Pakistan has urged India to scale down its troops deployed along the countries' common border in a bit to help defuse regional tension. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Tuesday that Islamabad had "two specific proposals," calling on India to de-activate its air bases and relocate its ground forces to "peacetime positions".
"This [meeting the requests made by Pakistan] will send a positive signal and reduce tensions in the region," he said.
"Dialogue is in the interest of both countries -- we should sit across the table and also use diplomatic channels" to resolve differences, Qureshi added.
Last week, media reports suggested that a possible 'surgical' strike by India on the headquarters and camps of LeT in Pakistan was imminent. Pakistani troops, on the other hand, reinforced some positions on the Line of Control in divided Kashmir and the towns of Kasur and Sialkot.
However, India has denied that any troop mobilization was taking place but said that the army was watching the situation closely.
Qureshi emphasized it was India and Pakistan's "duty" to maintain friendly relations "for the benefit of their peoples."
The minister said that Pakistan was prepared to cooperate with India in tracking down the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, a Press TV correspondent reported.
This is while US, British and Indian officials blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) for the Mumbai siege, which have provoked a sharp rise in hostile rhetoric between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
American and British intelligence officials believe that the LeT commander, Zaki al- Rahman Lakhvi, was the mastermind behind the Last Mumbai terror attacks that killed some 179 people.
Qureshi further added that Islamabad would help track down the attackers once India shared evidence with Pakistan.
The foreign minister concluded that the recent telephone contacts between the two countries civilian and military leaders would "help defuse the situation".
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