ISLAMABAD, 16 August 2004 — Pakistan has made it clear to India to vacate the Siachen glacier unconditionally while adhering to the commitment made in 1989 to return to the 1972 location of troops.
The Indians would be facilitated in the safe withdrawal of troops. It had been agreed between both countries that the military experts of both sides would remain engaged in this exercise. Pakistan has time and again clarified that it will never authenticate India’s present position in Siachen.
Foreign Office sources said that Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukharjee has made two contradictory statements in less than two weeks. In the first statement he vowed that India would not withdraw from Siachen and now he has come out with a view that military experts were discussing plans to demilitarize Siachen. “As a matter of fact military experts of both countries would discuss redeployment of troops but they have not agreed on a timeframe so far,” the sources said.
According to the sources no tangible progress has been made in the recently concluded talks between the two countries.
A report on the talks has been formulated and foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India would review the entire process when they meet in New Delhi on Sept. 4. The two secretaries would not entertain any new proposal during the meeting. They would only prepare recommendations for the foreign ministers, who would be meeting on the following day. The foreign ministers would initiate discussion on Kashmir, peace and security and confidence building measures, the sources added.
The sources indicated that Indian attitude during the talks was intransigent and somewhat stubborn but Pakistan did not give up its principled position in the whole process. New Delhi kept insisting on India’s interest driven subjects to be tackled on a priority basis.
Pakistan says that no new dates have as yet been decided for the next meeting in Islamabad between military experts from Pakistan and India regarding demilitarization and redeployment of troops on the Siachen glacier.
Honor Killings
In another unrelated development, the government has decided to approach certain Muslim countries to get religious support on the issue of honor killings particularly with reference to the status of Wali (guardian).
The decision was taken by Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to counter the rising threat of religious extremist forces.
The Muslim countries are being contacted after the bill seeking sweeping amendments in Hudood, blasphemy and honor killing laws was blocked in the NA standing committee on law and justice last week.
The MPs of religious parties with support of some ruling party members including the chairman of the committee on law are strongly opposing some changes in laws.
Earlier, the government had backed out of its commitment of awarding the status of Wali to the state in case of crime in the name of honor so that killers could not be pardoned by the members of the victim’s families.
