India, Pak commence talks on Siachen glacier

New Delhi, May 23: India and Pakistan today commenced the Tenth Round of Defence Secretary-Level Talks to end their conflict over the Siachen glacier and discuss a proposal for withdrawing their troops from the icy battlefield.

On the opening day today of the two-day deliberations, the two sides presented their respective stands on the issue of mutual withdrawal of troops from the 76-km-long Siachen glacier where thousands of soldiers have died not so much due to war but because of altitude sickness, accidents and deadly avalanches.

The Indian side was led by Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt while Lt Gen (Retd) Tariq Waseem Ghazi headed the Pakistani delegation.

The Indian position pressed for marking of troop positions on a map as well as on the ground -- the Actual Ground Position Line -- as evidence in case the area is reoccupied after a deal, official sources here said.

Pakistan opposed authentication of ground positions on the Siachen, located at a height of 22,000 feet in the Himalayas, as it believed such an exercise would legitimise Indian occupation of the strategic glacier in 1984, the sources added.

Significantly, both sides also discussed a Joint Monitoring Mechanism -- including aerial and electronic surveillance -- to ascertain transgressions of an agreement, if it was reached, the sources indicated.

If both sides are able to resolve differences and pull off a breakthrough on the over-two-decade-old issue, the deal could form the basis of a likely visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistan later this summer.

The two sides meet again tomorrow for the second and concluding day of the ongoing dialogue.

The talks on Siachen -- part of the ongoing Composite Dialogue between the two countries -- will be followed by two-day talks commencing May 25 on the demarcation of the Sir Creek -- the narrow strip of marshland that separates the two countries along their western border.

Thereafter, the two countries will hold Home Secretary-level parleys on terrorism and drug-trafficking on May 30 and 31 in Islamabad. This will be followed by talks between Culture Secretaries on the promotion of friendly exchanges on June 1 and 2 here.

UNI