To us, an Indian and a Pakistani, our countries present peculiar paradoxes. India- pakistan is the only part of the world which has witnessed a continuous hot-cold war for half a century, which shows no sign of abating – unlike between the Eastern and Western blocs, Israel and much of the Arab world – barring Palestine – and now even North and South Korea. Indeed, our States’ appetite for confrontation shows no sign of exhaustion although most of their people hunger for food, shelter, bare survival.

After the May 1998 nuclear tests, the Indian subcontinent has become the world’s likeliest site for a nuclear conflagration. Intoxicated by hubris and hatred, its rulers stalk each other at every conceivable forum, seeking mortal combat while parodying and ridiculing each other’s policies and intentions, doctrines and professions. Yet, individually, Indians and Pakistanis can be spontaneously friendly towards one another, even effusively so. Hatred, fear and suspicion,which routinely mark Israeli-Palestinian encounters, are absent in their personal interactions.