JOIN USPrime Minister Narendra Modi may soon visit the Army’s forward bases in Siachen Glacier to boost morale of soldiers guarding the nation’s border in the world’s highest battlefield.
The prime minister’s visit to Siachen is apparently intended to assert the government’s tough stand on the India-Pakistan dispute over the glacier, even as New Delhi is exploring the possibility of resumption of the stalled dialogue with Islamabad.
Though the government has not yet revealed the dates for the prime minister’s visit to Siachen, sources said that it might take place before Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh travels to Islamabad to meet her counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary.
Modi is likely to travel to Leh and Kargil next week or the third week of this month to dedicate two hydro-electric projects. He will also lay the foundation stone for a transmission line from Leh to Kargil and on to Srinagar.
Sources said that Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Defence were in touch to explore possibility of adding a short visit to a forward base in Siachen Glacier to his itinerary in Leh and Kargil.