In his new book, NITIN GOKHAlE recalls his interaction with the Northern Command which established why India cannot give up on Siachen. Excerpts:
In April 2012, Pakistan’s then Army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani suddenly called for demilitarisation of the Siachen glacier for the “development of Pakistan and environmental reasons.” “India and Pakistan must live in peaceful coexistence as defence without development is neither viable nor acceptable,” he declared. He saw all issues dividing India and Pakistan as capable of resolution and Siachen and Sir Creek, as convenient starting points, low hanging fruits to be plucked as strong confidence building measures.
It was the tragic death of 130 troops of the 6 Northern light Infantry in a massive avalanche at Gayari on 7 April that year which triggered Gen Kayani’s new thought process. But, even while announcing the desire to make peace with India on ‘Siachen and Sir Creek’, Gen Kayani was economical with the truth. The ground reality is that Pakistani troops are nowhere near the Siachen glacier. Its deployment is on the western slopes of the Saltoro ridge, far away from the glacier and at much lower altitudes. Indian positions on the other hand are on absolutely dominating heights on the main passes of the Saltoro ridge, Sia la and Bilafond la. As far as the Indian Army is concerned, it sees no need to withdraw from the commanding heights it controls given Pakistan’s perfidy in the past, especially in Kargil when it tried to cut-off Siachen in the summer of 1999.
Three months after Gen Kayani made the offer to demilitarise Siachen, I was in Kargil, west of Siachen and at a much lower altitude along the line of Control (loC) with Pakistan. Every year on 26 July, the Indian Army celebrates its victory here and pays tribute to the 500 plus soldiers who died fighting the Pakistani intruders and eventually evicting them. But in 2012, I had one more task at hand. I wanted to formally interview for NDTV, the channel I work for, lt Gen KT Parnaik, a highly respected General and then India’s Northern Army Commander.
The Northern Command, Indian Army’s operationally most active command, has the unique task of guarding India’s vast land borders with both China and Pakistan. As I sat down to record the interview with the Northern command, I was itching to seek his answer on the Siachen issue.
Gen Parnaik said, “You see, to understand Siachen, I think one needs to be geographically oriented to the region. The Siachen glacier is bounded on the west by the Saltoro Range, which is a very high range and to the east by the Karakoram Range and the Nubra River. So, per se it is a sort of an iced river, which flows in between them. The Saltoro Range, actually provides domination of the entire area...There is a strategic implication of the Saltoro Range, and the implication is you have the Pakistanis sitting in the northern areas, which we keep saying is illegally occupied, it’s Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Now out of the other areas that they have occupied, they have illegally ceded the Shaksgam Valley to the Chinese. Shaksgam Valley lies to the north of the glacier. And if Saltoro Range was held by the (Pakistanis), it practically enables them to bridge the Aksai Chin and northern areas gap, which is with China, and also exercise complete control over the Karakoram Pass. Therefore, strategically, it is an important area. And we feel, by holding these areas, we would effectively deny approaches to Kargil and leh. Now, in security parlance, for the country it is of strategic importance. One of the biggest issues that has not been resolved yet is that we insist that for anything to happen in Siachen, the Pakistanis must first accept the actual line of ground position, and delineate the line along the positions that are being held by the troops today, both theirs and ours, as is, where is. They do not seem to be amenable to this sort of a thing. They continue to say that we should go back to 1971 and 1953, when this whole area was not demarcated, so you should vacate it. Don’t forget, Kargil happened because of Siachen... If you peruse their own records, which are now public, one of the major objectives of what they did in Kargil was to force us to vacate the Siachen glacier. But let me assure you, the Indian Army has no evil designs to set across for those areas and capture those territories.”
Gen Parnaik thus demolished the case that was sought to be built by Gen Kayani that both India and Pakistan need to withdraw from Siachen! He was only reiterating what successive Army Chiefs and Northern Army Commanders have stated. Over the past three decades, the Indian Army ably supported by the Indian Air Force has mastered the treacherous mountains, and has evolved a high altitude doctrine that is the envy of the world. In the process, the Indian military has shed blood, made enormous sacrifices and braved the elements. No wonder, the military leadership has told the political executive time and again that it is against any withdrawal from the Saltoro ridge and Siachen glacier.
The writer is the author of Beyond NJ 9842 The SIACHEN Saga. Excerpted with permission from Bloomsbury India