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NEW DELHI: India ruled out on Friday withdrawal of army personnel from Siachen Glacier and said Pakistan might occupy the strategic area if India vacated it.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in Lok Sabha that vacating Siachen could lead to greater loss of lives.
“I know we have to pay the price and I salute our armed forces personnel. But we have to maintain this position... The position is very important from the strategic point,” he said while replying to questions about the recent death of 10 soldiers in an avalanche at the glacier.
“I don’t think anyone in this house can take Pakistan’s word for granted... If we vacate the position, the enemy can occupy the position and they will have the strategic advantage. Then we will have to lose many more lives. We know the experience of 1984 (conflict),” he said.
India occupies the highest point at Siachen Glacier, the Saltoro Ridge, which is located at 23,000 feet. On Feb 3, an avalanche hit an army post at a forward location on the glacier, leaving 10 soldiers dead.
The minister said that 915 people had lost their lives in the last 32 years at Siachen, which came to 28 lives per year. This had now been reduced to 10 lives a year.
By arrangement with the Times of India
Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2016
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Comments (53) Closed
Feb 27, 2016 06:47am
Well Done !!! Proud of you !!!
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Feb 27, 2016 06:59am
Fair play Mr.Minister unless there is peace on land let's leave aside the skies.
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Feb 27, 2016 07:19am
Right decision by defence minister.
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Feb 27, 2016 07:21am
Good call.
Salute and deep respect to defense forces and their families for their sacrifices. Jai Hind
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Feb 27, 2016 07:32am
@Bharatiya Australian and @Indian First... This is a waste of money and precious human lives from both countries. They should declare it no man land and both countries should respect each others boundaries. Money should be spent to fight against poverty and not on Siachen. May sanity prevail one day!
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Feb 27, 2016 07:40am
Hey! Let's keep killing our people by poverty and keep spending our money in these stupid ego game.
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Feb 27, 2016 07:55am
10 lives per year is not a joke. All those saying its a good move, try sending your loves ones their knowing fully well the probability of their survival in extreme conditions (10/year)
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Feb 27, 2016 08:17am
Isn't this extremism?
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Feb 27, 2016 08:29am
@Jumz
The loss of life is always tragic however soldiers, who go to siachin, know what they are signing up for.
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Feb 27, 2016 08:29am
@Nadeem no it's not.
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Feb 27, 2016 08:29am
Manohar Parikar may spend some days with his jawans on Saltoro Ridge. The casualties in future are expected to be much more,because of global warming,and you just cannot fight the nature kicks and blows in the form of high speed winds of more than 100 km/ hour,breezes,blizzards ,and finally huge magnanimous avalanches hit anyone or all those on top of peak right down and then buried under 30 ft of snow.
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Feb 27, 2016 08:30am
Right decision by DM.
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Feb 27, 2016 08:31am
@Jumz
Indians Army is already doing that....the soldiers posted at siachin are volunteers willing to pay with their life for the nation
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Feb 27, 2016 08:35am
Stay there and keep pouring money and losing lives. And if you get a chance, send one of your loved ones to that place which we all know will never happen.
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Feb 27, 2016 08:39am
Very well said Mr parikker
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Feb 27, 2016 08:46am
After 100 years we will have an economic union of South Asia, similar to Europe. That generation will never forgive us for the stupidity and wastage of today. Reflect please.
Bravdo(Mr Defence Minister) does not solve problems. It complicates even simple issues. We need Roti, Kapda, Makaan. Not gunslingers who have never been on these death mountains.
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Feb 27, 2016 08:50am
This is a different Pakistan. It will never occupy land vacated by India once it commits to it. Trust it and make Siachen a mountain of peace.
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Feb 27, 2016 09:09am
Terrible comments by a pre programmed minister. India and Pakistan should slowly and mutually back down from this meat grinder.
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Feb 27, 2016 09:15am
@Dr. Farooq Khan Occupying Saltoro ridge means enhancing national security for India. Its not an ego game for India.
