NEW DELHI: India would withdraw its troops from the areas occupied during the war with Pakistan last December, Indian Foreign Minister Swaran Singh told the Lok Sabha here today [Sept 1]. Mr. Singh was making a statement on the most recent negotiations between Indian and Pakistan envoys. He announced that Pakistan would have to withdraw its troops from the areas in Kashmir seized in what he called surprise attacks after the war had ended.

New Delhi would also see to it that United Nations Observers no longer played a role in Kashmir as the war had changed the situation and it could now only be dealt with bilaterally, Mr. Swaran Singh said. At the same time Defence Minister Jagjiwan Ram told the Lok Sabha that any external military aid for Pakistan would endanger a lasting peace on the Sub-continent. Therefore, India was intently following reports that Pakistan`s CENTO partners (Turkey and Iran) were enabling Islamabad to rearm itself. News agencies [Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies in Karachi,] A Press release of the International Committee of the Red Cross ... issued here ...

said the Indian nationals, stranded in Pakistan during last December`s Indo-Pakistan war were authorised to go back to their country whenever they wanted.