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  • May 29th, 2005
  • Comments Off on Parleys begin on demarcation of Sir Creek boundary
Senior defence officials of Pakistan and India on Saturday began talks on Sir Creek, the disputed coastal strip off Gujarat Coast, and reviewed joint survey conducted early this year to identify boundary pillars installed in 1924 to demarcate the area. The visiting Indian defence delegation, headed by Major General Gopal Rao, Surveyor General of India, held talks with Defence Additional Secretary Rear Admiral Ahsanul Haq Chaudhry at the Ministry of Defence in Rawalpindi.

The two sides held seven rounds of talks so far, and this was eighth time they met to resolve mutual claims on Sir Creek. The two talks will conclude on Sunday.

It is understood the talks focussed on the joint survey conducted by both sides in January this year to identify some of the boundary pillars installed in 1924 by the then authorities of Sindh and Kutch.

The two sides conducted the joint survey on the land and off the Sir Creek Coast.

The survey could prove a way out for the dispute over a small stretch of marshy land, which emerged as key for determining the Exclusive Maritime Zone off Gujarat and Karachi coasts of both the countries.

The Sir Creek dispute was one of the eight points of contentious issues being discussed under the Composite Dialogue process between Pakistan and India.

Talks on Sir Creek started in the backdrop a deadlock in the two-day talks on Siachen glacier, the world's highest battleground, which concluded on Friday at Rawalpindi.

According to sources, although some new ideas were discussed, no headway was made over demilitarisation of the world's highest battlefield.

The two sides would discuss proposals from both sides on the boundary, which is undetermined and has been a source of border tension.

The meeting is part of a dialogue process initiated by the nuclear neighbours in January last year to normalise relations through resolution of all disputes including the row over Kashmir.

On Friday defence secretaries of the two countries failed to agree how to end a two-decades-old military stand-off on the Siachen glacier in Kashmir.

New Delhi says that a redrawing of the boundaries in Sir Creek would mean a loss of 250 square kilometres (96.5 square miles) of an economic zone for India. Islamabad rejects proposals for mid-channel demarcation, saying the waters are unfit for navigation.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2005


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