South Asia’s Signs of Sanity

It was only two years ago that India and Pakistan rushed hundreds of thousands of troops to their border, and the two nuclear-armed, longtime enemies appeared ready to go to war. The immediate cause was a series of terrorist attacks that India blamed on Pakistan, but considering that the neighbors had fought three wars in less than 60 years, the trigger barely mattered. Frantic diplomacy by the United States, Britain and other countries brought the danger back down from the red zone, but just barely.

Flash forward to Wednesday, when a top Pakistani diplomat was able to end three days of productive talks with Indian colleagues by announcing agreement on a “basic road map” to peace. That is a turnaround worth cheering.

Tough negotiations lie ahead, including on the hardest topic of all, the state of Kashmir, split and claimed by India and Pakistan. But if lasting peace results, credit will go to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, adversaries whose switch from nuclear showmanship to quiet talks has lowered the global-threat temperature.

India has planned elections in April; no breakthroughs are expected before then. Musharraf is concerned about being so generous to India that Pakistan’s Islamic fundamentalists would strike back. The two assassination attempts he escaped in December have been blamed on Islamic radicals.

Further talks in May are supposed to include reassurances about each nation’s nuclear weapons program. Recent disclosures that Pakistani scientists supplied nuclear weapons technology and blueprints to North Korea, Iran and Libya make the topic important far outside South Asia.

India and Pakistan also should talk with Kashmiris. A rebellion in the Indian-held portion began in 1989 after rigged elections. Since then, Indian security forces have been brutal toward the Muslim Kashmiris. In a show of good faith, India should ease repression and increase Kashmiri autonomy. Pakistan, in turn, should effectively clamp down on Islamic radicals who cross into Indian territory to conduct deadly raids.

Musharraf, a military ruler who has promised an eventual transition to civilian leadership, belatedly has realized the dangers of Islamic radicalism to his own rule and to regional stability. He urged Muslim scholars Wednesday to campaign against “terrorism and extremism” and to tell people the religion was devoted to “love and peace.” Indian leaders have backed away from the Hindu extremism that in the past has resulted in wanton killings of minority Muslims.

Both governments are showing a maturity not in evidence two short years ago. Mutual expressions of good intentions and desires to avoid another war are a good start toward a more settled peace.