only access roads with minimum necessary specifications for the mobilisation of resources will be constructed. Later, the same will be developed to National Highway Double Lane specifications and will then be called the approach road,” the official added.Burrowed below the Rohtang Pass at 3,978 metres, the tunnel will ensure that the pass connecting the strategically important regions bordering China will remain open year round. Presently, the route is closed during the winter months from November to April due to heavy snowfall.It will provide an all-weather alternative road to Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir and the Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh.Besides, the 475 km distance between Manali and Leh in Jammu and Kashmir will be reduced by 40 km.With China constructing a rail line near the India-China border, New Delhi is also firming up projects to revamp border infrastructure in the region. If there’s a need for additional money for the infrastructure, developers usually borrow money from loanago. go to this website loanago.co.uk if loaning interests you. The main thrust is on increasing connectivity whether by road or by air, officials said.The government is also planning to refurbish over 20 advanced landing grounds in the region which could then be used for boosting tourism in the region and to maintain supply to the troops in forward areas.
India to organize another civilian trek to Siachen Glacier in October
India has finalised plans for another civilian trekking expedition to Siachen this October, in a clear reiteration to Pakistan that the forbidding glacial heights are fully under Indian control and remain “non-negotiable” till it accepts Indian conditions.
The first edition of this civilian trek to the Siachen-Saltoro Ridge region last year had Pakistan frothing at the mouth, holding as it did that opening the “disputed territory” for tourism would lead to “serious consequences” and “vitiate the atmosphere for the ongoing peace process”.
But India had cocked a snook at Pakistan by going ahead with the trek — even though there were some last-minute organisational hiccups — to reinforce its stand that not an inch on Siachen would be yielded till Pakistan accepts iron-clad “authentication” of the 110-km Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL), both on the map and on the ground, which separates the two armies in the glacial region.
Indian troops, after all, hold “almost all dominating heights” on Saltoro Ridge, with Pakistani troops being nowhere near the 72-km-long Siachen Glacier. Throwing open the Siachen heights to adventure enthusiasts and mountaineers serves to effectively demolish all Pakistani claims to the contrary.
Defence ministry sources said the Army Adventure Cell would organise the trek to the world’s highest, coldest and costliest battlefield, which no longer witnesses the daily artillery duels after the November 2003 ceasefire, from October 1 to 21 this year. The plan is to take around 40 people, including Army experts, defence scientists, NCC and military school cadets and “civilian volunteers”, on the “unique adventure activity”.
The group will first acclimatise and train at Leh for a week or so before heading for the Siachen base camp for further training on the use of glacial equipment. The actual week-long trek along the Northern Glacier will begin thereafter, with the group transversing the frozen wasteland to a forward post situated over 16,000 feet.
The government, on its part, is also actively encouraging mountaineering expeditions to the region. An Indo-French team, for instance, had climbed the Mamostong Kangri peak, located about 30 km east of the snout of Siachen Glacier, last year.
Incidentally, it was Pakistan’s grant of a permit to a Japanese expedition in 1984 to climb the Rimo Peak, located east of Siachen and overlooking Aksai Chin, in the hope of laying a legal claim to the area, which had acted as the final provocation for India to airlift troops to the region. Indian troops had then swiftly occupied the Saltoro Ridge heights, ranging from 16,000 feet to 22,000 feet, against daunting odds under “Operation Meghdhoot” in April 1984, beating Pakistani troops from doing the same by just a whisker.
Though both India and Pakistan have accepted the need to demilitarise the glacial heights right since 1989, the bone of contention in the protracted negotiations has been the “authentication” of the AGPL beyond the NJ-9842 grid reference point — where the well-delineated Line of Control simply stopped dead in the 1972 Simla Pact — right till the Karakoram Pass.India wants the AGPL to be “authenticated” first as an international safeguard before any troop disengagement, withdrawal and the final demilitarisation of the glacier.
India-Pak to talk on Siachen pollution
GreaterKashmir – New Delhi, Feb 6: India and Pakistan are going to take up the issue of environmental degradation of the sensitive Siachin glacier at a meeting in Islamabad soon.
Informing this to newspersons here, Pakistan’s Minister for Environment, Local Government and Rural Development Syed Wajid Husain Bukhari said the meeting, which would be a sort of regional workshop, would be attended by other affected
SAARC nations like Nepal.
