Home »Top Stories » Siachen settlement ‘within days’: Kasuri

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  • Nov 14th, 2006
  • Comments Off on Siachen settlement ‘within days’: Kasuri
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said on Monday that a deal with India on the world's highest military battlefield was possible "within days" ahead of talks between the two countries.

Top foreign ministry officials from the nuclear rivals are due to meet in New Delhi Tuesday and are likely to discuss the proposed demilitarisation of Siachen glacier.

"Given the political will, we have narrowed down our differences enough for us to have a decision on Siachen within a matter of days, not even weeks," Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri told private NDTV network Monday.

There was no immediate comment from the government of India, which has been holding strategic peaks on the 6,300-metre (20,700-foot) glacier since 1987 and has refused to withdraw troops.

India wants troop positions marked out in case Pakistan moves its soldiers in after a withdrawal. Islamabad, however, fears that writing down the positions would be tacit acceptance of India's claims to Siachen. Kasuri said there were still differences between the two sides. "There are differences. If differences weren't there we could have signed an agreement. But those differences can be bridged by political will," he said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006


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