Pakistan, India agree to withdraw troops by end May: security official

TDT | Islamabad

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Pakistan and India have agreed to withdraw troop reinforcements deployed during their recent conflict back to their peacetime positions by the end of May, a senior Pakistani security official told AFP yesterday.

“Troops will be withdrawn to pre-conflict positions by the end of May,” the senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The official said both countries agreed a phased withdrawal of the additional troops and weaponry deployed, mostly on the already heavily militarised de facto border in Kashmir, known as the Line of Control (LoC). It comes after the Indian army last week said both sides agreed to take “immediate measures to ensure troop reduction from the borders and forward areas”.

“All of these steps were initially planned to be completed within 10 days, but minor issues caused delays,” the Pakistani official added.

Border ceremony to resume 

India said yesterday it would resume a daily border ceremony with neighbouring Pakistan which it briefly halted earlier this month following the most serious conflict between the nuclear armed arch-rivals for decades.

India’s Border Security force said the sunset ceremony on its side would be open to the media on Tuesday and to the general public on Wednesday at the Attari-Wagah land border in the northern state of Punjab.

Pakistan said it never stopped the ceremony, with its troops marching on its side of the border alone