Powell urges India, Pakistan to back off

India says no troops will be withdrawn from the border until Pakistan halts militant activities

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged India and Pakistan to pull their troops back from their mutual border to reduce the possibility of conflict between the nuclear neighbors.

But Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes says there will be no military "de-escalation" on the border with Pakistan until Islamabad effectively stops "cross-border terrorism."

Speaking on the eve of a week-long journey that will take him to Pakistan and India, Powell told CNN the U.S. wanted to see both sides demobilize their forces.

"We want to see us get back to a situation where the Indian army is no longer mobilized, they've moved back to their original positions," Powell said in an interview.

"We want to find a solution which will allow Pakistan to move its forces away from the border so that we have less tension at that border, less opportunity for some incident to spark a conflict between the two sides."

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While calling the standoff between India and Pakistan "a very tense, delicate situation," Powell said he believed the situation had stabilized.

He also lauded Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, for his recent speech announcing that he would crack down on terrorist groups that India believes are responsible for a recent attack on its parliament.

On Saturday, Musharraf announced steps to forbid use of Pakistan's territory for any kind of terrorism.

"President Musharraf made a very important speech -- an Islamic leader saying that jihad should be for the purpose of educating people and for the purpose of lifting people out of poverty and that extremism has no place in his society," Powell said.

"I think we have stabilized things right now to the point where we can continue working the diplomatic and political track and persuade everyone that is the direction we should continue to move."

But the Indian Government is keeping up its pressure on Pakistan over cross-border terrorism, saying it wants its neighbor's actions to speak louder than its words.

"The entire nation is fed up with terrorism and looks for a permanent solution to this problem," Fernandes said at a news conference.

"The mobilization of the Indian forces is complete and any effort at de-escalation can come only, repeat only, if and when the cross-border terrorism comes to a stop."

Among the moves Musharraf announced was a ban on five militant Islamic groups, two of which are blamed by New Delhi for the deadly December 13 attack on the Indian parliament.

In reaction to the speech, Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said: "Let us see what difference there is between his utterances and his actions."

For every one step that Pakistan takes, Singh said, India will take two.

Waiting for the deed

"Pakistan has just announced that it will take a step," he said. "We await its taking the step, and be assured, India will then not be found wanting."

On Monday, Fernandes reiterated India's stance.

"We have his word. Now we wait for the deed," he said. "We are keen to resolve things peacefully, but it if does not work we will be left with no option."

U.S. President George W. Bush called the leaders of India and Pakistan on Sunday and "both agreed to continue to work to reduce tensions in the region," a White House official said.

Speaking to Musharraf, Bush thanked the Pakistani president for his strongly worded speech.

In his conversation with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Bush made the case that Musharraf's speech was a positive development and in line with India's conditions for reducing tensions and military deployments along the India-Pakistan border.

In addition to India and Pakistan, Powell is also scheduled to stop in Afghanistan and meet with the head of its interim government, Hamid Karzai, as well as attend an international conference in Tokyo on Afghan reconstruction.

"Afghanistan is in need of many things -- a police force, a new military that's committed to the Afghan people," Powell said.

"We really do have our work cut out for us here. And that's the purpose of my trip -- to reassure [Karzai] that the international community will stand alongside him, stand behind him."

Nepalese officials have said they expect the secretary to make a stop there as well during his Asian trip, though that visit has not been confirmed by the State Department.