Siachen a disputed area: Pak army

Giving a new twist to the Siachen issue, the Pakistan Army has claimed the glacier is a disputed area as it is part of Kashmir and thus India has no justification to ask Islamabad to authenticate troops positions there.

“Siachen is also part of Kashmir. We think the Indian Army went there when there was no military presence and it (take over) was not justified,” Pakistan Army’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Ehsan-ul-Haq said in an interview to Geo TV last night.

On the Indian Army officials’ statement expressing reservations over pulling out troops from Siachen, Haq said such stand might have been taken on presumption that questions might be asked why the army marched into Siachen in 1984 and the criticism that why they had “occupied” it.