Indian and Pakistani glaciologists have crossed swords over whether the Siachen glacier is melting or not.
Leading Indian glaciologist Dr Vijay Kumar Raina, formerly of the Geological Survey of India and author of a report on glaciers prepared for the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) in 2010 has stated categorically that the Siachen glacier is stable and reports that it has shrunk by as much as 50 per cent are “false”.
“The Siachen glacier has not shown any remarkable retreat in the last 50 years,” Raina and his team arrived at the conclusion based in part on field measurements by ecologist Kireet Kumar of the G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development in Almora.
Pakistani environmentalists have a contrary take on this. Faisal Nadeem Gorchani of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute(SDPI) in Islamabad claims the glacier had shrunk by 10 km in the last 35 years. “More than half of the glacier reduction comes from the military presence’ Gorchani claims while Pakistani hydrologist and Siachen specialist Arshad Abbasi (also with SDPI) has given an even more alarming assessment of the glacier’s retreat.
Abassi maintains that the rise in temperature in the northern areas (by 0.76°C) is the direct result of military intervention where chemicals are being used by both countries to cut through glacial ice to construct bunkers, camps and helipads.
Pakistani experts maintain that the tragedy in the Gayari sector which resulted in over 120 of their soldiers losing lives was a result of a “glacial surge” whereby the base of the glacier melted resulting in the transference of a large volume of ice on the Pakistani Army camp.
Both countries do agree that waste from the military camps is a major problem as this is harming the local environment and threatening to pollute the water systems.
Gopal Krishna of Toxicswatch Alliance has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari asking both leaders to agree to convert the Siachen glacier into a “nature and peace park”.
“Whatever both sides may say, no one can deny that the health of glaciers in our region is on the decline,” Mr Krishan added.