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Pakistan on High Alert Over Troop Movements
ISLAMABAD, Oct 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Pakistan said Wednesday it had received reports of "threatening" Indian troop and air force movements, warning New Delhi it stood ready to repel any act of aggression, but India rejected the accusations entirely, news agencies said.
"This is a complete fabrication," foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said, and called on Islamabad to restrain its comments, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"We refute these statements in their totality... restraint should be exercised by spokesmen on Pakistani side."
Pakistani military spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi told a press conference earlier Wednesday, "We have information wherein India has moved some troops and relocated some air force assets which may prove to be a threat."
The announcement came just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell left New Delhi at the end of a two-day visit to India and Pakistan aimed at easing tensions between the two nuclear-capable rivals.
"The Pakistan armed forces are fully alive to the situation and are on a high state of alert, ready to foil any attempt at mischief or misadventure," Qureshi said.
"If any aggression or offensive action is taken against Pakistan, or Pakistan territory or Pakistan airspace, Pakistan reserves the right to respond appropriately."
Qureshi declined to give precise details of the troop deployments across Pakistan's eastern border with India, but said they were "obviously not rear-ward."
In New Delhi, a defense ministry spokesman rejected the Pakistani charges, saying military activities in forward areas were "routine".
An Indian Air Force source also rejected the assertions made by Islamabad, saying they were "absolute bollocks".
"There has been no such movement by us, mainly because there is no need to do so," a highly placed air force source said in New Delhi.
Troops have been mobilized, though, to prevent cross-border infiltration by "militants" from Pakistan, according to Indian military sources in Kashmir.
Indian troops have been placed on alert in the sectors of Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch in southern Kashmir to "thwart infiltration bids by armed mercenaries backed by Pakistani regulars," an official said.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting "cross-border terrorism," citing a number of Pakistan-based groups that engage in what Pakistan calls Kashmir's struggle for freedom. Pakistan says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri right to self-determination.
The escalation is sure to cause grave concern in Washington, which has been struggling to reconcile Indian and Pakistani rivalries in order to keep both countries firmly on board its international coalition against terrorism.
The difficulty of the U.S. task was compounded on Monday night when Indian artillery units shelled Pakistani positions across the Indian border, in what Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes described as a "punitive" action against Muslim activist bases in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Denouncing Fernandes' remarks as "irresponsible", Qureshi said they provided "cause for concern" in the context of the recent troop movements.
"It has been amply made clear by the government of Pakistan on more than one occasion that while world attention remains focused on events in Afghanistan, no one would be allowed to exploit this situation to undertake any hostile or belligerent action against Pakistan," he said.
Qureshi also warned India against viewing recent protests in Pakistan by Islamic activists opposed to the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan as a sign of internal unrest and national weakness.
"Let me assure the Indians that Pakistanis come together whenever a threat emanates against the country," he said.
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