WASHINGTON, Aug. 7—The principal Western powers, as well as the Soviet Union, China and Secretary General U Thant, were reported today to be engaged in new diplomatic efforts to prevent the possible outbreak of fighting between India and Pakistan.

Authoritative diplomats said that, acting independently, a half‐dozen governments with special ties to India or Pakistan have taken initiatives aimed at persuading the two nations to seek a peaceful solution in the crisis involving East Pakistan.

For the United States, the State Department spokesman, Robert J. McCloskey, said to day, “We have been and continue to be concerned about the possibility that the security situation in East Pakistan and eastern India could escalate, and we have accordingly counseled restraint on both sides.”

On President Nixon's instructions, Secretary of State William P. Rogers and the Assist ant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Joseph J. Sisco, are to confer in New York Monday with Secretary General Thant and other United Nations officials on the humanitarian aspects of the East Pakistan crisis.

But Administration officials said that “inevitably” these conferences would touch on the political situation as well and on international peace‐keeping possibilities.

Last Monday, Mr. Thant warned in a memorandum to the members of the Security Council that a major conflict could erupt between India and Pakistan and “could all too easily expand.”

Officials here said Washing ton's diplomacy was directed chiefly at Pakistan, where the United States hopes to have retained some influence with President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan through the continued flow of economic aid and the refusal to block shipments of military equipment purchased by the Pakistanis before the East Pakistan conflict erupted in March.

United States relations with India are at one of the lowest points in decades, largely be cause of Indian anger over the military‐equipment shipments.

India believes that American policies serve to support President Yahya whose West Pakistani troops have been attempting to crush a secessionist movement in East Pakistan.

The army action has caused more than seven million East Pakistanis to flee to eastern India, creating the current tensions between India and Pakistan, which have remained hos tile since their brief war in 1965.

Diplomats here said that one of the most positive recent developments has been a new awareness in the international community that both the Soviet Union and China are as anxious as the West about avoiding a major conflict on the subcontinent.

Moscow Advises Restraint

Consequently, they said, Moscow, which has close ties with India, is quietly counseling caution in New Delhi while publicly offering support for the Indian cause.

Diplomatic reports reaching Washington late this week indicated that Peking, which last March publicly proclaimed its determination to help defend West Pakistan, is privately advising President Yahya to act with prudence.

The threat of a war between India and Pakistan had raised fears of direct involvement by the Soviet Union and China on opposing sides. Both Indian and Pakistani officials have warned that they would “not be alone” in a war, and this was presumably what Mr. Thant had in mind when he said that such a conflict “could all too easily expand.”

But responsible American officials and foreign diplomats are now reported to believe that neither Moscow nor Peking wishes to see a war in which they might be forced into a direct confrontation.

Gromyko Due in India

Consequently, the judgment here is that the suddenly announced visit to New Delhi by the Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei A. Gromyko, who is due to arrive there tomorrow, is more of a diplomatic peace making mission than simply a gesture of support for India.

Officials here recalled that an editorial in the Soviet Government newspaper Izvestia on July 9 urged India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution of the East Pakistan dispute.

Diplomats also reported that the Soviet Consul‐General in Madras told a group of Indian politicians early in July that every effort should be made to avoid drifting into a war with the Pakistanis.

American analysts said today that involvement in an Indian Pakistani war would run counter to all the interests of China's present foreign policy. They cited Peking's preparations for major negotiations with the United States and President Nixon's forthcoming visit.

“This is probably the first time when all of us—the Americans, the British, the Canadians, the Europeans, the Russians and even the Chinese—have been working in the same direction in a major international crisis,” a ranking United States official said.