2012 Gayari Sector avalanche

2012 Gayari Sector avalanche

Siachen Glacier Location of Siachen Glacier in relation to Pakistan
Date	7 April 2012 (2012-04-07)
Time	06:00 am PKT (01:00 UTC)
Location	Gayari military base, Siachen Glacier
Coordinates	35.229408°N 076.8543°E / 35.229408; 076.8543
Casualties
At least 135 missing

On 7 April 2012, an avalanche hit a Pakistani military base near the disputed Siachen Glacier, trapping at least 135 soldiers and civilian contractors under deep snow. It is the worst avalanche that the Pakistani military has experienced in the area.

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Background

Main article: Siachen conflict

The Siachen Glacier in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalaya Mountains has been the site of intermittent conflict between India and Pakistan for several decades. In 1949, a ceasefire line was negotiated between the two countries in an effort to resolve the competing territorial claims of the violent Kashmir conflict. The agreement, however, did not clearly delineate Siachen as either Indian or Pakistani, and competing claims to the barren, unpopulated area began to escalate. Both sides launched numerous mountaineering expeditions into the area during the 1970s and 1980s, and each side feared that the other's expeditions indicated plans to formalise control over the glacier and its surroundings; as such, both India and Pakistan began planning military operations to pre-empt the other's designs. On 13 April 1984, India launched Operation Meghdoot with the objective of taking control of the area, fearing it would fall into Pakistani hands. The operation was successful, and India extended its control over much of the small triangle of mountainous, icy land, up to the passes of the Saltoro Ridge, situated west of the glacier, while Pakistan retained control over the western slopes and foothills of the ridge.

Map of the Siachen Glacier area. The AGPL is shown as a red dashed line.

Although the Pakistani military has launched numerous attempts to wrest the region from Indian control, the situation on the ground has changed little, and the front has stagnated along the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL), on the northern extreme of the Line of Control between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region. With troops deployed at elevations of 6,700 metres (22,000 feet) above sea level, the glacier has come to be known as "the world's highest battlefield". A ceasefire has been in place since 2003, but thousands of troops from both sides remained stationed in at least 150 bases on the glacier and surrounding mountains and valleys. The simmering conflict over the glacier costs both countries millions of dollars each year.

Avalanches are known to occur frequently in the Siachen region, though casualties from them are generally low due to the fact that they normally strike remote, high-altitude "forward bases" with only a handful of troops. The most devastating one prior to this occurred in 2010, in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

The winter of 2011–2012 in Kashmir had been unusually harsh, marked by numerous heavy snowfalls and sharp temperature drops. An avalanche claimed the lives of seven Indian Army and border security troops on patrol in January 2012, and another 16 Indian soldiers were killed in February when two more avalanches struck their encampments at Sonamarg and Dawar in the high mountains of Kashmir.

Avalanche

Around 6:00 am Pakistan Standard Time (PKT) on 7 April 2012, a massive avalanche struck a Pakistani military headquarters at Gayari near the disputed Siachen glacier. Located in a valley between two peaks at 4,572 metres (15,000 feet) above sea level, the Gayari base is one of the most important Pakistani bases in the area. It is a vital supply hub for troops and materiel passing through to more remote bases, and is not far from a military hospital. At the time of the avalanche, the base was occupied by soldiers of the 6th Northern Light Infantry battalion, a unit "trained in mountain operations". Avalanches are uncommon in the area of Gayari; due to the low risk, Gayari was a bigger complex and housed many more soldiers than other bases in Siachen.

Initial reports indicated that at least 100 Pakistani soldiers, including a colonel and a commander, had been trapped under an estimated 21 metres (70 feet) of snow, covering an area of 1 square kilometre. The number of people missing was later stated to be at least 135: "at least 124 soldiers and 11 civilian contractors". No communication with any person from the base was reported after the avalanche. A list of 135 names of those missing was later released by the Inter-Services Public Relations of Pakistan Armed Forces.

Rescue operation

An avalanche rescue operation was quickly launched by the Pakistani military. Over 150 soldiers—using helicopters, rescue dogs, and heavy machinery airlifted from the main garrison in Rawalpindi—began searching the area for the missing soldiers and contractors, with "a team of doctors and paramedics" standing by. Local reports initially indicated that the operation had recovered at least 12 bodies by the end of the day, but official reports stated that no victims had been found, dead or alive.

Due to the remoteness and extreme weather conditions, rescue operations were expected to take several days to complete. Nevertheless, official Pakistani military sources remained "hopeful", and an anticipated improvement in weather conditions was expected to quicken the operation after initial efforts on the night of 7–8 April were cut short due to bad weather and darkness.

However, other sources expressed a much more grave view of the situation. An unnamed senior military officer said "All we can do now is pray. It is such a desperately tough place that it [would] need a miracle for someone to have survived." Pakistani Army Colonel Sher Khan, an expert in mountain warfare sent by the military to oversee the rescue operation, said that "there is no hope, there is no chance at all" for those buried under the snow, and noted that any survivors of the avalanche itself would have died within minutes from exposure to the elements.

By 9 April, rescue crews working at the scene of the disaster had managed to clear an area of snow measuring approximately 12 metres (40 feet) in length, 9 metres (30 feet) in width, and 3 metres (10 feet) in depth, but despite initial hopes for clearer conditions, inclement weather continued to hamper the operation. A team of eight U.S. military experts sent to Pakistan to assist the over 300 Pakistanis—286 soldiers and 60 civilians by this time—already working at the disaster area was unable to make it to the far northern site due to the weather, and official military statements still indicated that no bodies or survivors had been found by rescuers. The Pakistan Army had dispatched its chief of staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to Siachen to lead the operation. Two additional groups of foreigners were also expected to arrive in Islamabad on the evening of 9 April the country to provide further aid: three Swiss "experts" and a six-member German "disaster management team" with additional equipment.

Reactions

Pakistani reactions

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani expressed his shock at the incident, and said it "would in no way undermine the high morale of soldiers and officers".

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Shaukat Qadir, a retired Pakistani Brigadier and current political analyst, called the incident "the biggest casualty that has ever happened", and noted that more soldiers have died from the extreme elements than from combat during the entire Siachen conflict: "[T]he fact of matter is that 70 per cent of the people have died because of natural causes, and I think this is the time we ended this damn conflict, which has absolutely no explanation." He also expressed hope that the incident would help bring an end to the Siachen conflict, and that a meeting in India, between Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on 8 April could help "[settle] this issue for both [sides]".

Zardari was ostensibly visiting India for a day to make a personal religious pilgrimage to the Sufi shrine at Ajmer Sharif, but took the opportunity to meet informally with Singh to discuss matters of state. Zardari has presided over a considerable thaw in Indo-Pakistani relations, repudiating the official Pakistani "first nuclear strike" position, granting "most favoured nation" status to India, and declaring that both countries should "freeze the issue of Kashmir for a generation".

International reactions

• During the Zardari-Singh talks, which Zardari described as "fruitful", Singh offered humanitarian assistance to aid the Pakistani rescue effort. Zardari expressed gratitude for the offer and said that he would accept Indian help if needed.
• The United States embassy in Islamabad released a statement expressing "deep concern for the brave Pakistani soldiers that are currently trapped as a result of an avalanche in Gayari Sector of the Siachen Glacier" and offered American assistance in the rescue operation. The United States dispatched an eight-member rescue team from Kabul, Afghanistan to Islamabad to provide advice and aid in the rescue efforts.

See also

• List of avalanches