India urged to move on Siachen issue

Published November 17, 2006

BRUSSELS, Nov 16: Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Ehsanul Haq said on Thursday India had to move to solve the stand-off over the Siachen glacier, a day after Pakistan suggested a possible interim solution.

India has refused to withdraw troops from the glacier until Pakistan accepts the positions held by the two sides in the icy, barren region.

“It's for the Indians to do something, they are in adverse occupation of that area, we don't have to do anything,” Gen Haq told Reuters during a trip to Brussels, when asked what Pakistan could do to build up the confidence to solve the stand-off.

Foreign Minister Riaz Mohammad Khan said after the first peace talks in nearly a year with his Indian counterpart on Wednesday that Islamabad was willing to accommodate India's position but on the condition that it would not be a final endorsement of India's claim over the glacier.

Analysts said that was an apparent interim solution to the dispute over the Siachen glacier. Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said on Wednesday there were still differences over Siachen and more talks were needed.

Kashmir saw an increase in guerrilla violence this week, coinciding with the resumption of the peace talks.

Gen Haq said there was no infiltration by Jihadis in Kashmir. “The Indians are acknowledging that,” he said.

Commenting on a military air strike on a religious school in Bajaur region last month, Gen Haq warned that the military would “neutralise” any militant target.—Reuters

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