New Delhi, July 20: Siachen would never have become a problem between India and Pakistan if the Indian delegation at the united nations in 1948 had specifically drawn the line across the glacier, says Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha. "I feel very upset and consider myself guilty for not drawing the line across the Siachen Glacier," Sinha, who was the secretary of the Indian delegation at the UN in 1948, said here.
"Had we continued beyond point NJ 9842, Siachen might not have become the world's highest battlefield," Sinha said.
The Indian and Pakistani sides had drawn a line only upto point NJ 9842 in Ladakh division and left the Siachen Glacier undemarcated. "We thought who will like to maintain troops at such a cold place," Sinha admitted. Going down memory lane, Sinha, who was the commanding officer for troops movement from Delhi to Srinagar in 1947, said, "We won several battles on the ground but lost them on table."
"We lost a dominant peak in Uri sector as none of our troops were present there on January 1, 1949, the ceasefire date between India and Pakistan," he said.
"Similarly, we lost Haji Peer Pass in 1965 war during Tashkent Agreement. Our troops had won this dominant pass during the war," he said. A smiling Sinha also shared his experience as to how he managed to get better wages for troops. "When the third pay commission was announced, I took the entire delegation to point 13620 in Kargil sector and showed under what conditions the jawans were performing their duties. We won and troops got better wages," he said. Bureau Report