MADRAS, India -- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee have met and shaken hands many times. But when they shook hands in Islamabad at the recent summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the world heaved a sigh of relief. There was hope that India and Pakistan -- armed with nuclear weapons and having come dangerously close to conflict as recently as 2002 -- would resolve their differences over Kashmir through peaceful means.
In fact, Musharraf and Vajpayee will begin a "composite dialogue" in February.
This decision comes as a relief in a world where terror has made even ordinary existence nightmarish (now most visitors to the United States will be photographed and fingerprinted). The U.S. in particular has been trying to bring lasting peace to the Indian subcontinent.