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According to Pakistan media reports, the Indian government is likely to pull back troops from what they call ‘wartime positions’ to which the troops were moved at the working boundary with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. The decision to withdraw troops is among the first substantial overture since India and Pakistan resumed peace talks following the terror strike in 2008 which killed more than 160 people, including foreigners, reports The Express Tribune. Pakistani officials claimed that in July 2008, the Indian government had mobilised troops to take wartime positions at the ‘working boundary’ with Pakistan immediately after terrorists launched commando-style attacks in the heart of Indian commercial capital of Mumbai. The term working boundary, it is interpreted, relates to the disputed border, particularly in Kashmir . India had blamed the attacks on Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a group based in Pakistan . Pakistan military and diplomatic officials have said the two nations had reached an understanding on this during last month’s visit to New Delhi by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, reports the paper. A formal announcement in this regard, they added, was likely when the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh visits Islamabad , possibly during the latter half of this year. A senior military official said though troops were mobilised by India , there wasn’t any serious tension at the border like in 2002 after an attack on the Indian parliament, also blamed on a group based in Pakistan . Defence experts argue the move will provide Pakistan a space to deploy more troops in the north of the country where the military is busy fighting Al-Qaeda and the homegrown Taliban. Besides pulling back troops, ‘major announcements’ are also expected on Siachen, the disputed glacier in the Himalayas known as world’s highest battlefield, and Sir Creek, an un-demarcated stretch of coastline dotted with small islands, officials said.

Is Indian troop pullback by year-end in offing?