Pakistan Defence Secretary Kamran Rasool reportedly walked out of the meeting after getting angry over India's insistence on authentication of troop positions.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Defence Secretary Kamran Rasool reportedly walked out of the meeting on demilitarisation of Siachen after apparently getting angry over Indian delegation's insistence on authentication of troop positions but an Indian official has denied any such incident.
"It is not true. I was present in the talks and have not noticed any such walkout," a senior Indian official, who attended the two-day talks that concluded on Saturday without making any headway, said while reacting to a report in Pakistan daily 'The Nation'.
Rasool, the newly appointed Defence Secretary who was leading the Pakistani delegation, angrily came out of the meeting an hour after the resumption of talks and went straight to his room, Pakistani officials were quoted as saying.
His Indian counterpart Shekkhar Dutt soon followed him and had a 40-minute meeting over there.
Despite this, results of the meeting remained "inconclusive", the daily said.
Rasool is the first civilian bureaucrat to have been made Defence Secretary, a post hitherto held by military or former military officials.
Pakistan officials blamed the failure on "inflexible and stubborn" attitude of the Indian delegation, according to reports in the local media.
The Indian officials too appeared disappointed. As the meeting was held close on the heels of talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Shaukat Aziz on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in New Delhi on April 4, there was considerable optimism on the Indian side.
Ahead of the talks, a Pakistan newspaper said a breakthrough was likely as Pakistan has agreed to authenticate the troops positions held by both sides, provided India assures that it would not use it to back its claims on Siachen.
Indian officials, however, said at no stage Pakistan delegation evinced interest in discussing acknowledgement of the positions on the maps which New Delhi said was a "basic requirement".
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