India and Pakistan resumed talks Tuesday about control of the Siachen glacier in Kashmir, where thousands of troops are holed up in freezing temperatures, as part of efforts to improve ties between the two countries.

The two-day talks in New Delhi over the world's highest battlefield follow local media reports in the past few months that the two sides were inching towards a blueprint for a troop pullout, although officials remain tight-lipped.

Both sides fielded large teams of bureaucrats and military officers, headed by their respective defence secretaries.

Thousands of soldiers have died in Siachen, high in the Himalayas, with more fatalities due to freezing temperatures, altitude sickness and avalanches than to enemy fire.

The Siachen talks part of a wide-ranging peace process came a day ahead of a two-day peace conference involving Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some Kashmiri separatist groups in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Hundreds of armed police and soldiers were on high alert in Srinagar ahead of Singh's visit.

The city was hit by four grenade blasts on Monday, killing one person and wounding 24.

Hard line factions in Kashmir's main political separatist alliance and militant groups fighting Indian rule have called for a general strike today and tomorrow to protest the Srinagar peace meeting and Singh's visit.

Separately, as the Siachen talks were under way in New Delhi, India announced it would unilaterally release 59 Pakistani fishermen in its custody on Saturday as a "goodwill gesture."

Though diplomatic, commercial, sporting and transport links between India and Pakistan have improved since their peace process started in January 2004, they have made little headway over Kashmir, the cause of two of their three wars since the two countries became independent.

However the region has witnessed no fighting since late 2003, when a ceasefire came into place.

Kargil battle

Analysts and Indian military officials point out that in 1999, Muslim infiltrators occupied the Kargil heights in northern Indian-controlled Kashmir, and India lost hundreds of troops before re-occupying the mountains after bitter fighting and a near war.

But Pakistani analysts say Islamabad is uneasy about marking positions, fearing it will legitimize India's hold in Siachen.

Hopes of forward movement were raised last year after Singh said he wanted to convert Siachen into a "peace mountain" as both sides tried to push forward their cautious peace process.

Analysts do not expect a breakthrough in the third round of Siachen talks since January 2004 but say dialogue is a good way of building trust over the region.

(China Daily May 24, 2006)