The Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield on earth

New Delhi, November 14, 2006. - The dispute between the two rival powers in South Asia, Pakistan and India, including the demilitarization of a glacier in Kashmir to garrison houses the world's highest, decimated in recent years the cold and despeñamientos.
While Pakistan supports the withdrawal of troops as the next step to the ceasefire signed in 2003, India, which controls the glacier official bid to make the boundary line between the two countries in fact.
EFE said an expert from the Center for Policy Research, Professor Brahma Chellaney, control of the glacier is important for India, because "leaving Pakistan without possibility of threatening the region of Ladakh."
The Indian Army also has been very reluctant in recent days to withdraw from Siachen, as stated by the newspaper "Hindustan Times" Lieutenant General Vijay Oberoi.
"No army surrender territory just like that. The domain of these positions in Siachen gives our troops a strategic advantage over the Pakistanis, located about 1,000 feet below us, "he said.
Upon layers of snow that reach 15 meters, both countries have maintained for decades sporadic fighting at altitudes of 6,700 meters and temperatures reaching 60 degrees below zero.
Siachen overlooks a triangle in the Kashmir region, disputed between India, Pakistan and China, and is the second largest glacier in the world excluding the poles.
The origin of the conflict goes back to a ceasefire signed in 1949, with which, however, failed to reach agreement on border demarcation on the glacier, whose strategic importance is that it dominates the whole area of Ladakh, in the hands of India.
The Indian-controlled Siachen border also prevents contact between the portions of Kashmir-dominated Pakistan and China.
The glacier is in India's military power since 1984, when the army launched "Operation Meghdoot Op" to counter Pakistan's decision to authorize expeditions to Siachen in order to strengthen their territorial claims.
For the Indians, the operation included heroics as leading to a detachment to climb a wall of ice about 500 meters to take a position at a height Pakistan of 6,700 meters.
The period, known as "Bana Post" in honor of the soldier who first reached the summit, is located at higher altitudes detachments of a dozen Indians on the glacier, that 80 percent "are above 4,900 meters "according to the official said Om Prakash a delegation of journalists who visited the site recently.
Siachen soldiers are in the cold to his greatest enemy, as Colonel Sunil Prabhu said the local newspaper "Hindustan Times" because "is not scientifically possible to survive more than 5,500 feet" and to reach more advanced positions , "soldiers must climb for 28 days."
According to Indian newspapers, about 600 soldiers have died since 1984, mostly due to cold or cast down.

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