London, June 18: America would sanction exports of sensitive military hardware if India responded positively by supplying manpower for nation-building in Iraq under a "deal" struck between the two countries, a leading British daily reported today. "Reports from the US suggest a deal between India and the US that would see America sanction exports of sensitive military hardware, if India responded positively by supplying manpower for nation-building in Iraq," the 'Guardian' stated.

The daily, which interviewed L K Advani here yesterday quoted the Deputy Prime Minister saying "it (deployment of troops) was still an 'open issue'."

Advani, who left for home this morning at the end of his 3-day official visit here, told newsmen last evening that India would take a decision on deploying troops after getting clarifications from the American team currently in India.

In the interview published this morning, the daily said Indian government has offered open-ended talks with Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir if Pakistan ended its "proxy terrorist war" against India.

"If the killing of innocents stops ... We will find a solution for everything once we start talking".

On the Kashmir issue, he talked about compromises by both India and Pakistan.

"After all if you disagree so sharply on an issue as India and Pakistan disagree on the question of Jammu and Kashmir and if a settlement has to come about then it can only be in the form of some compromise in which both sides have to give and take in relation to their present positions," he told the daily.

Advani's offer of wide-ranging talks, which raises the possibility of concessions, comes after a weeklong trip to Washington, where he had meetings with both the US President George W Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney.

In an editorial, the daily claimed: "A glimmer of hope for better things to come in India-Pakistan relations can be discerned, at least with an optimistic eye, in this newspaper's interview with Advani.

"Past hopes of a settlement to the Kashmir crisis have been dismal illusions: the relationship is as heavily weighed down by the divisive baggage of history as that between Israel and Palestine, and over the same half-century and more."

Advani's suggestion that any proposal - "whatever it is" - could be considered is interesting, the daily said.

Bureau Report