Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan started a fresh round of talks yesterday over the Siachen glacier in Kashmir, where thousands of troops are holed up in freezing temperatures in a costly standoff.
The two-day talks in New Delhi over the world's highest battlefield follow local media reports in the past few months that the two sides were inching towards a blueprint for a troop pullout, though officials are tightlipped.
Both sides fielded large teams of bureaucrats and military officers, headed by their respective defense secretaries.
The Siachen dialogue -- part of a wide-ranging peace process -- comes a day ahead of a peace conference involving Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some Kashmiri separatist groups in Srinagar, the main city in India's Jammu and Kashmir state.
Thousands of soldiers have died in Siachen, high in the Himalayas, with more fatalities due to freezing temperatures, high altitude sickness and avalanches than to enemy fire.
Though diplomatic, commercial, sporting and transport links between India and Pakistan have improved since their peace process started in January 2004, they have made little headway over Kashmir, the cause of two of their three wars.
A key sticking point over Siachen is seen to be India's demand that troop positions be marked on the ground and on a map as evidence in case the area is occupied by Pakistan after a pullout deal is reached.
The region has witnessed no fighting since late 2003, when a ceasefire came into place on the militarized Kashmir frontier.
But analysts and Indian military officials say New Delhi's security establishment remains distrustful of the Pakistan army.
They point out that in 1999, Pakistan-backed Islamist infiltrators occupied the Kargil heights in northern Indian Kashmir, and India lost hundreds of troops before re-occupying the mountains after bitter fighting and a near war.
"Kargil made it very clear that if you leave any part of your territory undefended, you cannot rule out the possibility of the Pakistanis coming in," former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan G. Parthasarathy told reporters.
But Pakistani analysts say Islamabad is uneasy about marking positions, fearing it will legitimize India's hold in Siachen.
Hopes of forward movement were raised last year after Singh said he wanted to convert Siachen into a "peace mountain" as both sides tried to push forward their cautious peace process.
Meanwhile, Indian troops sealed off vast swathes of Kashmir's summer capital following a spate of violence by Islamic militants in the runup to a visit today by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the army said.
Combat troops backed border guards in Srinagar where residents in several districts found themselves coralled into "sanitized zones."
"There is very tight security in view of the roundtable conference and the prime minister's visit and operations are going on across the [Kashmir] valley," Indian army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vijay Batra told reporters.
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa
‘CONTINUE TO SERVE’: The 90-year-old Dalai Lama said he hoped to be able to continue serving ‘sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma’ for decades to come The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday. Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers — days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution would continue after his death. Many exiled Tibetans
Dozens of residents have evacuated remote islands in southern Japan that have been shaken by nearly 1,600 earthquakes in recent weeks, the local mayor said yesterday. There has been no major physical damage on hardest-hit Akuseki island, even after a magnitude 5.1 quake that struck overnight, said Toshima Mayor Genichiro Kubo, who is based on another island. However, the almost nonstop jolts since June 21 have caused severe stress to area residents, many of whom have been deprived of sleep. Of the 89 residents of Akuseki, 44 had evacuated to the regional hub of Kagoshima by Sunday, while 15 others also left another
RSS