India?s new government has vowed not to drop the baton in making peace with Pakistan but a grand deal to end decades of hostility between the nuclear-armed neighbours is probably more elusive now.

The Congress party, which ruled India for most of the first five decades after independence and is now back in power, is seen less likely to make bold moves on the main dispute over Kashmir than the previous Hindu nationalist-led coalition, analysts say.

Yesterday, the new government reiterated in its basic policy document that it would talk to Pakistan ?on all issues on a sustained basis?, but analysts said it may not take the strong initiatives the previous administration did.

The Congress will also be vulnerable to pressure from the Hindu right, who now sit in the opposition and may not give unconditional support to the peace process given their antipathy to the Congress party leader, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi.

?There is evidence to suggest that a harder line will emerge on Pakistan, and that there could be no question of diluting Kashmir?s status as an integral part of India,? said Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management, an independent New Delhi-based think-tank.

?There will certainly be a stabilisation of the negotiating strategy, this far and no further,? said Sahni.

India has long held that the whole of Muslim-majority Kashmir is an integral part of the country, and a touchstone of its secular credentials. It blames Pakistan for stoking a 15-year revolt in the scenic region of snow-capped mountains.

Pakistan demands the implementation of decades-old UN resolutions for a plebiscite in Kashmir to determine whether the territory should be folded into India or merged with Pakistan. It says it gives moral support to Kashmiris in what it calls their freedom struggle.

Hindu-majority India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan were created when British colonial India was divided on religious lines in 1947, but Kashmir went to India. It is now divided into Indian, Pakistani and Chinese sectors.

Under previous Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who launched the peace bid, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf there were signs that the two sides were ready to show flexibility in their positions.

Analysts say New Delhi, which earlier foreclosed any negotiations on Kashmir, was at least ready to entertain discussions on a whole set of solutions that have been proposed over the years, such as limited sovereignty, transfer of some territory or even populations.

?Nothing was excluded from the realm of discussion, although I doubt that in the end, even the BJP or Vajpayee could have sold the nation any big concession,? said a retired Indian diplomat. Pakistan, in return, also signalled it was ready to set aside the long-standing demand for a plebiscite to help find a solution to the dispute that has led to two wars between them.

<B>Status quo</B>

But the Congress, which was the architect of the country?s Kashmir policy, is expected to stress a 1972 agreement as the basis for negotiations aimed at formalising the current division of Kashmir into its Indian and Pakistani parts. Islamabad has long rejected that position.

?I think this is going to be a problem, and this might affect the pace of developments as far as the Kashmir question is concerned,? said former Pakistani foreign secretary Tanvir Ahmed Khan.

?What we would get from India is the offer of maintenance of the dialogue, of rapid progress on economic and social aspects, but perhaps it will be somewhat more difficult when it comes to discussions on the Kashmir question.?

Also, the new regime in New Delhi will be more sure-footed and structured in pursuing the peace process than the personalised style that Vajpayee had brought to bear, analysts say.

The new foreign minister, Natwar Singh, is a veteran diplomat as is the National Security Adviser, Jyotindra Nath Dixit. Both have been posted as India?s high commissioner or ambassador to Pakistan and are well versed in how to handle the often fractious ties with Islamabad.

?With the BJP you never knew where it would end, it was war today, then romance tomorrow,? said Sahni, the political analyst.

?With the new regime, you can expect a rock-solid consistency, an emphasis on institutions, and everything will happen within parameters of earlier agreements.?

<B>Sanjeev MIGLANI</B>