Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar shook hands, spoke amiably and smiled in a conference room in Katmandu, Nepal, where a meeting of South Asian nations is convening, hinting that diplomatic talks could ease the disharmony that has pushed troops toward their shared frontier. But suspected Islamic militants detonated two grenades near the legislature in Srinagar, wounding at least 18 people in the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir. And in southern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani forces traded mortar and small-arms fire across the border. Their bosses, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are scheduled to join other leaders there Friday.
Unless Lashkar thugs can torpedo the meeting by killing enough women, children, puppies, kittens and baby ducks. |