EARTHQUAKE DIPLOMACY is in full swing in South Asia after a donor summit recently concluded in Islamabad with international relief aid commitments totaling $5.9 billion to rehabilitate and reconstruct the devastated villages of northern Pakistan and Kashmir. During the proceedings, Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, wasted little time getting down to the bottom line–that the earthquake, which compelled India and Pakistan to open up the line of control dividing disputed Kashmir and let relief supplies in, presented both sides with “an opportunity of a lifetime” to permanently settle their differences over the Himalayan enclave’s future.

This important overture is fragile, though. Kashmir’s jihadist terrorism enterprise lurks in the shadows, waiting to scuttle any bid for a permanent peace. Jihadi violence is no longer partial to either side in the half-century old conflict.