WEATHER HAMPERS AVALANCHE SEARCH

WEATHER HAMPERS AVALANCHE RECOVERY
EFFORTS IN WORLD’S HIGHEST BATTLEFIELD

www.heraldsun.com.au - Bad weather yesterday hampered efforts to boost the search for 135 people buried in an avalanche at a Pakistani army camp. It has been over two days since a huge wall of snow crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier base high in the mountains of Kashmir, and experts say there is little hope of finding survivors, though no bodies have been recovered yet. Specially trained search-and-rescue teams of army engineers equipped with locating gadgets and heavy machinery on Sunday joined rescue units aided by sniffer dogs and helicopters. But a senior military official said attempts to send extra equipment up to help with the search yesterday had been delayed. An eight-member American team of high altitude search and rescue specialists arrived in Pakistan late on Sunday to help with the search effort, the US embassy said.

A Pakistani security official involved in the work said the US team was expected to reach the site yesterday, adding that operations were likely to go on for some time.  The US assistance comes as Washington and Islamabad try to patch up their relationship, badly damaged last year by the discovery of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Two expert teams from Switzerland and Germany were also due in Islamabad to assist the rescue operation, the military said in a statement. Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani on Sunday visited the site in the militarised region of Kashmir, which has caused two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947.  India and Pakistan have spent heavily to keep a military presence in the frozen area, where temperatures can plunge to minus 70 degrees Celsius.

Poor weather conditions are hampering recovery efforts two days after an avalanche buried more than 135 Pakistani soldiers and civilians in what is known as the world’s highest battlefield.  A 20-meter wall of snow plowed into the military complex in the Siachen Glacier region near the Indian border early Saturday. Both Pakistan and India have military outposts near the disputed glacier, high in the mountains. Geological phenomena are consequences of human activities which destroy the natural balance.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Despite all this advancement, at every moment everyone is suffering due to at least one of the following threefold miseries: (1.) adhyatmika klesha; (2.) adhibhautika klesha and (3.) adhidaivika klesha. The miseries caused by nature (adhidaivika klesha) like floods, droughts, famines, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. are devastating calamities imposed upon us through the agency of nature. ... And moreover, we are being constantly tormented by the changes in the weather such as scorching heat, freezing cold and untimely rains. Thus a wise person should ponder, “Why our lives should be ridden with the anxiety of facing and tackling one problem after another? Is this all that life is meant for? Or is there a life of eternal joy that is never inhibited by sufferings?”

Śrīpad Radheshyam Das :
“Discover Your Self” - ‘Vedic Wisdom’ - ‘Cause of Suffering’
Director, ISKCON Youth Forum, Pune President, ISKCON, Pune
http://nitaaiveda.com/Soul_Science_God_Philosophy/Discover_Your_Self/Vedic_Wisdom/Cause_of_Suffering.htm