Pakistan threatened to redeploy troops from the Afghan border to the plains facing India, as charges escalated that terrorists who attacked Bombay planned and trained on Pakistani soil.
Pakistan continued to deny the charges and President Bush sought to defuse tensions, pledging U.S. help in the investigation during a telephone call to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The president also dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to India. Miss Rice and Mr. Bush wanted an opportunity “to express the condolences of the American government directly to the Indian government and the Indian people,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told the Associated Press.
Nasir Khan and Sara A. Carter
The Washington Times
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters after an emergency Cabinet meeting in Islamabad that Pakistani forces were prepared to defend the country at all costs.
“We do not have to be defensive and we are not defensive as Pakistan is not involved in this incident,” Mr. Qureshi said. “Our hands are clean. There is nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of.”
Indian officials have avoided accusing the Pakistani government of complicity in the attack.
Related:
Mumbai Terror Strike: India’s Government to Fall?
and
Pakistan’s Government Surrounded by Terrorists, U.S., Indian and Internal Pressure
Read the rest:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008
/dec/01/pakistan-warns-india-of-troop-
redeployment/
