It is high time that the Pakistani people know the truth that their army does not hold the Siachen Glacier.
NAINITAL, INDIA: This is with reference to Tanvir Ahmad Khan’s article “Revisiting Siachen” (April 16). Joining the line from NJ 9842 till the Karakoram Pass and claiming this area to be part of Pakistan is a stretch of imagination on the writer’s part. From NJ 9842, the line runs northwards, and by all norms and conventions, it should run along the watershed, i.e., the Saltoro ridge and end up at the Indira col. This is as per international law.
It is high time that the Pakistani people know the truth that their army does not hold the Siachen Glacier. Losing precious lives is indeed a matter of great pain, sorrow and anguish. Pakistani and Indian soldiers are not at war with each other. It is the political and diplomatic angle that has pitched them against each other. With relations improving, Pakistan must accept the ground reality, sign the authenticated ground position lines and then sit with India and survey the glaciated terrain north of NJ 9842 as an extension to the 1949 Karachi agreement.
Lt-Gen (retd) Dr Mohan Bhandari
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2012.
