ISLAMABAD -- A recent two-week lull in the fighting in Kashmir has momentarily aroused hope that South Asia's two bitter, nuclear-armed neighbors, India and Pakistan, might be facing a window of opportunity in the struggle to overcome 53 years of animosity. For much of the outside world, concerned over the danger of a possible Indo-Pakistani nuclear exchange, any signs of a rapprochement between the two countries must be good news.
Three wars have been fought between India and Pakistan in the past half-century, two of them over the division of the Himalayan state of Kashmir.
The announcement of a unilateral ceasefire by Hezb-ul Mujahadeen, the largest group of Kashmiri Muslim separatists, caught many South Asian analysts by surprise. After months of claiming responsibility for attacks on Indian military and civilian targets in the portion of Kashmir controlled by New Delhi, the Hezb-ul Mujahadeen was hardly expected to put down its guns so suddenly.