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| India-Pakistan |
| Indo-Pak Siachen Talks Fail |
| 2006-06-05 |
| The 10th round of talks between India and Pakistan on demilitarizating the Siachen glacier failed in the final stages. Indian Defence Ministry sources said the negotiations failed thanks to pressure from the Indian Army to keep troops on what is dubbed the highest battlefield in the world until adequate guarantees are agreed to by Pakistan. On May 24, the second day of talks here, Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the failure of the talks to reporters even as the two countries defense secretaries — India’s Shekhar Dut and Pakistan’s Tariq Waseem Ghazi, a retired lieutenant general — were still negotiating. “Perhaps there can be upward movement in another round of talks,” Mukherjee said. The Indian Defence Ministry sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was inclined for a solution, saying the Siachen glacier should be a “mountain of peace.” But the Army officers impressed upon the prime minister’s office that it would be unwise to withdraw from their present advantageous positions on the Siachen without guarantees that Pakistan would not later take back these positions unilaterally. India, they said, could not reclaim the positions without heavy casualties in the difficult terrain. The Army wants demarcation of the 110-kilometer actual ground position line (AGPL). India and Pakistan agreed to a cease-fire in November 2003 along the 750-kilometer Line of Control between India and Pakistan in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the AGPL. Though some parts of the Siachen area are accessible to the Pakistanis by road, Indian troops must use helicopters. India spends about $3 million daily on logistics to ferry troops and material on and off the more than 22,000-foot glacier. |
| Posted by:john |
| #2 It is not the glacier ice they are fighting over. Pakistan wants India to give up the entire Saltoro Ridge, a long ridge extending nearly 120 km, (on which runs the Actual Ground Position Line, or AGPL) from the border of India with Pakistan ceded Chinese territory in the north to India's Kargil sector in the east. The strategic significance of the Saltoro Ridge and the Siachen Glacier is that it gives India strategic and terrain domination over Pakistan's so-called Northern Areas (Jammu and Kashmir territory merged into Pakistan) and Pakistan-ceded Kashmir territory to China. It also blocks routes of ingress to the vital Ladakh sector, and provides a 'strategic wedge' to prevent a further Pakistan-China geographical link-up. It acts as a 'strategic pressure point' against Pakistan's military adventurism in the Kargil sector. Indira-Col, the northern most part of Siachen, directly overlooks Chinese occupied territory that was illegally ceded by Pakistan to China. Having a foot on the ground here is the only way for India to legitimately and effectively dispute the illegal Chinese presence here. |
| Posted by: john 2006-06-05 17:41 |
| #1 To repeat myself, cover the glacier with Norite activated charcoal powder. A little bit goes a long way! Quickly there would be no glacier to fight over. Dust in the wind... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-06-05 17:24 |