Troops to stay at Siachen posts

Without trying to undermine the gains of the meeting between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York following the UN General Assembly meeting last week, senior government sources clarified that the issue of Siachen never came up in the conversation between the two leaders.

This revelation is important after reports appeared in the Pakistani press that the Indian Prime Minister had offered to move back Indian troops and that the Pakistani establishment had said, in response to the supposed initiative that it would not seize the territory vacated by India.

This conversation was reported in the Pakistani press as having taken place at New York with Musharraf's assurances.

However, the Indian government said the issue of Siachen was never discussed. Singh and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee are reported to have met today and discussed the "initiative" that was not, sources said.

Indian soldiers are currently deployed short of the heights of the glacier but with unimpeded access to the glacier, territory they took in 1984. Pakistan says their presence is in violation of the line NJ 9842, and wants India to go back to the 1972 position.

Because this is disputed, maps are to be exchanged with positions of the armies marked on maps. The task of identifying troops and the procedure for withdrawal is what is to be negotiated.

"Let us be clear. India is going to vacate no territory, assurances or no assurances from Pakistan," government sources said. "This matter has been discussed at the level of defence secretaries and that's where it stands", they said.

The defence secretaries of India and Pakistan held consultations in August which, sources said was the last engagement between the two countries on Siachen.