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US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday said the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan depended on "further action" by Islamabad on New Delhi's demands for ending cross-border terrorism.
"I think we are on a path that will lead to restoration of dialogue and confidence building activities, but it will take further action (on Pakistan's part) before we take that path," he said addressing a press conference with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh in New Delhi.
Powell, who earlier held talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra, said he was "encouraged" by his discussions with the Indian leadership.
"I leave here very encouraged that we can find a solution to this troubling situation," he said adding, "we exchanged a number of ideas on how we can move forward."
Singh said that the central thought shared by the prime minister during his parleys with Powell was the earliest restoration of confidence between India and Pakistan.
Once that confidence is restored everything will fall in place, the minister said.
He said that out of the 20 terrorists wanted by India, 14 were Indian citizens involved in the most heinous crimes like terrorist activities, abduction, kidnapping and narcotics smuggling.
Details of their whereabouts had been given to Islamabad, he said, and added: "These are wanted terrorists, written about in Pakistani journals. It is not they are hiding in caves in Karachi... there are no caves in Karachi. They are in fact visible to the Pakistan establishment."
Powell said he had the "most productive" meeting with the prime minister.
He said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's speech was "well received" in India and throughout the world and that he had taken a number of steps, including detention of 1900 extremists, banning their outfits and closing their offices.
Referring to India's demand of handing over 20 terrorists and criminals, he recalled that Musharraf had not ruled out action against the non-Pakistani citizens.
"We hope Musharraf will examine all the information and do what is proper in case of each of the 20 individuals," Powell added.
Asked whether there was a possibility of India-Pakistan dialogue before the Pakistan president's visit to Washington, Powell said it was a matter that had to be resolved between the two countries and not by the US.
"I think we are on a path that will take us where we want to go, and what we have to do is to be patient, remain committed to the diplomatic track realise that this is a time of high tension," Powell said.
He said he had put forward suggestions for cooling tensions, including toning down the rhetoric, and ways of de-escalating the military standoff.
"We exchange a number of ideas on how we can move forward in this troubling situation," Powell said.
To a question on how confidence could be restored between India and Pakistan and how New Delhi would know that Musharraf had done enough, Singh said when it came to normalisation of relations between the two countries, India had already given voice to its concerns.
Singh said India welcomed Musharraf's speech and wanted to see action on the ground.
He said he was hopeful that there would be some distinct move towards a situation similar to what existed before December 13.
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