ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: In a clear depart from the traditional tit-for-tat response, Pakistan on Friday decided not to recall its High Commissioner from New Delhi as done by India.

“The Government of Pakistan regrets the decision of the Government of India to withdraw its High Commissioner from Islamabad. Pakistan does not intend to respond in kind,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Friday evening.

“Indeed the Government of Pakistan feels that in the prevailing tense situation it is all the more important to keep all channels of communications open,” it said.

The Foreign Office also regretted the Indian decision to terminate the rail and bus services with Pakistan. This step would only serve to create hardships for common people desirous of travelling between the two countries.

The Foreign Office rejected the Indian allegation of continued promotion of cross-border terrorism by Pakistan.

It reminded India that Pakistan had asked for credible evidence about involvement of Pakistan-based groups and individuals for investigation and appropriate action by the government.

Pakistan, it maintained, had also offered to participate in a joint inquiry with India to ascertain true motives and identities of perpetrators of the terrorist incident.

“Regrettably the Indian government has consistently declined these proposals,” it noted.

Pakistan would preserve its policy of restraint and would continue to work for the lowering of tensions with India, it added.

In a separate statement, a Foreign Office spokesman expressed serious concern over reports of massive troop movements by India along the Pakistan-India border in the Sindh-Rajasthan sector as well as in the Chenab-Ravi corridor and along the LoC in Kashmir.

The spokesman said that the Indian troop movements, which followed provocative and threatening statements by Indian leadership, would aggravate an already tense situation in the region.

Naturally Pakistan would be obliged to take all appropriate counter measures, he added.

Earlier, the spokesman disclosed that Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi was summoned to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and informed that according to Indian agencies all the five terrorists involved in the attack on the Indian Parliament on Dec 13 were Pakistan nationals.

A request was accordingly made to the Government of Pakistan to receive the bodies for burial in Pakistan, it said.

The Indian side was told that considering the inherently biased attitude of Indian agencies any unilateral determination regarding the identity of these individuals was unacceptable to Pakistan, it added.

The Indian government, it maintained, was once again asked to provide credible evidence about any involvement of Pakistan-based groups and individuals for investigation and appropriate action by the government of Pakistan.

Pakistan has also offered to participate in a joint inquiry with India to unmask the motives and real identities of the perpetrators of the terrorist incident. Regrettably, the Indian government had turned down this reasonable proposal, it said.

The Deputy High Commissioner urged the Indian government to reconsider Pakistan’s proposal for an impartial inquiry into the incident and resist the temptation to use this reprehensible incident to placate domestic lobbies, it added.