The negotiators who include China's top disarmament specialist Sha Zukang, Russia's Grigori Berdennikov and Britain's Roland Smith are slated to try and frame a mixture of incentives and deterrants in an effort to press New Delhi and Islamabad into confidence-building negotiations. ``Pakistan blames India, India blames China and China says it has no role to play in the current crisis - in fact China will argue that it is not part of the problem,'' a senior western diplomat privy to parts oftomorrow's negotiations and speaking on conditions of anonymity said. Asked if Kashmir would figure in the talks, he declined to comment but said, ``there's no question that the security environment between India and Pakistan will be discussed and when you are discussing security environment you are discussing borders.''

Other officials say any mention of borders raises also raises the dispute with China- something Beijing is keen to avoid as it sees itself unconnected to the current crisis. Pakistan's envoy Munir Akram has said Kashmir is central to the issue while India's UN ambassador and chief disarmament negotiator Savitri Kunadi told an arms negotiating forum this week that New Delhi's security concerns ran deeper and further than the so-called South Asia.

``Artificial delimitation and selective and compartmentalised approaches which seek to limit these issues to the so-called South Asia are defective,'' she said. As part of the build-up to tomorrow's talks, the Conference on Disarmament (CD)this week heard calls from over 45 countries (middle eastern nations were conspicuously absent) urging India and Pakistan to cease nuclear testing and join international arms pacts. Australia and New Zealand introduced the text of a statement that talks of tensions in Asia and not specifically South Asia. While this might be diplomatic nit-picking, the fact remains that India, Pakistan and Kashmir have come under international debate and possible scrutiny.

Diplomats here are pointing out that irrespective of the outcome of tomorrow's meeting, this is the first time that the P5 five are meeting outside the UN context to discuss an India-Pakistan dispute with Kashmir being discussed at least on the sidelines of the main meeting.

Pakistan's envoy Munir Akram has taken the line that his country reacted to protect itself from India which bears the responsibility for tensions in the region, a position that has been backed by China. Many questions are expected to remain unanswered including whether the P5accept India and Pakistan as nuclear weapons states and China's role in the region's security environment. China which is acting coordinator of the P5 will chair tomorrow's meeting has blamed India for the current crisis. Arms negotiators in Geneva have also been quick to point to what they say is the failure of the P5 to take note of India's announcement that it will now observe a voluntary moratorium and the prime minister's statement in parliament indicating willingness to move towards a de-jure formalisation of this declaration. Diplomats see in this an indication that India is willing to move in the direction of CTBT but that the international community failed to seize this as an opportunity may suggest that other concerns are at work.

The P5 are not expected to discuss their own efforts to halt the spread of nuclear and missile technology which has been a potential source of discord with the United States blaming China and Russia for laxity toward suspected nuclear proliferators. That position in turnhas led to a host of awkward questions being hurled at Washington about why it has consistently turned a blind eye to the widely assumed nuclear capability of its closest ally in the middle east, Israel. A free and frank assessment of the world's nuclear reality, diplomats say, is not for tomorrow.

Diplomatic tug of war between China, India