Siachen Glacier—A Triangular Wedge In The Pakistan, China Threat At The World's Third Pole In Ladakh

Let's go, the sky is a twilight shade of beautiful blue before dawn, as we leave the flickering lights of a still awake towards Cin Base Camp, 200 km away, it's a winding 40 km OD climb to Kula La, which means pass, which is located between Le and Nubra valleys is one of the highest motorable roads in the

world

Kungla at 17.9 82 feet while we want to admire the top of the pass with a temperature close to -5 ° centigrade and low oxygen levels It's hard to spend more than 10 minutes outdoors as it changes from cold to crisp with a sun outside and blue skies as we travel down and through Nubra Valley.

This road was on the ancient silk trade route that connected eastern Tibet with Turkestan via the Karakuram Pass at an average altitude. About 10,000 feet above sea level this cold, arid desert has high mountains on all sides an army convoy probably coming from somewhere along our destination passes along border roads the organization's workers maintain and improve connectivity constantly the L sein base camp The trip takes approximately 6 hours, the army feeds and services its operations in Cin Glacia from here, this is literally where the last road has to end and the TRS and air sorties to the outpost You have to begin, gentlemen, the base runs the Cin Battle School for pre-induction training orientation. and acclimatization of troops before their deployment the helipad serves as critical airlifts of the Indian Air Force to posts at higher and inhospitable altitudes before deployment at the outpost there is rigorous comprehensive pre-induction training we are witnesses some aspects with groups from the first week, the second week and the

third

week trainings meet at the physical training ground early in the morning each group tracks and trains for hours every day the more weeks of experience they have, the more up they go up on the

glacier

the first week what we generally do is that our body gets used to the environment.

What are the normal routine things like the daily walks to the

glacier

and then back? A general basic idea of ​​all the illnesses that can occur here, the effects of high altitude that can occur, so all of these things are covered there in the The first week, the second week is about the basic mountain craft that it is required to go while and Ing we are there, uh, when we get to the post, so it is necessary, so it is divided into the rock crafting skills and the ice crafting skills, then the

third

one. The week is about the emergency marches that continue to happen every Saturday that they are there and the last Glacier March is almost 24 25 kilometers, so that builds up and continues to march in the skies over the critical Indi Air.

The force departures to and from the glacier have been carried out throughout the morning. We'll film them from the helipads a little later. The name cin comes from the local Balti Siia language and is a species of wild rose that grows in the area and Chen means abundance there. There may not be roses to be seen in winter, but there is plenty of training for the treacherous terrain. The glacier's snout or lower end can be seen from a vantage point above base camp. It is there that the streams emerge that form the Nubra River, which flows 90 km before meeting the shok, which in turn flows into the more than 3,000 km long IND river, further down the base camp as we head To the training areas on the glacier, our cameras glimpse the movement of trainees' ants in the distance. the zoom lens zooms in on the peak, it takes us a while to get to week 1 trainees, we walk on the rocky ground passing through the frozen water on its last Eddie and the currents waiting for summer to regain movement in its limbs after more than an hour of walking.

The first week, students do repetitive exercises to prepare for the tests. Crossing to higher altitudes, tired muscles and minds are then induced into vigorous and vocal competition in team spirit. 10 times when, like when we started, it was like the peak of winters, uh, we started there. In the month of February, it was extremely cold, there was fresh snow everywhere, so it was difficult while we were going, but yes, when we go as a team, everyone works in the way that the team requires, as if someone is being left behind . behind, so they stop it if someone has any kind of problem, they give them medication, so it's all that camaraderie that has been built through the ears of the training that we do and everything that is number eight also shows how The rescue is carried out for someone who is incapacitated in a fall r two 10 1 up Meanwhile, the second week the trains have to travel a much more difficult route after leaving the base camp, it is the morines that have to be crossed, that is the mass of rocks and sediments dragged down and deposited by a glacier primarily as ridges at its extremities, although teamwork is essential for survival, the solitude of the soldier is personified by the silence on the glacier.

