An account of the Siachen war, that includes both the Indian and Pakistani points of view, was released in the capital on Thursday by former Union Ministers Jaswant Singh and George Fernandes.Authored by veteran journalist Myra MacDonald, the book — Heights of Madness — traces the journey of a lone foreign woman travelling through India and Pakistan to uncover the “secrets” of the war fought at the world’s highest battlefield.MacDonald, who has worked as a foreign correspondent with Reuters for 20 years, travelled through the war zone on both sides of the border and met soldiers and heroes, from India and Pakistan, to come up with a bystander’s view on Siachen.“It is a very appropriately titled book. There are details of Indian Army soldiers, the conditions of their barracks and tales of most exceptional examples of bravery by soldiers from both sides in the book,” said Jaswant Singh, at the releasing ceremony of the book.For MacDonald, the book started with a journey to Ladakh on an assignment that prompted her to write about a war being fought at “insane” heights. “The idea was to try and put together the history and conflicting stories (about the war from both sides) together into the book,” she said.The author added that the book was also aimed at dispelling myths about the conflict. “It is incredibly hard to know what is actually happening in Siachen, even for the commanders whose troops are up there. There are all kinds myths about the war,” she said.MacDonald said that while the bravery of the soldiers manning posts at the glacier cannot be disputed, continuing the war does not make much sense. “It is amazing (militarily) to fight the war. But, that doesn’t mean it needs to be continued,” she said.The book will be available in Indian and Pakistani bookstores from Friday.
