Operation Meghdoot (Cloud Messenger) (1984)

Operation Meghdoot (lit. "Operation Cloud Messenger" after a famous Sanskrit poem by Kalidasa) was the codename for the Indian Armed Forces' operation to seize control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir, precipitating the Siachen conflict. Executed in the morning of 13 April 1984, this military operation, launched in the highest battlefield in the world, was the first offensive of its kind. The operation preempted Pakistan's impending Operation Ababeel (which was intended to achieve the same objective as Operation Meghdoot) and was a success, resulting in Indian forces gaining control of the Siachen Glacier in its entirety.

Currently, the Indian Army remains the first and only army in the world to have taken tanks and other heavy ordnance up to such an altitude (well over 5,000 m or 16,000 ft). Up to ten infantry battalions each of the Indian Army and Pakistan Army are actively deployed at high altitudes of up to 6,400 metres (21,000 ft) throughout the region of the glacier.