The firing of the `Ghauri' will, sources say, give the Americans the opportunity to reintroduce themselves as third-party mediators in the sub-continent, the argument being that this is the beginning of a new arms race in the region.

But the new Bharatiya Janata Party government, with whom this is the first US encounter, is unlikely to buy this position. In turn, the government's interlocutors are likely to argue that India has always exercised ``restraint,'' whether on the nuclear or the missile issue, and that hardeningpublic opinion may force them to break this barrier.

``We will acquaint them with our security concerns, which are not only those relating to the Pakistani missile test,'' an official source said.

Significantly, the government is not at all keen on doing any ``deals'' with the US that might foreclose the nuclear option, in return for the possibility of civilian nuclear cooperation or enhanced foreign investment.``We will talk about it,'' the official source admitted, adding, ``But they have their views and we have ours.''

The possibility of such ``grand bargains'' being offered by the US side is tentative in the first place, especially since the US may not want to be seen to be ``rewarding'' a nuclear-threshold country like India.

On the other hand, the Indians realise that by refusing to sign the US-promoted Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the pact that seeks to ban nuclear testing, they may already be able to exercise a certain amount of leverage. It is clear to New Delhi that Clinton is keen to godown in history as the president who dealt the CTBT to the world.

New Delhi feels that any deals on any aspect of bilateral nuclear cooperation, including nuclear safety, should stand on its own merit. Even if the United States amends its own laws in favour of such a bargain, the sources said, Washington shouldn't make out as if it were doing India a favour by selling it civilian nuclear reactors for which India would be paying good money.

The seeds of a ``grand nuclear bargain'' were actually laid during an innocent seminar with Indian and United States strategic experts at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States last year, when some United States officials called upon India to ``formalise its nuclear restraint'' in return for civilian nuclear energy cooperation.

When former prime minister I K Gujral and Clinton broke the nuclear ice in their discussions in New York last September, it seemed as if the first barriers had been breached. Then the Gujral government fell by the wayside.Vajpayee's BJP, with its promise to ``induct nuclear weapons'' in the armed forces, has the United States worried enough to send a high-ranking Cabinet minister to India to check out the real face of the BJP.

Richardson's role as the US' ambassador to the UN has also raised speculation here about any forward movement on the part of the United States in supporting India's case for a permanent seat in the Security Council.

But Karl Inderfurth, the pointperson for South Asia in the United States State department, briefing reporters in Washington on the eve of the visit, candidly stated that there would be ``no quid pro quos'' on this issue.