Time for talk, not war: Powell

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is now en route to New Delhi amid signs his week-long peace mission is making some progress in defusing the latest war-like tensions between Pakistan and India.

"I would like to do everything I can do -- and I know President Bush would like to do everything he can do -- to get the two sides talking again," Powell said at a joint news conference with Pakistan's foreign minister, Abdul Sattar.

He said the United States was "ready to assist" if there was a dialogue. And if the two nations requested such assistance, "they will find America standing there with a ready hand."

"The important thing now is for both sides to make a political judgment that the way out of this crisis is political and diplomatic, and not through conflict," Powell said.

"We need a campaign against terrorism, not a campaign with these two countries fighting one another."

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And in a sign that tensions may be easing slightly, Sattar said it was in the mutual interest of Pakistan and India "to step back and see that the best road to the future is through peaceful settlement of the disputes that exist between our two countries."

Relations between the two nuclear neighbors deteriorated after two deadly terror attacks last year -- one in October at the legislature in Srinigar, in the disputed Kashmir region, and the other last month at India's Parliament.

India blames the attacks on Islamic militants supported by Pakistan, and has demanded its neighbor crack down on the extremists responsible.

Currently nearly 1 million troops are massed along the India-Pakistan border and India's military says it has fully mobilized its navy, adding firepower to its massive infantry presence.

Sattar warned that as long as the troops "are in the present deployment condition, even an unintentional, even a small incident can spark a chain of events ... not in (the) interest of peace."

"It is necessary as soon as possible to move firstly to stopping the escalation of the tension and of the forces on the border and secondly to begin a process of de-escalation and disengagement.

"I want to assure you that on behalf of the government of Pakistan, we will immediately respond to any initiative that the government of India takes towards de-escalation and disengagement."

Powell was asked at the media conference if Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf was doing enough to deal with the situation.

He said the President's speech over the weekend spelling out Pakistan's willingness to fight terror "was not only a historic speech, but it was a de-escalatory effort on his part. "

In the speech, Musharraf announced a ban on five militant Islamic groups, two of which are blamed for the parliament attack.

Nearly 2,000 extremists have been detained in Pakistan and offices linked to affiliated groups have been shut, but India says it wants to see more concrete action.

New Delhi has also demanded Islamabad extradite 20 individuals on a "most wanted list" to India.

"We hope that President Musharraf's speech and actions to implement what was in that speech will go a long way towards lowering tensions in the region," Powell said.

Powell said that Musharraf "has done a great deal in word and deed, and I'm sure that he will be doing more in the weeks and months ahead as he brings his vision to reality."

Washington fears a new South Asian conflict could affect Pakistan's role in aiding the U.S. in its Afghanistan military campaign.

Pakistan has been instrumental in helping capture many of the Taliban and al Qaeda leaders now in U.S. custody.

Navy mobilized

But the mobilizing of India's navy and war-like comments from India's military has underlined the magnitude of the peace process still required in the region.

"We're ready, ships are armed, fueled and provisioned," Admiral Madhavendra Singh, head of the world's seventh largest navy, told a news conference on Wednesday.

Singh refused to say whether Indian warships were carrying nuclear weapons, but said India has renounced first use of such arms.

"A country that espouses a nuclear doctrine of no first use must have second-strike capability, and an assured second-strike capability, and that's why countries have a triad," he said.

"The most powerful leg of such a triad would be in the navy, hidden and moving under water, that's the conceptual part of it."

The latest comments follow Friday's tough military talk, when India's army chief, General Sunderajan Padmanabhan, said India was ready to fight a war and threatened massive retaliation if Pakistan struck with nuclear weapons.

Nepal visit

Powell says the U.S. will not seek to mediate unless both sides request it

The navy is the smallest of India's defense forces, with 85,000 people compared with 1.1 million in the army.

It has one aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, formerly the British Royal Navy's HMS Hermes, among its fleet of 25 main battleships and 18 mostly Soviet submarines.

After his visit to India, Powell is to visit Nepal in what will be the first U.S. Cabinet-level visit there since former U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew's trip in 1971.

Powell then will represent the United States in Tokyo at the International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan, co-chaired by the U.S., Japan, European Union, and Saudi Arabia.

He will attend the Monday session of the conference.

While in Tokyo, Powell also will meet senior officials of the Japanese government.