News Analysis India

Tag: Siachen Glacier

  • Indian Army deploys first woman officer at world’s highest battlefield in Siachen

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  After months of arduous training at the Siachen Battle School, Tuesday came as a proud day for the Indian Army when Captain Shiva Chouhan became the first woman officer to get operationally deployed at the world’s highest battlefield, in Siachen Glacier.

    The Siachen Glacier region holds military significance for the country and is known as the highest militarised zone in the world where the soldiers have to battle frostbite and high winds.

    The officer was posted at the Kumar post, located at an altitude of around 15,600 feet in Siachen, on Monday for a three-month stint after she underwent rigorous training, Army officials said.

    Indian Army in a statement said, “Capt. Shiva Chouhan got inducted to the Siachen Glacier on 02 January 2023 after an arduous climb. The team of Sappers led by Capt Shiva Chouhan will be responsible for numerous combat engineering tasks and will be deployed at the post for a duration of three months.”

    #WATCH | Capt Shiva Chouhan becomes the first woman officer to get operationally deployed at the world’s highest battlefield, Siachen, after training at Siachen Battle School along with other personnel.(Source: Indian Army) pic.twitter.com/He6oPwdQM9

    — ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2023

    Captain Chouhan from Rajasthan is a Bengal Sapper Officer. She had to undergo rigorous training at the Siachen Battle School where she trained alongside the officers and men of the Indian Army.

    “The training included endurance training, ice wall climbing, avalanche and crevasse rescue and survival drills. In spite of various challenges, Captain Shiva with unflinching commitment successfully completed the training and was all set to be inducted to the Siachen Glacier,” the Army said. 

    The region is strategically important as it jutted between the Saltoro Ridge and the Karakoram Ranges. The Saltoro Ridge overlooks the area of Gilgit–Baltistan of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) that is under dispute with Pakistan. The Glacier is also close to the Karakoram Pass through which the Karakoram Highway passes connecting Gilgit-Baltistan to Xinjiang Province of China. The Glacier region is also in proximity to the Shaksgam Valley, which was ceded to China by Pakistan.

    Shiva, commissioned into the Engineer Regiment in May 2021, has done her schooling in Udaipur and holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. She lost her father at the young age of 11 and her mother who is a housewife who took care of her studies. Since her childhood, she had been motivated to join the Indian Armed Forces and showcased unparalleled zeal during training at Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai.

    As per the Army, Captain Shiva has been taking up challenging tasks right from the beginning of her service days. At a young service of one year, Captain Shiva displayed grit and determination by successfully leading the Sura Soi Cycling Expedition from Siachen War Memorial to the Kargil War Memorial conducted on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas in July 2022 covering a distance of 508 km.

    “The officer then took up the challenge of leading the men of Sura Soi Engineer Regiment at the world’s highest battlefield and based on her performance was selected to undergo training at the Siachen Battle School,” the Army said.

    NEW DELHI:  After months of arduous training at the Siachen Battle School, Tuesday came as a proud day for the Indian Army when Captain Shiva Chouhan became the first woman officer to get operationally deployed at the world’s highest battlefield, in Siachen Glacier.

    The Siachen Glacier region holds military significance for the country and is known as the highest militarised zone in the world where the soldiers have to battle frostbite and high winds.

    The officer was posted at the Kumar post, located at an altitude of around 15,600 feet in Siachen, on Monday for a three-month stint after she underwent rigorous training, Army officials said.

    Indian Army in a statement said, “Capt. Shiva Chouhan got inducted to the Siachen Glacier on 02 January 2023 after an arduous climb. The team of Sappers led by Capt Shiva Chouhan will be responsible for numerous combat engineering tasks and will be deployed at the post for a duration of three months.”

    #WATCH | Capt Shiva Chouhan becomes the first woman officer to get operationally deployed at the world’s highest battlefield, Siachen, after training at Siachen Battle School along with other personnel.
    (Source: Indian Army) pic.twitter.com/He6oPwdQM9

    — ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2023

    Captain Chouhan from Rajasthan is a Bengal Sapper Officer. She had to undergo rigorous training at the Siachen Battle School where she trained alongside the officers and men of the Indian Army.

    “The training included endurance training, ice wall climbing, avalanche and crevasse rescue and survival drills. In spite of various challenges, Captain Shiva with unflinching commitment successfully completed the training and was all set to be inducted to the Siachen Glacier,” the Army said. 

    The region is strategically important as it jutted between the Saltoro Ridge and the Karakoram Ranges. The Saltoro Ridge overlooks the area of Gilgit–Baltistan of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) that is under dispute with Pakistan. The Glacier is also close to the Karakoram Pass through which the Karakoram Highway passes connecting Gilgit-Baltistan to Xinjiang Province of China. The Glacier region is also in proximity to the Shaksgam Valley, which was ceded to China by Pakistan.

    Shiva, commissioned into the Engineer Regiment in May 2021, has done her schooling in Udaipur and holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. She lost her father at the young age of 11 and her mother who is a housewife who took care of her studies. Since her childhood, she had been motivated to join the Indian Armed Forces and showcased unparalleled zeal during training at Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai.

