Turn down the heat

ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: Three US delegations are whirling through Pakistan this week, all carrying the same message for their host and neighbouring India: "Turn down the heat," reports AP.

Last month's hijacking of a Indian Airlines plane unleashed a blistering war of words between two rival countries - who also happen to be the world's newest nuclear powers.

Pakistan's military leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has warned India he's not a man to turn the other cheek to the relentless "flak from across the border." SK Singh, a former top officials in India's Foreign Ministry, responded that Musharraf's comment was regarded as "a threat, which we take very seriously."

Analysts fear the verbal sparring could take both countries, which have fought three wars, back to the battlefield.

"There is a very real danger of a conflict, because you become the prisoner of your own rhetoric and you begin a spiral of action and reaction and you end up doing things you didn't plan to do," said Riffat Hussein, a political analyst at Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam University.

"We are in for a period of very high tension," said Dr Tanvir Ahmed at Pakistan's Institute of Strategic Studies. "Both countries think they can manage the tension... but you never know."

That uncertainty explains, in part, the visits to Pakistan by three sets of high-ranking Americans.

Assistant secretary of State Karl Inderfurth is to arrive Thursday, the highest US official to visit since the military threw out the elected government in October.

He follows Republican Sen. Sam brownback of Kansas, who followed four Senate Democrats - Minority leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Harry Reid of Nevada and Daniel Akaka of Hawii.

In addition, US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott on Tuesday began two days of meetings in London with Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh.

"The subject is a continuation of the security and nonproliferation dialogue the United States has been having with India, and reducing tensions with Pakistan, and other issues of mutual concern on the Indian subcontinent," said US Embassy spokesman Rod Francis.

Pakistan's Musharraf was quoted in an Indian newspaper Monday as saying he suspected India would use the London talks to try to get Pakistan declared a terrorist state. On Tuesday, he was in China, a traditional ally of Pakistan, and observers in Islamabad said the general would use the visit to strengthen the alliance against India.