Pak says Siachen to melt, wants demilitarisation

New Delhi, Jan 24: Pakistan today sought to further its cause of demilitarising Siachen glacier by citing reports that said the five Himalayan glaciers, including Siachen and Gangotri, will vanish between 2030 and 2050.

Participating in a semilar on ''Water: The Need For Integrated Water Resource Management Systems - Ministerial Perspectives,'' as part of the seventh Delhi Sustainable Summit, Pakistan's Minister of State for Environment Malik Amin Aslam Khan said other glaciers like Miyer, Mlion and Janapa too met the same fate. He was raising the issue to highlight the increased global warming and also 'human traffic' in Siachen.

''These reports raise an alarming spectacle as these glaciers are the feeding grounds for three important rivers Chenab, Ganges and Sutlej which collectively affect the lives of billions living in South Asia.'' When asked that it was not just Siachen but four other glaciers too that were meeting the same fate, the minister in his interaction with newspersons, defended his statement by saying that human activities had made the highest battlefield of the world, the 'fastest melting'- glacier. Pakistan being cognisant of this impending issue was taking steps for enhanced water conservation and managment. It was targetting construction of five new water storage dams on Indus river by 2016 as well as other steps for water conservation.

On the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, the minister had a word of praise when he said it had provided a very effective framework for cooperative management between the two countries. The Treaty had stood the test of time despite political tensions as it adhered to two basic principles that the water should be managed 'funtionally and not politically' and the 'concept of collective management'.

He said for the Indus Treaty, water was the main issue but it did not speak about water quality discharged. "This has to be discussed, pollution in one country affects another," he said pointing out to fog in Bhawal Nagar in Pakistan containing carbon content. ''We have no activities on our side,'' he remarked.

The minister however had a word of praise for Delhi's public transport system which had become a 'show case' for the world by using non polluting Compressed Natural Gas. Although lots of private transport vehicles were using CNG, he only wished his country would have followed Indian example by making public transport the first priority.

UNI