Grief, Again

Late on March 23, 10 men claiming to be Indian soldiers arrived in the Kashmiri hamlet of Nadimarg. It made sense: Nadimarg's prominent Hindu neighborhood is a likely target for insurgents in the predominantly Muslim region. But this "army" was a terror squad—in counterfeit uniforms—and after ordering villagers from their homes, they executed 22 adults and two children before escaping. Predictably, India charged Pakistan with backing the slaughter, and Islamabad denied doing so. Within days, each nation test-launched a nuclear-capable missile—a reminder of how costly an Indo-Pakistani war could be. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw released a statement decrying the killings and admonishing Pakistan to respect Kashmir's de facto border. But years of international pressure have failed to help resolve the Kashmir issue; local efforts are faring no better. On March 22, Abdul Majid Dar, an ex-militant who had been calling for negotiations, was assassinated. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is trying a "healing touch" policy, hoping goodwill gestures—for example, disbanding "counterinsurgency squads" and releasing detained militants—point toward peace. Scores of Muslims aided Nadimarg's Hindus after the murders, but this dispute makes goodwill hard to sustain.