India, where sympathy for the rebels funs high, the guerrillas have been highly successful in harassing government troops. And many Western analysts feel that the rebels' success is likely to continue. “Yahya does not have enough troops there now to curb the guerrillas.” said one observer. “And he can't add more without perilously weakening the very frontiers where the Indians are massed."
Escape
The fear in most capitals, however, is that both India and Pakistan may become so entrapped in belligerence that war will be the only way out. To head off that prospect, British diplomats approached Indian and Pakistani representatives at the. United Nations while the Soviet Union announced that a delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister “Nikolai Firyubin would fly to India for special talks. And in Washington, the Nixon Administration endorsed Yahya Khan's proposal that the two sides pull their forces back from the borders. India, however, was having none of that. Dismissing Yahya's offer as nothing but a play. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi insisted, “You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."
Despite the lack of visible progress in quicting the tensions, many diplomats professed to sec some hopeful signs that war could be avoided at least during the next few weeks. To begin with, Mrs. Gandhi did not change her plans to leave early this week on a six-nation tour. As one U.S. official noted, “It would seem unlikely the Indian Army would launch an attack in her absence.” That left, of course, the possibility that Pakistan might fire the opening salvo. But U.S. officials thought that too was unlikely. “It would be a manifestation of madness,” said one Washington observer. “They have everything to lose.” Still relations between Hindu India and Moslem Pakistan have never been characterized by an excess of rationality. And for that reason, no one was willing to foreclose the possibility of fighting. “Logic tells you there shouldn't be a war,” said one diplomat in New Delhi. “But you have to throw logic out the window when you talk about India and Pakistan."
