Tourists can visit Siachen, Galwan to get first-hand experience of battlefields: Army chief

Pune, Nov 27: The Indian Army has decided to permit tourists to visit icy heights of Siachen Glacier, Kargil and also the Galwan Valley to enable them to get first-hand experience of these inhospitable battlefields, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Upendra Dwivedi said on Wednesday.

He asserted the dominant theme in Jammu and Kashmir has changed from "terrorism to tourism" and added the Army has facilitated this transformation.

General Dwivedi was delivering a lecture on the topic, 'Role and Contribution of Indian Army in Securing India's Growth Story', under General BC Joshi Memorial Lecture Series, organised by the Department of Defence & Strategic Studies (DDSS) of the Savitribai Phule Pune University.

The COAS said Jammu and Kashmir, where a new government took office last month after assembly polls, has immense potential in the tourism sector.

"Transformative potential of tourism is immense and an exponential rise (in travellers visiting J&K) has been seen in recent times. Forty-eight areas have been identified for promoting tourism. With targeted initiative, we have the potential to double our tourist numbers in the next five years," the Army chief noted.

The Army is committed to promote adventure activities and provide special training to tour organisers and operators to enhance footfalls in border areas, he said.

"Upskilling locals in mountaineering and associated activities are part of our training programme, which includes Trans-Himalayan trek, 'Soul of Steel' trek in Uttarakhand and opening of trek to Siachen Glacier for all citizens.

"We are also opening battlefields, including Kargil and Galwan, for tourists to allow them to get first- hand experience of such battlefields," General Dwivedi maintained.

The Siachen Glacier, located in the Karakoram mountain range of Ladakh, is known as the world's highest and coldest battlefield. Kargil, a district in the Union Territory of Ladakh, was the site of the 1999 India-Pakistan war.

The Galwan river valley in Ladakh saw a deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops in June 2020.