New Delhi, March 22: The Soviet Union is lending a helping hand in preparing the ground for a negotiated settlement of all Indo-Pakistan problems, without carrying the art of gentle persuasion to the point of open arm-twisting to induce either country to fall in line with this peaceful approach for easing the tensions created by the recent conflict. It is acting as a sort of clearing house for keeping up some degree of trilateral contact between India, Bangla Desh and Pakistan to pave the way for direct negotiations between them for stabilising the situation in the sub-continent. But in extending its good offices to get things moving in the direction of a peaceful settlement, the Soviet Union is not aspiring for any mediatory role, nor thinking in terms of another Tashkent-type conference under its auspices. It is confining its present efforts to the elimination of political and emotional reservations on either side to the idea of negotiations without pre-conditions, while leaving the actual processes of discussion to be determined directly by them.
