India has hardened its stand on Siachen: Ashfaq Parvez Kayani

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani today contended that India had hardened its position on the Siachen issue as compared to the 1989 stance it had adopted, saying that it "takes two hands to clap".

Speaking to the media during a visit to a high-altitude army camp in Siachen sector that was hit by an avalanche on April 7, Kayani said India had "toughened its stance" on the issue.

India had earlier been demanding the approval of the boundary but now it had begun asking for the re-determination of positions, Kayani was quoted as saying by TV news channels.

"It takes two hands to clap," he said. During an earlier visit to the site of the avalanche at Gyari on April 18, Kayani had called for all issues between India and Pakistan to be resolved to ensure "peaceful co-existence" which would allow the two sides to focus on development and the welfare of the people.

The powerful army chief had also said at the time that Pakistan hoped that the Siachen issue is "resolved so that both the countries don't have to pay the cost".

"There will be a resolution and we want that there should be a resolution (of the Siachen issue). There should be a resolution of Siachen and other issues," he had added.

Pakistani officials have for long contended that the two countries came close to an agreement on Siachen in 1989 during a meeting between then Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto.

In recent days, senior Pakistani officials have called for the implementation of that "agreement".