It did not take extraordinary prescience to recognise that the India-Pakistan talks on nuclear confidence building measures would go off well. If former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's historic initiative in April last year had revived the dialogue process between the two neighbours, quick damage-control exercises had dissolved the misgivings that some of the initial remarks by the Minister for External Affairs, Mr Natwar Singh, had caused in Pakistan.

Though expected, the outcome needs to be welcomed. It marks the first important movement forward since the signing of a MOU between Mr Vajpayee and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan in Lahore in 1999 to stabilise the nuclear dimension in India-Pakistan relations.

If this itself is a major development, the measures agreed upon are-as an examination of the more significant among them would show-important in terms both of providing a more transparent nuclear relationship between Delhi and Islamabad and a further reduction of tensions between the two capitals. Though specifically meant to "prevent misunderstandings and reduce risks relevant to nuclear issues", establishment of a dedicated and secure hotline between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries can also be used in respect of other matters.

Since nuclear relations have to be considered in terms of the total security environment, of the two countries, the usefulness of upgrading and rendering secure the hotline between the respective Directors-General of Military Operations hardly requires any elaboration. An agreement, with technical parametres, on pre-notification of missile testing, work in respect of which will be undertaken, is needed because while notifying its intention to test missiles, Pakistan has often not given the latter's time, range and flight path, which is necessary to ensure the safety of shipping.

Finally, bilateral consultations on security and non-proliferation issues with reference to negotiations at multi-lateral fora can be useful in resisting pressures for a rolling back of the military nuclear programmes of both countries.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has yet to subscribe to a no-first-use nuclear doctrine which India has. While seeming to suggest that Pakistan had an open mind on the issue, its spokesman, Mr Masood Khan, said on Sunday, "India says no first use. We have been saying no use of force." Such talk will not help. Pakistan has been waging against India a proxy war through cross-border terrorism for over two decades.

One can talk of a no-war pact only when the proxy war ends. Unfortunately, the recent attempt on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's life, which the State police foiled, killing four terrorists in an encounter, shows that terrorism continues to be sponsored from Pakistan. Besides, camps for training terrorists are becoming active again. Ultimately, neither nuclear CBMs nor pleasant meetings like the one Foreign Ministers Natwar Singh and Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri had in China on Monday, can help in improving ties unless cross-border terrorism ends.