New Delhi is entitled to represent operations in the Kargil and Drass sectors as it deems fit. It has its own interpretations. Understandably, it cannot share everything it knows. No one has even questioned this because the country is in the midst of a war. Still, the nation has every right to try and make sense of the dumb charade that is being enacted before it.

An editor going to Pakistan does not make news. But when the joint secretary of thePakistan division goes with him, it is news. Similarly, Naik's meeting with Vajpayee is bigger news because it has been followed by a telephone call from Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Nearly a fortnight has passed and still no one knows what it is all about.

Our foreign contacts have something amateurish about them. Prime Minister's secretary Brajesh Mishra goes to Geneva and leaves Vajpayee's letter for President Clinton before the meeting of the G-8 nations. We reportedly urged upon him to reimpose sanctions on Pakistan. However you may interpret it, it amounts to seeking America's help to solve a problem which we have always loudly maintained was a bilateral one. Today it is Kargil; tomorrow it can be Kashmir. Will you tell Washington that your role is acceptable as long as you exert pressure, send your general and threaten to block money from the world financial organisations to have the infiltrators out. But you are not wanted if you talk beyond this.

With great flourish, the foreignsecretary rushed from one world capital to the other to explain India's case. Political leaders were kept out purposely. He went to France, which has gone along with other members on the Kargil issue. But he drew a blank because Paris announced the sale of Mirage planes to Pakistan. The UN Secretary General is talking about the cessation of hostilities without demanding the vacation of the intruders first.

Even if there is no transparency in the working of the government, there should at least be some authentic information on diplomatic efforts. The government in power was defeated on the floor of the House. Foreign office briefings tell less and hide more. New Delhi and Islamabad seem to be in the midst of making some moves, which may have an effect on the ongoing war.Politicking is not so bad as double-crossing. This is how political parties feel after the disclosures in Pakistan that India took the initiative to end the war in the Kargil sector. No peace is bad. But if it is effected through subterfuge,it will arouse suspicion and mistrust.

The BJP-led government was doing all right until it entered the field of diplomacy. All political parties were behind it. There was a confidence that the government will not do anything beyond a point. That trust has been shaken. Political parties are justified in complaining that the Prime Minister did not take them into confidence on conciliation efforts even when he held a closed-door meeting with them recently.

The President must be feeling embarrassed because he has been discouraging political parties from demanding a national government. Even the proposal to constitute an advisory committee to discuss the affairs of war and peace has not been implemented by the government. One is not even sure whether the President was taken into confidence on the tete-a-tete with Pakistan.

Rumours have it that Sharif wants to be retrieved from a war which the armed forces have imposed on him. But the statements he has been making while visiting his soldiers in forward areasdo not suggest that he is an unwilling participant, at least at the present juncture. He tells soldiers that they are Muslims and that he can see martyrdom in their eyes. Is this the kind of language he should be using if he wants India to rescue him?

Nothing can help him if he does not assert himself. It means joining issue with the armed forces, which will waste no time in removing him and slamming allegations of corruption against him. It appears he was initially upset because he had no information on the Kargil activities. When General Parvez Musharraf, the Pakistan chief of army staff, gave the green light on the crossing of the Line of Control (LoC), he probably did not inform Sharif. But he is satisfied now because of the regular briefings he gets from the armed forces. The three service chiefs were present at the airport when he left for China. He has given no indication that the present arrangement, whereby the armed forces call the shots, is not to his liking.

Obviously India cannot protectSharif or, for that matter, the civilian authority against the diktat of the Pakistani armed forces. They have to do it themselves. A nation, inured to military or civil dictatorship, gradually loses the right to speak out. It has remained quiet because the enemy is India. In fact, this threat has made the armed forces trample on people's democratic rights and they have allowed it to happen.

If Sharif wants to be bailed out he has also to curb the fundamentalists, who have the better of him all the time. His own thinking probably tallies with the sentiments expressed in the Lahore Declaration. But the fundamentalist forces have made him dance to their tune. If he wants to project a distinct image of himself, he should distance himself from them.

That Pakistan is rendering help to the infiltrators is no more a secret. It is well known that Islamabad is conducting the operations and its armed forces are in the thick of them. When most foreign powers have asked Pakistan to withdraw its forces -- America hassaid so repeatedly -- why does Islamabad believe that it has got away with the game it is playing?

If Islamabad accepts New Delhi's demand for the restoration of the status quo ante, it is proof enough that it has had cold feet after initiating the military adventure. But what happens next? Over 700 Indian officers and soldiers have laid down their lives or been wounded so far. If the LoC is to be declared -- and accepted -- as the international border between India and Pakistan, their sacrifice would have some meaning.