India considers diplomats’ return to Pakistan

India is considering returning some of its diplomats to Pakistan and making some ‘‘military gestures’’ to lessen tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, a top US State Department official said today.

’’It’s quite clear that there will be some actions on the part of India responding to the messages I brought (from Pakistan)’’, said Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. He spoke upon his arrival in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia after talks yesterday in India.

US Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, attending a meeting with Baltic and Nordic defence ministers, planned to consult with Armitage before deciding when to travel to India and Pakistan to continue efforts at averting war.

Armitage said he believed, based on his discussions in New Delhi, that the situation has improved markedly.

’’It’s quite clear, at least temporarily, the tensions are down,’’ he told reporters.

The Indians ‘‘are talking about some diplomatic actions, which could include the return of some people to diplomatic postings in Islamabad and some ratcheting down of some sort of military tension.

’’They are going to make, as I understand it, perhaps some military gestures as well, prior to Secretary Rumsfeld’s arrival.’’

Rumsfeld was scheduled to travel tomorrow from Estonia to the Persian Gulf to meet with government officials in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, before heading to Pakistan and India. Aides said today that it was possible Rumsfeld would switch plans and go to South Asia before the Gulf.

Rumsfeld today said before meeting with Armitage that he had not decided where he would travel next.

Armitage met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday. He was trying to persuade the leaders to ease tensions along their frontier in the disputed province of Kashmir.

Both sides have massed one million troops along the Line of Control the cease-fire line dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan.