According to highly placed sources in the Government, Washington has repeated this several times at different levels since the Kargil conflict broke out. It was mentioned again by both US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Rick Inderfurth when they met the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, Brajesh Mishra, in Geneva last week.

Although the assurance has come in private discussions, the Government feels two recent developments indicate that the US means what it says.

One, the G-8 communique again stressed on bilateral negotiations between India and Pakistan. Two, the US and France blocked a Canadian move to activate the UN Security Council on the dispute just before the G-8 summit. This happened after India made it clear to both countries that invoking the UN would only aggravatethe situation in Kargil, sources said.

Western recognition of Indian sensitivities on Kashmir has emboldened the Government to press ahead with its international diplomatic blitz. Despite fears in India to the contrary, the Government is confident that in the light of the assurances from US and France, appeals to the P-5 and G-8 nations for support will not automatically put Kashmir on the international agenda.

The sources pointed out that the US and French view against the internationalisation of the Kashmir issue is shared by China and Russia as well. In fact, the Chinese told Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh during his recent visit to Beijing that they have advised Pakistan to settle the dispute bilaterally.

The Government is also relying heavily on promises from Berger and Inderfurth to Mishra that the US will continue to pressure Pakistan to create a favourable atmosphere for the resumption of the Lahore process. This is seen by India as an assurance to get Pakistan to withdraw the infiltrators fromKargil as demanded by India for restarting the disrupted dialogue.

The US officials told Mishra that President Clinton will remain ``personally engaged''. In return, they sought time for manoeuvre and advised India to keep to its policy of restraint in the conflict zone. They did not specify a time frame but according to official sources, they indicated that they hoped to bring Pakistan around in ``a matter of days''. The Indian side is a little skeptical, however. It feels that Pakistan will only respond to economic threats, not diplomatic pleas.

Government sources admitted that ``settlement'' of the Kashmir issue as far as the international community is concerned is the conversion of the Line of Control into an international border.

The sources pointed out that this was also envisaged in the Simla Pact although it was never formalised.

The catch is public opinion in India, and more important, in Pakistan where internal politics is based on keeping the Kashmir issue alive.