“The trekking expedition has not been called off. It is on schedule. It is taking place in an area which is ours,” said a defence ministry spokesperson.
On Monday a senior Indian diplomat was summoned to the Pakistani foreign office to convey its disapproval on the Siachen trekking expedition, which was being seen as India’s   arm-twisting tactics to communicate to Islamabad that Siachen peaks are non-negotiable.
But the Pakistan government made it clear that such a move may lead to “loss of confidence” on various ongoing crucial bilateral confidence building measures.
After Pakistan’s disapproval was made public, some of the army officials claimed that the trek expedition has been cancelled since necessary defence ministry approvals were not taken. But the ministry spokesperson opposed those claims.
“There is no move to call it off. It is a routine adventure-cum-mountaineering activity. This should not be seen in any other way,” he said.
But there was no mention of the fact that in the last two months, the army also facilitated two mountaineering expeditions on the east of Siachen — one to Mamostong Kangri peak and the other one to the Rimo peak. The first team was an Indo-French one.
In the first phase of the three-week long trekking, the trekkers will be acclimatised at Leh before moving to the Siachen base camp. After another round of conditioning in high-altitude harsh weather conditions, the team, guarded by the army soldiers, will leave for its destination, Kumar post on the glacier. 
Besides the civilian members, the team comprises members of the National Cadet Corps, Rashtriya Indian Military College and Indian Military Academy, who will be aided by the army soldiers. Interestingly, this expedition is being organised by the avid mountaineer and retired army officer Col Narendra (Bull) Kumar who was instrumental in protecting Siachen almost three decades back.
Because of his contacts in the international mountaineering circle, he was the first to know about Pakistan issuing permits to foreign mountaineers for Siachen expedition claiming the glacier as its territory.
Col Kumar informed Army top brass and led an mountaineering expedition to the glacier for a first hand assessment. The information he collected finally led to the launch of Operation Meghdoot in 1984 to capture the icy heights.