NEW DELHI, Oct 21: India said on Monday that troops massed on the border with Pakistan since December, would start pulling back in about 10 days after arrangements for a phased withdrawal were in place.
“It will take eight to 10 days before the formal redeployment starts,” an Indian army spokesman told Reuters. “These things take time. De-mining has to be done, we have to deactivate the forward bunkers. Troops cannot suddenly start coming back leaving everything there,” he said.
Military officials said the withdrawal of troops would take six to eight weeks, and many months to clear mines from farm fields along the border.
“It took us three weeks to deploy, and that is after everything was given to us on a priority basis. It will take much longer to re-deploy, special trains, convoys have to be arranged,” another Indian army official said.
Meanwhile, senior Indian army and air force officials congregated here on Monday to discuss the modalities of withdrawing troops.
Massive logistical details must be worked out to pull back heavy artillery and tanks before handing over control of the border regions to the paramilitary Border Security Force, the army said in a statement.
Air Force officials said extra squadrons stationed in border areas would return to pre-December air commands after withdrawal logistics were hammered out.
Star News television reported meetings were expected to go on for many days.
India and Pakistan said last week they would move tens of thousands of troops to peacetime locations, but not those on the Line of Control.
The move signalled an end to the biggest and longest deployment of weary soldiers in the region since independence, but left the two nations still poles apart on Kashmir.
India amassed more than 500,000 troops to the Pakistan frontier, stretching from occupied Kashmir to the Arabian sea, after the parliament was attacked in Delhi in December by what it alleged were Pakistan-based guerillas.
Islamabad denied the charge and moved its forces up in response. India’s decision to withdraw forces came shortly after it concluded so-called elections in the Valley.—Agencies