INDIA: The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said in New Delhi yesterday that Islamabad is considering action against the non-Pakistani nationals on India's list of 20 most wanted "terrorists and criminals".
Mr Powell's statement, soon after arriving from Islamabad on the last leg of his South Asian tour, is likely to reduce tension between the nuclear rivals. The two countries have amassed more than 1 million troops along their border following last month's attack on the Indian parliament - for which Delhi blames Pakistan's military intelligence.
India wants the named people extradited but, as far as Pakistani nationals are concerned, Mr Powell said last night, Islamabad would act in keeping with its own laws, provided India furnished more evidence against them.
Mr Powell is due to meet the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and other Indian leaders today. He said Washington is anxious to see a dialogue between India and Pakistan on all issues, including the 55-year-old Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
Mr Powell's arrival coincided with a bomb explosion in Jammu in which one person was killed and eight others injured. There was also a fresh exchange of machine-gun and mortar fire between Indian and Pakistani troops.
Mr Powell said the question of Kashmir needed resolution through dialogue. "The US is always ready to bring about a dialogue. It is always ready to assist two friends," he said, adding that Washington ruled itself out as a mediator in the dispute.
The Secretary of State claimed that the Pakistani President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, had taken strong enough action in cracking down on the sectarian and terrorist groups that India blames for attacking its parliament last month and fighting its rule in Kashmir.
But it was for India to judge whether these actions by Gen Musharraf constituted an adequate basis for India to change its polices regarding Pakistan, to reopen dialogue and de-escalate tension along the border.
Gen Musharraf, who promised last weekend to crack down on Islamic militants responsible for attacking the Indian parliament and Indian forces in Kashmir, has arrested more than 2,000 insurgents, sealed hundreds of their offices and frozen their bank accounts.
India has repeated that it will not roll back its troops or restore air, road and rail links closed after the assault on parliament until Pakistan ends its "cross-border terrorism". "As soon as we see (such action), we will respond adequately and fully," Mr Powell's Indian counterpart, Mr Jaswant Singh said.
Meanwhile, a day after talks with Mr Powell, Gen Musharraf said his government was keen to ease tensions with India. Speaking to a delegation of local businessmen, the Pakistani President said he wanted to bring down tensions with India and de-escalate the military stand-off on the border.
President Bush spoke to the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, yesterday on the tension between India and Pakistan, as well as his war against terrorism.
The White House spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, said Mr Bush made a point of praising the anti-terrorism speech made last Saturday by Gen Musharraf, saying it had helped reduce tensions between the two rivals.