*RETAINING ADVANTAGE IN THE BATTLE OF HEIGHTS*
*Wednesday, 13 August 2014 | **Rajesh Singh <http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/author/rajesh-singh>** | in **Edit* <http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/edit> *Strategic affairs commentator and author Nitin Gokhale’s recent book on the country’s triumph at Siachen is a remarkable account of the valour of our jawans. We must not allow their sacrifice to go in vain* *Someone had famously remarked: “Not a blade of grass grows in Siachen.” The Indian soldiers stationed there have not gone for farming. Nor are the Pakistani troops in a near eyeball-to-eyeball contact with the Indians interested in cultivating paddy or maize in the glacier. The world’s highest battleground has strategic value for both the countries to make them commit hundreds of soldiers and even more hundreds of crores of rupees into maintaining their presence in the inhospitable terrain. Mr Narendra Modi’s visit to Leh and Kargil (the first by an Indian Prime Minister since the 1999 conflict) on Tuesday underlines the importance India gives to the region, and should snuff out suggestions of de-militarisation that so-called peaceniks have been promoting ever since Indian troops established their hold on the heights three decades ago by fighting back the Pakistani soldiers.* *The proponents of de-escalation are fond of referring ad nauseam to the ‘conciliatory’ remarks that the then Pakistan Army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, had made sometime in mid-2012. At his dovish best, he had said, “This conflict should be resolved… We would like to spend less on defence; any country should do the same way.” As if this olive branch was not enough, Gen Kayani even invoked environmental concerns! He had stated, “This is the glacier that feeds our rivers, particularly the Indus. We understand that physical deployment of troops will affect our rivers, and that water management is needed.”* *To understand how the chief of Army of a country which was the first to play mischief at the glacier — starting with the devious and covert distortion of cartographic material depicting the heights, and then pushing its soldiers to counter Indian troops who had arrived there after the alarm was sounded — had begun to talk of peace, one has to recall the context in which the remarks had come. On April 6, 2012, a massive avalanche wiped out the battalion headquarters of Pakistan’s Northern Light Infantry at Gayari, burying more than 135 Pakistani soldiers, including senior officers, under several feet of snow. This had left Gen Kayani distraught and eager for an opportunity to draw back from the region. But India, despite pressure from the bleeding hearts, refused to take the bait. It insisted that a discussion on de-escalation could be meaningful only after there was an agreement between New Delhi and Islamabad on the Actual Ground Position Line which demarcates the boundaries in that region. Pakistan has been dragging its feet, because it knows that it will be exposed for what it has done, and will emerge the loser.* *The dispute has festered because nobody had imagined, while drawing up a ceasefire line from Lalealli to the south to NJ9842 in the north years ago, that both India and Pakistan would be locked in a conflict beyond NJ9842. Lieutenant General SK Sinha, then a junior officer, has been quoted as saying, with the benefit of hindsight, that “it would have been better if the line beyond NJ9842 had not been left vague.”* *For those of us (including me), who have not had the opportunity to visit the Siachen heights, the intricacies, both geographic and military, that involve the conflict at the glacier, are difficult to comprehend. It is here that Nitin A Gokhale’s recently released book, Beyond NJ9842: The Siachen Saga, is of enormous help. The book is both instructive and informative. But in addition to that, it is a glorious account of the bravery of our soldiers in truly the most challenging circumstances, where every minute of life is a bonus, and where death lurks just round the corner. As you read the book, you feel like standing and saluting these brave men — and the author for getting us untold and many unknown stories of our soldiers and their battles to restore and sustain the country’s pride up there at 21,000 feet.* *If the book manages to inform, educate, inspire and even entertain through anecdotes, it is because the author wears many hats. He is a strategic affairs commentator, trainer and a ‘student of conflicts’. He provides hair-raising accounts of daredevilry by Indian troops at the glacier, their sorrows and triumphs, and their ability to bounce back.* *Most importantly, Mr Gokhale provides a detailed history of the conflict in terms that the layman will understand and appreciate, and lays bare the strategic need to hold on to the heights, at the Saltoro ridge and elsewhere. He delves into crucial records and conversations with a host of key players of the times, many of whom live a retired life but slip into mental combat gear when recalling the days of Operation Meghdoot — the code-name for the exercise that the Indian Army launched against Pakistan on April 13, 1984, to claim the Siachen heights. The operation may have technically ended with India’s success, but Indian troops have remained there for more than 30 years since then.* *From the day when an Indian soldier noticed the alarming cartographic distortion showing a boundary line going in a direction where it should not have, to the days of preparation for Operation Meghdoot and its launch, to the years of keeping the Tricolour flying on the heights — the book covers the gamut. While it has exploits of several Indian soldiers, it also records the excellent contribution of Mr George Fernandes as the country’s Minister for Defence, and earlier of Indira Gandhi’s leadership. The book points out that Mr Fernandes visited Siachen as many as two dozen times during his tenure and took effective measures to address various issues that soldiers at the glacier faced.* *It all began with a serendipitous discovery in 1975 by Colonel Narinder ‘Bull’ Kumar of ‘cartographic aggression’ by Pakistan. It is only appropriate that Mr Gokhale’s book too begins with this story. In the nine years thereafter, the political and the military leaderships in India went on an overdrive to secure the Siachen heights before Pakistan could seize the territory. The book ends with the geo-strategic imperative to control what has been gained. Then head of the Northern Command, Lt Gen KT Parnaik, put it lucidly in a conversation with the author: “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… And we feel, by holding these areas, we would effectively deny approaches to Kargil and Leh.”* *It is strange that even certain informed people should be advocating a unilateral withdrawal of Indian troops from the region, as a show of ‘goodwill’ towards Pakistan. Neither Pakistan nor China is a friend in the real sense. We simply cannot allow the crucial Siachen passes to fall in their hands by withdrawing from positions we dominate. Let us not forget that Pakistan illegally ceded the Shaksgam valley, which falls north of the glacier, to the Chinese. Also, a unilateral withdrawal would be a betrayal of our courageous jawans who gave their lives to secure Siachen.* -- With best wishes S Chander -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
