NEW DELHI, Aug 12 — The Atal Behari Vajpayee Government is banking on the botched-up peace process in violence-driven Jammu and Kashmir being revived after a cooling-off period.

It is discernible that the J & K strategists in the NDA Government have not backed off in the wake of the Hizbul Mujahideen revoking its unilateral ceasefire announcement after 15 days on August 8.

“We don’t believe the peace effort has come to a nought just because the Hizbul Mujahideen has backtracked, thanks to its masters in Islamabad. We have our own reasons for being cautiously optimistic that the dialogue will get enlarged with more of our people willing to sit across the table as the traumatised people of Jammu and Kashmir want the restoration of peace,” according to highly placed sources.

It is argued that the Hizbul Mujahideen faction in the valley headed by Abdul Majid Dar had impressed upon its top brass in Pakistan including Syed Salahuddin not to revoke the ceasefire. As expected, Dar’s entreaties fell on deaf ears as any dialogue on the Kashmir tangle minus Islamabad would have put Pakistan’s chief executive Gen Pervez Musharraf in a tight corner and dealt a grievous blow to the all -encompassing ISI.

The United Jehad Council in Pakistan, an umbrella organisation of the militant outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir, with the ISI breathing down its beck has sent Salahuddin packing, thus clipping his wings.

New Delhi has ruled out involving Pakistan in tripartite talks. It has also firmly rejected engaging other militant outfits run by foreign nationals and operating in Jammu and Kashmir with Islamabad’s encouragement.

The NDA leadership is counting on Dar’s Hizbul Mujahideen in the valley and the APHC changing tack in keeping with the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the restoration of peace and calm. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, is sending loud signals as well that it is time to end the animus and the killing of the innocent.

The NDA leadership is aware that there cannot be any tangible forward movement in the prevailing atmosphere when Pakistan has activated the so-called jehadis to create mayhem and whip up a fear psychosis in Jammu and Kashmir so that the peace process comes as under. Therefore, it will have to persevere by chipping away along with displaying loads of patience.

There are indications that the agencies of the government which have been burrowing their way for several months now will continue the exercise in a subterranean way in the valley and elsewhere.

Authoritative sources said that the government’s approach is not rigid but flexible. It will necessarily have to keep matters within the ambit of the Constitution but that should not be a deterrent to the Hizbul Mujahideen or the APHC to pursue their own positions.