The Siachen Glacier region in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalaya mountains has been the site of intermittent conflict between India and Pakistan for several decades. In 1949, a ceasefire line was negotiated between the two countries in an effort to resolve the competing territorial claims of the violent Kashmir conflict. The agreement, however, did not clearly delineate Siachen as either Indian or Pakistani, and competing claims to the barren, unpopulated area began to escalate. Both sides issued numerous mountaineering permits for the area during the 1970s and 1980s, fearing that the other's expeditions indicated plans to formalise control over the glacier and its surroundings. Thus, both India and Pakistan began planning military operations to pre-empt the other's designs. On 13 April 1984, India launched Operation Meghdoot with the objective of taking control of the area, fearing it would fall into Pakistani hands. The operation was successful, and India extended its control over much of the triangle of mountainous, icy land, up to and including the passes of the Saltoro Ridge situated west of the Siachen Glacier, while Pakistan retained control over the western slopes and foothills of that ridge.