NEWS

Pak denies asking Indian troops for help

By K J M Varma in Rawalpindi
October 13, 2005 12:09 IST

The Pakistan army, on Thursday, termed as 'baseless and untrue' reports that Indian troops had crossed the Line of Control to help its soliders reconstruct bunkers damaged in Saturday's powerful quake.

"There is no question of Indian army crossing LoC to help rebuild bunkers. All our bunkers are safe and built to withstand artillery shells," Pakistan Defence Spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told reporters.

"Bunkers are robust and built to withstand all kinds of shocks and artillery. So there is no question of any damage to these installations," he said, adding the damage along the LoC on Pakistani side was less.

Defence sources in Srinagar said on Wednesday that Indian Army troops crossed the LoC near Aman Setu to help reconstruct a bunker of Pakistani soldiers at their request.

Pakistani soldiers guarding the Aman Setu on the PoK side sought help of their Indian counterparts to reconstruct their bunker which was damaged by the massive earthquake, they said.

On the 415 army casualties in the quake, Sultan said most of the casualties took place in army camps in places like Muzaffarbad, Bagh and Rawalakot but not at the LoC.

He also said that all nuclear facilities were safe and were kept in installations that could withstand powerful earthquakes and artillery shells.

Complete coverage: Tremors across borders

K J M Varma in Rawalpindi

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