    As per the Army, Captain Shiva has been taking up challenging tasks right from the beginning of her service days. At a young service of one year, Captain Shiva displayed grit and determination by successfully leading the Sura Soi Cycling Expedition from Siachen War Memorial to the Kargil War Memorial conducted on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas in July 2022 covering a distance of 508 km.

    “The officer then took up the challenge of leading the men of Sura Soi Engineer Regiment at the world’s highest battlefield and based on her performance was selected to undergo training at the Siachen Battle School,” the Army said.

  • Missing India soldier’s body found on glacier after 38 years

    By Associated Press

    LEH, India: The remains of an Indian army soldier have been found more than 38 years after he went missing on a glacier at the highest point along the heavily militarized contested border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, officials said Wednesday.

    The soldier and 17 other colleagues were occupying a ridge on Siachen Glacier, high in the Karakoram range in disputed Kashmir’s Ladakh region, in May 1984 when they were hit by an avalanche, officials said.

    The bodies of 13 soldiers were recovered, but five remained missing.

    A team of soldiers on Monday found human remains at the glacier with an identity disc saying they belonged to Chandra Shekhar, one of the missing men, the Indian army said.

    Shekhar was part of India’s first army unit to occupy the 76-kilometer (47-mile) -long glacier in 1984 amid pitched battles with soldiers from Pakistan, which also controls part of divided Kashmir. Both nuclear-armed neighbors claim all of the region. The glacier, considered the world’s highest battlefield, was uninhabited before Indian troops moved there.

    Since then, the two countries have deployed troops at elevations of up to 6,700 meters (21,982 feet). They have fought intermittent skirmishes on the glacier, but more Indian and Pakistani troops have died from the grueling conditions than from hostile fire.

    In 2017, at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in three avalanches. In 2012, an avalanche in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir killed 140 people, including 129 Pakistani soldiers.

    Discussions between India and Pakistan on demilitarizing the glacier have been unsuccessful.

    Shekhar’s remains were being flown on Wednesday to his native village in northern Uttarakhand state following a funeral with full military honors, the army said.

    LEH, India: The remains of an Indian army soldier have been found more than 38 years after he went missing on a glacier at the highest point along the heavily militarized contested border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, officials said Wednesday.

    The soldier and 17 other colleagues were occupying a ridge on Siachen Glacier, high in the Karakoram range in disputed Kashmir’s Ladakh region, in May 1984 when they were hit by an avalanche, officials said.

    The bodies of 13 soldiers were recovered, but five remained missing.

    A team of soldiers on Monday found human remains at the glacier with an identity disc saying they belonged to Chandra Shekhar, one of the missing men, the Indian army said.

    Shekhar was part of India’s first army unit to occupy the 76-kilometer (47-mile) -long glacier in 1984 amid pitched battles with soldiers from Pakistan, which also controls part of divided Kashmir. Both nuclear-armed neighbors claim all of the region. The glacier, considered the world’s highest battlefield, was uninhabited before Indian troops moved there.

    Since then, the two countries have deployed troops at elevations of up to 6,700 meters (21,982 feet). They have fought intermittent skirmishes on the glacier, but more Indian and Pakistani troops have died from the grueling conditions than from hostile fire.

    In 2017, at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in three avalanches. In 2012, an avalanche in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir killed 140 people, including 129 Pakistani soldiers.

    Discussions between India and Pakistan on demilitarizing the glacier have been unsuccessful.

    Shekhar’s remains were being flown on Wednesday to his native village in northern Uttarakhand state following a funeral with full military honors, the army said.

  • Siachen Glacier melting slower than others in Himalayas

    Express News Service

    BENGALURU: The Siachen Glacier is escaping the high rate of melting that other Himalayan glaciers are experiencing due to the impact of climate change. This means that the glacier, which is considered strategic to both India and Pakistan, is likely to remain the highest battleground in the world for many more decades to come than imagined.

    A team of researchers from the University of Leeds, which studied 14,798 Himalayan glaciers during and since the Little Ice Age (which occurred between the 14th and 19th century) by computer reconstruction of the sizes and ice surfaces of these glaciers, has found these glaciers to be melting at a rate ten times faster, losing around 40 per cent of their area — shrinking from a peak of 28,000 sqkm to around 19,600 sqkm today.

    However, renowned glaciologist and professor at the Divecha Centre for Climate Change (DCCC) at the Indian Institute of Science, Dr Anil V Kulkarni told The New Indian Express that despite Himalayan glaciers losing ice ten times quicker than on an average in the last 400 to 700 years, as found by the University of Leeds researchers, Siachen Glacier will remain relatively stable longer. 

    He explained that the Siachen Glacier, situated north of Ladakh and wedged between the Trans Karakoram Tract in the north, Gilgit-Baltistan in the west and Aksai Chin in the east, is in the Karakoram mountain range and is subject to the “Karakoram anomaly”. This deviation in glacial melt trend found in Siachen Glacier is part of an anomalous growth of glaciers in the central Karakoram, which is in contrast to the retreat of glaciers in nearby Himalayan ranges. This means glaciers within the range — including Siachen — are relatively stable, despite glaciers in nearby regions retreating and shrinking faster due to global warming.