Top defence officials from India and Pakistan kicked off talks on Monday to discuss a disputed Himalayan glacier that brought the neighbours to the brink of war in 1984. The two-day meeting in New Delhi between Indian Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and his Pakistani counterpart Syed Ather Ali is part of the slow-moving peace process aimed at bringing lasting stability to South Asia.
India broke off all contact with Pakistan in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. An Indian defence ministry official said the two defence secretaries met behind closed doors in New Delhi on Monday where they were to discuss the highly militarised 6,300-metre (20,800-foot) Siachen glacier.
The countries clashed over Siachen in 1984, but the world's highest battlefield - where the temperature drops to minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahreinheit) - has been stable since a 2003 cease-fire. The icy mass is one of several unresolved issues which have been unsuccessfully discussed in 11 previous rounds of talks between the two countries' defence secretaries.
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