India and Pakistan started a fresh wave of interaction in the past two weeks while bargaining over confidence-building measures for further easing the tension in the sub-continent.

India last week announced 12 proposals to help normalize its relations with Islamabad, which include resuming air and rail links and sporting encounters, introducing a ferry service between the two countries and starting a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, the respective capitals of Indian- and Pakistan-held zones of Kashmir.

These proposals have been welcomed by the United States, Britain and Japan as "a major step forward." They hope this move can promote improvement in the Pak-Indo relations.

Pakistan, in its initial but guarded response, said it will seriously consider India's proposals, but it felt disappointed since a long-awaited dialogue for them to resolve all disputes was not included.

Pakistan is skeptical about India's sincerity to improve their relations without offering talks on the Kashmir dispute.

Some analysts here argued that the Indian government put forward the proposals to gain more support for the ruling alliance in the coming state and general elections. Others termed the overtures a "well-crafted diplomatic move aimed at silencing international criticism of New Delhi's refusal to hold parleys with Islamabad."

India did not forget to put pressure on Islamabad to accept its initiatives when Pakistan was considering how to react in its best interests.

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes reportedly said last weekend that his country's proposals were part of a "last effort" to push forward a process of rapprochement in the sub-continent that began in April.

"You have only two options. Sit across the table and sort it out or go to the battlefield," said Fernandes.

Commenting on these remarks, Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali Monday said his country has been seriously pursuing to initiate dialogue with India to resolve their disputes, however it is fully prepared to face any eventuality.

Jamali noted that most of the proposals put forward by India are based on the proposals already submitted by Pakistan in May, but India has not accepted them.

During a joint interview Wednesday with Chinese journalists based in Islamabad, President Pervez Musharraf said India's proposals have been diluted with Pakistan's earlier confidence-building measures and can not lead to peace.

He stressed that the two countries should follow a three-step procedure to resolve the core issue of Kashmir -- dialogue, India's acceptance of Kashmir as disputed and a solution to the dispute acceptable to India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris.

While urging New Delhi to restart a meaningful dialogue, Pakistan Wednesday accepted most of India's proposals including the critical initiative concerning a bus service in the restive Kashmir region.

However, it insisted that the bus service should be manned by the United Nations and Kashmiri passengers carry UN travel papers, which were quickly rejected by India. Defense Minister Fernandes said, "It is meaningless" for the United Nations to monitor the bus service.

India Thursday described as "impractical and extraneous" Pakistan's response to some of its proposals but affirmed that it will go ahead with its initiatives to normalize their relations.

While accusing Pakistan of opting to "politics" and disrupting India's proposal for a bus link in Kashmir by attaching a condition that the United Nations should be involved, India said it remains committed to a dialogue process given that the cross-border infiltration and terrorism end in Kashmir.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both. The two countries have fought two of their three wars over the region and came close to another conflict last year.

Tensions between the two nuclear rivals were high last year after an terrorist attack on India's parliament building in December, 2001 claimed 14 lives.

India blamed the attack on a Pakistan-backed militant group battling New Delhi's rule in India-held Kashmir and massed troops on its borders, a step matched by Pakistan. They downgraded their diplomatic ties and severed the land and air links.

The two countries started a process of normalization after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered talks with Islamabad during a visit to Kashmir on April 18.

India and Pakistan have managed to resume their ambassadorial ties in the past months but failed to restart dialogue due to distrust, hostility and strong objection from the hardliners in both countries.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2003)