NEW DELHI, Oct. 19 — The armies of India and Pakistan are now confronting each other, along their borders.

Most Western diplomats here are inclined to believe that, at least in West Pakistan, the Pakistani troops moved up, first and that the Indians’ moved in’ response.

According to high Indian sources, the build‐up in West Pakistan began last month, and by last Thursday virtually all the infantry and armored divisions in West Pakistan were at or within striking distance of the border.

Some border’ area canals have been flooded as barriers, and Pakistani civilians have evacuated several border areas —some on orders from the army and others, on their own, out of panic, the sources say.

Some of the heaviest troop concentrations are reported to be at points where the Pakistanis crossed the Indian border in the three‐week war over Kashmir in 1965.

The border areas In East Pakistan, where it is believed there are four or five divisions, have also reportedly been strengthened.

The Indians are also said to have four or five divisions along their side of the border. President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan of Pakistan has charged that the Indians have eight divisions there.

In addition, the Pakistani troops in East Pakistan also have to cope with the increasingly effective Bengali guerrillas of the independence. movement, who are receiving arms, training and sanctuary in India.

An estimated total of nine and a half million East Pakistanis have fled to India since the Pakistan Army moved in March to crush the Bengali separatist movement.

India is believed to have positioned 12 or 13 divisions on the border with West Pakistan, about 1,000 miles from East Pakistan.

Here in New Delhi, no war hysteria or panic is evident, but some families are moving out of border areas and border towns have begun civil defense exercises, including blackouts.

Indian sources would not disclose the number of troops at the border except to say that “we are stronger than they are.”

“We're pretty well set now,” one key official said.

At a heavily attended news conference this morning, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was asked about the urgings of the great powers for restraint.

“It seems very simple and plausible to say Pakistan troops will withdraw,” she said. “But Pakistan has been escalating the situation — by putting troops all along the border, by their hate‐India campaign and by their call for a War of Jihad [holy war]. This is not a one‐sided matter. You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.”

“As you know,” she said, “everybody admires our restraint. We get the verbal praise, and the others, who are not restrained, get arms support.”

This was an apparent. reference to the continuation of some arms shipment to Pakistan by the United States.

Mrs. Gandhi was also asked about the report from the official Pakistani news agency that President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan had offered to pull his troops back from the border if India would do the same.