New Delhi and Islamabad appeared to have reached an understanding during President Zardari's last visit to India. The decision is expected to be announced during the Indian PM's visit to Pakistan later this year. Troop redeployment would be the first overture since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - India could pull back troops from wartime positions, deployed on the border with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. The two nuclear-armed nations appeared to have reached an understanding during President Asif Ali Zardari visit to New Delhi on 8 April, Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune reported, citing military and diplomatic sources. A formal announcement should come when the Indian prime minister visits Islamabad later this year.

Troop withdrawal to peacetime positions is among the first substantial overtures since India and Pakistan resumed peace talks.

Usually, Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) and Pakistan's Rangers patrol the border. In November 2008, after the Mumbai attacks killed 166 people, the Indian government replaced the BSFs with regular troops, as diplomatic relations chilled.

Indian intelligence blamed the terrorist operations on Lashkar-e-Toiba, a group linked to Pakistani intelligence, a claim Pakistani authorities have always denied.

Even when the lone gunman Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, who is in Indian custody, testified to this involvement, Pakistan refused to admit responsibility. Instead, it asked for Qasab's extraction.

On 13 July of last year (Qasab's birthday), three explosions in Mumbai raised the spectre of 2008.

President Zardari and his prime minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, immediately condemned the incidents.

• india
• pakistan
• border
• troops
• mumbai
• 2008
• attacks