Marching at these heights, even losing your breath is criminal and then comes the tough test of the ice wall. to move on I want to stop I go up t t it will be difficult to wait a long time yes fore foreigner foreigner to say hello so I give the battle view The most difficult exhibition of the school day is the four-point ice wall climb head go all clear clear tit look training prior to induction Glacier training ice boat or Ro boat the sein glacier is one of the most inhospitable regions in the

world

sliding down a valley in the Karakoram mountain range the glacier is 75 km long and its width varies between 2 and 8 km It receives an annual snowfall of more than blizzards of more than 35 feet can last 20 days Winds reach speeds of 200 km per hour Temperatures drop to -40° Celsius It is not surprising that it is also known as the third

pole

, so what? what is a day in the life of the troops after their tasks in the forward posture maintaining morale at such altitude, I see that there are many challenges there, like it is not just the altitude or the weather, it is that the mundane activities are all the days, so there are things we do like us, most of the time.

It's just teamwork that we're cooking food together or we're involved in some training activity, we're involved in some matches, we're there so we're involved together sitting there, so these are the things that we do, I think, and for the night We are mainly involved in recreational activities like watching TV or now posts are connected through good communication networks also so we are like people are calling home also and we have our internet facilities also working at that point so that we call home. and this kind of thing is fine and again the drills for the next day, the same type of Drilla was repeated almost every day.

Siin is part of India due to the annexation of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947 and the Karachi agreement of 1949 outlining the ceasefire. line Beyond the map grid reference NJ 9842 will run north towards the glaciers Pakistan's mapping attempts to link NJ 9842 to the Karakuram Pass on the India-China border a straight line moving northeast instead From towards the north sending mountaineering expeditions and preparations for military occupation were thwarted when India launched operation Magdu in April 1984, preempting Pakistan's Operation Ababil, the Indian Army occupied the Saltoro Rico to secure the glacier and the territory to the east. This deployment on the dominant heights dominates the much lower Pakistani positions in the valley.

To the west of the Saltoro ridge it blocks the possibilities of infiltration through the passes. In Ladak, its northernmost position in Indra overlooks the Shakam Valley illegally assigned to China by Pakistan and denies Pakistan access to the Karakuram Pass without India's presence Pakistan will have access to the Saltoro Ridge and the glacier which would also ensure the security of the Shakam Valley for China and would put a seal on its control for Pakistan the glacier would provide direct access to China a bridge from the occupied areas of the north to the Chinese-occupied Aai Chin the line divided the armies of India and Pakistan the real ground position line agpl has

pakistan

i troops nowhere near cin glacia Indian deployment also allows army to monitor Gilgit and Baltistan.

One of the reasons for the Cargil war was also Pakistan's aim to cut supply links to Cin with the aim of forcing redeployment of troops. Siin Glacia is, therefore, a critical strategic triangle that India has. Trapped between Pakistan and China, when we left base camp for the night, we also traveled along another critical strategic highway. The border road organization is completing the sasoma road Sasa saser brza gapan doat big oldi dbo. It is a connectivity link that is the first in the world. glacier road is an alternative access to the daruk shok doat B goldi dsdb road in 2023 a 345 M bridge over the shok was also completed the new axis helps unimpeded mobility of troops' supplies and equipment towards the dbo base more The army's north along the Line of Actual Control is also protected from across the Lac, making it less vulnerable to attack.

We are currently at kilometer 12 of the Sasa SED brza road. You know historically this road alliance with the ancient Silk Road, which was the conduit of, you know, the economy. and cultural exchanges in the years of yore, currently this road connects the nubra valley with the shoke valley for the locals and, militarily, this is the alternative alignment to the classic uh dsdv or durbuk sh route. Parts of the alternative alignment were technically the most difficult to construct. To construct the BRR, three-dimensional expandable geoc cell panels made of polymer are used to stabilize the road and increase its load capacity.

This road passes through SAS which has an altitude of around 17,500 feet, particularly the 5 to 6 km stretch at the top which was a very technical challenge, the problem is that there is no base below, the snow is there and , as the vehicles fly, no matter what you do, as the vehicles fly, it keeps melting and there's no F base, so we've used certain creative techniques there. We have used a stone base with ilc Interlink chains as a base to make it firm and on top of that we have used new technologies such as geoc cells. Frost blankets, geom membranes, all that stuff and now, as you know, the black top is not sustainable. there because it is very cold and like in the container the material becomes brittle so we are using ilcv interl concrete blocks so that all those things that we are doing to maintain this path and also the problem is that it is very High wear rate for man and machine in a very limited season, we have to do it.

