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No advance notice about
military exercise, says Pak

K J M Varma in Islamabad

Pakistan on Wednesday denied India had given advance information about its military exercise scheduled to begin in Rajasthan, but New Delhi rubbished the claim maintaining that notice had been given to Islamabad about it.

Pakistan foreign office in a statement said Islamabad had not received any "proper" notice from India about the exercises by a corps-level force of the Indian Army.

It said the statement by the Indian Defence Ministry on April 30 that India had given advance notice to Pakistan of its plans to hold the corps-level exercise was not correct.

Senior officials in Pakistan said India informed the Pakistan military officials over the hotline on April 17 that the Indian Army would conduct two separate division-size exercises with support from its Air Force in mid-May in the general areas of Bikaner and Hoshiarpur and would remain 90 to 150 km from the international border.

"Under the Pakistan-Indian Agreement on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movement of 1991, each side is required to give advance notice to the other side of all exercises at corps level within a distance of 75 km from the international boundary," the Pakistan statement said.

This notice should be given in writing through diplomatic channels and must be sent 60 days in advance, it added.

Today's reaction by Pakistan was contrary to sentiments expressed by military spokesman General Rashid Qureshi who said Pakistan was not unduly worried by India's military exercises as "they are routine and normal in nature."

PTI

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