Lt Gen Kulkarni recalls first landing in Siachen

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, December 9

Lt Gen Sanjay Kulkarni (retd) didn’t miss even minute details when he narrated the first landing of troops at Siachen on April 13, 1984. He was the first officer to have landed with his troops on the glacier.

“We decided to acquire it in 1984 and so did Pakistan. But we surprised them. We chose April 13, auspicious Baisakhi day, and they fixed some day in May. Siachen is with us since. Gen Pervez Musharraf was a colonel then,” said Lt Gen Kulkarni. Lt Gen Manohar Lal Chibber was the Army Commander and Lt Gen PN Hoon was the Corps Commander then. 

“On April 12, we received our mountain gear and I was to be part of the first sortie. As the pilot was unsure of the snow’s firmness, he asked us to jump out. I threw a wheat bag to ascertain whether it was firm... With me, a telephone operator too jumped. We were told to first occupy Bilafond La.  Platoon was of 30, so 15 sorties of Cheetah helicopters had to be carried out,” he said.

“We were to go to Sia La, but the weather turned hazardous. On April 17, a soldier died and we had to open radio sets, though we were asked not to do so.” 

The next day a Pakistani chopper spotted them. “We pushed 15 sorties to occupy Sia La the same day. We would take seven days to reach there but Pakistanis could reach there in a day. By the time they reached, both Bilafond La and Sia La were occupied... There are 70-80 posts now,” he said.

On demilitarisation of Siachen, author Shiv Kunal Verma said if we had pulled out of Siachen, Pakistan could strike Ladakh ranges and India would need a huge force to defend it.