The talks between India and Pakistani defence officials concluded without any breakthrough on ways to demilitarise Siachen glacier.
ISLAMABAD: The two-day talks between India and Pakistani defence officials concluded on Saturday without any breakthrough on ways to demilitarise the Siachen glacier.
However, the two sides decided to continue the talks to find out a solution of the Siachen and other issues, said a brief statement issued in the garrison town of Rawalpindi after the two-day deliberations, which were held within the framework of the ongoing composite dialogue process.
India's Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt and his Pakistani counterpart Kamran Rasool led their respective delegation at the talks, which focused on a number of new initiatives to resolve the dispute over the 24,000-foot-high inhospitable glacier, where armies of the two countries have been facing each other since 1984.
"The talks were held in a pleasant atmosphere and both the sides agreed to bring a lasting peace in the region by resolving Siachen and other issues," said the statement.
However, it did not say whether Pakistan's detailed plan, which Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khokhar had handed over to his Indian counterpart Shiv Shankar Menon in New Delhi last November, also figured at the talks.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri had recently told Pakistani media that the plan addressed concerns of both sides.
It was learnt that the talks could not progress after Indian officials refused to agree to a Pakistani proposal for a withdrawal of troops to 1984 positions.
The last defence secretary-level meeting between the two countries on the Siachen issue was held in May 2006 in New Delhi but had ended without making much headway.
India has been demanding authentication of positions currently being held by the troops of the two countries on the Siachen glacier.
However, Pakistan does not agree to his contention, saying it will be tantamount to validating the 'illegal' Indian occupation of the glacier back in 1984 in violation of 1949 Karachi agreement and the 1972 Simla Accord.
"The talks failed to yield any results because both the sides stuck to their already stated positions," sources said after the meeting.
The Dawn quoted sources as saying the Indian delegation was even unwilling to consider Pakistan's plan till the authentication of the current position of troops.
The thrust of the Pakistan side was, however, on the implementation of the 1989 bilateral agreement on Siachen and the authentication of future positions, the sources added.
India wants Pakistan to authenticate the 110-km long Actual Ground Position Line on the Siachen glacier.
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