Where’s question of de-escalation: Mukherjee to Pak

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee says India will provide evidence of 26/11 attacks to Pakistan but they will have to act on it in a credible manner. See special

India has not engaged in escalation, so where is the question of de-escalation? That was external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee’s response to his Pakistani colleague Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s suggestion that India should bring down the military temperature.

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“We have not escalated anything,” Mukherjee said on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Qureshi, in a policy statement broadcast live on local television, said, “India should de-activate its forward air bases and relocate its ground forces to peacetime positions…this will send a positive signal and reduce tensions in the region.”

Mukherjee said any Indian troop movements near the border were part of a “normal winter exercise”.