Some actions acquire dimensions that go beyond the event. Especially when it is the prime minister undertaking that action. Although the lethally inhospitable Siachen Glacier has seen numerous deaths by firepower and cold, and has proven to be one of the the most expensive battlefields to maintain and the highest in the world, no prime minister of India had ever visited the spot. Mr Manmohan Singh, 73 years old and with a cardiac bypass, decided to make that trip, ostensibly to see for himself the conditions under which the soldiers live and how the government can address their special problems. The value of this visit cannot be measured only by its expression of warm and respectful acknowledgment of the soldiers? service and hardships. There is also a political message, in the context of the India-Pakistan talks about demilitarization and disengagement in the Siachen region, the last of which was held just three weeks ago. Mr Singh has expressed his desire for disengagement, although he has already said that there is to be no redrawing of boundaries. The crux of the problem is the delineation of military positions. While Pakistan wants a pullback to pre-1984 positions, India wishes the actual ground position line authenticated before disengagement. The shadow of Kargil has not entirely faded. By stating that actual ground positions are important not only for India?s security but also for the sake of prestige, because soldiers have happily borne difficulties among the cruellest natural conditions, the prime minister has achieved a rhetorical reconciliation of the military, the political and the human.

Whatever happens on Saltoro Ridge is seen on both sides of the border. So there is another message too in Mr Singh?s visit. After it, Pakistan cannot be in doubt that India is serious about the substance of the talks with Pakistan. It is not merely sticking to bureaucratic procedures in talking peace.While the reality of the two armies? presence on Siachen is not to be denied or devalued, disengagement from conflict is also a real possibility now. The Indian prime minister seems to have made the trip to see at first hand what that possibility could be. In his vision, it is not enough to de-escalate, there must be no more fear of conflict. The fact that he stood in the place that he wants to turn into an example of peace is in itself the most powerful message of all.