Saturday, May 28 2005 12:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: India and Pakistan today (May 28, 2005) held talks on Sir Creek, the disputed coastal strip off Gujarat coast, and reviewed the Joint Survey conducted early this year to identify the boundary pillars installed in 1924 to demarcate the area.

An Indian Defence delegation, headed by Maj Gen Gopal Rao, the Surveyor General of India held talks with Additional Secretary of Ministry of Defence, Rear Admiral Ahsan-ul-Haq Chaudhry at the Pakistan Ministry of Defence, Rawalpindi.

The two sides held seven round of talks so far and this was the eight time they met to resolve mutual claims on Sir Creek. The two talks will end tomorrow (May 29, 2005).

Officials said the talks focussed on the joint survey conducted by both sides in January this year to identify some of the boundary pillars installed in 1924 by the then authorities of Sindh and Kutch. The two sides conducted the joint survey on the land and off the Sir Creek coast.

Officials believe that the survey could prove a way out for the dispute over a small stretch of marshy land, which emerged as key for determining the Exclusive Maritime Zone off Gujarat and Karachi coasts.

The Sir Creek dispute was one of the eight points of contentious issues being discussed under the Composite Dialogue process.

Talks on Sir Creek started in the backdrop a deadlock in the two-day talks on Siachen glacier, which concluded at Rawalpindi yesterday (May 27, 2005). Officials said some new ideas were discussed but no headway was made over demilitarisation of the world's highest battlefield.