Sunday, March 26, 2006

The Ugly Roses of Siachen

The World's largest non-polar glacier.
The place of Wild Roses.
The Third Pole.
Siachen.... Definitely deserves a place in the record books
It's also the world's highest battlefield, where, for over two decades India and Pakistan have fought at altitudes of over 22,000 feet in minus 60ÂșC temperatures.
It's definitely not something we should be feeling proud of.

For a glacier that has overstated strategic significance, India spends a whopping 1-2 Billion Rupees a year!
Not just the enormous waste of money that could've been sensibly used for a hundred other things. Thousands of Indian Soldiers risk their lives every year in those inhospitable heights.
It's considered a great honour to serve at the Siachen Glacier in the Indian Army.
Not without reason...
The Indian Army looses one soldier every other day mostly to the extreme weather!
Many soldiers who return after serving at the Siachen Glacier suffer from psychiatric illnesses.

We are a nation of a billion people and they a nation of a quarter billion. Aren't there enough sensible people on either side of the Siachen to put an end to this nonsense?