India loses 879 soldiers since Siachen Glacier occupation in 1984

Spending Rs18,000 per second on maintaining occupation; blurred speech, frostbite and chilblains are common; many soldiers suffer from high-altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema, headaches and hypertension; military hijacked govt’s

move to withdraw from the glacier

ISLAMABAD: As many as 879 Indian soldiers, including 33 officers, have perished in the world’s highest battlefield — Siachen — since India occupied the area in 1984 by defying Simla agreement of 1972 and Karachi Accord of 1949. 

Ten more Indian soldiers, including one junior officer, got killed last week in an avalanche.

The Indian media has reported that the country has been facing a loss of Rs18,000 per second for maintaining its position in the area.

The three-decade-old dispute and the inclement conditions at the glacier have become a bleeding wound for the country aspiring for a role in the region. 

The report said the temperature was extremely cold and mercury could dip to -50°C in winter. 

The average winter snowfall is more than 1,000 cm while the glacier's melting waters are the main source of Nubra River in Ladakh adjacent to India’s border with China called as McMahon Line.

India carried out a study way back in 2009 and concluded that the glacier had been steadily melting and was down to half its size.

India is estimated to be spending $1 million (Rs6.8 crore) a day to keep Siachen supplies intact.

The media report reminded that India could have built 4,000 senior secondary schools in a year or 1, 72,000 schools in 30 years with this amount. 

It revealed that a roti (bread) that costs Rs2 to make reportedly costs India Rs200 to transport to Siachen. 

The media has also published a map of the region and it indicates the height as over 20,000 feet and its length as 74km.

Indian captured the area through a secret military operation called “Operation Meghdoot.”  The 1949 Karachi pact and the 1972 Simla agreement presumed that it wasn't feasible for human habitation to survive north of NJ9842, the northernmost demarcated point of the LoC. 

The Indian media has contended that in April 1984, Indian Army moved in to Siachen to pre-empt a bid by the Pakistan Army to occupy the glacier.

The move came after Indian intelligence learned that the Pakistan Army was buying specialist mountain clothing in London. (Obviously it was a pretext for committing the aggression.)

The Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers airlifted a platoon from the Kumaon Regiment onto the Saltoro Ridge and captured the glacier in a week. 

India occupied the full glacier, its tributaries and all key passes and heights of the Saltoro Ridge.

The troops from Pakistan suffered a severe tactical disadvantage along the 109km Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL), claimed by the Indians.

Reports suggested that 879 Indian soldiers, including 33 officers, had died at Siachen since 1984 (The figures could be higher.)

The vast majority of troop deaths have not been due to combat but avalanches, exposure and altitude sickness caused by the thin, oxygen depleted air. 

The media report reminded that the human body continuously deteriorates above 18,000 feet. Toothpaste freezes in its tube at the glacier. 

The speech can be blurred whereas frostbite and chilblains are common. Many Indian soldiers suffer from high-altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema, headaches and hypertension. 

The troops live in igloos clothed in high altitude gear.

The world's highest helipad is situated at Sonam at a height of 21,000 feet at the glacier. The Indian officers get a Siachen allowance of Rs21,000 per month while soldiers get Rs14,000 a month. 

The report also referred to a tragedy that took place on Pakistan’s side way back in 2012 when Pakistan lost 140 soldiers in an avalanche in Gayari Sector.  Numerous attempts to demilitarize Siachen have failed due to the obnoxious attitude of Indian establishment, as on one occasion the foreign secretaries of both the countries had agreed to withdraw from the glacier but the Indian establishment stopped its leadership from inking the agreement.  The then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had to face embracement.