No pull-back from LoC, says Pak

Islamabad, Oct 19: Pakistan today ruled out any possibility of withdrawing troops from the Line of Control LoC in Kashmir and regretted...

Islamabad, Oct 19: Pakistan today ruled out any possibility of withdrawing troops from the Line of Control LoC in Kashmir and regretted India8217;s quot;negative responsequot; to its offer for unconditional resumption of dialogue claiming that creation of a quot;requisite atmospherequot; for talks quot;entirelyquot; rested with India.

Foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed, in his first press briefing since the army take over on October 12, told reporters here the situation on the LoC was quite different from the international border with India from where troops were being pulled back as part of the quot;unilateral withdrawalquot; announced by army ruler General Pervez Musharraf.

quot;We all know that the situation regarding the LoC is qualitatively different,quot; Ahmed said, adding the LoC had always been quot;volatilequot; with heavy concentration of troops across it.

Under the present circumstances of quot;shelling and indiscriminate firingquot; by Indian troops, quot;it is not prudent to lower our guardsquot;, he said.

Gen Musharraf, during his address to thenation on Sunday, had offered an quot;unconditional and result-oriented dialoguequot; with India and announced the unilateral withdrawal of his troops from the international border as a confidence-building measure.

Asked whether there was any response from India to this offer, Ahmed said though there had not been any direct response but as per reports monitored here, there had been some statements emanating from new Delhi. quot;Unfortunately, it is not a positive response.quot;

Ahmed reiterated Gen Musharraf8217;s comment that Pakistan8217;s policy of maintaining, quot;moral, political and diplomatic supportquot; to Kashmiri quot;freedom fightersquot; would continue and that India quot;must honour the UN resolutions by giving the rights of self determination to themquot;.

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He said Gen Musharraf had made a quot;positive offerquot; of resuming dialogue and also taken an quot;important initiativequot; in terms of confidence-building measure and hence quot;we remain prepared for an unconditional and meaningful dialogue. That is our responsequot;.

Asked what would be the newPakistani regime8217;s response to New Delhi8217;s repeated calls for first creating an atmosphere for resumption of the dialogue process, Ahmed said, quot;the responsibility for creating the requisite atmosphere rests primarily with India.quot;

The proposal for resumption of dialogue had been made in quot;good faithquot; and quot;we believe that dialogue is in the interest of both Pakistan and India as well as the regionquot;, he said.

Court martial likely

ISLAMABAD: Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is likely to face court martial, a media report said on Tuesday even as a section of Sharif8217;s Pakistan Muslim league PML colleagues demanded his trial.

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There are visible signs that Sharif, still under army custody, would be tried in various cases in the Field General Court Martial FGCM though a final decision was yet to be taken by the military high-ups, The News said quoting officials.

quot;His case is fit to be taken up by the FGCM,quot; a senior official was quoted as saying. He, however, said no decision has so farbeen taken to that effect.