NEW DELHI, Aug 17: India on Sunday denied preparing for any military operation in held Kashmir and said its troop movement in the area was normal.

Denying an Islamabad report that there was increased movement of Indian army troops and “other related activities” in the Drass-Kargil sector of Kashmir, an Indian army spokesman said: “It is the normal pattern of troop activity during this period.”

“There is nothing unusual about it,” the spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

The Islamabad report had said on Saturday that Indian troops in Kashmir were preparing for a large scale military operation in Drass-Kargil area.

If executed the deployment “will adversely impact on the current thaw” in the India-Pakistan relations, the report said

The report quoting intelligence information from across the Line of Control, said restrictions were being imposed on civilian movement. But the Indian army spokesman said there were no such restrictions.—dpa