India On Pakistan Avalanche

The Defence Secretaries of India and Pakistan today began talks on the military standoff on Siachen against the backdrop of calls from Islamabad to demilitarise the Himalayan glacier in the wake of an avalanche that killed 139 people at a Pakistan Army camp.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday called off his visit to the avalanche site in Siachen sector due to harsh weather even as rescuers backed by Swiss and German teams continued to search for 138 people buried under the snow for over a week.

The sudden visit of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal to India has invited ire from their political opponents in Pakistan with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan questioning the timing of the tour, when the country was faced with a tragedy of the 135 soldiers missing in an avalanche in the Siachen glacier.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh offered Pakistan humanitarian assistance to help find survivors of a massive avalanche that hit a Pakistani army camp in the Siachen glacier in which 135 soldiers and civilians are feared dead.

At least 36 people were killed and 30 others were missing after an avalanche hit a remote hamlet in a mountainous region in northwest Pakistan, police said on Thursday.

The Defence Secretaries of India and Pakistan today began talks on the military standoff on Siachen against the backdrop of calls from Islamabad to demilitarise the Himalayan glacier in the wake of an avalanche that killed 139 people at a Pakistan Army camp.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday called off his visit to the avalanche site in Siachen sector due to harsh weather even as rescuers backed by Swiss and German teams continued to search for 138 people buried under the snow for over a week.

The sudden visit of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal to India has invited ire from their political opponents in Pakistan with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan questioning the timing of the tour, when the country was faced with a tragedy of the 135 soldiers missing in an avalanche in the Siachen glacier.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh offered Pakistan humanitarian assistance to help find survivors of a massive avalanche that hit a Pakistani army camp in the Siachen glacier in which 135 soldiers and civilians are feared dead.

At least 36 people were killed and 30 others were missing after an avalanche hit a remote hamlet in a mountainous region in northwest Pakistan, police said on Thursday.