The Siachen Glacier is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalaya Mountains at about 35°25′16″N 77°06′34″E / 35.421226°N 77.109540°E / 35.421226; 77.109540, just north of the Line of Control between India and Pakistan. At 70 km (43 mi) long, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas. It falls from an altitude of 5,753 m (18,875 ft) above sea level at its head at Indira Col on the China border down to 3,620 m (11,875 ft) at its terminus.

The Siachen Glacier lies immediately south of the great watershed that separates the Eurasian Plate from the Indian subcontinent in the extensively glaciated portion of the Karakoram sometimes called the "Third Pole". The glacier lies between the Saltoro Ridge immediately to the west and the main Karakoram range to the east. The Saltoro Ridge originates in the north from the Sia Kangri peak on the China border in the Karakoram range. The crest of the Saltoro Ridge's altitudes range from 5,450 to 7,720 m (17,880 to 25,330 feet). The major passes on this ridge are, from north to south, Sia La at 5,589 m (18,336 ft), Bilafond La at 5,450 m (17,880 ft), and Gyong La at 5,689 m (18,665 ft). The average winter snowfall is 10.5 m (35 ft) and temperatures can dip to −50 °C (−58 °F). Including all tributary glaciers, the Siachen Glacier system covers about 700 km² (270 sq mi).

Born in November 1948, Najam Sethi (Urdu: نجم سیٹھی) is an award winning Pakistani journalist, editor, and media personality, is the editor-in-chief of The Friday Times, a Lahore based political weekly, and previously the editor of Daily Times and Daily Aajkal newspapers. Currently, he does a current-affairs program on Geo TV, Pakistan's most popular private news channel. He also owns Vanguard, a publishing house and a chain of bookstores.

He has been awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers. He and his publications have been in conflict with Pakistani governments on many occasions. He was part of the "London Group" of Pakistani leftists that supported an uprising in Balochistan in the 1970s.^{[citation needed]}

In May 1999, he was imprisoned for one month without trial. However, he was released after an international outcry.^{[citation needed]}

He served in President Farooq Leghari's interim cabinet as Adviser on Political Affairs and Accountability after the fall of Benazir Bhutto's second government. On November 25, 2009, in an email sent to Daily Times online edition subscribers, Sethi announced his resignation from The Daily Times. In addition to himself, Khaled Ahmed (Contributing Editor), Ejaz Haider (Op-Ed Editor) and other senior staff also resigned.^{[citation needed]}

Nawaz Sharif (Punjabi, Urdu: نواز شریف; born December 5, 1949) is a Pakistani steel magnate and national conservative, serving as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 until October 12, 1999. He is the President of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the Centre-right-conservative political force in Pakistan.

Before becoming the Prime minister, Sharif served as the ninth Chief Minister of Punjab Province from 1985 to 1990 and embarked his political career under the military regime of President General Zia-ul-Haq. An advocate and businessman, he owns Ittefaq Group, a private steel mill enterprise and one of the largest producer of iron materials, noted as being as Pakistan's one of the wealthiest investor in the steel mill business. His political philosophy emphasized and reflected conservatism advocating for the free-market economy, capitalism as its economic base. His first term survived a serious constitutional crisis when President Ghulam Ishaq Khan attempted to dismissed Sharif by citing "corruption and nepotism", which Sharif strongly denied and turned to Supreme Court. The apex Supreme Court of Pakistan favored the Prime minister citing that Presidential ordnance as "unconstitutional and irrelevant", therefore the government was reconstituted. His first term was finally dismissed after the Pakistan Armed Forces persuaded him to resign to end the political standoff with President Ishaq Khan, which he too was forced to resigned.

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: નરેન્દ્ર મોદી; born 17 September 1950) is the current Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Born in a middle class family in Vadnagar, he was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife Heeraben. He has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood also having interest in politics since adolescence. He holds a master's degree in political science. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to direct the election campaign in Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh.

He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001, promoted to the office at a time when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel had resigned, following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections. His tenure as chief minister of Gujarat began on 7 October 2001, and he is the longest serving Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat. In July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously. He was elected again for a third term on 23 December 2007 in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule".

Harish Kapadia (Born 11 July 1945) is a distinguished Himalayan Mountaineer from India. He has been awarded the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographic Society, UK and the Life Time Achievement Award for Adventure by the President of India and the King Albert Mountain Award presented by The King Albert I Memorial Foundation. He has written numerous books and articles on the Indian Himalaya.

He began climbing and trekking in the range around Bombay, the Western Ghats. His first visit to the Himalaya was almost 40 years ago^[when?]. His main contribution to Himalayan climbing has been to explore unknown areas and, in number of cases, to open up climbing possibilities. Some of his major ascents have been of Devtoli (6788 m), Bandarpunch West (6102 m), Parilungbi (6166 m), in 1995, Lungser Kangri (6666 m) the highest peak of Rupshu in Ladakh. He led five international joint expeditions, four with the British and two with the French, to high peaks, such as Rimo I (7385 m), Chong Kumdan Kangri I (7071 m), Sudarshan Parbat, and the Panch Chuli and Rangrik Rang groups.