NEW DELHI: As eminent members from civil society confer in New Delhi on ways to revive the stalled India-Pakistan peace process, efforts are on by parts of the establishment in Islamabad to divert attention from its unpopular military offensive along its western border with Afghanistan towards old antagonist India. Increasing numbers of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the international border and attempts to infiltrate militants across the border with India have been recorded over the past week, senior officials said today.

Leading political figures in Islamabad, including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, have raised an alarm over statements made by India’s army chief General Deepak Kapoor at a recent seminar urging the Indian army to be prepared to face a war simultaneously on two fronts, Pakistan and China.

“It’s clear,” a senior official said, “that Pakistan is trying to raise the bogey of the Indian threat to convince the United States that it cannot spare any more troops to deploy against the Taliban

and Al-Qaeda.” The Americans remain unconvinced, with US President Obama reiterating on Monday

that the Al-Qaeda and Taliban continue to be holed up in the tribal regions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

India has repeatedly stated that it harbours no aggressive designs against Pakistan, but has turned down calls for resuming talks with Pakistan until Islamabad acts against those responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attacks and stops the use of terrorism as an instrument of its state policy.

Pointing out Pakistan’s repeated “denials and evasions” since the Mumbai attacks, India’s junior minister for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said Islamabad’s lack of sufficient action against perpetrators of the 26/11 created doubt about its seriousness on seeking a meaningful dialogue with India.

“Pakistan’s evasive responses and denials in response to our requests for cooperation in exposing the conspiracy behind the Mumbai terror attack and bringing all its perpetrators to justice have not helped our bilateral relations,” Tharoor said. “The inability or unwillingness of the Pakistani government to prevent its soil from being used to mount attacks

on another state is a sad commentary that raises questions about whether it is at all serious about seeking a dialogue in order to improve relations with India,” Tharoor said.

“Besides, an increase in ceasefire violations, continued infiltration across the LOC and the attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July 2008 and October 2009 have also placed immense strain on India-Pakistan relations in general and on the dialogue process in particular,” Tharoor said, while delivering a lecture titled “India’s Vision of Peace, Security and Development in South Asia” in memory of the late Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Also, the Indian government has not taken kindly to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s suggestion to Britain to exclude India from a conference on the future of Afghanistan. To be held in London later this month, the conference of foreign ministers from International Security Assistance Force partners, Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours and key regional players, including India, will aim to chart a time bound course for Afghanistan’s development. India has invested over 1.2 billion dollars in Afghanistan’s development in the past decade and is a vital stakeholder in that war ravaged nation’s peace process.

India has built roads, dams, schools and hospitals and a power supply grid in Afghanistan, but Pakistan, wary of the goodwill generated by Indian development efforts there, has consistently opposed India’s attempts to stay engaged in Afghanistan.