Delhi, Oct 21.—In an apparent move to help to reduce the threat of war between India and Pakistan, Mr Nikolai Firyubin, the Soviet deputy Foreign Minister, will arrive here tomorrow on a visit which Indian officials said had been arranged at short notice.

The Government said today that Mr Firyubin would head a delegation of five coming here for “several days” for bilateral talks. But the announcement was viewed with scepticism by dipilomatic observers. They pointed out that India and Russia had recently held three rounds of talks.

Mr Firyubin will arrive only a dav before Mrs Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister, is to leave on a three-week tour of Western Europe and the United States.

Pakistani troops have penetrated the five-mile “demilitarized” zones separating India and East Pakistan, an authorized source said in Calcutta today. The movements were in violation of the Liaqat-Nehru pact which forbids either armies from entering the “neutral” zone, the source added.

Pakistani troops were reported to have dug trenches and transported light and heavy artillery within striking distance of Indian targets. Pakistani aircraft were said to be ready to lend support.

Shelling across the West Bengal border has already killed about 40 Indian civilians.

Pakistani infiltrators made today their eighth attempt in the past two months to blow up trains in the border state of Assam. A bomb caused a freight train to derail near Karimganj.—AP and Agence France Presse,

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Islamabad. Oct 21.—Pakistan has raised with the Soviet Union the question of Soviet propaganda against the country, the Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported today.
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