ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: Pakistan expressed the hope on Saturday that despite massive deployment of Indian troops along the borders, situation would not be allowed to get out of hands.

Speaking at his daily press briefing, Aziz Ahmed Khan, the Foreign Office spokesman, however, admitted that deployment of Indian troops, which was perhaps more massive than ever before, had assumed a threatening posture compelling Pakistan to adopt a defensive stance to meet any eventuality.

But Pakistan, he said, remained steadfast in its resolve not to let the situation deteriorate and to maintain peace through bilateral negotiations.

He said the gesture of President Pervez Musharraf to shake hands with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the conclusion of his address to the inaugural session of the Saarc summit in Kathmandu on Saturday, signified Pakistan’s resolve to settle all issues and disputes with India peacefully by holding negotiations. Aziz Khan was responding to a reporter’s observation wondering what the handshake sought to convey to the opposite side in the present volatile situation on the borders.

The spokesman said the President’s gesture followed Islamabad’s consistent efforts since escalation of tensions after the Dec 13 attack on the Indian parliament building, that the matter could be resolved through talks.

The President had offered to India to let a joint or independent impartial investigation probe into the incident. On his part, the President unreservedly condemned the attack on the parliament and assured that Pakistan would examine and take action against the perpetrators of the attack in the light of evidence if furnished by New Delhi, he recalled.

Aziz Khan said that the international coalition’s action in Afghanistan would cease as soon as it was able to achieve its set objective against the terrorists training centres and camps operating under the former Taliban regime and its other sponsors.

He evaded a reporter’s request to comment on reported statement of British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he was going “to deliver” a strong message to South Asian rivals during his visit to Islamabad and Delhi, saying that Pakistan and Britain had close friendly relations and had been holding frequent mutual consultations.

He said that Mr Blair’s reported statement that Pakistan had a strong position on the Kashmir issue and its settlement was a welcome observation which, he hoped, would persuade other countries supporting international coalition against terrorism to extend support to the Kashmiri people to achieve their long-denied right to self-determination so that peace and stability returned to South Asia.