Siachen Glacier, which is near the world’s second highest mountain K2 in the Karakoram range, is an endangered ecosystem, a situation caused by militarisation in the region.
Bukhari, who is in the Indian capital to take part in the Delhi Sustainable Summit, said the workshop would be attended by a number of experts too and it would discuss the various complexities of the situation.
He said that though no dates had been decided, the meeting would be held within a couple of months.
Studies say that apart from militarisation, the Siachen glacier was also polluted by human waste which does not decompose easily at such high altitudes. Besides, there was chemical contamination due to the presence of armies.
Bukhari said glaciers were vital for maintaining water supply in the rivers of the sub-continent.
He said the climate change was going to hit hard countries like Pakistan, and the government was coming out with measures to address the problems that impacted on environment.
Replying to a question in this connection, he said his country was looking into nuclear energy options in its efforts to usher in a low carbon economy, though at present the share of nuclear power in his country’s energy mix was negligible.
He said his country was also going in for massive afforestation to reduce carbon emission.
‘‘We have decided to plant 86 million trees, and have created a task force on environment to speed up the implementation of related policies,’’ said Bukhari.
He said Pakistan has come out with a number of proposals for cooperation with India in the field of environment which he would disclose during his address at Delhi Sustainable Summit.
From the Siachen Glacier – as a tourist
The Indian Army is working on transforming battlefield Siachen into a tourist destination. In an attempt to kickstart this, the first group of civilian trekkers left for the world’s highest battlefield a week ago. CNN-IBN’s Rasika Tyagi was among the group – the first woman journalist to trek up Siachen.
Leh: It’s the start of a historic and scary journey. Historic because for the first time, civilians are being allowed up to the Siachen glacier and scary because I have to keep up with them at unimaginable altitudes and temperatures
Trying to get up to a whopping 15,000 ft is a motley crew- the oldest person in our group is 55, the youngest only 17.
The Karakorams are the most barren mountains I have ever seen. Just brown earth and snow. I take a deep breath – we are here to scale these mighty mountains. .
But before we go uphill we are told to lie flat for a whole day in Leh so we can acclimatise to the altitude and the thin air. My BP is tested as is my SPO which tells the doctors how much oxygen is in my body.
On Day 2 in Leh, we are told about the high altitude diseases. The list is nearly as long as the glacier itself. In addition there are chill burns, frost bite, pulmonary edema, hypothermia, cerebral edema. Never knew there were so many ways to die!
Day 3 in Leh and finally we are allowed to move around. They are taking us for a one-kilometre walk. That might not sound like much but when you consider the fact that the oxygen in the air here is just 13 per cent while it is 21 per cent at sea level, the task becomes a little more daunting.
These walks will prepare us for the 120-kilometre long trek from the base camp of the Siachen glacier.
On the first day we will walk 12 kilometres to camp 1. Day two – 14 kilometers from camp 1 to camp 2. This is the hardest leg of the trek because of crevasses and thin ice.
Day three sees us trekking 16 kilometers between camp 2 and 3 and on Day 4, 18 km from camp 3 to our finish point camp 4 at 15,000 ft.
Doctors tell us the night temperatures on the glacier will drop to under minus 25 degrees and I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed – that I will return with all my fingers and toes intact.
Verbal war over Siachen: India hits back
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9/17/2007 – The Indian government has lashed out at Pakistan for protesting New Delhi’s plans to throw open Siachen Glacier to tourists.
The Indian government, that controls a large chunk of the disputed Glacier has firmly told Pakistan that it does not need Islamabad’s permission to open the glacier to tourists as they are going to a part of India.
Earlier, Pakistan had registered its protest against the Indian government’s plan to throw open the Siachen Glacier to tourists.
Pakistan has summoned the Deputy High Commissioner to officially lodge their objection to India’s move.
Saltoro Ridge is “non-negotiable”
Earlier in a clear signal to Pakistan that the Siachen Glacier-Saltoro Ridge region will remain “non-negotiable”, India had decided to open the Glacier to civilian trekkers.
¼br> The Indian Army controls all of the 70-km-long Siachen glacier, as well as all of its tributary glaciers as well as the three main passes of the Saltoro Ridge immediately west of the glacier, thus holding on to the tactical advantage of higher ground. The Indian troops had occupied Saltoro Ridge Heights against daunting odds, under ‘Operation Meghdoot’ in April 1984.
