India today made it clear that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s refusal to acknowledge the infiltration taking place across the LoC was ‘‘unhelpful’’ in the backdrop of the peace initiatives announced by Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. In an interview to BBC, Musharraf had said there was no activity on the LoC in the context of infiltration. He also claimed that Pakistan had announced several measures after Vajpayee’s initiatives, but New Delhi was yet to respond.According to South Block officials, New Delhi took the lead and announced far-reaching initiatives aimed at improving people-to-people contact and enhancing co-operation on trade and economic issues while also deciding to appoint a High Commissioner in Islamabad.On Musharraf’s comment that Pakistan had taken ‘‘seven confidence-building measures’’ as opposed to two by India, sources said Islamabad had not even responded to the announcements made by Vajpayee. While matters have moved ahead with both countries attempting to remove the roadblocks to resume the Delhi-Lahore bus service, Pakistan was yet to clarify its position on granting overflight permission to Indian carriers. Sources emphasised that it was not the question of seven or two as India was keen to take more steps in normalising ties between both nations provided Islamabad responds by ‘‘taking some concrete measures’’ in ending cross-border terrorism.
