Defence Minister George Fernandes in answering a question at a press conference on Thursday declared that his ministry would make public photographs of Army troops repulsing Pakistani soldiers from posts occupied by them. This, he said, would clear the air following the claim made Gen Beg.

Gen Beg had claimed in an interview that he condoned the 1990 action of a Pakistani division commander in occupying some Indian posts on the LoC. This, according to information made available to The Indian Express, is only partially truthful.

There are certain LoC posts in the Kupwara region, say Defence Ministry sources, which the Indian troops vacate during the winter months. This, said the sources, was onaccount of difficulties posed by heavy snow in stocking and maintaining the supply lines to the posts. As part of an unwritten agreement, neither side is meant to occupy such vacated posts. But in 1990, Pakistan violated that understanding by moving two of its battalions into the area. And it took the effort of almost an entire Indian brigade to dislodge them from their positions, confirmed the sources.