Siachen trek formally begins

While the Defence Minister was scheduled to formally flag off the expedition from Leh on Tuesday, his visit was called off at the last moment and the Army had to rope in Lt Gen S S Dhillon, the Master General of Ordnance (MGO), to perform the ceremony.

Sources said the last minute change was made after the Defence Ministry decided to keep the trek a low-key affair. The decision to pull out Antony came days after Pakistani President Asif Zardari indicated that both countries were close to a breakthrough on both the Siachen and Sir Creek boundary dispute.

Meanwhile, the delegation — comprising schoolchildren, DRDO scientists, mountaineering enthusiasts, media persons and defence personnel — was flagged off from the Rinchen auditorium on Tuesday morning after a seven- day acclimatisation phase in Leh.

Participants of the second civilian trekking expedition to the Siachen glacier will now head for the Siachen base camp for a five-day training camp before proceeding for the glacial trek.

The trek, being organised by the Army Mountaineering Institute, will involve a 40-km climb up the glacier to the Kumar post. Participants, that include five women participants, will cross heights of over 18,000 feet on the way to the staging post that is used by the Army for acclimatising soldiers for postings on the Saltoro ridge.

The idea behind organising the trek, which is being made an annual feature, is to ‘reaffirm India’s claim’ on the region. Despite protests by Pakistan when the glacier was opened for civilian expeditions last year, Islamabad even issued a formal protest note to New Delhi last year, the Army has made it clear that tourism activities on the glacier will be made a regular feature.

In the past six months, three foreign expeditions and several joint military expeditions have taken place in the Karakoram region.