NEW DELHI — Amid an intense U.S. effort to defuse tensions between two nuclear-capable countries, India's government appeared to back off Wednesday, at least for the moment, from a threat to impose sanctions on neighboring Pakistan.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Cabinet committee on security had been scheduled to decide on a range of nonmilitary measures against Pakistan, including a possible severing of air links and downgrading of diplomatic and economic relations. Earlier this week, India recalled its ambassador from Islamabad.
But the decision on new steps was postponed Wednesday night, a government source said, speaking on condition he not be named, because of the extreme sensitivity of the discussions. New Delhi is awaiting a further response from U.S. officials on demands that Pakistan do more to end what India calls its support for terrorism, the source added.
Tensions between the uneasy neighbors have risen since a deadly attack on New Delhi's Parliament building two weeks ago by gunmen allegedly belonging to groups India accuses Pakistan of supporting. Since then, the two sides have moved thousands of troops, and reportedly, medium-range ballistic missiles, to their front lines in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
"This is a perfect opportunity to resolve the Kashmir issue once and for all," the government source said.
In Washington, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell twice telephoned both Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh on Wednesday in an effort to ease the crisis. Since Sunday, Powell has talked to Musharraf four times.
State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker said Powell had warned each side that warfare can "have no good results for either." Another Bush administration official said the situation remains tense but that it appears unlikely that hostilities are imminent.
Reeker said that Washington's concern was clearly heightened because India and Pakistan have conducted nuclear tests. But he said a conflict between two countries crucial to the U.S. anti-terrorism coalition would be worrying even if there was no danger of a nuclear exchange.
Vajpayee has been caught between calls for restraint from foreign governments and demands for military action from large parts of India's electorate after the five gunmen attacked Parliament on Dec. 13.
