NEW DELHI, 27 December 2006 — India yesterday dismissed reports it has been engaged in back channel talks with Pakistan for the resolution of the Siachen dispute. “The report is factually incorrect,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
A front-page report published in the Indian Express yesterday says that a day before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated his desire for a peace, security and friendship treaty with Islamabad, his special envoy for Indo-Pak dialogue Satinder K. Lambah flew to Lahore for “back-channel” talks on Kashmir and Siachen.
Lambah left for Lahore on Dec. 19 to meet Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Tariq Aziz “to find a way forward in the Indo-Pak arrangement,” the report says. He was there to discuss Musharraf’s new ideas on Kashmir and “push for a forward momentum on the Siachen issue.”
During Lambah’s three-day visit, Aziz also sought New Delhi’s response on Musharraf’s idea of self-governance in Kashmir, according to the report. The report also claims that official sources have confirmed Lambah’s Lahore visit on Dec. 19, although the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance government is “tight-lipped” on the issue.
The report points out that the Indian premier has welcomed Musharraf’s ideas. Besides, the government has responded favorably to “Islamabad’s efforts to change school history textbooks that until recently espoused the two-nation theory on the basis of religion and not economic disparity,” the report says.
New Delhi, according to the report, regards Musharraf’s ideas as “novel ideas” that “can be considered after they have been studied in detail.”
During his speech in Amritsar, Manmohan, in an apparent reference to Musharraf’s four-point formula revolving around joint management of Kashmir, demilitarization and self-governance, had said that India welcomed “all ideas as they contribute to the ongoing thought process.”
Diplomatic significance of Lambah’s visit has also been linked, by the report, with scheduled one-day trip of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Islamabad on Jan. 13. Mukherjee is visiting Pakistan to invite Musharraf for a SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit in New Delhi. The report also points to expected visit of Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to Pakistan on Jan. 5.
The Indian Express report says that although official sources do not expect any immediate breakthrough in Indo-Pak dialogue, “both sides are pushing for withdrawal of troops from the Saltoro Ridge overlooking the Siachen Glacier.
“Back channel talks are focused, according to the report, on New Delhi’s desire for “Islamabad to recognize, even through technical means, the Indian Army’s positions on the ridge and the glacier in the overall agreement.”
