India asked to honour 1989 accord on Siachen

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reminded India on Saturday of a 1989 agreement for resolving the Siachen dispute and asked New Delhi to honour it.

“A 1989 agreement exists, which settled the principles for the resolution of Siachen conflict,” Zehra Akbari, Director General (South Asia) at the Foreign Office, said at a media briefing on rescue operations in avalanche-hit Gayari.

“Time has come for the implementation of that agreement. It has to be resolved to prevent such mishaps from happening again,” she said.

Last weekend’s massive avalanche in Gayari, which buried the army’s battalion headquarters in the region trapping 135 troops and civilians inside it, brought the conflict over Siachen into focus, with people on both sides of the border questioning the strategic value of the territory and calling for withdrawal of troops from the world’s highest battlefield where relentless sub-zero conditions have killed more people than the actual combat.

Ms Akbari said Pakistan had been persistently asking for resolution of the issue. She was referring to the Pakistan-India joint statement issued on June 17, 1989, after a meeting between the two defence secretaries.