India's latest peace offensive may attract appreciation from the international community, but Pakistan is unlikely to be equally pleased, as India has completely ignored its main demand dialogue.
Pakistan indicated as much in its initial reaction, welcoming the proposals but expressing disappointment over the lack of an offer to resume dialogue.
New Delhi also continues to link another of Pakistan's demands - resumption of rail links - to the progress in talks on resumption of overflight facilities.
During the course of his press conference in Delhi, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha emphasised that India's proposals were prompted by the 'groundswell' of public support in both countries for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's initiatives for improving people-to-people contacts.
New Delhi's latest round of proposals appears to be cleverly crafted to show the international community its keenness to improve ties with Islamabad and put pressure on the latter to respond in kind. Islamabad has been harping on dialogue before anything else.
However, Sinha made it amply clear that summit-level bilateral talks could only fructify if there are tangible indications that Pakistan had stopped cross-border terrorism and dismantled terrorists training camps across the Line of Control.
Incidentally, the latest proposals come days after the US declared underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who India insists is hiding in Pakistan, a terrorist.
