Problem of direction in Indo-Pak dialogue

Pakistan, say informed South Block officials, interpreted that to change the alignment of the Line of Control (LC) from Point NJ 9842 on the million scale map to show it heading eastwards toward the Karakoram Pass. India, on the other hand, translated the phrase to mean northwardsin direction of the glaciers straddling the Khunjerab Pass area. This placed the Siachen Glacier east of the demarcated ceasefire line on the Indian maps.

The eight-member Pakistani delegation, led by Lt Gen (retd) Iftikhar Ali Khan, the Defence Secretary, arrived on Wednesday evening. The other members are Maj Gen (retd) Jamshed Malik, an Additional Secretary in Islamabad’s defence ministry, Tariq Altaf, an Additional Secretary in the foreign office, Maj Gen T Zia, the Director General Military Operations, Maj Gen Syed Ali Hamid, Director General Plans in the Joint Services Headquarters, Zamir Akram, the Director General South Asia in the foreign office, Brig Nadeem Ahmad, a director in the Military Operations Directorate and Alamgir Babar, director Kashmir Affairs in the foreign office. During the talks the delegation will be accompanied by the High Commissioner in Delhi, Ashraf Jahangir, and two officials including the new Defence Attache Brig Javeed Aziz Khan.

South Block officials are hoping to setthe record straight on what is now being regarded as an inaccurately named conflict. The facts on ground, say the officials, clearly show that India’s positions are on the Saltoro Ridge, with the Siachen glacier further eastwards. “Siachen is way behind us, we are in fact on Saltoro. The talks should really be called Saltoro, for that is where the conflict has been in its entirety since 1987,” said a former Siachen brigade commander.

Pakistan’s inability to accept that Indian positions are on Saltoro has ensured that the talks have been unproductive thus far. The posts sited on the Pakistani maps do not tally with those on the Indian ones, said the officials. And South Block does not seem to be eager to help Pakistan out of this quandary. “Why should we put ourselves out when they have been getting away with lying to their own people. The Pakistan Army continues to tell its people that they are sitting on Siachen, which we know has not been the case since more than a decade,” said the former brigadecommander.

With Army officials confident of their ability to maintain the tempo of operations, as well as holding their ground, there seems little chance of making progress unless Pakistan is willing to accept the actual ground position line.

The officials point to constantly improving logistics support lines to buttress their position. “We are pretty well ensconced on Saltoro, so what is there to give them? Let them first accept the facts on ground,” exclaimed a South Block official.

The other hindrance to arriving at an understanding over this conflict is Pakistan’s March 1963 agreement with China ceding roughly 5,000 sq km to the communist state. The area ceded is roughly between the Khunjerab and Karakoram passes in the west and east respectively. This area, historically a part of Jammu and Kashmir, is contiguous to China’s Sinkiang province and lies directly to the north of the Saltoro ridgeline. If the glacial dispute is to be settled, “it will have to be done in conjunction with reopening the1963 Pak-China treaty, as well as a settlement of the Indo-China territorial dispute”, say South Block officials.