New Delhi seems to be treating the offer, made two days ago by the Foreign Office in Islamabad, with the contempt it feels it deserves. There was, however, no public reaction over the weekend to Pakistan's rejection of India's June 12 offer. One thing seems clear: the bonhomie that characterised the relationship over the last year when I K Gujral was prime minister has, in the post-nuclear phase, been ripped apart to reveal a deep-seated distrust and animosity over the smallest of things.

For example, the dates on offer for dialogue. Yesterday, India proposed New Delhi as a venue and June 22 as a possible starter, with not much more reason than probably the fact that it is the anniversary of theIslamabad agreement. Within hours, Islamabad had come back in reply: Sorry, June 22 is not suitable, let's meet on June 20 and in Islamabad.

Ironically, two days ago, with a view to deflecting Western criticism, Islamabad had responded to the proposals Gujral and his team made to Nawaz Sharif in Dhaka in January. According to informed Pakistani sources, the offer was that dialogue should start with the first two issues on the Islamabad communique: peace and security, including confidence-building measures, and J&K. ``There's a new context now, there's greater regional and international concern about Kashmir. The world wants us to talk. Let's address the main issues on a priority basis. Agreeing about modalities will take time, so let the foreign secretaries address these two issues that they are responsible for in the Islamabad agreement,'' sources said.

By narrowing the agenda to only two issues -- one of which is Kashmir -- this offer was seen as the proverbial red rag. In January, New Delhi's proposalswere precisely about rejecting a separate working group for Kashmir, for fear that Pakistan would hold progress on the other seven issues ``hostage to progress'' in the Kashmir working group. New Delhi had then said as well that the foreign secretaries will review all eight issues in the Islamabad agreement, including peace and security and Kashmir. But that there was no question of these two issues being discussed separately. Yesterday, one day after the Pakistani offer came from Islamabad, New Delhi reiterated the fact that it was offering talks based on its Dhaka proposals. Implicit in the reaction was a blanket rejection of Islamabad's offer of the day before. ``How on earth does India respond to an offer by Pakistan which only talks about two issues, one of which is Kashmir,'' a former diplomat asked. ``After no less a body than the Security Council has said that the dialogue can only be addressed bilaterally, the Pakistanis still want to bring in third parties. That is not on,'' he added. The absence ofa reaction from the government today shows that it is in no hurry to react. Prime Ministers of both countries will meet during the Saarc summit in Colombo, slated for July 10-11. The shadow-boxing continues.