New Delhi
10 April 2007
Environmentalists and social scientists from India and Pakistan
have reignited the debate over the environmental consequences of positioning troops
overlooking the Siachen glacier and cited climate change and global warming to seek
less "human interference" in what is the world's highest battlefield.
The director-general of Tata Energy Research Institute and chairman of
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr RK Pachauri, said that the rare
ecosystem of Siachen should be protected. The study by Mr Arshad Abbasi, a consultant
for World Wide Fund for Nature in Pakistan, shared similar views.
Pakistan has not shied away from employing the environmental concerns for drumming
up propaganda over the threats it was likely to face from India. Pakistan Foreign Minister
Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has told Geo TV, a private television news channel, that water
disputes could become the cause for wars with India.
A Pakistani media report suggested that Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz would
discuss the funding of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project when he visits China.
Pakistan wants to build the project as a response to the 330 mega watt Kishanganga
project in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Ideal situation [would be that] Siachen Glacier should be allowed to continue in its
present condition without any human interference but how that can be achieved is
another matter. Some people have said that that should become a science park where
you carry out a lot of research, a lot of study [about] what is happening to glaciers and I
think that's a good idea ... why not, it's an ecosystem which is very rare, which is
valuable for countries of this region and if we can conserve it, if we can protect it, nothing
like it ... but how one can achieve that is another matter," Dr Pachauri told this
newspaper.
Dr Pachauri said that the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas would affect water
resources within the next two to three decades and affect half a million people in the
Himalaya-Hindukush region. "Initially we'll have a much larger flow of water but as the
size of glacier diminishes, then clearly that flow will reduce. So we really need to be
prepared for that in the future because ... that will affect 500 million people on this sub-
continent and possibly 250 million in China. We have to start seeing that water is used
efficiently and in a manner tha eliminates wastage," Dr Pachauri said.
In his report, Mr Arshad Abbasi of Pakistan suggested that the volume of the glacier had
reduced by 35 per cent in two decades and the glacier was retreating steadily every
year.
According to the Pakistani media reports, the Water and Power Development Authority
has asked Islamabad to provide Rs 500 crore for getting a Chinese company to start
work on the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project in order to ensure "priority rights" over
the waters of the river. Pakistan would be looking for furthering cooperation with China in
space technology and railway during Mr Aziz'a visit to that country, the reports added.
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