India said yesterday it would keep its troops mobilized on the border until Pakistan stopped Islamic militants crossing over to launch attacks.
But as Pakistani police said they had detained hundreds in a crackdown announced this weekend by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, New Delhi left open the door to moving forward in its relations with its neighbor and nuclear rival.
"There is no way we are going to pull out the troops unless there is action on the promises that have been made by General Musharraf," Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said.
He told a news conference he hoped Musharraf would move quickly to implement his promises, which also included a pledge to curb religious extremism.
"Once we get into that kind of a mode then it should not be too big a problem for us to move forward," he said.
Pakistan and India had come under heavy pressure from the international community to end the most powerful military build-up since their independence in 1947.
Musharraf's landmark speech, laying out a vision of a modern Islamic Pakistan, signalled the beginning of an easing in the crisis triggered by an attack on India's parliament last month.
A Pakistan interior ministry official said about 1,100 activists from five outlawed groups had been detained since Saturday, and around 390 offices sealed.
Musharraf, a former army commando who seized power in 1999, had announced the ban on the five groups -- including two blamed by India for the attack on its parliament -- on Saturday.
"We have detained almost all the activists from banned groups, but their leadership has gone underground. ... We will manage them also," the official, who declined to be named, said.
The White House said on Sunday that both Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Musharraf had told US President George W. Bush by telephone they would work to ease the tension.
Fernandes said the attack on parliament would be etched forever on the minds of the people of India.
"There is no way India can accept such acts of terrorism any more," he said.
But India was ready to wait and see if Musharraf could bring an end to what New Delhi calls "cross-border terrorism" -- the infiltration of militants from Pakistan into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Fernandes said this should include an end to firing across the Line of Control, the military ceasefire line in the Himalayas which divides disputed Kashmir.
India has accused the Pakistan army of firing across the line to provide cover for militants crossing into Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan in turn has often accused India of starting the shooting.
While Fernandes declined to set a timeframe, he said India was not going to wait forever for Musharraf to deliver.
"I'm sure he is aware that he has to do it fast, particularly because troops from both sides are on the front line," he said. "He is at the moment on trial."
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