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Pakistan, India talks on Siachen heights next week

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, May 20, IRNA
Pakistan-India
Pakistan and India will hold talks on demilitarizing the Siachen glacier here next week, Foreign Office said on Friday.

Talks on the military standoff on Siachen, the world's highest battlefield in the Himalayas, will be held here on May 26, Foreign Office Spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told Geo television.

"Siachen glacier has been the scene of some of the most intense conflicts between Pakistan and India since 1984 after the area was attacked by India," he said.

The guns have fallen silent since the ceasefire of November 2003 along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan and at the 40 sq km Siachen Glacier.

The spokesman said attack on Siachen was against Simla Agreement of 1972 and Karachi Agreement of 1949, which call for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

"Islamabad's position on Siachen was well articulated and it wanted a settlement of the issue in accordance with the understanding reached by the defence secretaries of the two countries in June 1998," said Jailan who is also Director General South Asia at Foreign Office.

He said India had committed under the agreement to pull out of Siachen and to withdraw forces to the position of 1972.

The spokesman said that Pakistan wants the agreements to be implemented "but India is using delaying tactics".

Jilani said that the understanding was endorsed by the then Pakistani and Indian prime ministers.

During President Pervez Musharraf's visit to India last month, the two sides agreed to discuss bilateral disputes to find mutually acceptable solutions.

The last round of talks on Siachen was held in New Delhi in August 2004.

Defence secretaries of the two countries would lead their respective delegations in the talks, which is part of the Confidence Building Measures.

The two countries have lost soldiers in Siachen for years due to clashes and the weather with temperatures dipping to minus 40 degrees celsius.

TK/TSH/2329/1432
::IRNA No.031 20/05/2005 17:19 --End