Army Chief General S. Padmanabhan today said that chances of hostilities between India and Pakistan had not receded and it was upto Islamabad to dismantle the terror infrastructure to prevent any rise in tension.The Army estimates as many as 107 militants have sneaked in since May 27 when Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf promised not to allow export of terror from Pakistani soil. He said there had been four to five infiltration attempts which were physically stopped.In an interview to Doordarshan, Padmanabhan ruled out any immediate de-escalation and said though there had been ‘‘some reduction’’ in infiltration, he could not, at this stage, say that incursions had stopped.‘‘Infiltration has reduced by a margin but it will require a lot of effort on the part of the other side to dismantle the entire terrorism infrastructure before infiltration comes down to a trickle, leave alone stop.’’Meanwhile, India today told Britain that there could be no de-escalation on the border if Pakistan did not end cross-border terrorism. This was conveyed to British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in his meetings with National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha. Army Chief Padmanabhan also called on Hoon and briefed him on the situation along the border, particularly on the recent attempts by terrorists to cross the LoC.The Ministry of External Affairs also rejected Pakistan’s charge of India going back on its commitments. ‘‘The scope for further de-escalatory measures is restricted, prevented in some way and obstacles put by Pakistan which is not showing willingness to deliver on its pledges and commitments,’’ an MEA spokesperson told mediapersons.
