India, Pak to withdraw troops from Siachen, says Pranab

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said India and Pakistan have agreed to withdraw troops from their present position in the Siachen glacier but the modalities have to be worked out.

"We have agreed. They (Pakistan) have agreed to withdraw troops from the present positions. There is no two opinion about it. Both sides have agreed," Mukherjee said in a TV interview.

Replying to questions, the minister said, "the disagreement is where we are demanding that we must identify the places, delineate the places we were before withdrawal, so that there is a record that the respective countries troops occupied these places".

"The Pakistani point of view," Mukherjee said, "is that when we have agreed to withdraw from the respective positions, what is the relevance after the withdrawal agreement is signed. "Therefore, there is the area of disagreement,' the defence minister said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan said there were "some major differences" with India on the modalities of withdrawal of troops from the glacier and the two sides were trying to address them through "intense negotiations".

The two countries were engaged in "intense negotiations to reach an early agreement on withdrawal of troops," a Pakistan foreign office spokesman said in a statement reacting to Mukherjee's remarks.

The Pakistani spokesman said there were "some major differences on the modalities of withdrawal, which the two sides are trying to address".

The two countries have held several rounds of talks on withdrawal of troops from the world's highest battlefield. The Pakistani spokesman claimed that the two countries came close to signing an accord on Siachen in 1989, "but they did not".

He expressed Pakistan's readiness to sign, what he claimed the understanding reached in 1989, without any delay, provided the Indian side was also ready to do so.