Still early days to thaw glacial ice

But the Pakistani side insisted the Siachen issue could only be resolved on the basis of the Shimla agreement, implying India had ‘‘violated’’ Shimla by occupying the Saltoro in 1984.

Gen Nawaz is also said to have argued Pakistan would not authenticate maps that showed existing positions, since the AGPL was an ‘‘illegal line’’, but would do so for any ‘‘future line’’ that may be decided between the two countries. Predictably, New Delhi turned a deaf ear to the Pakistani exposition, saying unless Islamabad agreed to where both currently stood, there was little point in discussing where they would be after ‘‘redeployment.’’

Analysts said the talks were bound to get stuck even before they began. For a start, with President Musharraf being the author of Kargil, the Pakistan delegation would have had little elbow room to negotiate a compromise. On the other hand, India was certainly not going to give up the advantage it had of holding the heights and return to base camp, if Islamabad was hardly prepared to acquiesce to the fact that the Indian soldiers were on top.

Both delegations also met Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit. Sources confirmed progress could only be expected after the two foreign ministers, K. Natwar Singh and Khurshid Kasuri, meet in September.

Sources also pointed out that the Pakistani position constituted a reversal of what Hamid Nawaz’s predecessor Salim Abbas Jilani had agreed to in 1992. Along with then Defence secretary N.N. Vohra, both sides had promised to authenticate ‘‘nearest positions’’ of where their respective soldiers stood. But today Pakistan was unwilling to do even that, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the two sides will also begin Secretary-level discussions on the Sir Creek issue tomorrow, also after six years, on the question of the land and maritime boundary that divides India from Pakistan beyond the Rann of Kutch.