World pressure on South Asian rivals

One million soldiers are massed along the border

By Jill McGivering BBC Delhi correspondent

India's decision to allow Pakistani civilian aircraft to use its airspace again follows intense diplomatic pressure on both countries aimed at avoiding a military conflict.

The announcement also comes just before US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld starts his visit to the region.

Although limited, it is just the sort of positive gesture India has been under pressure to make as a first step towards easing tensions with Pakistan.

It is seen as a political response to assurances from Washington - most recently US envoy Richard Armitage - that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is serious in his commitment to end cross-border militancy permanently.

Gesture politics

Indian officials also said they had seen some reduction in infiltration from Pakistan-administered Kashmir into Indian-administered Kashmir.

"We have welcomed the assurance given by the President of Pakistan that he is going to ensure that there will be a permanent end to infiltration," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nirapama Rau said.

Cross-border artillery fire is common

However officials in Delhi say a trend has not yet been definitely established, and it will take more time to assess if there is a genuine and sustained decrease.

Pakistan has responded cautiously to India's move. A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Islamabad said it was a step in the desired direction, but more needed to be done.

The international community has been trying to lock both countries into a process of mutual confidence-building in which a conciliatory gesture from one side is quickly matched by a positive gesture from the other.

The intense military deployments mean there is still some threat of war, but India's announcement is the latest in a of a series of indications that the worst of this crisis may now be over.