NEW DELHI, June 8: The Indian explanation to the downing of an spy plane over Pakistan that it was a routine incident reflects an extraordinary tranquil state of affairs between the two countries.

Indian officials were also quoted as saying on Saturday that some actually palpable measures were in the offing to demonstrate to Islamabad New Delhi’s intent that peace was possible.

A day after US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage assured India that Islamabad would help end cross-border infiltration permanently, the focus is now on the steps New Delhi would take to bring down the tension with Pakistan, analysts and news reports said.

There was at least one important-sounding report that said US President George W. Bush was likely to visit India and Pakistan, possibly this month, to further help calm down tensions in the region. There was no official confirmation of the report by India Abroad News Service.

INDIAN RESPONSE: India has said that it will respond within a few days to President Musharraf’s offer. And with the ball clearly in India’s court, the government will have to see if it is willing to trust Gen Musharraf.

“India says that within the next 48 hours there will be a goodwill gesture to indicate New Delhi’s commitment to de-escalating tensions,” the Star News reported. It said this could include sending back the five warships off the western coast that were moved from the eastern fleet. Diplomatically, New Delhi could restore some of the links that were cut off in the past five months.

The Hindu newspaper said a more calibrated Indian response to changes in Pakistan’s policy would depend on a careful assessment of the evidence that Gen Musharraf is implementing his pledge to end cross-border infiltration on a permanent basis.

The Zee News said India was considering returning some of its diplomats to Pakistan and making some military gestures to lessen tensions between the two. It quoted Armitage as its source.

“It’s quite clear that there will be some actions on the part of India responding to the messages I brought from Pakistan,” Armitage said upon his arrival in Talliin in the Baltic capital after talks on Friday in India.

A Reuters report from Tallinn said US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told reporters on his arrival that tensions had eased between India and Pakistan, but cautioned that the crisis over disputed Kashmir had not yet ended.

“When you have close to a million men glaring, shouting and occasionally shooting across a territory that is a matter of some dispute, then I think you couldn’t say the crisis is over, but I think you can say that the tensions are down measurably,” he said before meeting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, attending a meeting with Baltic and Nordic defence ministers, planned to consult Armitage before deciding when to travel to India and Pakistan to continue efforts at averting war, it said.

JASWANT SINGH: India on Saturday welcomed the pledge given by President Pervez Musharraf to the United States about immediately and permanently ending cross-border infiltration of militants into Kashmir, saying it was a step in the right direction. This is a step forward and in the right direction, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was quoted as telling US Secretary of State Colin Powell on telephone.

“Its implementation on the ground will be carefully assessed. Thereafter, as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has already stated, India will respond appropriately and positively,” Singh told Powell who telephoned him.

During the conversation which focussed on the evolving Indo-Pakistan situation, Singh said India welcomed the pledge that President Musharraf had given to Richard Armitage about ending infiltration, according to an external affairs ministry spokesperson.

Singh said an irreversible end to infiltration requires that the infrastructure of support to cross-border terrorism within Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir be also dismantled.

Singh made it clear to Powell that India’s commitment to lasting peace remains undiluted.

But for all the talk of peace there were signs that belligerence was not ruled out as an option.

NAVY’S READINESS: Newspapers quoted Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Madhvendra Singh on Saturday as saying that Indian Navy was fully prepared for any eventuality and needed just four hours in the event of a conflict.

“We only need four hours,” said Admiral Singh, who was the chief guest at the passing-out parade of the Indian Military Academy.

The navy was fully prepared against attacks on Mumbai and Kandla ports, he said, adding that the oil pipelines in Gujarat were well-guarded.

Last week, Pakistani Naval Chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza had warned that the Kandla harbour and Kathiawar, the major supply line for Indian ground forces deployed on the country’s western borders with Pakistan, would be the major targets of its forces.

About the unconfirmed plans by US President Bush to visit the region, the IANS quoted diplomatic sources as saying he would bring with him proposals to de-escalate tension in the region.

They said that Armitage, during his meetings with President Pervez Musharraf and other Pakistani officials on Thursday, had hinted that Bush could visit the subcontinent.

The final date for the visit will be announced after Rumsfeld visits Pakistan and India later this month, the sources said.

Indian officials said they were not aware of any plan by Bush to visit India.

PLANE DOWNING: India unusually confirmed on Saturday it had lost an unmanned plane over Pakistani territory.

“An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on a routine flight lost contact at about 2300 hours on June 7 (Friday),” a defence ministry spokesman was quoted by news agencies as saying.

“It had fallen about 20km inside Pakistan territory and in the present state of deployment, the use of such UAVs by either side is a routine feature.”

URANIUM FUEL: Meanwhile, the US has opposed Russia’s sale of uranium fuel for nuclear power plants in India, arguing it violates Moscow’s non-proliferation commitments, while holding forth the threat of sanctions if Moscow fails to curtail cooperation on sensitive technology with countries like Iran, Press Trust of India said.

“In selling uranium fuel to India in the face of overwhelming opposition from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Russia has made decisions contrary to the non-proliferation guidelines to which it is a party,” Assistant Secretary of State for Non-proliferation Thomas Wolf said.