NEW YORK, Jan 5: As a condition to defuse the confrontation with Pakistan, India wants a “commitment from the United States to see to it that Pakistan follows through on cutting off support to Pakistan-based groups waging a holy war against India in Jammu and Kashmir, a commitment an Indian official said had not yet been given”, says the New York Times.

In a report from Kathmandu at the South Asian summit, the Times quoted an Indian official as saying that “if the Americans don’t want this to escalate, they must take certain responsibilities.”

The paper quoted officials from both countries as saying that the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan “are privately discussing terms under which the two nuclear rivals could sit down for talks about resolving the current crisis that has led to a perilous military buildup along their common border.”

According to the officials, the discussions, taking place under diplomatic pressure from world leaders to defuse a confrontation that threatens to turn into full-scale war, are aimed at finding a compromise that would assure India that Pakistan is genuinely cracking down on anti-India terrorism while allowing Pakistan, the smaller, more insecure country, to save face.

The United States is pushing hard to end the stand-doff, fearing it is distracting to its campaign in Afghanistan, but is also concerned that conflict could lead to the world’s first nuclear war.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell again urged both Vajpayee and Musharraf to resume dialogue. “There are some encouraging signs out there but I don’t want to overplay this”, he said in an interview with the BBC. “This is still a very dangerous situation.”

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is also touring the region hoping to help calm the waters. He is due to meet Indian leaders on Sunday before going on to Pakistan. Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s gesture of walking up to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and shaking hands is seen as a major thaw breaker in the vital talks that could lead to defusing the situation on the borders of the two countries.