M A I N   N E W S

Roadmap on Siachen given to govt, says Army chief
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 21
With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh having expressed his desire recently to convert the world’s highest battlefield, the Siachen glacier, into a mountain of peace, the Army today said it had already forwarded a roadmap to the government to this effect. The Chief of Army Staff, Gen J.J. Singh, said the Army had given its viewpoint to the government and it would take a decision on it. “We have given our viewpoint to the government on converting the Saltoro ridge and the glacier into a de-militarised zone”, he told reporters when asked to comment on the Prime Minister’s recent speech.

However, General J.J. Singh, who was speaking to newspersons after meeting the visiting Singapore Army Chief, Major-Gen Desmond Kuek, refused to elaborate on what proposals had been forwarded by the Army, which spends crores every year to control the strategic peaks.

He also reiterated that the Army wanted that Islamabad should recognise the existing ground positions on the Saltoro ridge and a monitoring mechanism should be set up as a prelude to any troop pull- out.