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Pakistan’s army calls for India talks

Pakistan called for negotiations with rival nuclear power India over a disputed Himalayan glacier on Wednesday, an apparent softening in attitude toward a neighbor with which it has fought three wars since 1947.

Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani also said that “peaceful coexistence” with India was important so that both countries could “concentrate on the well-being of the people.”

The two nuclear-armed countries core dispute is over the Kashmir region, which they both claim in its entirety.

In 1984, India occupied the heights of the uninhabited Siachen Glacier to the north of Kashmir. Pakistan sent in troops, and both armies have been facing over there ever since.

Kayani noted India began the conflict, but said it “should be resolved” and “how it is resolved the two countries have to talk about.”

He made the comments in a rare question and answer session with the media after visiting the site of an avalanche near the glacier that last week buried more than 125 Pakistani soldiers.