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Pakistan
Considers Moving More Troops to Borders
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“Our
top priority is our own security and defense,” said Musharraf. |
By
Asif Farooki, IOL Pakistan Correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
May 30 (IslamOnline) - Tensions between Pakistan and India rose to new
levels Thursday as Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he was
seriously considering moving more troops to the already highly tense
borders with India.
“We
are very seriously considering moving some elements out of these
[western borders] onto the east, if at all tensions remain as high as
they are now,” Musharraf told a joint news conference in Islamabad
after the agreement signing ceremony with Turkmen President Saparmurat
Niyazov and Afghan Interim leader Hamid Karzai for the construction of
a gas pipeline.
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Pakistani
army troops at a forward position near the tense border with
India
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There
are already more than one million troops in the tense Kashmir region,
which has caused three wars between India and Pakistan. Armed forces
from the two countries are facing each other along the eastern
disputed borders since December last when tensions between the two
countries rose to new levels. Heaviest mobilization of troops has
taken place during the last few months amid fears that even a small
incident can spark off a war.
“For
us our top priority is our own security and defense. If the situation
requires, we would like to use all our assets for the defense of the
country,” Musharraf said.
A
military statement issued earlier in the day said troops were on their
way from the western border with Afghanistan to the eastern border
with India. "A contingent of Pakistan troops commenced its
movement from the western border to reinforce Pakistan troops deployed
along the eastern border," said the statement read out on the
Pakistan Television.
But
Musharraf denied that the troops movement was already taking place.
“As for the question of troop movement from west to east comes in,
we have stalled the further induction of our assets on the western
fronts, but movement of the troops from west to east has not yet
started,” he added.
Musharraf
said the mediation by the international community was helping defuse
the tensions between the two countries. “There are indirect contacts
between our two countries through a third party. These contacts do
help and contribute in defusing tensions” he said.
Earlier,
the Presidents of Pakistan and Turkmenistan and Chairman of the
interim Afghan administration signed an agreement to begin the
construction of a gas pipeline. The three leaders agreed to launch a
feasibility study and look for ways to finance a 1,500-kilometer
(975-mile) gas link from Turkmenistan's Daulatabad gas field through
Afghanistan to the southwestern Pakistani port of Gawadar.
"This
communication will provide the shortest route for transporting
petrochemical resources from Central Asia to the Far East, Japan and
the West," Musharraf said at the signing ceremony. "With the
gradual return of peace and normalcy in Afghanistan, we are confident
that this project would be realized in the near future," he
added.
Musharraf,
Karzai, and Niyazov also discussed road and rail links and ways of
working together to boost trade.
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