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India, Pak decide to tackle Siachen
NEW DELHI: South Asian free trade will remain hobbled by the bilateral India-Pakistan dispute and the Saarc summit has done little to resolve this key issue.
But the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers, who met for a bilateral meeting on Monday, took an important step forward in the peace process.
Briefing mediapersons later, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said the defence secretaries of India and Pakistan would meet in Islamabad on April 6 to discuss Siachen and Sir Creek and look for a way forward on issues that both sides believe are ripe for agreement.
On Sir Creek, for instance, both countries now actually have a common map, on which to work out adjustments, he said. Basically, India and Pakistan have to agree how to demarcate the border in that area.
The importance of this demarcation is that it affects thousands of kilometres of nautical miles in the sea and control of the continental shelf, as well as the Exclusive Economic Zone.
The Siachen talks will address how Pakistan plans to authenticate the maps on positions of the Indian forces on Agreed Ground Position Line, which Pakistan has thus far refused to do.
South Asian Free Trade Association remains a problem, but Menon said this would be taken up bilaterally. Pakistan, however, is pushing for a "resolution". Denying there was a "fatigue" in the India-Pakistan talks, Pakistan foreign secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan told journalists it was time to move to a resolution-phase in the peace process.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ide_to_tackle_Siachen/articleshow/1847977.cms
NEW DELHI: South Asian free trade will remain hobbled by the bilateral India-Pakistan dispute and the Saarc summit has done little to resolve this key issue.
But the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers, who met for a bilateral meeting on Monday, took an important step forward in the peace process.
Briefing mediapersons later, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said the defence secretaries of India and Pakistan would meet in Islamabad on April 6 to discuss Siachen and Sir Creek and look for a way forward on issues that both sides believe are ripe for agreement.
On Sir Creek, for instance, both countries now actually have a common map, on which to work out adjustments, he said. Basically, India and Pakistan have to agree how to demarcate the border in that area.
The importance of this demarcation is that it affects thousands of kilometres of nautical miles in the sea and control of the continental shelf, as well as the Exclusive Economic Zone.
The Siachen talks will address how Pakistan plans to authenticate the maps on positions of the Indian forces on Agreed Ground Position Line, which Pakistan has thus far refused to do.
South Asian Free Trade Association remains a problem, but Menon said this would be taken up bilaterally. Pakistan, however, is pushing for a "resolution". Denying there was a "fatigue" in the India-Pakistan talks, Pakistan foreign secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan told journalists it was time to move to a resolution-phase in the peace process.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ide_to_tackle_Siachen/articleshow/1847977.cms
