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Pakistan amassing troops at Kutch border, says Malik

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

Army chief General V P Malik has confirmed a Pakistani military build-up along the international border in the Kutch region. The situation, however, is not alarming, he said.

General Malik told reporters in South Block yesterday that "some build-up was noticed" by the army in the Kutch area. "We are watching, monitoring the situation," he said.

The build-up has no link to President Bill Clinton's visit to India, he added.

On Tuesday, Defence Minister George Fernandes told reporters that there was a build-up of Pakistani forces in the Kutch region, but said there was no cause for alarm.

According to intelligence reports, Pakistan has withdrawn its paramilitary force, the Pakistan Rangers, from the Rann of Kutch and posted the 18 Infantry Division there. The 206 Infantry Brigade has also been moved into the area.

India and Pakistan dispute the maritime boundary in the region. And in August last year, a Pakistani naval Atlantique reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in Indian airspace by Indian Air Force jets, killing all 22 men on board.

In fact there are also intelligence reports that the Pakistani Army has positioned its latest T-80UD tanks in the region, after withdrawing its T-85 tanks. "There has been a complete change in the deployment profile in the region," a senior military source said.

Though Gen Malik did not elaborate on his statement, it is also believed that several hundred irregulars and some commandos of the Special Services Group are in the region.

The army chief was speaking after receiving the Trishna sailing expedition of the army's Corps of Engineers. The expedition had set a world record by going around the world in two years, from 1985-87.

In November 1999 they set off on a goodwill sailing expedition to all the countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation. The expedition was completed in March this year. Led by Brigadier T P S Chaudhary, the 12-member team included a woman and sailed to a variety of ports like Cochin, the Maldives, Phuket, Singapore, Port Blair and Goa, over the past 105 days.

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