Islamabad, May 11, IRNA – Pakistan and India will hold top level talks on the long-standing dispute over Siachen in Islamabad on June 11-12, the Foreign Ministry has said.
Defense Secretaries of the nuclear-armed countries will discuss ways to resolve the issue.
The two countries last held in New Delhi in mid-2011, without making any progress.
India and Pakistan decided to resume the talks in 2010 after the Prime Ministers of both the countries met in Thimpu and decided to take forward the dialogue process.
Siachen, the world's highest militarized zone, has been a long-pending dispute between India and Pakistan as the border is not clearly demarcated in the glaciated region.
Pakistan says that India had occupied some of its territory in Siachen in 1980s.
The Siachen dispute highlighted last month after a massive avalanche struck a camp of Pakistani troops, burring nearly 140 soldiers and civilians.
Pakistan’s army chief, General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani visited Siachen three times in the wake of the avalanche and called for a negotiated end to the confrontation and said the glacier should be demilitarized.
'This conflict should be resolved, but how it is resolved, the two countries have to talk about it,' he said.
There have been several rounds of negotiations between Delhi and Islamabad on Siachen in recent years but both countries have failed to remove differences.
Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan said last week that Pakistan has made several proposals under the Siachen dialogue process, including the redeployment of forces.'
Indian Defense Minister A. K. Antony said this week in New Delhi that it would insist on proper authentication by Pakistan of the troop positions in Siachen before any disengagement is undertaken and cautioned against expecting any 'dramatic' result from the next round of talks in June on the vexed issue.
He told the parliament that India stood by its stand on authentication and had neither hardened or softened the position.
Siachen has been a long pending issue between India and Pakistan over differences on the location of the 110-km long Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) which passes through the Soltoro Ridge and Siachen Glacier.
India wants Pakistan to authenticate the AGPL, both on the maps and the ground, as it occupies most of the dominating posts on the Saltoro Ridge.
Pakistan, in turn, has been insisting on maintaining the pre-1972 troop positions as agreed in the Simla Agreement. Retaliating to Pakistan Army s advances in the glacier in 1984, India launched Operation Meghdoot and deployed its troops in most of the dominating features in the area.
The defense secretary-level talks between the two countries on Siachen dates back to 1985. The decision to hold joint talks was taken by the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Pakistan president General Zia-ul-Haq.
