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April 8th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
“The rescue operation is ongoing. They are working in difficult conditions,”
he said.
“It is extremely unusual to have an avalanche in that area — the base has been
there for 20 years without this happening before – and it struck early in
the morning which may have caught the men unawares.”
Analysts said the tragedy would raise questions about why so many Pakistani
soldiers were risking their lives on a slab of ice with little strategic
importance.
However, Yusuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, said he was in constant
contact with rescue officials and that the incident “in no way would
undermine the high morale of soldiers and officers”.
Kashmir has been split between Pakistan and India ever since 1947.
Some estimates suggest the two countries have as many as 20,000 troops facing
each other in mountains above the Siachen glacier, in the Karakoram range of
the Himalayas.
They clashed over the region in 1984 and have maintained a heavy presence ever
since — despite the cost in financial and human terms of operating under
such extreme conditions.
Soldiers posted to Siachen have to undergo months of training to order to
acclimatise. The cold, altitude and avalanches have claimed more lives than
gunfire, which has fallen silent since a 2003 truce was agreed.
Saturday’s avalanche smashed into a battalion headquarters in Gayari at about
5.45 am, when many of the soldiers would still have been asleep.
The base lies in a valley at about 16,000ft between two peaks, making it the
second highest of Pakistan’s battalion headquarters in Siachen and serves as
a gateway for troops and supplies en route to more remote outposts on the
glacier.
It houses some 3000 soldiers and is close to a military hospital.
Talat Masood, a retired army general, said the military would face intense
difficulty in getting heavy machinery to the avalanche scene.
“There is earth moving equipment that might be brought in by helicopter but is
unlikely to work at that altitude,” he said.
He added that with President Asif Ali Zardari due to visit to India on Sunday
the tragedy might focus attention on the futility of maintaining so many
soldiers in a such a dangerous area.
“Maybe we can take something positive from this. This is one of the problems
that is solvable,” he said. “Responsible leaders must really act on this.”
For the time being, neither side is willing to withdraw. Both armies fear the
other’s advance and station thousands of troops on the frontline, at a cost
of many millions of dollars each year.
Avalanches and landslides frequently block roads and leave communities
isolated in the mountains of Pakistan, neighbouring Afghanistan and in
Kashmir.
In February, at least 16 Indian soldiers on duty in the mountains of Kashmir
were killed when two avalanches swept through army camps.
And an avalanche killed 24 Pakistani troops in 2010, until now the greatest
loss of life in such an incident.
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