NEW DELHI, 7 August 2004— India and Pakistan agreed yesterday to hold further talks to end a 20-year-old conflict on the Siachen glacier, the world’s highest battlefield in a remote corner of disputed Kashmir.
More soldiers have died from high-altitude sickness, accidents and bad weather than in fighting over the icy wasteland and some military officials believe the conflict is pointless and that a solution to end it is needed.
“Frank and candid discussions were held in a cordial and constructive atmosphere aimed at taking the (peace) process forward,” a joint statement said.
“The military experts of the two sides also met to discuss modalities for disengagement and redeployment of troops and agreed to have further discussions,” it said.
“The two defense secretaries agreed to continue their discussions with a view to resolving the Siachen issue in a peaceful manner.”
The two-day talks were not expected to produce a breakthrough.
They were the first talks to address the glacier dispute in six years and the two sides would not be able to bridge their deep differences at one meeting, analysts said.
But the fact the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to continue talks was a step forward to end the conflict, they said.
The talks between the longtime foes were the latest as part of a renewed bid for peace launched last year.
The two countries teetered near the brink of a third war over Kashmir in 2002 but ties have warmed since then.
The South Asian neighbors have been fighting since 1984 for control of the glacier. The dispute was triggered as the two countries had not marked their frontier in the region.
The glacier is close to where the frontiers of India, Pakistan and China meet in Kashmir.
Thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops, often deployed at altitudes of above 18,000 feet (5,500 meters), have died since the conflict began, many due to frostbite, avalanches and by falling into crevasses.
The two countries came close to an agreement to pull back from Siachen twice before, once in 1989 and again in 1993.
But a failure to reach a pact has resulted in huge expenses to maintain troops on the frigid frontier.
The Indian Express and The Tribune newspapers quoted unidentified sources as saying the officials were deadlocked over the authentication of maps marking the positions of military forces from both sides.
The Express said Pakistan refuses to accept a proposal to recognize the locations of Indian troops on the glacier, fearing that could legitimize the troop positions and form the foundation for defining the frontier between the two nations.
The Line of Control, which divides most of Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, does not extend across Siachen Glacier.
“I would say there has been reasonable progress. This goes beyond expectations,” C. Raja Mohan, a columnist and professor of international studies at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Reuters.
“The last time they met, they could not even agree on a joint statement. In that context, we have moved quite some distance. It is a good sign,” he said. “It shows that there is political will to look at this difficult problem.”
Bureaucrats of the two countries also began talks yesterday to resolve their dispute over a maritime boundary in the Sir Creek estuary, a salty marshland that lies between India’s western state of Gujarat and Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.
India says the boundary lies in the middle of the 60 km estuary while Pakistan says it is on the eastern bank. The area is considered to be of high economic value as it is believed to hold oil and gas deposits.
“The two sides appreciated each other’s positions on Sir Creek and agreed to meet again to discuss the problem,” Cmdr. Vinay Garg, the Indian Navy’s spokesman, said.
Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan are due to meet early next month to review the peace process and are likely to publicize any agreements between the two sides.
