Armitage and Rocca on way to subcontinent

This comes after External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and the US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrested the downturn in Indo-US relations in their telephone interaction yesterday. The conversation did some repairwork with both Sinha and Powell using their personal equation to tide over differences in perception following bouts of public diplomacy from both sides during the past few weeks.

Armitage was instrumental in extracting the commitment from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on June 6, 2002, to end infiltration and uproot terrorist camps functioning from Pakistan.

Talks between Mishra and top US officials during the former’s visit will be an attempt to iron out differences in perception, particularly in the context of the joint statement issued by Powell and British Foreign Minister Jack Straw on March 27.

The statement, while condemning terrorism in all its forms, urges Pakistan to ‘‘do its utmost to discourage any acts of violence by militants in Jammu and Kashmir.’’ New Delhi feels that Islamabad should be pressured to use its clout on those functioning outside the democratic framework in the State like the All Party Hurriyat Conference.

The Anglo-American position calls for respecting the LoC and asks Pakistan to ‘‘fulfill its commitments to stop infiltration”. India has always understood the economy of terror in J-K on a broader canvass of cross-border terrorism. While the word infiltration is confined to militants smuggling across the LoC, cross-border terrorism encompasses the Pak-sponsored infrastructure which makes it possible to consistently reproduce violence in J-K. On a prescriptive note, the joint statement asks both countries to implement a “ceasefire” at the earliest.