ISLAMABAD -- After months of blunt statements exchanged by leaders of India and Pakistan, South Asia's two nuclear rivals, a new peace process is under way in a part of the world described by some observers as the next "nuclear flash point."
In the next few weeks, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, is expected to travel to New Delhi. His visit will come more than two years after Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee went to Pakistan on a trip timed to coincide with the opening of a bus service between the two countries.
The symbolism of Vajpayee's trip, unfortunately, was quickly overshadowed by the breakout of a localized war near Kargil in Indian-administered Kashmir, which began when Pakistani-backed fighters occupied strategically important mountainous heights in Indian-administered territory.