Meeting today to discuss strategy for Siachen talks
By Qudssia Akhlaque
ISLAMABAD, July 8: An inter-ministerial meeting has been convened at the defence ministry in Rawalpindi on Friday to discuss the strategy for the proposed dialogue with India on the Siachen glacier, it is learnt.
The meeting, to be presided over by Defence Secretary Lt-Gen Hamid Nawaz Khan, will be attended by officials of the foreign affairs and defence ministries and representatives of other key policy-making institutions, sources said.
The talks to be led by the defence secretaries of the two countries are likely to be held in early August. Sources said the dates and venue for the talks would be finalized in a couple of days.
It will be the second meeting of the defence secretaries on Siachen under the dialogue framework agreed between the foreign secretaries in 1997. The last meeting took place in November 1998.
In 1983 India occupied the Siachen heights, which had been under Pakistan's control since 1947. "The Indian side took the position that the Line of Control if delineated should run along the Saltoro watershed, southward from NJ9842, whereas Pakistan maintained that the LoC when delineated would run from NJ9842 eastward to the Karakoram pass," sources say.
Pakistan said it had been granting permission to foreign mountaineering expeditions to visit the area. Islamabad asserts that New Delhi violated the Simla Agreement by using force to occupy the area.
During the upcoming talks Pakistan is expected to reiterate its call for unconditional withdrawal of Indian troops from Siachen. In 1989 an understanding was reached between the two sides for unconditional withdrawal of troops.
In the 1998 talks, Pakistan called for revival of the understanding but it was told that a fresh understanding would have to be worked out as a number of developments had taken place since then.
