Defence secys to talk Siachen on Good Friday

NEW DELHI: With differences persisting on the ambit of the Indo-Pakistan joint anti-terror mechanism, the government on Monday turned its focus on another outstanding issue and announced that defence secretary-level talks on Siachen would take place on April 6 in Islamabad.

“The two held talks in a friendly and cordial atmosphere. Both were optimistic and looked forward to the defence secretaries meeting on April 6,” said foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon at Vigyan Bhawan after external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee met his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid M Kasuri on the sidelines of the meeting of the Saarc council of ministers.

Mr Mukherjee and Mr Kasuri discussed the entire range of bilateral issues including the demilitarisation of the Siachen glacier and the demarcation of the Sir Creek. Prime minister Manmohan Singh will also meet his Pakistan counterpart Shaukat Aziz here on the sidelines of the Saarc summit.

Mr Kasuri has been saying that the two countries can reach an agreement on Siachen as long as there was political will from both sides. But the Indian side has been saying that demilitarisation can only take place after authentication of troop positions, but Pakistan is not agreeable to this.

On the issue of terrorism, Pakistan sounded the first discordant note in Saarc even as countries like Sri Lanka pushed for a regional approach to the problem of terrorism. Mr Kasuri indicated that Pakistan was not in favour of a common Saarc approach to fighting terrorism. “India and Pakistan have a history. There are issues on which we had differences.

So it is better to resolve the issues bilaterally first,” he said. On another area of disagreement between India and Pakistan in the Saarc forum, Mr Kasuri said that there are “slight differences” on the issue of South Asian Free Trade Agreement with regard to “some measures” which are “minor”. He said even in its absence, direct trade between the two countries had gone up by 400 per cent in last three years.

The Pakistan foreign minister also said that some people viewed the first meeting of joint anti-terrorism with optimism while others did not. He said that the meeting of the mechanism was a ``positive development’’ and that both sides had agreed to meet again and chalk out a framework for working together to fight terrorism.

``Let us give them time,’’ said Mr Kasuri. Mr Kasuri also said that during his meeting with Mr Mukherjee both sides concurred that bilateral ties were in a “healthy” state.