Also, while India has people under poverty line, it is not a poor nation, or an underdeveloped basket case.
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Feb 27, 2016 09:15am
@AXH Who do you think we are sending up there? Everyone of those soldiers is a loved one of ours. They have families and friends they've left behind so they could defend the nation.
That's what makes it a sacrifice.
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Feb 27, 2016 09:25am
Its 100% true what Parikar said.
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Feb 27, 2016 09:39am
How about a gradual and mutual withdrawal of troops from both sides? But then again, I doubt either side will still expect the other to keep its word. And for God's sake will someone tell me what exactly is the so called 'strategic importance' of Siachen? When will these two countries stop fighting a battle of egos?
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Feb 27, 2016 09:40am
@Mann Singh --Bhutto has given Roti Kapda Makan to Pakistanis, and Indira Gandhi has removed poverty from India (Garibi Hatao).
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Feb 27, 2016 09:49am
Also improve security for soldiers.
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Feb 27, 2016 09:55am
With kargil memory unforgettable Indians are cautious.
No doubt.
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Feb 27, 2016 10:09am
After kargil..vacating is not possible in the glacier.
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Feb 27, 2016 10:12am
Bring in the UN as a mediator and declare Siachen as a nature's reserve as it is one the largest glacier in this part of the world. Otherwise nature has its own ways of taking revenge.
Pakistan and India will abide by any understanding on this with a United Nations as mediator. Need to stop acting jingoistic and time to show some pragmatism.
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Feb 27, 2016 10:33am
Seems like all of India's high profile ministerial post are occupied by RSS Hindutva indoctrinated people. Now wonder this minister is talking like this and ignoring the environmental degradation and looking at the larger picture...So much hindsight and ignorance here.
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Feb 27, 2016 10:50am
Occupying Siachen is not a wasted effort and it's not just a case of national pride for Indians . It's a huge motivating factor for the aspiring officers and is a great way to fast track your military career . Siachen sets the standard for the military industrial complex in terms of high altitude warfare and equipment . The 10'th mountain division wants to send some of their toughest marines to Siachen as an experience . The liberal writers talking about lives lost don't know that more lives are lost every day on urban streets than in Siachen in a year.
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Feb 27, 2016 11:09am
Pak & India can talk and decide the fate of glacier to be declared as no man land instead of committing huge number of soldiers and resources there.
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Feb 27, 2016 11:12am
Pretty senseless. Instead the two sides should just sit down and agree to make Siachin a de-militarized zone
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Feb 27, 2016 11:21am
I am proud to b an hindustani. Good move by defence minister.
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Feb 27, 2016 11:50am
@Avik Ray You do realise the percentage of people living under the poverty line in India is higher compared to Pakistan? 58 vs 44. Even so, these numbers should be a cause for alarm for both of us. We are two nuclear armed countries with about half our populations living under poverty. Yet we continue fighting meaningless battles. All those funds spent on defence would be better spent on say, hospitals, schools, electricity in far off areas, etc. There needs to be mutual agreement for peace, a united front against terrorism and then hopefully, we can live side by side as good neighbors.
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Feb 27, 2016 12:02pm
@Altaf Agree it's a game of ego and one upmanship. Also love to hear that Pak is diff now. The problem is what is the guarantee. Any General can have any fancy.
People spoke of poverty and mindless defence spends. Agree 100%. At the core is distrust which also is due to nefarious plans and attacks by those who are in power.
There is no other way but to stop proxy wars, eliminate non state actors and increase people to people contact which sounds much clichéd. But if every year 5 lakh people from each side can visit each other's countries then we can say that we are beginning. Small bus services etc. won't help. The number has to be half a million from each side. Also invite Shiv Sena and RSS. Let them also see Pak and interact.
Let all MLAs MP from Pak visit all India and not just Punjab and Delhi.
If both nations have 10 million people who have travelled to each other's nations then we can say we are on right path. Few hundred people r not enough.
