India not building up troops, as Pak toes anti-war line

This message was conveyed during Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal’s meeting with Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir in Islamabad on Friday. Indian Deputy High Commissioner Manpreet Vohra was also present, diplomatic sources said.

The Pakistani side said any surgical strike by India in response to the Mumbai terror attacks would be seen as an “act of war”. To this, the Indian officials stated that there was “no reason for the war hysteria” being witnessed in Pakistan, the sources informed.

The Indian officials made it clear that there had been no build-up of troops along the Pakistan frontier and that New Delhi had no plans for military action, the sources said.

The Indian side also conveyed the message that “words and commitments” were not adequate in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, which were “just a symptom of the larger problem” of terrorists operating from the Pakistani soil, the sources said.

“There is a need for firm action against such elements. We don’t see the shutting down of terrorist camps. Armed militants with guns are still moving around and terrorist camps are still operational,” a source said.

The sources said India wanted a combination of “executive action and judicial processes” against terrorist elements like the LeT and JuD.

The shutting down of terrorist camps, including the JuD complex in Murdike near Lahore and militant facilities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, required executive action. This would also be in compliance with the UN Security Council resolution seeking action against militant and terrorist groups linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, the sources said.

Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said on Friday that Bashir had told the Indian High Commissioner that there was a need for steps by India to defuse tensions. Sadiq also said Pakistan is awaiting India’s response to proposals for dealing with the fallout of the Mumbai incident.

These proposals include the setting up of a joint investigative commission led by the National Security Advisors of the two countries to probe the Mumbai attacks and sending a high-level delegation led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to New Delhi to discuss the sharing of evidence.

However, diplomatic sources indicated that India would wait for more action against militants by Pakistan before responding to these proposals.

Meanwhile, analysts believe the partial pullout of Pakistani troops from the tribal areas is a signal to the US that Islamabad may withdraw its troops from NWFP for deployment along the Indian border if Washington fails to play a role in defusing regional tensions.

India has blamed Pakistan-based elements, including the LeT, for the Mumbai attacks. It has asked Pakistan to act against these elements and to deliver on past commitments to not allow terrorists to operate from its soil.

Pakistan has said it is waiting for India to provide evidence and information to push forward its own investigation into the Mumbai incident.

Pak says doesn’t want war with India

Amid mounting world pressure on it, Pakistan on Saturday said it does not war with India and noted that ‘friendly countries’ are working to defuse tensions between the two neighbours.

“Pakistan is a peace-loving country. We don’t want to have war or aggression,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said addressing a function on the occasion of the first death anniversary of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

“We want to have friendly relations with our neighbours — Afghanistan and India,” Gilani said.

He noted that ‘friendly countries’ are working to defuse tension between India and Pakistan.

His comments came a day after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee suggested that Pakistan was trying to create ‘war hysteria’ to divert attention from the ‘real issue’ of taking action against those responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

Mukherjee is understood to have conveyed this view to his counterparts from the US, Saudi Arabia, China and Iran when he talked to them on Thursday and yesterday.

Pressure of the world community on Pakistan is mounting which is reflected by the latest statement by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who said that perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks must be ‘eliminated’ and that Islamabad has still a ‘lot to do’ in combating terrorism.

Gilani said on Friday night in Lahore that war is not in the interest of any country and all issues should be resolved through dialogue.

Pakistan wants peace and will not initiate any military aggression, he said.