Pak hesitates to authenticate troop positions at Siachen

NEW DELHI: Indicating its hesitation to authenticate troop positions at Siachen, Pakistan has asked India not to make it "do things which compromise our own position" and said that a way can be found around this pre-condition for demilitarisation of icy region.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said progress has been made on Jammu and Kashmir as also Siachen and Sir Creek and something achievable is within grasp.

"The settlement of the issue can be done provided you don't make us do things which compromise our own position. If the only purpose is to let people know where the two armies are, I think we can find a way around it," he said.

"It's for the Indian leadership to take that decision," Kasuri said, adding "I see no reason why it cannot be done."

India and Pakistan agreed last year to demilitarise the world's highest battlefield but New Delhi has maintained that there should be proper authentication of the positions presently held by the two countries along the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) before redeployment can take place.

Kasuri insisted that "enough progress has been made" on Siachen and Sir Creek and maintained that given the political will, both issues can be resolved.

"If you show progress on Siachen and also on Sir Creek and I think there are grounds for saying that can be done...We would definitely hope that that happens," he said.

Kasuri said this process will "definitely go forward" when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Pakistan. "We hope that more than something will be announced (when the Prime Minister visits Pakistan)," he said.

Asked whether his optimism meant that "something achievable is within our grasp" and it just needs the last moment of will to grab it, Kasuri said "yes, that is correct". He, however, refused to give details.

Progress has been made on Jammu and Kashmir issue as well and that Indian side is receptive to ideas like 'self-governance', he said, adding it was reflected in the joint statement issued in Havana after meeting between Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

He suggested that the two countries were having back-channel talks but gave no details.

On the joint anti-terror mechanism set up earlier this month, he said evidence provided by India about Pakistani linkages to terrorism here will be taken seriously by Islamabad and "we expect evidence we provide will also be taken seriously (by India)."

Underlining the need for developing "trust on that mechanism", he said "we are not looking at evidence of a quality that will get a conviction in a court of law. Both of us must accept that... but the leads have to be concrete and (then) they will be examined. And we hope your government will do likewise."

He said Pakistan will treat Indian evidence in the same way it treats the one given by the US with regard to Al-Qaida.

"It's in our own interest," the Pakistani minister said.