US puts money to Musharraf’s mouth

‘‘(There is a) commitment to the US by Musharraf to end permanently, cross-border, cross-LoC infilration,’’ Armitage said.

Significantly, Armitage also requested New Delhi to take ‘‘reciprocal, de-escalatory steps,’’ which he said would encourage Musharraf to keep his end of the bargain. New Delhi is said to have responded positively to this request and is expected to revoke some diplomatic measures before US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrives in the capital on Tuesday night.

These will possibly include, seeking an agreement for a new Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, allowing flights over India as well as resizing the strength of the Indian mission. People-to-people contacts like revoking the ban on air and train links is expected to take some more time, the sources said.

There could have been no blunter message for Musharraf. The US diplomat had earlier said the same thing, in very private meetings all day with his Indian interlocutors—External Affairs minister Jaswant Singh, Home Minister L K Advani, Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra—whom, he said, he had briefed on the ‘‘tone, tenor and content’’ of his talks with Musharraf.

But this evening’s bounty was unexpected. Government sources here conceded they were ‘‘surprised’ that Armitage had chosen to go very public and in full view of the television cameras about the General’s assurances, especially since he had not said the same things in Islamabad.

Sources in New Delhi, just short of euphoric about Armitage’s announcement, pointed out that they had reason to ‘‘believe Musharraf’s assurances to the US, even if he goes back to his promises to India.’’ It seemed, suddenly, that the war-related tension, in the air since the attack at Kaluchak on May 14 had vanished into thin air.

Armitage, in fact, seemed to be reading today from a script that had been prepared by the Indian government. He ruled out international monitors on teh LoC, debunked any idea of a ‘‘helicopter borne force’’ that had been put out by a British newspaper yesterday and privately agreed with New Delhi that the US would share information and intelligence on infiltration.

Jaswant Singh, meanwhile, softened his own approach to the idea of joint patrolling, admitting that it’s not as if ‘‘joint patrolling is going to be established tomorrow. It is an answer to the problem. It is evolutionary and that is why one should work towards it,’’ he said.

Armitage’s interventions seem to have so pleased New Delhi that it seems quite ready to adopt, in conjunction with the US, a step-by-step approach to the whole issue. In fact, the ‘‘We believe Armitage’’ line says it all.

For example, the government accepts that ending infiltration will be followed by an Indian de-escalatory response. The second step would be to get people in shelters or launching pads across the LoC in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to withdraw from their positions. Only then need Musharraf take action to dismantle the training camps deeper inside Pakistani territory.

Meanwhile, as if a US commitment to India today that infiltration was finally going to be stopped was not enough, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated in Moscow that Musharraf had not been invited for a visit to Russia.

But there was more. The blunt statement, yet another turn around from President Putin’s invitation to the Pakistan president in Almaty earlier this week, also put out that Musharraf was not welcome until cross-border terrorism across the LoC had ceased.

Rumsfeld’s trip to India, meanwhile, will precede his tour of Pakistan. Clearly, just as Armitage brought Musharraf’s assurance to India that infilration was over, Rumsfeld will underline the US role of peace broker in the region by breaking the news of some deecalatory steps that New Delhi will now take to Pakistan.

Earlier, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani, in his meeting with Armitage, is is believed to have told him that troop pull-out from the border wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

Advani, sources said, told the visiting US official that even if infiltration stops, New Delhi could not take chances with the Amarnath Yatra in July-August and then the Assembly elections in September. A state of high alert would remain in the state.

‘‘Terrorists were known to create problems and disrupting the yatra and elections in the state,’’ Advani reportedly told Armitage.

Among those present at the meeting were Home Secretary Kamal Pande, Special Secretary A K Bhandari, Intelligence Bureau chief K P Singh and US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill.

The security forces were now trying to ensure that terrorists did not sneak into the state from across the LoC and IB. ‘‘And for those already inside, the strategy is to neutralise them in ‘seek and destroy’ operations. The MHA and MoD are closely watching the development both at the LoC and in the depth areas,’’ the official added.

The army and the security forces would maintain a stern posture along the LoC till the elections. ‘‘We have intelligence that terrorists may try to provoke the army and the other security agencies — the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir state police by carrying out suicide attacks. Restraint is the key, at least till elections in the state,’’ sources said.