New Delhi gears up to welcome Musharraf

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf might have sought "out of the box thinking" on India-Pakistan relations and a solution to Kashmir.

But Indian Foreign Minister K Natwar Singh, currently in Washington, preferred to be less radical when confronted with this question at a press conference, he addressed jointly with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Singh was asked what he thought of President Musharraf's call for "out of the box thinking" on Kashmir when India had said the peace process was irreversible.

He said: "Well, I am rushing back to receive President Musharraf in Delhi and we will continue with the very friendly discussions we had with him in Islamabad some days ago."

This statement illuminates the general thinking in India on the eve of Musharraf's New Delhi visit: That New Delhi must continue with people-to-people measures with Islamabad while continuing to talk on Kashmir, among other things.

The UPA government, in its first engagement with Musharraf on the Indian soil after it came to power, is leaving no stone unturned to impress the visitor. But its overall approach on substantive issues appears to be pleasant but firm.

At the chief minister's meeting here today on law and order, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made no effort to snipe at Pakistan for terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir lately, including the blowing up of the tourism office on the eve of the inauguration of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.

Instead, his tone was one of quiet reasonableness, restricting himself to reminding Islamabad that keeping the bus route free of terrorism was the joint responsibility of India and Pakistan.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil actually conceded that infiltration across the LoC had come down and even Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who had thundered fire and brimstone at Chandigarh just two days ago, was circumspect and soft-voiced in referring to Pakistan.

All this seems to indicate that India's approach will be to emphasise on what works in relations with Pakistan and circumvent what does not work. Therefore, grand gestures or big breakthroughs do not seem to be on the cards during Musharraf's visit.