PROMISING DEVELOPMENTS IN KASHMIR:

Some crying with joy, 31 Pakistani Kashmiris crossed the “Peace Bridge” into Indian Kashmir on Thursday, marking the first bus service linking the divided Himalayan region since it was split by war almost 60 years ago. . . .

Attacks by Islamic separatists — who have threatened to turn the buses into rolling coffins — scared off some passengers but failed to derail one of the most significant and emotive steps in South Asia’s unsteady peace process.

“The caravan of peace has started,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said as he sent off the Pakistan-bound bus in front of a crowd of thousands braving freezing drizzle at the Lion of Kashmir stadium in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir and the region’s heart and soul. “Nothing can stop it.”

This whole standing-up-to-terrorists business has become quite the fashion. Good!