No progress likely on Siachen, say South Asia experts
February 18, 2016 18:40
The death of 10 Indian soldiers in an avalanche on Siachen has put the focus back on what is dubbed the world's highest battlefield where India and Pakistan stand eyeball to eyeball in the Himalayan heights. The two neighbours have been discussing this glacier in their talks but, point out Howard and Teresita Schaffer in southasiahand.com, 'progress is unlikely' when and if the two countries sit down to talk again.
'Although the Modi government was willing to exchange with Bangladesh a small number of enclaves along their border, abandoning territory in Kashmir would strike a much different nerve both in the ruling BJP, the army, and the country at large. (It would be easier for the Pakistanis to accept since their military, which calls the shots on these issues, could argue that Pakistan had got the better deal by forcing the Indians off the main glacier range.) So the issue is likely to continue to perplex outsiders like ourselves,' they say, here.
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