Operation Meghdoot
| Operation Meghdoot | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Siachen conflict | |||||||||
Satellite imagery of the Siachen Glacier | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| India | Pakistan | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Giani Zail Singh (President of India) Lt Gen P N Hoon (GOC, XV Corps) Brig Vijay Channa (Commander, 26 Sector) Lt. Col. D K Khanna |
Gen. Zia-ul-Haq (President of Pakistan) Lt. Gen. Zahid Ali Akbar (Commander, X Corps) Brig. Pervez Musharraf | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 3,000+ | 3,000+ | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
Operation Meghdoot was the codename for the Indian Armed Forces 1984 operation launched to preempt Pakistan's competing Operation Ababeel to take full control of the Siachen Glacier in Ladakh on the tri-junction of the India–Pakistan-China border in the Himalayas. Even though Pakistan had conceived their Operation Ababeel in 1983, earlier than India, India preempted them in execution by launching Operation Meghdoot on the morning of 13 April 1984, four days earlier than Pakistan had planned to launch Operation Ababeel. Thus, India's Operation Meghdoot succeeded, and Pakistan's Operation Ababeel failed even before it began, resulting in Indian forces gaining control of the entire Siachen Glacier, which is the battlefield with the highest elevation in the world.
Currently, the Indian Army remains the first and only army in the world to have deployed tanks and other heavy ordnance at altitudes well over 5,000 meters. Up to ten infantry battalions each of the Indian Army and Pakistan Army are actively deployed at high altitudes of up to 6,400 meters throughout the region due to the present Siachen conflict.