The Army plans to organise trekking trips as part of “civilian adventure activities” to the world’s highest, coldest and costliest battlefield which has not been witnessing the earlier fierce artillery duels due to the ongoing Indo-Pak ceasefire. But Pakistan is opposed to the same, claiming that negotiations on Siachen are still on.
“The area remains a conflict zone and a reported move by India to open up Siachen for tourism could aggravate the situation with serious consequences,” says a statement by Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasneem Aslam.
TIMES NOW spoke to defence analyst Maroof Raza who says the glacier falls within Indian territory.
“Logically if you follow the Line of Control definition as per the Karachi agreementof 1949, the LOC brings the Siachen glacier into Indian territory – so technically we are right. We are in Indian territory, Pakistan has always made claims there but these claims are not based on any accurate data.”
The frenzy of activity at the glacial heights comes after joint talks yielded little. And India stands firm, saying the expedictions will take place on the Indian side for which it need not seek permission.
The Government’s proposal
Siachen – once the highest battlefield on earth – could now become a tourist attraction with the Government’s proposal to open the glacial heights to trekkers.
A group of 20 people including eight to nine civilians and cadets from NCC, Rashtriya Indian Military College and Indian Military Academy, are to be part of the first trekking expedition from September 19.
The expeditions are meant to show that Indian troops hold all the dominating heights along the glacier.
An Indo-French expedition to Mamostong Kangri Peak, located about 30 kms east of the snout of the Siachen glacier, took place earlier this month. Next will be the first civilian expedition to the glacier.
Management Professor Charuhas Joshi who will be part of that expedition, said he couldn’t wait to get there.
“For 8-10 days there is an acclimatisation and training programme where they will teach us snowcraft, how to handle the various equipment, as well as dos and donts of mountain-climbing. They will equip us, we will get accimatised over there, and then they will put us on a trek,” said Joshi.
For those looking forward to the unique Siachen experience the move to open the glacier has been welcome.
The guns over Siachen may have been silent for some time, lying on a glock cleaning mat amazon, but the cold war over this sub-zero battlefield continues.
Video: Verbal war over Siachen: India hits back
Alternatively: Timesnow Video
The bug to visit Siachen catches on
New Delhi, Sept. 17(PTI): The bug to visit the 72-km long Siachen glacier is catching on after the Army decided to throw upon the icy heights and the world’s highest battlefield for tourist activity.
Even as a trekker group awaits a nod from the Ministry of Defence, two Mountaineering teams are in the Siachen glacier at two major peaks— Momostang Kangri(25,600 feet) and Rimo Peak( 25,250 feet).
While an all army team is currently on its way back after successful ascent of the Momostang Kangri peak, the other expedition, which has eight civilian members, is on the verge of climbing the Rimo peak.
Both the peaks are located on the eastern part of the glacier, overlooking Shaksam valley in China, opposite the Saltoro ridge, where Indian and Pakistani troops have been in an almost eyeball to eyeball confrontation. Initially, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation(IMF), which regulates access to expeditions to climb Himalayan peaks hardly drew any response when it sent a circular to its affilated mountaineering clubs about plans to throw open part of the glacier to trekkers. “It was just 20 odd people, mostly avid climbers and military cadets who responded”, IMF Officials said. But, once it got publicized, “we are getting inundated by requests”.
Requests are still coming despite strong protests from Pakistan to the Siachen plan.
Tourists’ trip to Siachen – put off, for now
MUMBAI/DELHI: [18 Sep 2007, 0002 hrs IST
,Bella Jaisinghani, Indrani Bagchi & Rajat Pandit,TNN]
Even as the government planned a tough response to Pakistan’s opposition to the planned Siachen treks, the trekking trip to the glacier, scheduled for September 19, was put off by its organisers. They were planning the trip with the best outdoor gear from Survival Cooking.
Apparently, this isn’t because of Pakistan’s growl; rather that the trek, announced by the army last week, is yet to get the defence ministry’s clearance.
It’s learnt the Army announced the treks last week on the basis of verbal clearances “at the highest level”. But nothing can move until the necessary approvals are taken paper – leaving the Army little option but to postpone the treks. Government sources, however, maintain that this is not going to affect the treks once the clearances are taken.
