Washington: With India deploying a majority of its troops in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan's former Chief of Army Staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg believes Islamabad will always have an edge over New Delhi in the event of war breaking out again between the two countries.

"Out of the 370 battalions maintained by India, 210 are committed in Kashmir, and as such, it did not have the capability of pre-empting Pakistan. While it would take India nine to 10 days to mobilise its Army in the event of war with Pakistan, it would take Pakistan no more than four days to do so," Beg told participants at a lecture organised by the Brookings Institution in Washington on July 31.

According to a report in the 'Daily Times', Beg said that in conventional terms there was a balance between the two countries.

"Although India had a much larger Army, Navy and Air Force, Pakistan is perfectly capable of defending itself, and India does not have the ability to overrun Pakistan or break it into two, threats that were sometimes made," he added.

Dismissing press reports that said Pakistan's nuclear assets were not secure and open to the risk of falling into the hands of extremists, he said, "There could be no question of Pakistan's nuclear assets falling into the wrong hands."

He also allayed fears of any war breaking out between India and Pakistan in near future.

About the continuing insurgency in Kashmir, Beg rejected the view that it was being carried out by non- Kashmiris. He said 60 per cent of those who had taken up arms against India were Kashmiris. "The rest are people from 'Azad Kashmir', some Pakistanis and international 'jihadis' numbering around 60,000," he added.

"They are a high mobility force to reckon with, hailing from 40 different countries," he added.

Pakistan was least interested in curbing cross-border terrorism into India. "Nobody, least of all Pakistan, could stop the freedom fighters from operating in Kashmir, and there would be no let-up to the armed struggle in India-held areas," Beg said.

The Kashmir issue could not be resolved without the active involvement of Kashmiris, he said, while parrying a question on whether it was in the Pakistan Army's interest to keep the Kashmir problem unresolved.

ANI