ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: Pakistan on Wednesday denied reports from India that it had withdrawn tens of thousands of troops from the border to deploy them against militants in its tribal areas.
Military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad said that Pakistan did not station troops along the recognised international border with India during peacetime.
But he said Pakistan did have troops deployed on the Line of Control, as well as on the Siachen glacier.
“Not a single soldier had been pulled back from these two deployments,” he said.
An Indian defence ministry official claimed on Wednesday that Pakistan’s troop numbers along the frontier had hit an “all-time low” during the summer as soldiers were sent to the NWFP.
“Our estimates are based on tested intelligence inputs from within Pakistan and feedbacks from our watch on their frontier assets,” added an intelligence official. India’s military establishment estimates the redeployment has left “gaping holes” in Pakistan’s eastern flank.—AFP
