LAHORE: While shifting thousands of the Pakistani troops from the trouble-ridden Pak-Afghan border to Indo-Pak border, the decision makers in Islamabad have informed a worried Washington that Pakistan was left with no other option but to relocate its troops after the failure of the Bush administration to play a role in defusing the Indo-Pak tension which is escalating with each passing day as a result of India hostile posture.
According to well placed foreign office sources, the message was conveyed to the Americans in the wake of some grave concerns expressed by some high ranking US officials in Pakistan over Islamabad’s decision to pull out its troops from the western border. The sources said the troops are being redeployed on a significant scale and they are not meant only to send a message either to the Americans or the Indians. The sources said that Pakistan could no more risk its own security by keeping its forces on the Pak-Afghan border when the Americans are not in a position to prevail upon the Indian establishment and stop its ‘hegemonious’ designs. Already, the sources said, there is a growing anti-Amerifcan sentiment building up across Pakistanm, apart from the resentment toward Indian efforts to build up pressure on Pakistan?
Asked as to how many troops are being relocated from the Pak-Afghan border to the Indo-Pak borders, the military sources in Rawalpindi said that almost 40 per cent of the 80,0000 troops are being shifted from the country’s western borders. They added that the remaining 60 per cent troops would continue to guard the Pak-Afghan border besides continuing military operations against Taliban-linked militants in the troubled areas of tribal region and would not be pulled back. The sources, however, added that if the Indian military build up along the Indo-Pak border continues, 20 percent more Pakistani troops could be shifted from the western borders in a short span of one week.
Giving details of the Pakistani troops’ deployment on the Indo-Pak border, the military sources said that two units of the Army have been gradually withdrawn from Lower Dir district bordering the restive Bajaur Agency and Afghanistan’s Kunar province while troops have also been pulled out of South Waziristan. The troops withdrawn from Lower Dir were not involved in any military operations and had been deployed there for back-up support. The official sources said some of the troops pulled out of the tribal areas were based in snow-bound areas where no fighting could take place at this time of the year.
The sources added that the 10th Brigade of the Pakistan Army has been deployed to Lahore, the 3rd Armoured Brigade of the Army had been ordered to march towards Jhelum, while the 10th and 11th divisions have been put on high alert and troops have been stationed in the Rajauri and Poonch sectors of Kashmir. To a question, the sources said full mobilisation in the case of Pakistan was an exercise faster and easier than India because of shorter internal lines. They added that this fact is obvious to India whose mobilisation during 2001-2002 found Pakistani troops deployed even before India had completed its own deployment.
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