Top Indian and Pakistani defence officials Saturday concluded their parleys on the Siachen glacier with no headway towards pulling back of troops from the world's highest battlefield. Pakistani and Indian Defence Secretaries Kamran Rasool and Shekhar Dutt led their delegations in the two-day talks that were held in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, aiming at demilitarizing the disputed Himalayan region. Agreeing to continue with the discussions to resolve the conflict in "a peaceful manner," the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to the ceasefire agreed between them in November 2003. Though the discussions began on a positive note with much optimism expressed by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, New Delhi's rigid stance on authentication of troop positions before a withdrawal was thought to have prevented any breakthrough, according to dpa. The Pakistani side reportedly favoured the implementation of an agreement reached between the archrivals in 1989 under which soldiers in the permanently frozen combat zone were to be brought down to the positions held by them prior to the Indian advance in 1984. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri recently said that given political will, the issue could be resolved "within days." -- SPA
