The halted peace process between India and Pakistan which keeps the risk of a nuclear war alive is also hampering efforts against a looming ecological disaster in South Asia. The neighbours, unable to resolve their differences, maintain a strong military presence in the Himalayan mountain region, which is contributing to the melting of many glaciers and raising the risk of flooding followed by drought in much of South Asia.
In particular, the intense activity of more than 30,000 soldiers on the 70-kilometre-long Siachen glacier, the world's second-largest ice mass outside polar areas and a headwater for major rivers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, is a source of great concern for environmentalists.
Since 1984, when the region was turned into the world's highest battlefield, the armies have used chemicals to melt and cut through the millions-of-years-old glacial ice to construct bunkers, helipads, and even airfields. They dump around a ton of chemicals, metals and organic and human waste every day, contributing heavily to the annual 110-metre recession of the glacier and polluting the melting water that serves as a lifeline for both countries, according to conservation groups.
The conflict at Siachen, 6,400 metres above sea-level, is also a "death sentence" for other Himalayan glaciers, says Arshad Abbasi, a researcher at non-governmental Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). "The heavy infrastructure developed by India in its Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir regions to gain access to Siachen is one of the reasons for the rapid melting of around 87 per cent of Himalayan glaciers," Abbasi said.
A 598-kilometre road runs through the Himalayan region, from Ladakh to Siachen. Thousands of oil-tankers and lorries roll along it, carrying supplies for the Indian troops, leaving behind hundreds of tons of carbon for 4,455 big and small glaciers comprising 36,899 square kilometres of ice. This ecological deterioration, combined with the effects of climate change, has dramatically accelerated the rate at which the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking.
Scientists predict that most of these glaciers might disappear in 40 years, resulting in the increased flooding initially and then slowly drying of rivers across South Asia. Despite this, India and Pakistan have shown little concern for the precarious ecological balance in the Himalayan region. The two countries discussed the demilitarisation of the Siachen region when a cease-fire was signed and peace talks were launched in 2004.
But in November 2008, peace negotiations were suspended indefinitely when Pakistan-based terrorists carried out attacks in the Indian financial hub of Mumbai, bringing the two countries to the brink of a war. Environmental campaigners have mounted pressure on the two countries for the resumption of the peace process and demilitarisation of Siachen, prompting New Delhi to recently deny altogether that the glaciers were shrinking.
A discussion paper released by Indian Federal Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in October claimed that glacier was in fact expanding, a view that the global campaigners completely rejected. RK Pachauri, chief of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), termed the report voodoo science.
"I don't understand the logic of this ... This is something indefensible," Pachauri was quoted as saying by the Times of India newspaper. According to Abbasi, recent satellite images tell a different story. This summer the Japan Aerospace Exploring Agency spotted a new, 551-square-metre glacial lake on Siachen.
"This lake is located in the middle of the glacier and will take a large part of the glacier with it when it bursts," he said. This devastation could be slowed down if Pakistan and India translate the Siachen cease-fire into complete demilitarisation as early as possible, said Gurmeet Kanwal, director of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies in New Delhi.
"And for that matter the resumption of composite dialogue between India and Pakistan is so necessary," he added. One of the areas in South Asia worst affected by the glacier melting and its acceleration by the India-Pakistan conflict is Bangladesh.
The country that has a population of around 160 million would be hit by rising sea-levels on the one hand, and a severe drought by the end of the century on the other, submerging some parts and turning others into deserts. "In Bangladesh, the basin is subsiding," said Professor Shahnaz Huq Hussain, head of Earth and Environmental Sciences department at Dhaka University. "Soon, you know, we will be buried under water". "I would like to say to the both countries (Pakistan and India) whatever your political thinking and whatever your strategic goals are, think first about the inhabitants of planet earth who have the right to live," added Hussain.