NEW DELHI, Feb 15: US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan arrived in New Delhi on Sunday for talks with Indian officials, which will pretty much include ways to shepherd all three regional countries to boost the American-led war on terror without having them treading on each other’s toes.

For India, the Mumbai terror attacks are an obvious source for concern as the threat of future attacks are rated high. Another India-Pakistan military standoff would be a crippling blow to Mr Hobrooke’s mission.

India is expected to highlight Pakistan’s culpability in the growth of terrorism on its soil but it would try and underplay its own home-grown viruses that make the country vulnerable to terrorism.

The bombing of Indian embassy in Kabul in July last year brings New Delhi straight into the discussion about the main theatre of war on the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It, however, appears to be a low-key visit. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the main interlocutor along with National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan, also wears the hat of finance minister.

Mr Holbrooke’s first working day will coincide with a packed day in parliament for Mr Mukherjee who has to present the interim budget on Monday.

India would want to fend off any discussion on the Kashmir issue, whose progress Pakistan sees as part of a larger strategy to strike at the root causes of terrorism. Mr Holbrooke has not given any clue about his agenda in India, but there is no reason to believe that Kashmir is not a factor in the strategy to engaging everyone without riling any one of them.

It may not have been a coincidence that Pakistan’s most conciliatory announcement into the Mumbai terror probe came during Mr Holbrooke’s presence there. But it was clearly a coincidence that things are beginning to look considerably more normal on the Mumbai front in India.

For example, a Gujarat-based fishing trawler allegedly used by terrorists to enter Indian waters for carrying out the November 26 terror strikes has been returned to its owner by the police after a local court granted permission.

The owner of the vessel, Porbander-based Vinod Masani, had applied to a magistrate’s court seeking that the vessel be returned to him.

The police had said they had no objection to the boat being returned, Additional Public Prosecutor E. B. Dhamal said.

“After instructing the owner not to sell the boat as it could be used as evidence in the cases pending against arrested terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the possession of the boat was handed over to Masani on Friday,” he told Press Trust of India.