Siachen:
Indian military behind impasse
Mohammad Jamil
Siachen is indeed a military issue or dispute between Pakistan and
India, but it is also environmental issue of grave concern for international
community, as continuous military activities have been cause of enormous
meltdown with catastrophic effects on weather pattern resulting into floods in
Pakistan. In second week of September 2007, the Indian Army had unfolded plans
to take tourists trekking on Siachen glacier. Pakistan had then launched a
strong protest with India, and the Indian army had to abandon the idea, what it
said, for the time being. After Gyari incident where Pakistan lost 125 soldiers
and officers, there was change in the public mood on both sides of the border
who realized the infecundity of keeping their forces on the world’s highest
battlefield. Despite favourable public opinion after Gyari incident about
resolution of Siachen issue, Indian political leadership while accepting
so-called professional advice from their military establishment felt it expedient
to stick to their stated position during Pakistan-India Defence Secretary level
talks on Siachen held in June 2012.
At 6300 metres (20800 feet), India controls the glaciers since 1984,
and the analysts reckon that India is spending approximately $1 million a day,
where soldiers are left to stare and shoot each other across the line. The fact
remains that the human body continuously deteriorates and with temperatures 70
degree below zero, the inhospitable climate and inclement weather have claimed
more lives than the exchange of gunfire. The settlement of Kashmir is an
unfinished business of subcontinent’s partition, and India and Pakistan had at
least two wars over Kashmir. Earlier, there was Ceasefire Line between India
and Pakistan, and the Line of Control (LoC) was redesignated when the Simla
Agreement was reached after 1971 war. At the time, the LoC over Kashmir was
drawn, the demarcation ended at the Siachen, as it was understood to be
Pakistan’s territory otherwise they could have continued to demarcate beyond
that point.
In 1984, when Pakistan military was preoccupied on the western front
since Soviet forces’ invasion of Afghanistan, Indian army occupied the Siachen.
Both countries had entered into negotiations maybe a dozen times, but India
insists on only enhancing trade relations whereas Pakistan wants that the core
issue of Kashmir be resolved first. In 2004, India and Pakistan started the
composite dialogue but nothing concrete came out on Sir Creek, Siachen and
Kashmir. After 9/11, India had tried to take advantage of preemptive paradigm
adopted by the US, and more than once Indian and Pakistan forces were face to
face on the borders. But the fear of nuclear attack makes adventurism less
appealing. In the face of this eidetic reality, both countries being nuclear
states should resolve the dispute to avert disaster, as war is not option for
them. Even before India and Pakistan detonated nuclear devices, both countries
were reportedly reached a near agreement in 1992 on Siachen dispute.
But the deal was never inked because of the Indian political
leadership’s lukewarm approach and Indian military’s resistance. The text of
the 1992 negotiating drafts reproduced by The Hindu recently showed just how
close the two sides were to such a resolution two decades ago. The Hindu
reported that “Pakistani delegation offered a proposal that met India’s demand
of recording existing ground positions before withdrawal of troops from a
proposed zone of disengagement. The talks that year, the sixth round both
countries held on the issue, had taken place in New Delhi from November 2-6,
1992. Pakistan’s proposal of indicating in an annexure the areas the armed
forces of the two sides would vacate and redeploy to found immediate acceptance
among Indian officials”. The Indian delegation was led by N.N. Vohra, then the
defence secretary and now Governor of Indian Held Jammu and Kashmir said: “We
had finalized the text of an agreement at Hyderabad House by around 10 pm on
the last day”.
“Signing was set for 10 am. But
later that night, instructions were given to me not to go ahead the next day
but to conclude matters in our next round of talks in Islamabad in January
1993. Of course, that day never came”, Mr. Vohra added. Narasimha Rao was Prime
Minister at the time and the BJP’s campaign against the Babri Masjid was in
high gear. Siachen quickly receded from the government’s list of priorities.
The 1949 ceasefire agreement delineated the Line of Control until point NJ9842,
after which, it said, it would run “thence north to the glaciers”. In 2005, the
two sides were once again said to be nearing agreement to demilitarize the
region, but again Indian military prevailed over the civilian government by
insisting that India would lose the strategic advantage over Pakistan and
China. According to an agency report, in 2007 then Defence Minister Pranab
Mukherjee while commenting on the dialogue had said that Pakistan was not
willing to agree to an Indian proposal on the methodology of demilitarization.
He said both sides agreed in principle to withdraw from their positions, India
wanted the troop positions delineated and authenticated in document.
That point besides, the settlement of Kashmir is an unfinished business
of the partition and independence of the sub-continent, and India and Pakistan
have remained at daggers drawn for over six decades. If Kashmir dispute, which
is the core issue, can be resolved, both countries can divert substantial funds
from defence to social sector to improve the lives of the teeming millions.
Anyhow, it has been failure of Pakistan’s foreign policy and apathy of the
international community that despite the United Nations Security Council
resolutions giving Kashmiris the right of self-determination have not been
implemented. The problem is that when Pakistani nation stands divided
vertically, horizontally as well as diagonally on ethnic, sectarian and
regional lines presenting a scene of a divided house, its enemies will feel
emboldened and take advantage of its weakness. India has acknowledged that
there is a dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan, but Indian
leadership continues with the litany of ‘sanctity’ of the Line of Kashmir.
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