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Feb 27, 2016 12:24pm
@Don :Compare Population of Pakistan and India, You can't manage 20 crore we are 125 crore... so don't lecture
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Feb 27, 2016 12:37pm
@jab I was merely pointing out the percentages of people under poverty in both countries. My intention was never to compare and I concede that India's economy has been doing much better than Pakistan's in recent times. My point was that we both need to cut down on defence spendings and spend resources elsewhere.
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Feb 27, 2016 12:49pm
Madness..requires great vision and leadership to solve such disputes..neither country has it
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Feb 27, 2016 01:03pm
Straight Talk
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Feb 27, 2016 01:09pm
Stay there in cold hell!
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Feb 27, 2016 01:21pm
A much better solution will be to melt down the snow and ice on the glacier and construct a nice road up to the top. Then it will easier to defend.
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Feb 27, 2016 02:41pm
I'm sure there are better electronic devices available than human posts.
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Feb 27, 2016 02:46pm
Stay there, loose lives!
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Feb 27, 2016 02:51pm
Loss of lives along with resources is not great especially when the money could be invested in education, poverty etc etc.
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Feb 27, 2016 06:03pm
Rightly said Mr.Defence Minister.
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Feb 28, 2016 07:17am
@Manoj electronic devices can detect - not react - to intrusions. By the time the devices detect any intrusions it would be too late for a response.
To those who argue against having any presence there just because it's difficulty in maintaining it, think again. Think Kargil and how difficult it was to evict Pakistan's NLI from the heights they had illegally occupied. It was only the intervention of US that a larger conflict was avoided. Leaving the security of our borders in the hands of another nation is not an ideal strategy.
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Feb 28, 2016 07:40am
@Mian Shahid Mehmood Indians are capable to spend money for its Motherland.
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Feb 28, 2016 08:15am
@Nadeem how?
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Feb 28, 2016 08:28am
Well unless the Indian mindset changes and they start behaving like a big brother in the region and stop behaving like a spoilt bully the situation is not going to change. They can not bully Pakistan or for that matter any other smaller nation and unless they understand it this will go on for ever.
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Feb 28, 2016 10:10am
Then keep on paying $1 million per day just to keep your troops there on the glacier and that is just the logistical cost and does not include the cost of arms and ammunitions. This money could have provide sanitation facilities to millions of your countrymen who openly defecate in public but for some egos are more important than the basic hygiene of their people.
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Feb 28, 2016 12:46pm
Where is the need for apprehension if there is no chance of aggression. Pakistan can maintain deterrence at lower altitude which is safer for its troops while let India bleed on expenses for maintaining troops at higher altitude.
The one who has a gun stuck at someone's head is least likely to negotiate but the person at whose head the gun is stuck has the option of not doing anything contrary to trigger a reaction
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Feb 28, 2016 12:52pm
@Mann Singh uninterrupted roti kapda makkam is feasible when markets are 'safe'. Safety comes from guarding peace. And you can't guard trillion dollars economy with lathi and goodwill else there would not be an arms market.
I do agree we need a south Asian consortium on the lines of Europe and America. In fact a solution where everyone profits is something we haven't even started pursuing yet so how can we expect a solution to a tricker problem
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Feb 28, 2016 01:00pm
@Shdhsn
Yes you may be right. Stop spending it to stockpile nuclear arsenal when poverty lingers at its backyard. Besides distrust must be cleared to bring in an atmosphere of good cordial relationship. Hope peace comes soon.
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Feb 29, 2016 10:28am
"If we vacate the position, the enemy can occupy the position and they will have the strategic advantage."
Negative people will always have negative thoughts Mr. Minister. Why can not you lift yourself from your egocentric brain farts and use the word neighbors instead of enemy.
Seventy years if insanity are enough. Stop wasting human lives and your resources. Lets spend the same resources to feed and shelter the poor across India.
How would you like to spend one winter in Siachin Mr. brain dead minister.
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