Brajesh met Aziz in Lahore to ensure the pitch isn’t queered

Clearly, despite the ongoing electoral process and despite Washington’s transformation of the region’s strategic environment by naming Pakistan as a ‘‘major non-Nato ally,’’ New Delhi is choosing to hold its peace.

It follows why India is downplaying Pakistani President Musharraf’s Tuesday night warning that he could pull out of the bilateral peace talks unless both sides made some progress by the time the two foreign ministers meet in July.

‘‘We have to move forward on Kashmir. We have to resolve it. Otherwise I am not responsible, I said that. I think everyone is clear, including the Indian leadership. Now more than that I have done my duty. Let us see what happens. Let us pray to god,’’ Musharraf said on a PTV current affairs programme on Tuesday.

‘‘If we do not move forward, I am not in the process. They know that. I told everyone absolutely unambiguously that if you think that I am here to sell Kashmir, you are talking to the wrong man,’’ he said.

There was no response from MEA spokesperson Navtej Sarna until late this evening.

External Affairs minister Yashwant Sinha is on his campaign trail while Foreign Secretary Shashank is in Berlin, participating in a donors conference on Afghanistan.

Despite the lack of a formal statement from the MEA today, New Delhi continues to keep a close watch on the unfolding Pakistan story, away from the limelight.

It seems the government is unwilling to upset the diplomatic applecart it so carefully put together in February by scheduling a series of talks on a variety of issues over the next few months.

The first, on April 9 in Islamabad, are the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus talks across the Line of Control, the resolution of which will give an indication of which way the wind is blowing in the two Foreign Offices. While New Delhi would like passengers on the bus to carry passports and visas, thereby formalising the status of the LoC, the Pakistani establishment continues to talk about UN documents for the same.

In April-May, experts from the two sides are also going to get together to discuss nuclear confidence-building measures, that are an updated version of the MoU signed in Lahore during Vajpayee’s visit in February 1999.

In May-June, the two Foreign Secretaries are likely to meet, possibly the first major foreign policy conversation to be undertaken by the new government. The month after in July, the two foreign ministers are scheduled to meet.

Analysts in Islamabad said that Musharraf’s statement was being made to push the talks process beyond the CBMs currently on the cards to include Kashmir. There is a strong feeling in Islamabad that New Delhi will ignore the real story, that is the Kashmir dispute, and instead buy time by focussing on people-to-people measures like bus and train links.

Clearly, too, his remarks were also aimed at silencing critics that he was ‘‘selling out’’ to New Delhi by agreeing to the CBM schedule decided in February, the analysts said.

According to one school, Musharraf may also be buying protection for himself with the militants, who will increasingly play a more public role when the snows melt in the summer and the passes to Kashmir open once again.

A Pakistani official said Musharraf was not setting a deadline but progress on Kashmir was essential.

‘‘If we do not move forward the whole process loses its meaning and significance,’’ said Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan. — (with agencies from Islamabad)