NEW DELHI, Nov 8: There are enough loose cannons in India and Pakistan who are loyal to Osama bin Laden and regard leaders of both countries as their enemies and who would do anything to ensure they do not join hands. This is expected to be the main argument for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf to meet soon, not ruling out in New York itself, diplomats said on Thursday.

They said the larger reason for India to avoid a meeting with Pakistan at present was in fact a very small, even myopic consideration - elections in some Indian states where the ruling National Democratic Alliance was looking shaky. The other reason more important is not there at the moment but could arrive soon if the two do not take each other into confidence with urgency.

“It would be foolhardy for Pakistan to initiate any problems for India at this juncture, and no one seriously expects such a foolish thing to happen,” one diplomatic source told Dawn, apparently referring to New Delhi’s claims of Pakistani support to militants in Kashmir and elsewhere who have been launching suicide attacks on Indian forces.

“On the other hand both India and Pakistan are going to be facing a lot of activities from recalcitrant elements who are loyal to the Taliban, to Osama. Who could exploit the mistrust to harm the already stalled peace process.”

Perhaps it was realizing this potential for mischief, that Gen Musharraf promptly slammed the October 1 suicide attack on the Kashmir state assembly in which more than 30 people were killed. Other than Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar, the other major resistance to India-Pakistan rapprochement has come from India’s ruling rightwing Hindu Bharartiya Janata Party, which leads the NDA coalition.

As Vajpayee arrived in the US on Wednesday afternoon from Moscow, US Ambassador to India Robert D. Blackwill, who met him on arrival, predicted that US President George W. Bush in his Nov 9 meeting with Vajpayee would assure the Indian prime minister that renewed US-Pakistan ties would not be at the cost of blossoming US-India relations.

In an interview with rediff.com, Blackwill, indicated that the US had been urging India to resurrect its dialogue with Pakistan.

He implied that Washington would like Vajpayee to meet Musharraf, while both leaders are in New York. “But he acknowledged that it is clearly India’s prerogative whether to do so or not,” rediff.com said.

India has ruled out any such meeting till Pakistan’s eschews fomenting cross-border terrorism in Kashmir.

However, no major country believes this could be a serious cause as they believe that such problems can be sorted out on by a dialogue. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already indicated this by urging Vajpayee to talk to Gen Musharraf.

In the interview, Blackwill also categorically ruled out any diplomatic activism by the

US to insert itself to help resolve the simmering Kashmir problem between India and Pakistan, particularly following increased tension after a suicide bombing attack on Srinagar’s legislature.