There is a sense of anticipation here in India as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf prepares to deliver possibly his biggest speech "that could change the course of relations between the two countries."
Foreign minister Jaswant Singh was huddled Thursday with officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to discuss the possible ramifications as well as response to the issues that are likely to be touched upon by Musharraf.
Among the issues that India will be keeping a watch on is the description of terrorist activities in Jammu & Kashmir as a 'freedom struggle,' possible action against the list of 20 terrorists that has been submitted to Pakistan by India and a further crackdown on terrorist organisations operating from Pakistan.
However, official sources in India say that Musharraf may again try to play to the Western gallery at the same time adopting his stiff stance against India, as he has been wont to do.
Officials point out that Musharraf is likely to play his double-faced game of appearing to be a "nice guy" to the Western world as well as adopting a completely different posture when it comes to India.
"The most recent example was the unexpected handshake by Musharraf done for the sake of the foreign media at the Saarc summit which India retorted to in kind when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said in his speech that such public gestures mean nothing if not followed up by concrete action," says an official at the ministry of external affairs.
"However, these tactics may backfire this time as there is a growing feeling in the international community that Musharraf is not doing enough to crack down on terrorism," said an official.
Musharraf has repeatedly said he is ready for talks with India, and this week dropped a crucial phrase from Pakistan's traditional Kashmir-linked vocabulary. The military leader said Monday that his country rejected all forms of terrorism, for the first time dropping the term "freedom fighters" that had been used for years to describe the militants in Kashmir.
Pressure has been building on Musharraf in the last week to come out more strongly against fundamentalist and terrorist organisations in Pakistan. US President George W Bush said this week that Musharraf should make a "clear statement that he is going to crack down on terror."
Home Minister L K Advani on a visit to the US asked Musharraf to take immediate and "decisive" action on the demands made by India to end cross-border terrorism even as US Secretary of State Colin Powell said there is room for additional work on part of the Pakistani president in this regard.
Jaswant Singh recently said that Pakistan was maintaining 'double standards' when it came to curbing terrorism.
There have been further statements from British Prime Minister Tony Blair that a political movement cannot justify acts of terror.
Given the build-up to this crucial
speech, it will not be easy for Musharraf to balance the pressures of domestic
and international politics, even with his panache of being media-savvy.