NEW DELHI, Aug 5: Senior defence officials of India and Pakistan discussed a range of issues on Thursday concerning their military stand off over Kashmir.
Informed sources told Dawn that both sides appeared close to important agreements on ways to reinforce their nine-month-old cease fire along the Line of Control and in the Siachen Glacier, informed sources said.
Some points about Thursday's discussion between delegations led by India's Defence Secretary Vikram Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz Khan were expected to be made public on Friday in a joint statement. But the more substantive agreements could be left for their foreign ministers to announce when they meet on September 5 and 6 in New Delhi.
Thursday's talks were described as sensitive and there was a commensurate official silence to go with them. They did discuss the easing of military confrontation in the world's highest battlefield in Siachen, where both sides have suffered heavy casualties for the last two decades.
But both sides chose to say nothing on the deliberations held at the defence ministry on how to resolve the dispute over the 22,000 feet strategic Himalayan glacier in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Siachen stand off is one of eight issues covered under the composite dialogue process the two countries initiated to resolve bilateral issues, including Kashmir.
There is little expectation on either side of the talks breaking new ground, as both are only too well aware of their respective entrenched positions. Pakistan wants India to withdraw its troops from the glacier to positions held before the signing of the 1972 Shimla Agreement, but India, which controls the crucial Saltoro Ridge on the Siachen glacier, fears that Pakistan has the ability to quickly move into the abandoned region if it so desires.
Indian military officials say their troops currently hold advantageous positions along the Saltoro Ridge that overlook Pakistani posts. Giving them up in the absence of an overall peace agreement between the two countries would not be advisable, they say.
They also believe Siachen serves as a strategic wedge between Pakistani forces and Chinese troops deployed along the disputed border between India and China.
