India and Pakistan may withdraw troops from Siachen
George Iype in New Delhi
India and Pakistan will explore the possibility of withdrawing its
troops from the Siachen Glacier
when the two countries resume a bilateral
dialogue on March 28 after a gap of more than three years.
Sources in the ministry of external affairs said Foreign Secretary
Salman Haider will present the Gujral doctrine of good neighbourliness
before his Pakistani counterpart Shamshad Ahmed.
The doctrine, which has been reiterated time and again by India's
Foreign Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, will state that India is
willing to discuss everything with Pakistan including the vexed
Kashmir issue without any pre-conditions.
India is likely to offer a withdrawal of its troops from Siachen if Pakistan
guarantees that it will undertake a similar exercise
and withdraw its forces from the highest battleground in the world.
MEA officials believe the Pakistani negotiating team will
reiterate the Nawaz Sharief government's readiness to implement the
1989 agreement between the then prime ministers, Rajiv Gandhi
and Benazir Bhutto. The agreement sought the
restoration of the pre-December 16, 1971 position in the un-demarcated
area in Kashmir.
India expects that the Pakistan foreign secretary will quiz Haider
about the conflicting views that various Indian leaders
have been airing on the Kashmir issue in recent weeks.
Last month, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had
suggested that one way to 'finish' the Indo-Pak dispute
is to give up Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and make the Line
of Actual Control the international border.
Interestingly while the resumption of foreign secretary-level
talks between India and Pakistan has evoked keen interest among
South Asia-watchers, MEA sources said a formal agenda for the
dialogue has not been finalised by both countries.
The absence of an agenda is said to be due to the crucial foreign
ministers meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference which
is scheduled to be held in Islamabad on March 23.
MEA officers fear there will be "India-bashing
on the Kashmir issue" at the OIC meeting which does not augur
well for the much-awaited Indo-Pak dialogue five days later.
Many believe Pakistan will provide the OIC members with its interpretation
of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and accuse
Indian security forces of committing atrocities and violating
human rights in the valley.
There are apprehensions that armed with an OIC resolution and
forced by the compulsions of its military establishment, Pakistan will adopt
a hard line on Kashmir.
"India does not expect any dramatic breakthrough on the contentious
Kashmir issue during the foreign secretary-level talks," an MEA official told
Rediff On The NeT.
India, he said, will set its agenda for the talks only after the OIC
session ends.
Apart from the Kashmir issue, commerce, communication
and transport will dominate the foreign secretary talks.
Removal of all trade barriers between the two countries will be
an important item on the agenda.
On the cultural front, the foreign secretaries will examine some
of the demands put forward by social activists
and intellectuals in both countries -- that there should be frequent
cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan.
The March 28 to 31 exercise will be the eighth round of foreign secretary-level
talks on record. Differences between the countries on Kashmir had bogged
down the last discussion in January 1994.
The resumption of a India-Pakistan dialogue will
also set the agenda for the meeting between Gujral and his Pakistani counterpart,
Gouhar Ayub Khan, son of the late Pakistani dictator General Ayub Khan.
during the Non-Aligned Movement conference which begins in New Delhi on April 7.
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