The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. Hafiz Saeed, alleged mastermind of 26/11, praises the Pathankot attack and calls for more terror strikes in India.
2. The Central Bureau of Investigation gets the go ahead from the Maharashtra governor to prosecute former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who has accused in the Adarsh realestate scam.
3. The Tanzanian high commissioner says the student from his country who was attacked in Bangalore was targetted because she is black.
The Big Story: A cold war
On Thursday, the Indian Army confirmed that all 10 soldiers buried in an avalanche on Siachen glacier were dead. Earlier, it had refused the Pakistan army's offers of help in rescue operations. The snows of Siachen, reports point out, have claimed more more lives than the actual conflict.
The Siachen war started in 1984, when the Indian army rushed men up the unoccupied, undemarcated glacier in the northern regions of Kashmir. In the decade leading up to Operation Meghdoot, competing expeditions from both India and Pakistan had quickened military interest in Siachen. It has turned out to be a futile, hubristic war, slowly bleeding both sides of men and money. A soldier in Siachen has to fight at an altitude of 19,600 feet, in temperatures that can dip to minus 60 degrees centigrade, low oxygen pressure and icy gales. According to some estimates, the cost of maintaining Indian troops in those heights is about Rs 3.5 crore a day. India has lost close to 900 people in the conflict, most of them in natural disasters. In 2012, an avalanche killed 140 Pakistani soldiers. All for a war with obscure advantages for either side.
The tragedy of 2012 had prompted then Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to propose the demilitarisation of the Siachen glacier. The resolution of the Siachen and Sir Creek border disputes, it was agreed, was "low-hanging fruit". It could pave the way for a solution to larger conflicts between the two countries. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had even declared that he wanted to turn Siachen into a "Mountain of Peace". Since then, mutual suspicion and brinkmanship has got in the way of ending the Siachen war. But the death of the 10 soldiers should be a powerful argument for the demilitarisation of the glacier.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's big story
Nayantara Narayanan examines the heavy cost of waging a war in Siachen glacier.
Politicking and policying
1. Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani slams a Pakistani parliamentary panel report advocating a crackdown on Kashmiri militancy.
2. The Marathi film Marathi Tigers will not be screened in Belgavi. Based on the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra, it contains oblique references to violence in Yellur village in Belgavi taluk.
3. The Rashtriya Lok Dal may merge with the Janata Dal (United) ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls.
4. The Supreme Court tells the Board of Control for Cricket in India to implement recommendations of the Lodha committee report.
Punditry
1. In the Hindu, PS Vijayshankar on how to keep the rural economy vibrant.
2. In the Indian Express, Ashutosh Varshney on how Modi's idea of India is riddled with paradoxes because of conflicting ideological and constitutional imperatives.
3. In the Telegraph, Mukul Kesavan on the grotesque logic behind laws like Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalise.
Don't miss...
Anumeha Yadav investigates whether India is behind the four-month long economic blockade along the Nepal border:
“Our demands are valid,” said Shakur Alam, a typist at the local court in Birgunj, and a member of the Rashtriya Madhes Samajwadi Party. Alam, seated in the midst of the protestors, was clad in sweatshirt and trousers, with a pink gamcha around his neck contrasting with his henna-coloured beard. “Unlike the hill communities, we are dark complexioned, so the government says, 'Madhesis are Biharis, Dhotis, encroachers from India'. But we are citizens, we are Nepali.”
Sections of Nepal society believe the close familial ties Madhesis have with India is evident in the way India has supported this protest, effectively blocking supplies to the country. Nepali commentators see recent events as part of a history of India’s interference and allege that in coming years, Madhesis will become the means for the Indian government to exert control over Nepal.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!