OPERATION MEGHDOOT, 1984 - ICE STATION SIACHEN

The daring sally on the Siachen Glacier in 1984 is a landmark achievement of the Indian military. It instilled an ethos of readiness in securing national interests- seen in the 1999 Kargil War, the 2016 surgical strikes and the Balakot air strike

- BY PRADIP R. SAGAR

The stark setting tells half the story: the icy wastes of the Siachen Glacier in northern Ladakh and the commanding heights and mountain passes around it, with an average altitude of 20,000 feet. Starting from April 13, 1984, the Indian Army, ably ferried and supplied by the Indian Air Force, secured the glacier, of immense strategic importance, for the nation under Operation Meghdoot. It is a high point in Indian military history, for seldom has the fortitude of our fighting men been tested in such punishing terrain and climate. Siachen remains the world's highest battlefield.