NEW DELHI, Dec 27 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is keen to utilise the services of outgoing Research and Analysis Wing chief (RAW) Amarjit Singh Dullat as a key pointsperson in getting the peace process off the ground in Jammu and Kashmir.

It is in this context that Mr Dullat’s assignment as Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister’s Office assumes importance, especially after Mr Vajpayee has extended the unilateral cessation of combat operations against the militants in the sensitive border state by another month till January 26 next year.

Though the Prime Minister is keen to end the protracted stalemate in Jammu and Kashmir, he firmly believes there has to be a discernible and confidence infusing forward movement on the ground towards a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir tangle.

“The status quo does not help. It is critical at this juncture that talks with all sections of the Kashmiris in Jammu and Kashmir make headway to end the feeling of suffocation of the people in the state,” insist highly placed sources in the Vajpayee government.

They explained that “a way has to be found to get everyone to the table and start the dialogue process. We have to build on the traumatised people’s overwhelmingly positive response to the Prime Minister’s unilateral announcement of ceasefire.”

Sources admit the task on hand in working out the modalities for the talks is in itself a complex exercise. What is of paramount importance is to change the attitude of seeing every individual in the state with suspicion. At the same time there are valid apprehensions on the part of the security forces of things taking a turn a for the worse with search, seizure and cordon operations having come to a standstill till the ceasefire is in force.

“That chance has to be taken to give peace a chance despite the machinations of Pakistan to put a spanner in the works as evidenced in July this year with the Hizbul Mujahideen, a dominant Kashmiri militant outfit, declaring ceasefire to set the stage for discussions with the Union Government. The Vajpayee government had responded positively but it came to naught because it did not fit into Islamabad’s scheme of things.

With international pressure building on Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf’s military regime in Islamabad has decided to observe “maximum restraint” along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir without giving up its demand that talks on Kashmir should be a tripartite affair. New Delhi is acutely aware that General Musharraf as Pakistan’s Chief Executive is unlikely to “give up his negative line on Kashmir for obvious reasons.”