U.S. and other Western powers are negotiating a deal with India and Pakistan that calls for a massive anti-terrorist operation inside Pakistan and a gradual withdrawal of all Indian troops from the border, official and diplomatic sources told United Press International Friday.
According to the proposed deal, Pakistan will close down all religious organizations that have their own militias, are involved in jihad, or holy war, or are propagating jihad as a means for solving political disputes.
This will include the groups operating in both the Indian and Pakistani sides of the disputed Kashmir region. President Pervez Musharraf had banned five militant groups after his Jan. 12 speech in which he unveiled his policy for tackling religious fanaticism in Pakistan.
U.S. officials -- including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell -- publicly have acknowledged that Musharraf has fulfilled his promise to help fight al Qaida and Taliban extremists in Afghanistan and also is helping trace their remnants in Pakistan.
Privately, however, they complain the Pakistani ruler has not been as enthusiastic in curbing the Muslim extremists who carry out cross-border attacks in Kashmir.
Two of the five groups disbanded on Jan. 12 -- Lashkar-i-Toyba and Jaish-i-Mohammed -- were involved in Kashmir. The three others were sectarian extremists responsible for killing hundreds of Shia and Sunni Muslims inside Pakistan.
"We understand that it is a difficult task. The groups cannot be asked to pack up and go home overnight. But has he done absolute 100 percent to curb the militants operating in Kashmir? No, we don't think so," said a senior U.S. official who talked to UPI on condition of anonymity.
South Asian diplomats in Washington said the proposed operation against the militants will be tied to a gradual withdrawal of Indian troops from the border. According to these sources, India is willing to consider a withdrawal if the United States, and other Western powers guarantee Pakistan will stop all cross-border infiltration, disband all Kashmiri groups and dismantle all training camps for the militants.
To achieve this objective, India wants to put Pakistan on two-month's notice, diplomatic sources said. During this period, India would watch Pakistan quietly and, if it is convinced Pakistan is "matching its words with deeds" as Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said, New Delhi would start the withdrawal of troops on the border.
Western negotiators said, however, they may not be able to sell this deal to Pakistan. They said while they may be able to convince Musharraf to act against the militants, "to be put on notice by a rival nation will be too humiliating for him and will definitely stir a violent protest at home," the official said, and added, "We must not forget that Kashmir is a popular issue in Pakistan. It has to be handled delicately."
Also, a public commitment to Indian demands would amount to an open acknowledgement Pakistan was sending militants to Kashmir and now it has agreed to stop them, the sources said.
"How can they publicly acknowledge to dismantle the training camps when they say that there are no training camps in Pakistan or Pakistani Kashmir," a senior Western official in Islamabad said.
Instead, Western negotiators are believed to have suggested the United States and other Western powers should privately get such commitments from Pakistan and stay engaged in the process until Islamabad fulfills these promises.
While apparently receptive to most of these proposals, Islamabad wants the proposed operation against the terrorists tied to the withdrawal of troops from the border, sources said. Pakistanis appear unwilling to accede to the Indian demand that first Pakistan should do its part and then India will consider a gradual withdrawal of troops, if it is satisfied with the Pakistani action.
The Pakistanis instead want a reciprocal action by India -- such as the withdrawal of some troops from the border -- as they go along fulfilling their part of the deal.
Western negotiators said they can work out these details but what they may find difficult to accomplish is making Pakistan accept the Indian demand for being put on notice for a given period of time.
But they said they understand why India is making such a demand. They realize it would be difficult for the Indian prime minister to go back to his people without appearing to have achieved his main goal, the end of militant activities in Kashmir. Vajpayee, they said, needs to show some progress after pledging to fight till "a decisive victory."
"That's why he does not only want Pakistan to destroy Kashmiri militant groups, he also wants the Indians to see that it's him who made Pakistan do so," said a Western official.
Agreeing with this observation, a South Asian diplomat said, "Vajpayee sent hundreds of thousands of troops to the border. He mobilized the entire nation for a possible war with Pakistan and declared that there can be no lessening of tensions until Pakistan stops all cross-border attacks. Now he cannot suddenly undo all this and go home. He needs to show some achievement, some tangible results."
Western negotiators said Musharraf also has a similar problem: wanting to look good before his people. What the Western powers are trying to tell them is that the situation is much more serious than they realize.
"When you have a million troops face-to-face on the border, anything can trigger a war. And the threat looks more menacing when you realize that both sides also have nuclear weapons," said a senior U.S. diplomat commenting on the situation. "We want them to realize this and start taking the steps for defusing tensions. The first think would be to resume bilateral talks."
In an interview with Star TV in India, a U.S. official said the United States has asked Pakistan to show restraint.
"We understand India's frustrations and anger over continued terrorist actions, but would reiterate that rather than being the solution, military action in this crisis would create even greater problems," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.
"It is vital for all sides in Kashmir to exercise restraint, to reduce violence. An important component to this process is an end to infiltration into Kashmir and, as we have done before, we call upon Pakistan to do all it can to achieve this objective," Star TV news quoted Reeker as saying.
The U.S. response follows India Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's letter to President George W. Bush that said New Delhi has lost faith in Musharraf and that India has been forced to prepare for a war to crush the cross-border activity allegedly backed by Islamabad.
The Times of India newspaper reported on Friday that Vajpayee had written a letter last week to Bush outlining India's perspective on its war preparations.
India Defense Secretary Yogendra Narain, who headed a defense policy group delegation to meet top U.S. officials to discuss bilateral defense maters, delivered the letter. Narain said "The United States had expressed concern, and we told them that our patience has almost come to an end."
Washington is sending Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to the region on June 4 to try to defuse tension between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Reeker said the United States and several other nations are talking to both sides "to encourage them to reduce the tensions, to foster the atmosphere for a dialogue, a dialogue that will help resolve these issues through peaceful means, because that is obviously the overriding goal here."
Britain's Foreign Minister Jack Straw is also expected to visit the region next week.
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(With reporting by Harbaksh Singh Nanda in New Delhi; and Shahid Iqbal in Islamabad.)
