NEW DELHI, Feb 4: President Pervez Musharraf’s crackdown on extremist groups is of direct benefit to India and, moreover, the military leader is also still considering New Delhi’s request to repatriate a group of alleged criminals who had apparently fled to Pakistan, US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill said on Monday.

Mr Blackwill was quoted by news channels as telling reporters in Kerala that the United States had undergone a complete transformation of its relationship with South Asia, which had become one of long-term strategic interests in the region since the Sept 11 terror attacks.

In a wide-ranging exchange, Mr Blackwill expressed Washington’s stand against seeking to mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. However, he added, the US would continue to encourage them to resolve the dispute through talks.

It was a day of special focus on Kashmir on Monday as two other statements, by senior Indian officials, also appeared to indicate the way ahead on the issue. On the one hand Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah publicly questioned Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s opposition to the Line of Control being turned into a permanent border.

The other came from K.C. Pant, India’s chief point man for Kashmir who claimed that signals from recent backroom talks with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference indicated the traditionally pro-plebiscite group was preparing to participate in elections in occupied Jammu and Kashmir scheduled for October. There was no independent confirmation from the APHC to the claim.

“The US position on Kashmir is very simple: We are not going to mediate on the Kashmir issue. We do not think that we have a comparative advantage in doing so. What we will do is to tell Pakistan and India to talk about it,” Mr Blackwill said.

Asked whether the US grudged India’s right to retaliate against Pakistan, he said it was up to India to decide in the best judgment of its interests.

Mr Blackwill said that though India had the right of self- defence, he was glad that it had decided to give a chance to diplomacy to solve the problem of terrorism. “We are not gods going around granting the rights to respond,” he said.

There are misgivings in the Indian media about comments by the American Consul-General in Kolkata Christopher Sandrolini who reportedly said that ISI was not sponsoring insurgents in India’s northeastern states, a comment that questions New Delhi’s wisdom on the issue. Mr Blackwill declined to comment on the question saying: “If that happens, if the Indian government approaches me, I will respond to it appropriately.”

Regarding the recent attack on the American Center in Kolkata, Mr Blackwill said: “We are working with the Indian government and not investigating. There are some questions regarding the Kolkata attack that remain unanswered, like whether it was an attack on the police or the American facility, or whether it was an attack by criminals or those associated with terrorism.”

Asked about Washington’s off again on again relationship with South Asia, Mr Blackwill said: “The US has come to have a prolonged and sustained interest in South Asia since Sept 11.

“We also had brief interests in the region associated with the crisis between India and Pakistan from time to time but no sustained interests. That has now changed. US is going to be very interested in this area for the years to come.”

He listed some key factors that changed Washington’s perceptions on South Asia. They include the Bush administration’s commitment to transform the Indo-US relationship, Gen Musharraf’s stance to change his country into an Islamic welfare state, the rebuilding of Afghanistan into a normal country and the US interest in Central Asia.

Gen Musharraf’s speech was “historic”, he said. “We have a big stake in Musharraf succeeding in transforming his country. He had said Jihad should be addressed to combat poverty and that he would check terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil.’’