Singh: Indo-Pak peace talks making progress

INDIA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said a three-year-old peace process between India and Pakistan was making "progress" in sorting out disputes between the South Asian rivals.

"We have to take a holistic view of relations with Pakistan. We have had several rounds of composite dialogue in which Siachen, Sir Creek and other issues figured. We are making progress," Singh said, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Singh said it would be "premature" to say both sides had bridged enough differences to sign an agreement on withdrawal of troops from the strategic Siachen glacier in disputed Kashmir.

"The two sides are among other things holding negotiations on the issue of authentication of ground positions (in Siachen)," Singh told reporters who accompanied him to a meeting of Asian leaders in the Philippines.

"There are hopeful features in the present dialogue," he said during a press conference on board his special aircraft on his way back to New Delhi.

"It is my effort to sustain the momentum."

The demilitarisation of the 6,300 metre (20,790 feet) glacier is part of peace talks started between India and Pakistan in 2004, aimed at building trust between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

In September, Singh and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf agreed at a meeting in the Cuban capital Havana to fast-track a settlement to the Siachen dispute, where thousands of Indian and Pakistani soldiers stand eyeball to eyeball.

Analysts say the region is of little strategic value but New Delhi has occupied most of the glacier since 1987.

New Delhi says both sides should mark out troop positions in case Pakistan moves its soldiers in after any withdrawal.

But Islamabad fears that writing down the positions would be tacit acceptance of India's claims to Siachen.

The rivals agreed to a ceasefire in November 2003 along the Siachen front and the rest of their borders.

The dispute over Kashmir - of which Siachen is a part - has been the trigger for two of the three wars between the nations since both countries gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Sparsely populated Sir Creek runs between India's western state of Gujarat and Pakistan's Sindh province.

India says the boundary lies in the middle of the 60 kilometre (40 mile) estuary but Pakistan says it is on the eastern bank.

Last week the South Asian rivals renewed their commitment to carry forward a peace dialogue during talks between their foreign ministers.

New Delhi, Tuesday, AFP