Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee stepped up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to act against those behind last month's Mumbai terrorist attacks amid reports Pakistan is redeploying troops to its border with India, Bloomberg reported.
Mukherjee said he has spoken to several foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Yang Jiechi of China and Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki since Dec. 25 to persuade their governments to ask Pakistan to tackle terrorist groups. Pakistan is seeking to whip up war hysteria, Mukherjee said in New Delhi yesterday.
"Instead of diverting attention from the real issue, they should concentrate on how to fight against terrorism and bring to book the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack," he said.
Pakistani troops are being diverted from tribal areas near Afghanistan to the border with India, the Associated Press reported, citing Pakistani intelligence officials and a reporter in South Waziristan who saw 40 truckloads of troops being moved away from the Afghan border. The Pakistan army's 14th division is being sent to the towns of Kasur and Sialkot, AP said.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in televised comments that any strikes within the country by India would be met with immediate retaliation. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said Pakistan's military is prepared to defend the country along all its borders, Dawn News television reported.
The country put troops along its eastern border on "high alert" and canceled soldiers' leave until April, Dawn reported, citing military officials it didn't name.