NEW DELHI, May 8: India will insist on proper authentication by Pakistan of the troop positions in Siachen before any disengagement is undertaken, Defence Minister A. K. Antony told parliament on Tuesday.

He also cautioned against expecting any ‘dramatic’ result from the next round of talks in June on the issue.

His comments appeared to confirm a recent assessment by Pakistani military that India had toughened its stance on the Siachen dispute.

Mr Antony, however, claimed that India stood by its stand on authentication and had neither hardened nor softened its position.

“Some people have said we are hardening our position (on Siachen), some say we have softened the position. We have neither hardened nor softened our position. We are standing where we were,” he said, replying to a debate on the functioning of the Defence Ministry.

He told MPs that the 13th round of Defence Secretary-level talks on Siachen would take place in the second week of June. He said during the last round of talks Pakistan had refused to authenticate the troop positions of the two countries but India insisted on it.

“Don’t expect dramatic results (from the next round of talks). It is a complicated issue,” he said.

Making it clear that India was keen on authentication and had “not changed the position”, he said, “it is the national position, not government position. We took the position after considered decision”.

Winding up a discussion on his ministry’s performance, Mr Antony said Pakistan’s military ties with China were a cause of worry. He said India is raising an offensive corps and taking other steps to gear up its preparedness along China border to meet the challenges.

Terming the growing military ties between Pakistan and China as a “cause of worry”, he said the armed forces have been issued a new directive to change their strategy to meet the challenges.

“Now we have given a new directive to our armed forces to meet the new challenges in context of the new threat perception faced by the country,” he said.