BABY STEPS BEHIND BARBED WIRE: A child reaches towards a stretch of barbed wire in Srinagar on Sunday. A security lockdown and a general strike called by separatists crippled normal life in the Valley. (AFP)

New Delhi, July 18: S.M. Krishna is likely to “bump” into Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister who has been swinging like a pendulum since his interaction with the Indian external affairs minister last week, on the sidelines of a conference in Kabul on Tuesday.

Sources in New Delhi said diplomats on the two sides of the border had agreed to manoeuvre a Krishna-Qureshi “pull-aside” in the Afghan capital. The sources also hinted that the initiative for such a meeting had come from Islamabad with Qureshi telephoning Krishna on Saturday evening.

The initiative to smooth ruffled feathers are being attributed to several factors.

Some sources suggested that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had something to do with Qureshi’s efforts to tone down the rancour he had exhibited since the snarled joint media conference on Thursday.

Hillary, who landed in Islamabad today on a two-day visit, does not want to walk into a new South Asian problem: she has enough on her plate without having to deal with a continuing India-Pakistan spat.

Besides, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a Pakistan Army headquarters outfit, has realised that Qureshi, having been told to toe the military’s line, outdid his brief and created a public relations disaster for Pakistan.

Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s extension is also coming up. He does not want to be viewed in Washington as a stumbling block to peace with India.

Analysts believe that under the circumstances, the Pakistani establishment had come around to the view that the best bet now is to hope for a “smooth waiting period” and see how Kashmir develops.

Officials in Delhi confirmed that Krishna would have a bilateral meeting with Hillary in Kabul on Tuesday. They also did not rule out a bilateral meeting between the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.

“Both ministers (Krishna and Qureshi) will be in Kabul. As is normal at such conferences, there will be many opportunities for the dignitaries and for the leaders of delegations attending the conference to have meetings, as it always happens on the sidelines of such conferences. So, we will have to see how this works out... If it (Krishna-Qureshi meeting) does happen, yes it is another opportunity,” foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said.

The Pakistani side “understands that in diplomacy you have to weigh your words very carefully because the impact of words can go far beyond just words themselves. And I am sure they realise that”, she added.

Rao said India did not want to get drawn into slanging matches.

Soon after speaking to Krishna, Qureshi stepped into damage-control mode. He claimed on Saturday night that it wasn’t Krishna who had been getting directives from New Delhi on the phone but another member of the Indian delegation.

“I had never said that the Indian external (affairs) minister repeatedly went out during the meeting to receive instructions from Delhi,” said Qureshi. On Friday, the Pakistani foreign minister had alleged that “India was narrowing the dialogue.… The Indian foreign minister received foreign policy directives from New Delhi repeatedly during our meeting.”

Qureshi also said Pakistan would continue the dialogue. Answering a question on Krishna’s invitation to him to visit Delhi, Qureshi said: “I will not visit India for a leisure trip. I would only go if India is ready for meaningful, result-oriented and constructive talks.”