NEW DELHI, Feb 6: India and the United States have again revealed their differing perceptions on whether and how to go about a military de-escalation along the border with Pakistan as New Delhi appeared on Wednesday clearly unimpressed with the claim by US Ambassador Robert Blackwill that border tension might have started easing.

“India is waiting for a meaningful action (by Pakistan). We have not seen that sort of action till now,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao said, after initially expressing her unwillingness to comment on Mr Blackwill’s remarks he had made in Chennai on Tuesday.

Mr Blackwill was quoted by the Indian media as saying at a news conference that the “Indo-Pakistan border tension might have started easing, especially after New Delhi made it clear that it preferred a diplomatic solution to the border issue.”

In an equally significant comment Mr Blackwill had chided India to honour its financial commitment to Enron, the troubled American energy vendor whose giant Dhabol power project in Maharashtra has run into a political storm and payment defaults.

“This is crucial to ties between India and the US. A lot of companies from the US have had bad experiences in India. A more straightforward approach is required,” Mr Blackwill warned, saying failure to honour its commitment to Enron could dry up future US investments in India.

Embarrassing prospects ahead for Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee over this and other related scandals could yet be another factor for the government to flog Kashmir and Pakistan as the more important election issues.

This was evident on Wednesday as Mr Vajpayee spoke at his first election rally, telling President Pervez Musharraf that he could never get Kashmir from India, no matter how many Kashmir Days he celebrated. “That is decidedly a settled issue,” he said.

The differences between India and the United States on the approach to de-escalation border tension was also highlighted by the Indian media on Wednesday.

“While India and the United States continue to hold extensive consultations, they are yet to bridge their differences on ways to de-escalate Indo-Pak border tensions,” The Hindu newspaper said.