NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan failed on Tuesday to agree on how to demilitarise the world's highest battlefield in the Himalayan region in a sign of how far apart the countries are even on less contentious issues.
Defence secretaries from both countries held two days of closed-door talks in New Delhi on how to reach an agreement on withdrawing troops from the mountainous no-man's land above the Siachen glacier and defining the official border.
Indian media reported that both sides had stuck to their long-standing positions. Defence ministry officials in the Indian capital declined to comment, saying the details involved sensitive military information.
Failure to make progress on one of the less contentious issues between the arch enemies will worry those hoping for progress on broader peace talks, which resumed in April this year following pressure from the United States.
India and Pakistan have long accepted the need to demilitarise the Siachen glacier, located as high as 20,000 feet above sea level, which is seen as a stepping stone to larger issues such as the disputed Kashmir territory.
A joint statement on Tuesday said India and Pakistan welcomed the dialogue but made no mention of any progress.
Instead the two countries announced they would meet again in Islamabad, which would be the 13th round of talks on the issue.
“Both sides presented their position and suggestions towards the resolution of Siachen,” the two sides said in a statement.
The talks in Delhi were the first meeting of the top civil servants in the respective defence ministries in more than three years.
The odds were always stacked against a major breakthrough but Indian officials said they had hoped to make some progress in the long-running dispute.
The two armies have faced off in the Siachen region since India first stationed troops there in 1984.
New Delhi broke off a stumbling peace process that came close to agreeing a solution to Siachen in 2008, after the 2008 Mumbai attacks by Pakistani-based militants that killed 166.
India has long maintained that it was unwilling to bring its forces down from Siachen until Pakistan authenticated the positions they held. Pakistan in turn has said it was willing to do so, but on the condition it was not a final endorsement of India's claim to the glacier.
A ceasefire has held on the remote battlefield since 2003.
The strategic importance of the glacier, in the Karakoram range, is debatable. Until 1984, no troops were permanently stationed there but now there are at least 10,000 Pakistani and Indian soldiers.
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