US Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit India and Pakistan next week amid realisation here that tensions in the region are not about to abate.
Hopes that Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf would meet all round expectations by acting on terrorism in all forms on all fronts are being whittled down following indications from Islamabad that it will continue its Kashmir offensive.
Visiting Home Minister LK Advani has also made it clear that as long as Pakistan maintains that strategy, it leaves India with no option but to maintain pressure on the border and be ready for retaliation in the event of another terrorist attack.
Given such a stand-off, Powell, who has been on the phone with Musharraf almost daily, has now decided to give personal diplomacy a shot. The Secretary of State decided to go himself after New Delhi make it known it was averse to a special envoy of emissary.
Following talks with Advani at the State Department, Powell said he would visit India and Pakistan, and perhaps other places in the region, "to consult with my colleagues in those two countries and see if I can make a further contribution toward resolving the situation that currently exists."
The Powell-Advani talks saw an almost total convergence of views on what constituted terrorism and US recognition of the situation - including the mounting domestic public pressure - India was facing. But the two sides continued to differ on Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf, his compulsions, and what he could deliver.
Powell argued that Musharraf was making a strategic change in Pakistani foreign policy post-September 11. But Advani countered that it was merely tactical and opportunistic switch, as any reading of his utterances, especially with regard to the issue Jammu and Kashmir, would indicate.
In his post-September 11 speech, Musharraf quoted Islamic scriptures to announce support to Washington's war on terrorism not on grounds of conviction, but because the US was "lesser of the two evils" and "sometimes one has to sup with the devil."
The home minister also listed out what he called Pakistan's "betrayals" in response to India's peace overtures, and later, at a press conference, said, "We shall not take another betrayal this time around."
At the same time, Advani also sought to disabuse the perception here that India was taking an aggressive position and there was danger of a nuclear war. He reminded an agitated American questioner that India had a policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons and it would not give up that responsible position.
Powell, a great supporter of Musharraf who has been relentlessly praising him in public and pressuring him privately, now appears to be veering around to the view that Pakistan is not about to give up on its terror campaign against India although it is meeting all of Washington's benchmarks.
Powell will be in India around January 16 en route to an Afghan conference in Tokyo, just about the time Defence Minister George Fernandes, who has publicly criticised the lack of US responsiveness to India's concerns, leaves for Washington for talks with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the US military establishment.
Comments and statements by leaders
and officials on both sides show a refreshing candour and respect for each
others position despite some differences.