New Delhi: India last week put to the test the value of the recently signed friendship treaty with the Soviet Union. Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Firyubin who arrived for urgent consultations agreed with the Indian government that India faced a threat from Pakistan. This suggested they might also have agreed on how best to remove the threat.

India denied Western press reports that a secret military deal had been signed with Moscow. But no sooner had Firyubin returned home than Soviet air force chief, Air Marshal Pavel Kutakhov, arrived to assess India's defence needs. According to experts, Pakistan is said to have an edge over India in the air; though India is better off numerically, it has nothing to match Pakistan's Sabres and Mirage 111 Es.

Indian military specialists are to visit the Soviet Union to spell out their immediate needs. It is believed India will ask for several squadrons of Mig fighters. The Soviet Union's latest identification with India coincided with the UN vote on China and speculation on Peking's possible future role in world affairs. Foreign Minister Swaran Singh's declared belief is that China would not go to Pakistan's aid if Pakistan moved against India. And Indian spokesmen have been emphasising that India will not fire the first shot.

Both sides have in fact been firing across the border. Shells have fallen in Agartala airport and scores of mines have been found in strategic spots in Assam and Tripura in the east and Jammu in the west.

The second secretary of the Chinese embassy here was all smiles when he received the Indian pingpong team on the eve of its departure to Peking. In Vienna the Chinese ambassador was almost effusive with visiting Indian foreign secretary, Triloki Nath Kaul. But the question remained: Would an Indo-Pakistan conflict now burgeon into a proxy war between the Soviet Union and China?