From Our Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI: Tension heightened by Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman claiming no deadline for withdrawals from Kargil eased with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said disengagement of Indian forces and Mujahideen in Kashmir will be completed by Friday, as the process is continuing smoothly and accordingly.

Pakistan daily "The News" said Sharif made this announcement just towards the end of the federal cabinet meeting after informing his colleagues about the disengagement agreed to between the senior military officials of the two countries. "We have taken certain steps to de-escalate the situation," said the prime minister.

Foreign Office spokesman Tariq Altaf has been claiming for the past two days that the deadline of Friday morning was only for vacation of positions in Mushkoh valley while withdrawals would follow from other areas of Kargil as per the agreed schedule.

Spokesman Tariq Altaf told a news briefing that Indian DG Military Operations informed on Tuesday that India was in possession of three bodies but was now demanding that Pakistan should own them irrespective of their identification.

They have started playing games with bodies, which is highly regrettable and callous, the spokesman said, stressing the bodies be handed over to Pakistan for identification which can only take place in Pakistan. The names communicated to Pakistan include Captain Imtiaz, Major Iqbal and Captain Karmal Sher.

Pakistan, the spokesman said, contacted the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) but New Delhi is making demands through the ICRC that Pakistan should make a note verbal that they are our bodies. It is likely that are of Pakistani soldiers and there is possibility at the same time that they are not, he said, adding that Pakistan Army has reported that some personnel including a patrol have been missing. The humanitarian part of the episode is that they should be handed over to us, he urged.

The FO spokesman said the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi has contacted the Indian External Affairs Ministry and asked them to hand over these bodies for identification. But Indians are playing games for ulterior motives which is very sad and highly regrettable. Tariq Altaf hoped that India would stop playing games with these bodies.

He said the bodies should have been handed over to Pakistan at the LoC in a flag meeting instead of their bodies being flown to New Delhi. Our apprehensions are that they are trying to prove a certain propaganda point, the spokesman told a questioner.

The spokesman said that Line of Control (LoC) is nothing more than a temporary line delineated in terms of Simla Agreement which commits India to a final settlement of the Kashmir dispute. Any attempt to infuse a new meaning, colour, definition or insinuation to LoC is absolutely out of place, Tariq Altaf said. LoC is nothing more than a line having impermanent nature, he added. END.