This time India will not let Pak get away: Pranab

Reacting sharply to a statement by the Pakistan Foreign Minister that India must shift its soldiers to peacetime positions, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said India has done nothing to escalate tension.

Mukherjee said that it was upto Pakistan to now act on terror. He said that India was willing to give Islamabad more evidence on the involvement of Pakistani nationals in the Mumbai terror attacks.

"It is not an India-Pakistan matter, but a matter of terrorism. Pakistan has to act. Following the UN resolution, it banned Jamaat ud Dawa, but it should ban its activities. Pakistan has to do this under this under the international law," he added.

The minister cited the example of Masood Azhar. "Hijacking took place in Kathmandu, exchange in Kandhar. How is he visible in Pakistan then? Your representative says we've placed him under arrest, then say he's untraceable. How's this possible? How's this happening?"

PTI adds: Earlier, Pakistan asked India to send "positive signals" by deactivating its forward air bases and relocating ground troops to peace time positions, saying it is ready to cooperate in probing Mumbai attacks and bringing perpetrators of the crime to justice.

"If the forward airbases activated by India are deactivated, it will be a very positive signal," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a brief address on state-run PTV.

Similarly, he proposed that ground forces which have been deployed to forward post should be relocated to peace time positions.

"This will be a positive signal and regional tensions will reduce," he said, adding a "good atmosphere will be created to take things forward."

Qureshi said there had been certain developments in the past 48 hours that "Pakistan thinks augur well for the situation".

One of these developments was External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's comment that India had not given Pakistan any ultimatum with regard to the Mumbai terror attacks, he said.

"Neighbours can't solve problems through ultimatums.

Problems can be solved only through dialogue in a peaceful atmosphere," Qureshi said.

Another positive development was the direct contact over the weekend between the Directors General of Military Operations of the two countries as this will also help reduce tensions, he said.

Qureshi said Pakistan would cooperate fully with India once it shared evidence and information regarding the Mumbai attacks.