PAKISTAN DEPLOYS MORE TROOPS

LAHORE- Pakistan has deployed "fresh troops" along the international border with India to protect "vital points" on the frontier, the Press Trust of India reported on Friday, citing Pakistani military sources.

• India's Defense Department has not denied the reports that Pakistan was moving a number of new brigades to the frontier in the Lahore sector.
• According to media reports, Pakistan Army's 10th Brigade has been moved to forward areas in Lahore and the 3rd Armored Brigade has been moved to Jhelum, and there has also been a heavy concentration of Indian troops on the border.
• There are also reports that Pakistan's Air Force has been put on high alert and is conducting aerial surveillance of the Chashma power plant and other sensitive sites amidst fears of a possible surgical strike by India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.
• Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh both recently ruled out a war between the two countries.
• India has requested Pakistan crack down on elements in the country linked to the Mumbai attacks that killed over 180 people.
• Pakistan has said it is waiting for India to submit evidence to go ahead with its probe into the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
• On the other hand, U.S. officials watched with growing concern Friday as reports suggested Pakistan was massing troops to the India border. Such a move raises double-barreled worries: A possible confrontation between two nuclear powers and a shift by the Pakistani military away from battling the Taliban along its western Afghan edge.
• "We hope that both sides will avoid taking steps that will unnecessarily raise tensions during these already tense times," said White House spokesmanGordon Johndroe.

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