New Delhi, June 23
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s advocacy of demilitarising Siachen, the highest and the most treacherous battleground in the world, and turning it into a mountain of peace has found a subterranean echo in Pakistan though the neighbour’s instant public reaction was to ask India to unconditionally vacate its 1983 aggression.

“There is going to be no redrawing of boundaries as affirmed by the Prime Minister coupled with Pakistan accepting and authenticating drawing of a straight line north of the Soltoro Ridge. Till the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) is worked out, which is a complex affair, withdrawal of troops by both sides can only take place subject to certain other important parameters being thrashed out. Till such time, the status quo remains,” emphasised sources in the government.

Despite little headway having been made at the Defence Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan in Islamabad last month, the Congress-led UPA government is not unduly worried about losing control of the Bilafond La, Gyong La or Siya La, the three passes along the Saltoro range and falling back.

The key issue is of Pakistan reneging on its part of the bargain and trying to gain control of these heights a la Kargil at a later stage in a demilitarised situation.

Clearly, New Delhi wants to ensure that this will be treated as an “act of war” and India will be well within its rights to mount an attack at any place of its choice to vacate the aggression. The armed forces can strike at any site of its calling along the 780 km Line of Control (LoC) as these will at best be localised skirmishes.

Considering the terrain and the elements in excess of 20,000 ft, the line of thinking is that Pakistan will find it difficult to hold on to these positions for any considerable length of time because of the intense artillery and air attacks.

For effective demilitarisation, there has to be a constant monitoring mechanism and meetings of Commanders if the present eyeball-to-eyeball contact is to be made a thing of the past.

Thanks to the ceasefire holding for nearly 20 months now, it is for the first time that India has proposed such a plan of action through back channel diplomacy, it is learnt.

The powerful military establishment in Pakistan finds it difficult to publicly accept the present deployment position because they have told their nation that they are on the Soltoro Ridge line and the Indian Army is at a disadvantageous position at lower heights. Former Pakistani diplomats and retired army generals admit that when the truth comes out, it will be loss of face for the Pakistan army.

At a recent roundtable in the capital on the Demilitarisation of Siachen, several serving and retired armed forces officers, diplomats, academics and strategic analysts insisted that there was no strategic significance attached to Siachen other than the need to guard against Pakistan’s attempts to link up Karakoram Pass with the area in Shaksgam Valley which Pakistan illegally ceded to China in 1963 and through which the Karakoram highway has been built.

It was widely agreed at the roundtable that demilitarisation of Siachen was highly desirable along with the imperative need to accurately delineate the present positions of both sides on the ground for the subsequent demilitarisation process. Without delineation, it will not be possible for India to deal effectively with violations in future.

For this purpose, it was suggested that international observers and eminent map makers be invited to publish maps and satellite photographs of the area to better inform the international and Pakistani public about the present military positions in Siachen.

The participants also felt that India should wait for the present ceasefire to hold for a longer period and for greater trust to develop between the two countries and not rush into demilitarisation.