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The Kashmir Timeline

Siachen Glacier

A 70 kilometre river of ice, and the highest battlefield in the world.

Siachen Glacier photograph

Photo: Ravi Baghel, Marcus Nüsser · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Siachen is one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions, lying above the north-eastern end of the Line of Control. Indian and Pakistani troops have held positions on and around it since 1984, at heights above 5,000 metres where temperatures fall below minus 40 degrees. Far more soldiers have died there of cold, altitude and avalanche than of fighting.

Facts

  • Posts on the glacier sit higher than any other permanently manned military positions on earth.
  • Meltwater from Siachen feeds the Nubra river and then the Indus.