Pressure mounts; Pak tones down war rhetoric

Islamabad, Dec 27: As international community increased pressure on Pakistan to bring down the war hysteria, Islamabad on Friday, Dec 26 called for de-escalation of tensions with its neighbouring country India.

This initiative came after a round of meetings was held between Salman Bashir, Pakistabn Foreign Minister and the envoys from several countries including India. Sources say that during his meeting with Satyabrata Pal, the Indian High Commissioner, Bashir reportedly emphasised the need for defusing the situation.

He met envoys of five permenant members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) including Japan, Germany, United States, Russia and the Britain separately in the foreign office in Islamabad before meeting Pal. Reports say that the Pak Foreign Minister had said that his nation is awaiting a response from India on its proposals regarding joint investigation into the Nov 26 Mumbai terror attacks.

Islamabad has also said that it wants to send a high-level delegation led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to New Delhi, to discuss the modalities for a joint probe and the sharing of evidence and information about the Mumbai attacks.

The meeting between Indian High Commissioner and Salman Bashir took place amidst the reports of movement of additional Pak troops to the eastern border in the wake of increasing tension with India. It is learnt that Pakistan have scaled down its combing operation on terrorist outfits in the North-West to send additional troops to the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu Kashmir and the international border. Also it has cancelled the leaves of all armed forces personnel.

However Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that his nation would not take any unprovoked action against India. He said, "the army has its role, and it is playing it. It is always prepared," when asked about the reports of army movements in the international border.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)