India to Call Back Instructional Staff From Border

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 18, 2002

India to Call Back Instructional Staff From Border

In a sign of easing of tensions between India and Pakistan, Indian Army has decided to call back all instructional staff of major defense institutions deployed along the Indo-Pakistan border.

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In a sign of easing of tensions between India and Pakistan, Indian Army has decided to call back all instructional staff of major defense institutions deployed along the Indo-Pakistan border.

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), these instructional staff may go back in batches in four to eight weeks.

India and neighboring Pakistan reinforced their deployments along the border and the line of control in Kashmir following an attack on Indian parliament here last December.

Tense relations between the two countries were escalated last month after an attack on an Indian army bus, which pushed the two neighbors on the brink of war.

PTI quoted army officials in India-controlled Kashmir as sayingthat the situation along the border would be reviewed within the next two to three weeks and up to 30 percent of formation out of atotal number of some 700,000 troops might be allowed to go on leave.

However, spokeswoman of the External Affairs Ministry Nirupama Rao told the media in New Delhi on Monday that it was too early and premature to talk about military de-escalation along the border with Pakistan.

While acknowledging that there had been a "perceptible change" in Pakistan's attitude, Rao said, it had not provided New Delhi with "comfort of coming to the conclusion that this is a permanentshift in their position."

India had welcomed certain assurances made by Islamabad regarding stopping infiltration and dismantling infrastructure on terrorist outfits in Pakistan, Rao said.

"But we need to see, to verify and ascertain how best Pakistan translates these assurances into action on the ground. It is stilltoo early to form any definitive assessment in this regard," she added

On Sunday, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said there was no "perceptible" tension along the line of control in Kashmir despite Indian and Pakistani armies remaining in an eye-ball-to-eye-ball situation.

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