Like his predecessor, Atal Behari Vajpayee, India's prime minister, Manmo-han Singh, came to Kashmir bearing gifts and a message of peace. He spoke on November 17th to a bused-in crowd behind the same bullet-proof glass in the same cricket stadium in the capital, Srinagar, where 19 months earlier Mr Vajpayee had extended "the hand of friendship" to Pakistan. Mr Singh tried something no less ambitious: to make friends with the Kashmiris themselves. Their reaction was churlish. But in the chilly autumn sun, prospects for peace seemed brighter than they dreamed possible when Mr Vajpayee spoke through April drizzle.
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