ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 15 June — Pakistan has pulled back its warships from high-alert positions in the Arabian Sea after the Indian Navy withdrew from the area, a military spokesman told AFP yesterday.
In New Delhi, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told reporters yesterday that Indian and US defense officials will study the possibility of placing electronic sensors along India’s border with Pakistan in disputed Kashmir to monitor infiltration of militants.
He said no decision had been taken whether to install the sensors and officials would only conduct a technical study now.
He gave no time frame for the study, saying it was a “matter that will be discussed between the (Indian) Ministry of Defense and the government of the United States of America...the technical parts of it”.
Singh said he did not “find it necessary” to react to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s statement that New Delhi’s moves to defuse tensions were not “substantial”.
He said India was willing to hold talks with Pakistan as suggested by Rumsfeld, but Pakistan should first create an atmosphere conducive to talks by cracking down on militants.
A government statement said in Islamabad India’s acting high commissioner was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and informed of the government’s decision to withdraw warships.
“Pakistan Navy had moved its assets to forward position because of the Indian posture and now they are returning to their peace-time locations,” the statement said.
The move came after India announced yesterday it had returned around 20 ships to base from near Pakistani waters following an easing of tensions between the nuclear-armed powers.
In an earlier statement the Pakistan Navy said it was “fully alert and alive to the present situation and knows its responsibility in safeguarding the sea frontier of the motherland”.
“Pakistan always wants peace in the region and good relation with the neighboring countries but our ambition for peace should not be regarded as weakness,” chief of naval staff Adm. Abdul Aziz Mirza said in the statement.
