NEW DELHI, Jan 18: A much milder India and an equally reassured United States seemed to be the main outcome on Friday of three days of sustained high pressure diplomacy between the triad of US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Indian and Pakistani leaders, all engaged earnestly for once to end the looming menace of war between the two nuclear armed states of South Asia.

Going by two significant statements by Powell and Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh at their joint news conference on Friday, it will henceforth not be New Delhi’s first choice to blame all and sundry attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere in India on the ubiquitous “Pakistani hand”.

Both spelt out their fears of something more sinister confronting not just India and Pakistan but by its unthinkable implications the rest of the world.

“I think we are on a path that will take us where we want to go and what we have to do is to be patient, to remain committed to the diplomatic track,” said Powell. Then came the clear warning: “We have to recognise this is a time of high tension when you have military forces in proximity to one another. And we also have to be mindful that there are probably people out there who might want to create another incident to cause a conflagration. We have to be sensitive to that. And so we will continue to work in the direction that we have been working for the last several weeks and continue to build on progress that we have seen in several days and certainly in the last week.”

The “people out there” were clearly etched on Singh’s radar also, as was evident when he was asked to comment on Thursday’s suspected terrorist attack in Jammu in which one person was killed.

“The kind of mindless bombing in the civilian part of Jammu that took place yesterday is part of a pattern of terrorist activity. The government has sought a detailed report in this regard,” Singh said. He then echoed the fear expressed by Powell regarding vested interests that are believed to be working relentlessly to trigger a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.

“The government is also very mindful of the fact that in this present situation, which is critically balanced, there could well be demented elements that wish to further destabilize the situation in the region and they could well indulge in acts of violence. The government of India fully takes this into account when determining and giving voice to its response. What has happened in Jammu is terrorist violence.”

Singh said Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s talks with Powell on Friday had centred on the urgent need to restore confidence in New Delhi’s relationship with Pakistan.

“I would like to say that the central thought that the prime minister shared with the secretary of state in the India-Pakistan context really, the most important aspect now or even later, is that of the earliest restoration of confidence between the two countries. Once confidence is restored between the two everything else will fall in place and will become so much easier to act upon,” the Indian minister said.

He explained that a fair measure of this confidence could be restored by Pakistan’s action on a list of “20 terrorists and criminals,” including 14 Indians, that India has submitted for extradition. Pakistani sources in New Delhi said there was nothing in the list that could stand up to legal scrutiny. Singh, however, said Pakistan’s claim that it was not aware of the whereabouts of the listed individuals was not correct.

“Please understand that in this fight against terrorism when India says stop cross-border terrorism, abandon the pursuit of terrorism as an instrument of state policy, these are not so much demands as enunciations of clear principles of bilateral conduct in which terrorism is a global menace,” Singh said.

“So far as these 20 terrorists are concerned, 14 of them are Indian citizens; they are wanted for most heinous crimes, bombings, terrorist activity, kidnapping, and narcotic smuggling. What else do you want me to list? There are details of where they are in Pakistan etc, they have all been given. These are wanted terrorists that have been written about in Pakistani journals themselves. It is not as if they are hiding in some caves in Karachi..”

Some American journalists were wondering whether Mumbai underworld leader Dawood Ibrahim, who India says is being sheltered in Karachi, was still an Indian citizen, or whether he had changed his citizenship, making his repatriation difficult. Indian officials said Ibrahim’s Indian passport had not been revoked.

Powell said President Musharraf had hinted at taking action against those of the 20 that found guilty of crimes they were accused of. But he insisted that this was a matter for a continued discussion between India and Pakistan. What was more urgently needed was an end to cross-border raids by militants in Kashmir.

Of his talks with Vajpayee, Singh and the prime minister’s principal secretary Brajesh Mishra, Powell said: “We exchanged a number of ideas about how we can move forward. We leave here very encouraged that we can find a solution to this troubling situation.”

Singh said: “If there is action in regard to the 20 wanted terrorists and criminals then I am very hopeful that there will be a distinct movement, in moving towards a situation, which would be similar to the situation that existed before the 13th of December.”

Powell agreed there was scope for President Musharraf to address India’s concerns on this issue.

“President Musharraf gave a very important speech last Saturday. He gave to the people of Pakistan, the people of international community, for the people of India a new vision for Pakistan. That speech was well received here in India and throughout the world,” Powell said.

“But both in India and throughout the world, we also said we have to see some action. We have seen action with respect to the detention of extremists, over 1,900, the closing of extremist organizations and their offices. And a number of other steps that are encouraging. We have also seen some efforts with respect to the controlling of activity across the Line of Control. We will know when things stop happening, over that we want control. As the foreign minister said we have seen some important words said and some important actions taken. And if we continue to see progress in that regard then I expect we will see steps taken on the part of the Indian government,” Powell said.