No change in stand on Siachen issue: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today said there was no change in its policy on the Siachen issue with India and that it had no plans to redeploy its troops from the glacier described as the world's highest and coldest battlefield.

"There is no change as far as Pakistan's policy or position on Siachen is concerned," Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan told a weekly news briefing.

He was responding to questions about army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's remarks yesterday that Pakistan and India should resolve all issues, including Siachen, to ensure "peaceful co-existence".

"We are not thinking in terms of redeployment of our troops," Khan said.

The Pakistani side has made several proposals to resolve the military standoff on Siachen, including a proposal for "re-deployment of forces", he said.

"I said that the proposals that we have made regarding Siachen includes mutual redeployment of troops.

"We are not thinking of (any unilateral redeployment of troops)," he added.

The dispute over Siachen, which dates back to 1984, has been in focus since an avalanche slammed into a high-altitude Pakistan Army camp on April 7, burying 127 soldiers and 11 civilians under dozens of feet of snow.

After visiting the site of the avalanche yesterday, Kayani had said that there "should be a resolution of Siachen and other issues".

Khan said the Siachen issue was part of the ongoing dialogue between the two countries and is being discussed by the Defence Secretaries.