Nestled between the world’s largest mountain range at 21,000 feet is “the Land of Abundant Roses”, or “Siachen”, a glacier in the Kashmir region that is 75 km long and two to eight km wide. It experiences blizzards which last up to 20 days with wind speeds of 200 km/hour. Combine that with temperatures of -50°C and snowfall of 35 feet and you get what is now famous as “The World’s Highest Battlefield”. It has remained a hotbed of war, military skirmishes and territorial disputes between three nuclear armed states (India, Pakistan and China) for the past four decades. This piece delves into the failure of international diplomacy, a critique of the dominant scholarship dismissing the struggle as a futile one, and possible lessons for the international order.
Siachen: A Cartographic Nightmare
The seeds of the Siachen dispute were laid by the British during the 19th century “Great Game” with Russia. Back then, the British Raj decided to use the Himalayan frontiers as a northern front to curtail the rapidly expanding Russian Empire. The resultant cartographic surveys led to the British encounter with the Siachen glacier in 1848. Difficulties of exploring the region led to its demarcation as an “uninhabited wasteland” in colonial records. This cartographic ambiguity had pivotal consequences during the partition of the British Raj into India and Pakistan in 1947.
The responsibility of laying down a secure border between these two states was given to Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a man who had never travelled to the subcontinent, barely knew where Bengal and Punjab were on a map (two important regions in the Indian Subcontinent) and had five weeks to draw a border in the most populous and diverse region of the planet. In addition to being responsible for the largest refugee crisis in history and multiple wars between two countries, the resulting Indo-Pakistani border was incomplete as it vanished at point “NJ9842” where the glacier is situated. Taking advantage of this legal vacuum, Pakistan launched operation Abebeel (Swarm of Birds) in 1984 to occupy the glacier, sending troops to a location 8,000 feet below Everest only to find thousands of Indian soldiers waiting for them, as they had preemptively occupied the glacier under Operation Meghdoot (Cloud messenger) a week before. Following the episode, it has been under active Indian control for the past four decades.
The ensuing conflicts over Pakistani attempts to capture Siachen have resulted in the deaths of 2,700 to 3,000 Indian and Pakistani soldiers. The vast majority succumbed to extreme weather conditions, avalanches, altitude sickness and other hazards, rather than actual combat. The glacier became Pakistan’s primary objective during the Kargil War in 1999, when Pakistani troops captured the Indian-administered territory of Kargil to cut off Indian supply lines to Siachen. The nuclear powers engaged in a conventional war resulting in approximately 4,500 casualties. India set July 16th, 1999, as the deadline for a complete Pakistani withdrawal, threatening a full-scale military response along the border. Both sides mobilised militaries, including potential nuclear threats, when on July 4th, 1999, the Clinton administration’s timely intervention spurred Pakistani withdrawal, thereby avoiding a probable global catastrophe.
Strategic Significance and Geopolitical Implications
Academics have framed this conflict as “two bald men fighting over a comb”, yet a closer observation reveals its true geopolitical significance. The Siachen is the largest non-polar glacial system in the world, providing two trillion litres of water to the Indus River system every year, making it a national security issue for Pakistan which relies on the Indus River for 80% of its irrigation and drinking water. For India, control over Siachen provides a strategic bulwark against Chinese-Pakistani cooperation as control over the glacier allows it strategic overhold over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — the largest project under the Belt and Road Initiative — and Pakistan Administered Kashmir. This denies further Chinese intrusions into the Kashmir region which would destabilise India’s northern defences. It also permits India to use the glacier’s critical significance to Pakistan’s water supply as diplomatic ammunition in negotiations. China’s role in the trijunction increased substantially after Pakistan ceded the Shaksgam Valley just north of Siachen to Beijing under the “China-Pakistan Agreement” of 1963. Indian control over Siachen puts China’s own portion of Kashmir (Aksai Chin), its most expensive Belt and Road Project and its positions in Tibet, under strategic pressure.
Consequently, the Siachen glacier’s significance extends beyond South Asia as it represents the balance of power in a region intersected by three nuclear armed rivals. As the US and the EU pivot to Asia, this critical node in the Indo-Pacific, adjacent to a valuable trade corridor (CPEC) with significant ecological assets will become a major focal point in countering Chinese expansionism. Therefore, contrary to dominant scholarly assumptions, the Siachen is not an isolated dispute. Instead, it is a central hinge in the Indo-Pacific’s evolving security architecture.
Diplomatic Failures and Resultant Complications
The Siachen stalemate highlights the dangers of the balance of power doctrine, as diplomatic negotiations remain deadlocked over the authentication of present positions. This is part of a broader pattern of global failures driven by power imbalances, including issues in Crimea, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the South China Sea, where ambiguous treaties fuel perpetual tensions. The Kargil War further exemplifies how unresolved disputes can escalate into full-blown conflicts.
The conflict demonstrates the urgent need for multilateral frameworks to address territorial ambiguities, as the current trend of rising militarisation is accelerating the ecological damage wrought upon this sensitive zone.
The glacier is now melting at an unprecedented rate due to destructive human activity, threatening the lives of millions that rely on the Indus for agriculture, drinking water and hydro-electricity.
The situation demands urgent intervention through multilateral approaches to foster lasting peace. Multilateralism is essential for creating a neutral forum where all parties can engage constructively, preventing the escalation of tensions and ensuring that no single nation dominates the resolution process. Such approaches would serve to promote confidence-building measures, encourage gradual demilitarisation, establish clear boundaries and address environmental concerns. It illustrates the importance of proactive diplomacy in resolving historical territorial disputes and the lessons learnt at Siachen should be used globally to prevent the creation of even deadlier battlefields.
Written by Chethan Shajan, Edited by Thomas Thurnher.
Photo Credit: “Operation Meghdoot: India’s War in Siachen, 1984-2020” Asia @ War Series I IPMS USA Reviews.
