ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of the Senate Defence Committee, Mr Mushahid Hussain, said on Wednesday that India and Pakistan should no longer treat Siachen as an issue of national security but should regard it as one promoting human security and protecting environment to face the consequences of climate change.

Talking to reporters in Parliament House, Mr Hussain, accompanied by members of the committee who had returned from a visit to Siachen on Tuesday, said: “The pointless Siachen dispute has caused a needless waste of human lives, money and material in the name of national security over the past three decades,”

He presented a three-point peace plan for the Siachen region. It suggests demilitarisation of the region with the withdrawal of armed forces of Pakistan and India.

The second point of the plan is conversion of Siachen into a peace park where mountain tourism and expeditions could be encouraged under the auspices of the United Nations Environmental Progr­amme and World Tourism Organisation.

The third point calls for collaboration between Pakistan and India to prepare a joint strategy for preserving the environment in the Siachen region whose impact will be felt by 1/5th of humanity living in South Asia.

“We should learn a lesson about futility of the conflict in Siachen from the Gyari tragedy, which resulted in the loss of 140 precious lives,” Senator Hussain said.

He also talked about efforts for peace in Siachen which, he said, were sabotaged on three occasions by the Indian military establishment when the Indian army chiefs overruled the political leadership of their country to sabotage any possible peace agreement on the region.

“In June 1989, the then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had agreed with his Pakistani counterpart Benazir Bhutto to an agreement on Siachen but the then Indian army chief, General V. N. Sharma, opposed it and the agreement could not materialise,” he said.

“On June 13, 2005, the then Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh declared that Siachen was a ‘mountain of peace’ and announced that it would be converted into a symbol of peace from a point of conflict. But General J. J. Singh, the then chief of army staff of India, openly opposed the move citing security concerns and saying it was not in national interest.

“The third such occasion was on the eve of the 13th round of talks on Siachen between defence ministries of Pakistan and India in June 2012 when the then Indian army chief, General V. K. Singh, publicly rejected Pakistan’s proposals for peace on Siachen as unrealistic and thus undermined the possibility of a peace agreement before the talks.”

Senator Hussain said the three events had been mentioned in a recently published book, “The Accidental Prime Minister” by Sanjaya Barua, press secretary to prime minister Singh.

The members of the defence committee praised the sacrifices rendered by valiant troops deployed in Siachen and said they were defending the motherland despite an extremely difficult situation in the world’s most difficult terrain and the highest battlefield.

They said the troops were a role model and a source of inspiration for the nation and had the support of the parliament.

Senator Hussain said the environment of Siachen region had adversely been affected by Indian occupation, adding that one of the key factors contributing to the environmental degradation was the cutting and melting of ice with the use of chemicals to construct military barracks.

“We must acknowledge that 90 per cent of the deaths at Siachen are due to weather conditions as temperature can fall to minus 50 degrees Celsius there during the peak winters.”

In reply to a question, he said time for a change (in the perceptions about Siachen) had come. “The 21st century is Asian century and time has come for India and Pakistan to collaborate in the areas of environment, climate change and global warming. We should approach issues with a big heart and take pride in each other’s achievements as Asians.” To emphasise his point, he congratulated India on its achievement in the Mars mission and said India should also take pride in Pakistan’s achievements in the fields of science, technology, IT, arts, literature and culture. “Some of the best brains and talented professionals live in South Asia and we can learn from each other,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2014