Frost-Bitten Agreements

SIACHEN, a snowy wasteland at 20,000 feet, has long-term strategic value. Pakistan claims the area west of NJ 9842—the last demarcated point on the LOC—to the Kara -koram Pass. In '84 India put its forces up there. Now these forces are sitting well west of Siachen glacier on the Saltoro ridge. Beyond NJ 9842, the LOC hasn't been defined. Pakistan claims the LOC runs north-east from NJ 9842 straight to Karakoram Pass. India refutes this. The original Karachi agreement of July 1949—which defined the ceasefire line, called LOC after the Simla pact—has the line running north, along Saltoro. In late '92, India and Pakistan had agreed to disengage and redeploy troops and maintain peace.

TULBUL/WULLAR navigation project: Pakistan objected to Indian efforts to build a barrage on the Jhelum, saying it violated the Indus Waters Treaty and that it would create an irrigation shortfall in Pakistan. By October 1991, after eight rounds of talks, all technical aspects, like the height, the number of sluice gates etc. had been resolved, and a draft agreement prepared. Only it was never signed.

SIRCreek: This dispute is over defining the border in the Sir Creek area between Gujarat and Sindh. The creek, by its very nature, keeps shifting and without proper termination points of the land boundary in Sir Creek, the maritime boundary in the Arabian Sea between the two countries cannot be delineated. India wants the boundary to be drawn in the middle of the creek. Pakistan disagrees but the two sides can easily sort this out.

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Frost-Bitten Agreements

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