Islamabad: Pakistan said on October 22 it would not start its pledged withdrawal of
troops from its Eastern border with India until New Delhi made the first move.
"India has to start first," military spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi said.
"Pakistan is waiting for India, obviously. They are the ones who concentrated their
troops on the border first. We didn't do it, it's the Indians who did it."
Islamabad announced on October 17 that it would match New Delhi's decision a day
earlier to pull hundreds of thousands of troops back from the international border
after a tense 10-month deployment, which saw the two countries teeter on the brink
of war.
"It's India who decided to put troops there, this distinction should be made,"
Qureshi said.
"The Indians are responsible (for the troop build-up). They aggravated the
situation, they put their troops on the borders, Pakistan didn't do that. We just
did whatever was required for our defence."
Qureshi said on October 21 Pakistan would withdraw all its forces from the
internationally-recognised border, without specifying numbers. Pakistan is
understood to have around 300,000 troops along the LoC and international border.
