Thursday, May 25 2006 11:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Pakistan yesterday (May 24, 2006)night said India's insistence for authentication of present troop deployment at Siachen glacier was a 'pre condition' which was not acceptable to it, After the two-day Indo-Pak talks failed to yield any breakthrough, Pakistan's Defence Secretary Tariq Wasim Ghazi said that the issue had to be resolved at the political level.

"The talks process has never died down. There is hope and desire to move forward and resolve the issue," he said adding however, it was beyond the defence secretaries to sort it out.

Ghazi told reporters that Pakistan would not accept the authentication of the present position held by the two countries as it was a precondition.

He said if the authentication was to be done, it should be made on the basis of positions held in 1972 and 1984.

Ghazi said Islamabad stood by the understanding reached in 1989 wherein the two countries had agreed to redeploy troops and reduce tension.

He claimed the positions held presently by the two countries violated the Shimla Agreement.