The encounter is sure to be the focus of international attention, with Pakistan doing everything it can to keep the world view on what it believes is the ``root cause of the tension,'' Kashmir.

But New Delhi hopes that Prime Minister Vajpayee's offer on Tuesday asking Pakistan to join it in a no first-use nuclear strike agreement, will take the wind out of the Pakistani rhetoric.

The offer was made to address Western fears about a possible nuclear war in the sub-continent, in which the rest of the world would be irretrievably engulfed. The Indian view is that if both states sign a nuclear pact which prevents a strike in the first place, its initiative would win international applause.

Significantly, the offer was made on the eve of Jaswant Singh's meeting with US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott in Frankfurttomorrow. It follows a letter written by Vajpayee to Nawaz Sharif last month.

The foreign office here also remains determined about not letting Pakistan hijack the bilateral agenda, in Colombo or elsewhere, by focussing on Kashmir. So far, the signals are that New Delhi will insist on a simultaneous dialogue on all eight issues identified in Islamabad last year.

Islamabad, on the other hand, proposed last month that the two sides first discuss issues like peace and security, including confidence-building measures and Kashmir, leaving the other six issues for later. The idea of separating the agenda is anathema to India.

But Pakistan, whose special emissary Sahibzada Yakub Khan, is also meeting US officials this week in Washington, and believed to be offering Islamabad's willingness to also cut a deal on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Interestingly, Pakistan wants the Western world to keep its focus on Kashmir, since it believes that India is ``vulnerable'' on this score.

Islamabad feels thatIndia will have no option but to make concessions on the bilateral dialogue after Colombo, especially when the Security Council is watching.

In fact, the Security Council is meeting in New York again tomorrow (July 9), to deliberate the report presented by Alvaro DeSoto, the UN Secretary-General's special envoy, on his recent trip to South Asia. DeSoto was refused permission to land in Delhi because his mandate included a discussion on Kashmir.