NEW DELHI, Sept 13: Military de-escalation in the Siachen glacier is likely to get the elusive political clearance in New York on Wednesday at the summit talks between Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and President Gen Pervez Musharraf, official sources said on Tuesday.

Dr Singh is keen to convert the world’s highest battlefield into a “mountain of peace” but the Indian army echelon has been dragging their feet to stall the move.

Eventually, the sources said, the economic advantages of a solution seem to have surged ahead of the costly political acrimony that marked the issue since 1989, when both countries nearly agreed to pull back their troops from the killing fields of Siachen.

Conversely, the gas pipeline from Iran, an economic issue that has got embroiled in politics is not expected to be pushed too hard by either side amid American pressure on both leaders to shelve the idea.

There have been some discussions among the officials of the two sides, including the foreign secretaries’ level, to thrash out some degree of give and take on Siachen as well as the Sir Creek issue.

According to the Indian side, on Siachen, where India wants to demarcate the troop positions before their withdrawal amid Pakistani opposition, using satellite imagery to fix troop positions may be discussed.

In the Rann of Kutch, there would be similar mutually accommodating ideas. Some Indian analysts say that Gen Musharraf could take apolitical decision on the Indian proposals.