New Delhi: An influential US think-tank today (Dec 9, 2003) said that putting an end to cross-border terrorism and violence will be an "important test" for Pakistan in advancing the current peace process with India and advocated "quiet diplomacy" by both sides while addressing outstanding issues.

On a short trip to India after visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Frank Wisner, Vice Chairman of External Affairs at the American International Group and a former US Ambassador to India, also made it clear that the US role in Indo-Pak ties was not as a mediator but only as a facilitator "to get the issues identified...to introduce ideas, not to prescribe the outcome".

Wisner, joined by Nicholas Platt, President of the Asia Society and who served as American Ambassador to Pakistan, and Dennis Kux, a retired State Department South Asia specialist, constituted an independent task force to bring out a report on 'New priorities in South Asia: US policy towards India, Pakistan and Afghanistan'.

The task force was co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society, both independent American think tanks.

The three-member team, which met Pakistani leaders and officials said there was no explicit commitment made in one way or the other on the issue of cross-border terrorism. Islamabad stuck to the line that this is not happening.

"As we go forward, this will be an important test (for Pakistan)," Platt said at a press meet in New Delhi.

"The season of the year is helpful. It is cold and frozen in key areas", he said observing the US understood India's position and an end to cross-border violence was required to advance the peace process.

Interestingly, the task force, in its report prepared much before the announcement of truce along the line of control (LoC), recommended that both sides should re-institute and maintain a ceasefire along the LoC to de-escalate the military face-off.

"We don't take the credit for the ceasefire", quipped Platt. He said, "We are delighted to see that the ceasefire is holding....and beginnings of a process in which both sides are trying to outdo each other in moving it along."

Noting that the time was right for the peace moves, he said, "leadership in both sides have political will and ability to implement a détente".

Platt said the Pakistan Government and the military was supportive of the peace process and sought a new period of eased tensions with India. The business community in Pakistan was also eager to see trade restrictions with India removed. Counselling caution, he said, "We have seen both sides rush pell-mell ahead and then hit a wall. Our counsel is to make sure as you go ahead you know your channels....develop an approach to enable both sides to deal with all the issues including that of Kashmir simultaneously."

The trio said they were "encouraged" by what they heard in Pakistan. "We want to make sure that this time it works," Platt said.

While dwelling on the Kashmir issue, the report says no settlement can be reached that humiliates either India or Pakistan. The report feels that the support for violence across the LoC should no longer be used by Islamabad as an instrument of national policy and that Kashmiris must be fully consulted in the course of determining the final resolution of the State's future.

PTI