Earlier in the day, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced his release at a press conference as a ``goodwill gesture'' and he was scheduled to be handed over to Indian High Commissioner G Parthasarthy. But the High Commission objected to his release before the full glare of the media. Nearly 100 local and foreign journalists from both the print and electronic media were waiting for his release at the foreign office.

Nachiketa was brought to the foreign office around 1930 hrs (IST) before being released nearly three hours later.

Sharif had said the return of the pilot indicated his willingness ``to go that extra mile.'' He said originally the plan was to send the pilot to India with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz. However,when it became apparent that the Foreign Minister's trip was going to be delayed, Pakistan decided to release Nachiketa immediately.

In a statement read out to national and international media at the Prime Minister's house here, Sharif blamed India for the current escalation along the LoC and warned that the bilateral peace process he had personally initiated with India two years ago was in ``grievous danger''.

``In order to demonstrate our goodwill and in keeping with Islamic traditions, I have ordered immediate release of Flt Lt K Nachiketa,'' he said.

India has said it is ``absolutely delighted'' over the release of the pilot but continues to be non-committal about dates for the proposed visit of Foreign Minister Aziz.

``We are absolutely delighted to have Flt Lt Nachiketa back,'' a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said. Asked whether Aziz would be arriving here on June 7, the date suggested by Islamabad for talks in New Delhi, the spokesman added, ``Nothing has been fixed as yet. Nodates have been mutually settled yet.''

Significantly, New Delhi is also rejecting any proposals by Islamabad to resolve the crisis along the LoC that may involve the presence of UN monitors or any other third party.

Sartaj Aziz, in an interview with AFP in Islamabad today, said ``negotiations'' with India next week would focus on an agreed assessment of the ground situation in Kashmir and the type of response that would be appropriate from both sides.

A monitoring procedure could then be established, Aziz said, which could include the expansion of UN monitors who already hold a small presence along the LoC.

But Government sources here strongly dismissed Aziz's references to a third-party role, UN or otherwise, in the resolution of this conflict. They pointed out that the UN Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) ``had no role after the Shimla agreement'' in the resolution of any bilateral conflict though it continues to have an office in Srinagar.

``There is no question of anythird-party monitoring or a third party playing any other role in Jammu and Kashmir or any other bilateral issue,'' the official sources said.

New Delhi would ``listen to what the Pakistani Foreign Minister had to say,'' the sources added, reiterating that ``there is simply no compromise on the fact that this intrusion has to be vacated. It is not subject to any negotiations.''

The Government's dismissal of Aziz's reported negotiating stance comes in the wake of an official clarification today that New Delhi would not offer any kind of ``safe passage'' to the infiltrators.

Analysts said, even as New Delhi attempted to recover from the perceived damage done by statements from the political leadership in recent days, it wanted to send a message to Islamabad on the eve of the talks that ``no quarter would be given'' during the discussions.

External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh seems to be squarely behind this hardline position. He had told The Indian Express a few days ago that the point of thetalks with Aziz was to ``communicate to him the sense of outrage the nation feels about this intrusion and the resolve of the country and the Government to rid our soil of this manifestation.''