Pakistan seeks Indian military pullback to defuse tensions (Roundup)

Dec 30, 2008, 11:21 GMT

   Islamabad - Pakistan's foreign minister Tuesday asked India to deactivate its forward airbases and pull back troops to peacetime positions to defuse tensions triggered by last month's terrorist attack in Mumbai.

   Shah Mahmood Qureshi made the suggestion in a televised policy statement in which he welcomed lowering of tensions because of recent international interventions, and direct contact between military commanders of the two countries.

   'It is in everyone's interest to proceed in a positive manner,' Qureshi said.

   However, India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said New Delhi had done nothing to escalate tensions. Indian defence officials also rejected Pakistani allegations that Delhi had activated forward air bases or mobilized its troops.

   'We have not done anything which can escalate the tension between India and Pakistan,' Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi.

   'Because from day one, I am saying this is not an India-Pakistan issue. This is an attack perpetrated by elements emanating from the land of Pakistan and Pakistan's government should take action against it,' Mukherjee said.

   Both nuclear-armed nations have placed their armed forces on alert amid tensions in the aftermath of the November 26 terrorist attack in India's financial capital, which killed at least 170 people.

   New Delhi blamed militants based in Pakistan of executing the attacks, and demanded Islamabad crack down on the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organization, saying normal relations could not be restored until concrete action is taken.

   Denying involvement of its nationals in the attacks, Pakistan said it would welcome evidence from India, but clearly stated that it will follow its own laws and not tolerate outside pressure.

   'We believe that pressures and coercion do not resolve difficult situations but worsen them,' Qureshi said.

   He reiterated Pakistan's cooperation in investigating the Mumbai carnage, asserting that the government had adopted a 'positive approach since day one.'

   US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice separately phoned Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Mukherjee last week, urging both to ease tensions and cooperate to prevent terrorism.

   On Monday, Pakistan's Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani also stressed the 'need to de-escalate and avoid conflict in the interest of peace and security.'

   Pakistan has redeployed some of its troops from the restive tribal region near the Afghan frontier to its shared border with India, amid statements by senior political leaders that 'Pakistan will not act but only react (to any Indian aggression).'

   The two South Asian neighbours have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.