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No sign of withdrawal of troops, says India

India today said there was no sign on the ground to show that the Pakistan army and intruders were withdrawing from the positions occupied by them on the Indian side of the Line of Control even two days after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief committed himself to the inviolability of the LoC. ''We don't have any evidence of Pakistan forces or extremist elements under its administrative control withdrawing from pockets of intrusion,'' an external affairs ministry spokesman said.

Asked how the Pakistani withdrawal would be effected and whether any safe passage would be provided to the intruders, he said: ''There is no such proposal under consideration... It is for the Pakistanis to decide how to return to their side of the LoC''.

The spokesman said India had today lodged a very strong protest with Pakistan, both in Islamabad and in New Delhi, over the abduction and assault of an Indian high commission official Yograj Vij yesterday.

Pakistan had been told that there was a consistent pattern of assaulting Indian high commission personnel during the past three years. Vij and his wife were attacked in a ''pre-meditated manner.''

The spokesman said India had demanded that Pakistan take all necessary measures to ensure that such ''reprehensible incident'' did not recur. On Pakistan allegation that two of its high commission officials were kidnapped and illegally detained by Indian intelligence operatives last night, he said, ''They have not been taken into custody.'' He said India had always abided by the Geneva Convention and the bilateral code of conduct for diplomats. It was Pakistan which had been indulging in ''abusive behaviour'' against Indian high commission officials in Islamabad, he added.

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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