By Kenneth J. Cooper
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, May 22, 1998; Page A35

NEW DELHI, May 21—India pulled back today from a series of heated exchanges made in the aftermath of its nuclear weapons tests last week and sent conciliatory signals to Pakistan, China and the United States.

Delhi also delivered an even broader message to critics around the world, announcing a moratorium on the testing of such weapons and restating a willingness to negotiate an agreement on a formal test ban.

"Now there is a moratorium on tests. We would like to formalize this moratorium into a formal obligation," said Brajesh Mishra, senior government official. "We are prepared for those talks."

The diplomatic overtures marked a shift in the post-testing posture of the coalition government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which aims to project a strong India internationally.

The government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee underscored the import of its new conciliatory stance by substituting Mishra, his top aide and a former ambassador to the United Nations, for a Foreign Ministry spokesman at a regular briefing.

Escalating recriminations between India and Pakistan about each other's intentions in Kashmir have raised fears of a third war over the disputed Himalayan territory.

"There is no question of a war with Pakistan. We're not going in for a war with Pakistan," Mishra replied when an Indian journalist asked whether India would bomb camps inside Pakistan that India alleges are used to train militant insurgents to fight in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

On Monday, the cabinet minister in charge of India's domestic security, Home Minister L.K. Advani, warned Pakistan against trying to boost the Kashmir separatists. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif responded Tuesday with an accusation that India had threatened to attack the territory under Pakistan's control.

[India's Defense Ministry accused Pakistan today of firing across the border to cover the movement of militants into Kashmir, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, Pakistani officials accused Indian troops of firing without provocation across a military control line in Kashmir, killing one Pakistani soldier and wounding another, the Reuters news agency reported.]

Mishra's offer to resume talks with Pakistan -- which broke off last year over the Kashmir issue -- followed by one day a similar offer by Vajpayee after a visit to India's nuclear testing site. Vajpayee said talks could continue if Pakistan approached India first, but Mishra said that only meant that India awaits Pakistan's response to an unspecified proposal that a previous Indian government made in January.

Mishra also sought to ease tensions with China, which has criticized the nuclear tests and accused India of occupying Chinese territory in India's far northeast. U.S. intelligence services have said China has supplied nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan, and Pakistan's top diplomat returned Wednesday from Beijing, where he sought security guarantees from China, according to Asian diplomats.

"We want to have very good relations with China," Mishra said. Indian analysts have consistently described China as more of a security threat than the smaller Pakistan, which India has defeated in three wars since 1947.

Concerning the United States, Mishra characterized as "regrettable" heated exchanges that included the State Department accusing India of duping U.S. officials about its nuclear testing plans and condemning Advani for his remarks about Pakistan. India had responded by charging State Department officials with using undiplomatic language.

"We hope that is behind us . . . [and] more normal interaction would be possible from now on," Mishra said.