ISLAMABAD, May 19: A high-level inter-ministerial meeting was held at the defence ministry here on Thursday to work out a joint strategy for the upcoming Indo-Pakistan talks on the Siachen issue, it is learnt. The two-day talks begin here on May 26.

“It was unanimously decided that Pakistan would push for the implementation of the 1989 bilateral agreement on Siachen,” a source told Dawn later. In 1989 an understanding had been reached between the then Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto, for disengagement of troops to the point of 1972 when the Simla Agreement was signed. It was then left to the defence ministries of the two countries to work out modalities.

The defence secretaries of Pakistan and India during their meeting in June 1989 discussed specific proposals for the resolution of the Siachen conflict. At the end of their meeting a joint press release said: “There was an agreement by both sides to work towards the comprehensive settlement based on re-deployment of forces to reduce the chances of conflict, avoidance of the use of force and the determination of future positions on the ground so as to conform with the Simla Agreement. The army authorities will determine these positions.”

In 1992 Defence Secretary of Pakistan Salim Abbas Jilani went to India to sign the agreement with his Indian counterpart Mr N.N. Vohra, now India’s pointman on Kashmir. However, at the last moment India backed out.

The upcoming Siachen talks, to be led by the defence secretaries of the two countries, will take place at the defence ministry in Rawalpindi. A seven-member Indian delegation is expected to arrive here for the purpose.

The talks are likely to focus on specific proposals for the settlement of the Siachen conflict. It is believed that Pakistan would adhere to its principled position and reiterate its call for unconditional withdrawal of Indian troops from Siachen heights. There is guarded optimism about the two sides making some headway towards the resolution of the two-decade-old conflict over the world’s highest battlefield.