New Delhi : Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, on Thursday said it is high time to ensure that more live are not lost due to harsh weather conditions in Siachen, adding that the two Asian neighbours would be able to resolve the problem through peaceful means.
Basit’s remark came following the demise of Siachen braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad.
“It’s sad that solders of both the countries are dying due to harsh weather conditions at the Siachen Glacier. So, we strongly feel that the time has come to ensure that more lives are not lost due to the harsh conditions in Siachen, and we sincerely hope that the issue of Siachen would be treated in an urgent manner between our two countries and we would be able to resolve this problem through peaceful means,” Basit told ANI here.
“These tragedies only reinforce the need to resolve this (Siachen) problem urgently through peaceful means, through dialogue,” he added.
The Pakistani envoy recalled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s address to the UNGA session last year in which he made a specific proposal that both Pakistan and India agree to mutually withdraw from Siachen.
The Siachen is the highest battleground of the world, where India and Pakistan maintain permanent military presence at a height of over 6,000 metres (20,000 ft). More than 2,000 people have died in this inhospitable terrain, mostly due to weather extremes and the natural hazards of mountain warfare.
The Lance Naik breathed his last at 11.45 am at Army’s Research and Referral Hospital here on Thursday. He had slipped into a deeper state of coma this morning and was extremely critical with worsening multiple organ dysfunctions. His circulatory shock was refractory to all drugs in maximum permissible doses and his kidneys remain non-functional.
The Lance Naik was on maximal life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis.
He was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented when was evacuated to the army’s base camp at the Siachen Glacier. He was flown to Delhi from Siachen on Tuesday morning in a special air ambulance and admitted to the hospital.
Lance Naik Hanumanthappa was miraculously found alive after remaining buried under huge mass of snow for six days at Siachen Glacier. (ANI)