Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan appeared to be pulling back from the brink of war yesterday, after a crackdown by Islamabad on Islamic extremist groups raised hopes of bilateral talks at the upcoming South Asian countries summit in Nepal later this week.
Despite the military build-up along their border - the biggest in 16 years following last month's suicide attack on India's parliament - the two sides also renewed a decade-old agreement under which they are committed not to attack one anothers nuclear installations.
The agreement provides the exact location of India's 10 nuclear facilities and Pakistan's six.
Since 1991, India and Pakistan submit a list of their respective nuclear facilities each New Year's Day to the embassies at Islamabad and Delhi.
This is one of the few confidence-building measures between the neighbours who have fought three wars and an 11-week border skirmish since 1947. They became nuclear-weapons states four years ago.
Foreign diplomats said the exchange of lists had "added significance" as the two armies were squared off against one another after the December 13th attack on parliament.
Fourteen people, including five gunmen from two Pakistan-based insurgent groups fighting against the Indian presence in Kashmir, died in the assault.
India blamed Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence for masterminding the attack, a claim denied by Islamabad.
Meanwhile, President Bush praised the Pakistani president, Gen Pervaiz Musharraf, for his crackdown on terrorist groups that officials in Islamabad claimed has led to the detention of more than 100 Islamic activists.
Pakistan has also arrested the leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure) and those of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (Army of Mohammad), accused by India of carrying out the attack on parliament.
"He's cracking down hard, and I appreciate his efforts. Terror is terror and the fact that the Pakistani president is after the terrorists is a good sign," Mr Bush said.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, is visiting Pakistan and India next week to defuse tension between the two sides.
"The regional situation, obviously, will also be one of the subjects to be discussed during that visit," Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman, Mr Aziz Ahmed Khan said, confirming that Mr Blair's two day visit to Islamabad begins on January 7th.
Following the attack on parliament, India recalled its ambassador from Islamabad and the two sides imposed tit-for-tat sanctions that include the cutting of road, rail and air links, and halving their embassy staff numbers.
They also began deploying troops along their frontier and rolled out their nuclear-capable missiles.
But the shift from confrontation to possible negotiation was signalled by India's Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behrai Vajpayee, in his New Year message in which he welcomed Pakistan's crackdown on insurgent groups and even offered to join it in fighting terrorism.
"If their [Pakistan's] real intention was the same as that of the international community, to root out terrorism and extremism, then I extend my hand of alliance to them, " Mr Vajpayee said.
He said India did not want war, but cautioned his countrymen to be prepared for any eventuality, including more terrorist strikes.
The Foreign Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, said Pakistan's crackdown on extremists was a step in the right direction and did not rule out the possibility of talks between Mr Vajpayee and Gen Musharraf during the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation summit in Nepal this week. Official sources said the chances of talks between Mr Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Abdul Sattar were almost certain, through neither side would make any advance announcements.
