India has advised its citizens against travelling to Pakistan as tension continues in the wake of last month’s deadly attacks in Mumbai.
India’s foreign ministry said travel was “unsafe” after reports Indians had been detained following recent bomb attacks in Pakistani cities.
Pakistani officials say the tension has meant scaling down military operations against militants and redeploying east.
The attacks on several targets in Mumbai left more than 170 people dead.
India blames militant groups based in Pakistan for the attacks. They and Pakistan’s government deny any involvement.
Redeployment
The Indian foreign ministry statement follows recent bombings in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Multan.
One woman was killed and four people injured on Wednesday in Lahore.
Media reports said a number of Indians were detained although this has not been officially confirmed.
Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in Delhi there were reports the Indians were “being accused of being terrorists”.
“Indian citizens are therefore advised that it would be unsafe for them to travel or be in Pakistan.”
Earlier Pakistani officials said some “unannounced changes” had been made in the deployment of troops after Indian jets violated Pakistani air space on 12 December.
Air strikes against militants in the restive Swat and Bajaur regions had been scaled down as some of the airpower had to be redeployed to the country’s eastern border, a senior Pakistani military official told Asif Farooqi, the Islamabad-based correspondent of the BBC Urdu service.
There have been reports of possible “surgical” strikes by India on the headquarters and camps of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group India blames for the Mumbai attacks.
The number of Pakistan troops redeployed has not been confirmed but media reports say the Line of Control in divided Kashmir and the towns of Kasur and Sialkot are being reinforced.
The Pakistani military has postponed an impending ground operation against militants in the Khyber tribal region.
Militants based in Khyber have destroyed dozens of trucks carrying supplies for Nato troops in Afghanistan during the past few weeks.
The BBC’s Barbara Plett in Islamabad says both countries have stressed they do not want war but are prepared to defend themselves if provoked.
Courtesy: news.bbc.co.uk
