India has come under unexpected pressure from the US; NDTV has learnt that the Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon has been told that it’s India, and not Pakistan that should make the first moves towards restoring peace.
The US has asked India to pullback troops from the Pakistan border.
Outraged, India has told US that Pakistan is responsible for tension between the two countries. India has also told the US that it hadn’t deployed extra troops after the Mumbai attacks. Rather it was Pakistan which has sent thousands of troops.
However, India on Thursday also clarified the Mumbai terror attacks had nothing to do with its relationship with Pakistan.
But External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that India still believes terrorists used Pakistani soil and infrastructure in that country to launch the 26/11 attacks.
The reason for the latest US move is that President Barack Obama is gearing up to launch a bigger military offensive in Afghanistan.
For this, he needs more Pakistani troops to help along the volatile Afghan-Pakistan border, troops, which Islamabad moved to the Indian border.
It’s obvious that America has its own compulsions at this point that have led it to put pressure on India in this manner.