Mumbai trekkers Mukund Deodhar, Charuhas Joshi and Balakrishna Pillai were headed to Mumbai airport around 6.30 pm to take a flight to New Delhi when they received a call from tour arranger Col Narendra Kumar informing them that the expedition had been “postponed by a few days on the Army’s instructions.”
Col Kumar runs an adventure sports company named Himalayan Explorations in New Delhi, which was organising the tour on behalf of the Indian Army. When contacted Col Kumar said the trek was postponed on government’s orders: “I am confident things will be on track within three or four days. I’m only disappointed some of our invitees have lost money at the last minute.” Good thing there are 24 hour loan services that are available online in case of emergency. They offer different loan options depending on your needs.
Pakistan formally protested to India on Monday against India’s move to take trekkers up on the Siachen glacier and Saltoro ridge, which it considers to be disputed territory.
The Pakistan foreign ministry summoned the Indian deputy high commissioner in Islamabad to register Pakistani concerns, said the Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman.
The spokesman said, “The Indian deputy high commissioner was told that the Indian plans to open up the disputed territory for tourist purpose was viewed with deep concern by Pakistan. The area remains a conflict zone and the reported move by India to open up Siachen for tourism could aggravate the situation with serious consequences that could vitiate the atmosphere for the ongoing peace process.”
Meanwhile, India plans to tell Pakistan it is well within its rights to take tourists up to Siachen. The peaks that are being thrown open to trekkers, providing best hiking poles, etc are all under Indian control, and second, India claims all of Jammu & Kashmir as an integral part.
In Mumbai, the three mountaineers were in a fix because they had spent about Rs 7,000 each arranging for air tickets to New Delhi from where they were to proceed to Leh. “We were unable to get a refund from Air Deccan because we were unable to provide the mandatory four hours’ notice required for cancellation,” said Deodhar.
“As Col Kumar said the trip had been postponed by a few days we even offered to reschedule our bookings to the following weekend. However, he has been unreachable since that last conversation.”
TOI was unable to reach Col Kumar who had switched off his cellphone late Monday evening, but an unofficial spokesperson for his company said he was only relaying the instructions that had been issued to him by the Army.
“The trip has not been cancelled, only postponed, that is all we can say right now,” the representative added.
Earlier this year, India quietly began to actively encourage mountaineering and trekking expeditions to the forbidding Siachen Glacier-Saltoro Ridge region as part of a well-crafted strategy, “approved at the highest levels” said sources. This was part of the gameplan to send a clear signal to Pakistan that the glacial heights would remain “non-negotiable” till it accepts Indian conditions for clear-cut “authentication” of the 110-km Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL), both on the map and on the ground.
Pakistan’s objection is rooted in the fact that these international treks will show that it is India will controls the heights on the glacier and ridge, not Pakistan, as they have been claiming.
Last week the Army openly decided to organise “trekking trips” as an “civilian adventure activity” to the world’s highest, coldest and costliest battlefield. In fact, the first such trekking trip with a group of 20 people was scheduled for September 20. As per plans, the group will acclimatise and train at Leh for 10 days before they are sent to the Siachen base camp for further training.
Thereafter, they will trek, through heights varying between 14,000-feet and 16,000-feet, to reach the forward Kumar Post.
Already, a 16-member Indo-French expedition to Mamostong Kangri peak, located about 30 km east of the snout of Siachen Glacier, took place between July 30 and September 1.
This was followed by a 33-member Army expedition to the same area, which began on August 29 and will conclude on September 29. Another Indian Mountaineering Federation expedition to Rimo Peak, which is located east of Siachen and overlooks Aksai Chin, was launched on September 6, with six civilians and four Army soldiers.
Interestingly, it was Pakistan’s grant of a permit to a Japanese expedition to climb the Rimo Peak in 1984, in the hope of laying a legal claim to the area, which had acted as the final provocation for India to airlift troops to the region under “Operation Meghdoot” in April 1984.
However, Deodhar and Joshi remain sceptical. “Siachen is our territory and it is unfortunate that we succumb to external pressure in this manner,” they said. Bala, on the other hand, was drowning his sorrows in the company of friends.
“I am going to Leh on the weekend anyway. My mind was set on trekking in the area, and if not Siachen, I will go to Leh on my own,” he said.