I think the men have been working hard to achieve their goals and have done very well to take the road to cin base camp again. The next day, to document the Indian Air Force's Air Warriors and their helicopters, a critical lifeline for those deployed on the glacier flying on and off the glacier is carried out from the helipads here and the helicopters which are based in Lay and these too continually fly alive. rescue sorties An M7 is loaded with supplies and takes off towards the outpost a second it returns after its mission. The Miis take heavy loads to airdrop for the troops on the glacier and return after warming many hearts in the Frozen Frontier.

Basically, when we are there at the post there is an established routine it is in a week the things are there we do how we get up early because there are air maintenance enemies that are helicopters that are coming they are uh they get us the oil the rations all the needs after that, this is a place like the first helicopter, it arrives around 6:00 6:30, so basically you have to maintain the helipad, so we get up around 4: 4:30. and then maintain the helipad after that, after the departures are over, like we have to do, there are some posts that are not maintained by helipads, so there are also bill cables that are maintained and placed on the post and we It's like a cart.

Basically, we send all these elements so that there is a routine that, once the air maintenance is completed, the work in the bay begins after refueling and verifying that the helicopters depart for their home base with a return load and the passengers give us a perfect image to capture, I'm not sure. Whether you have received the injection or not, there is a saying among helicopter pilots: if you have not been deployed to Ladak and specifically Cin Glacia, then you have not arrived. Unitof 114 helicopters has arrived countless times in its history. We document them in Le Air.

Force Station in Himalayan Frontier, episodes 6 and 72, the operations we are conducting on this highest battlefield, is a testimony to our Moto units, which says that we do the difficult as a routine and the impossible may take a little more time. The impossible was also achieved. Due to the motivation and technical experience of those behind these flying machines, the dedication and sincerity of these men is visible by the commitments and type of rectification we have made on the glacier. There are many examples of that and to quote I will tell you that We have changed the engine, all the engine of this air was changed at the Amar helipad and that heliport is at 20,500 FT and we have changed the engine that that particular heliport is right near of the looc and in one of the cases they also changed the landing in the air, the entire skid was changed, it was done at 18,500 FT so you can understand the professionalism and dedication of these men behind the machine, although the cheal of a single engine can carry much smaller loads than larger helicopters that can operate in extreme flights. envelope limit of over 18,000 feet and land on Matchbox sized helipads on the glacier or w my unit is a helicopter unit 114.

They also call us Thein Pioneers Prim because we were the first to operate on Siin and ours is the only unit. which has distinguished itself by operating on the Cin Glacier under Operation MDU for the past 40 years, we have been involved in one of the largest and, I would say, most complex aerial logging missions, over the most treacherous terrain that is the Siin Glacier. , which is also known as the third

pole

in the third pole both ground troops and pilots face acute mountain sickness, high-altitude pulmonary edema, high-altitude brain edema, snow blindness, sunburn, hypothermia, chills, chills, and frostbite. own 114 hu records more than 7,000 military and civilian lives saved in its history and we witness another of its medical evacuations of a soldier from an outpost every day we carry out various operations such as casual vacations, air logistics, re missions daily and in terms of the skills you need because of the terrain, the altitude, the weather, the temperature and all the missions that I just mentioned, we operate in Heights around 18 Temperatures of 18,000 feet as low as -40° and winds exceeding The 10 to 15 knots to operate in these conditions require a lot of skill and only the best of the trained volunteer aircrew can be authorized as captains to fly here, even the best and a guardian who is OPI Baba who is believed to protect the troops. of the enemy and the weather and warns them of danger.

He is so revered that he is given a formal report before and after each mission. In his temple complex there are statues of deities surrounding his mortis. and as is the practice in the army, soldiers of all religions pray here, the origin of the belief is said to be that a soldier named om prakash single-handedly repelled an attack on Mal post and, although the legend of OPI Baba , in quotes, remains obscured by fog and the frozen mass of the glacier its berth is always made here. 1,188 personnel have died to date due to extreme weather conditions and terrain and in enemy attacks and bombing after India's capture of the glacier in 1984. 2024 marks 40 years since the bombing ceased after of the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in November 2003 and there is no better place than the war memorial to remember those who gave their all and those who continue to risk their lives in something of critical importance to India, without glacia go sh. go sh sh the d the go SL sh p go but he shot