A sign of the times! This is indeed a hopeful moment in the long and sorrowful history of the Indo-Pak conflict. Earlier in the month, President Parvez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India reached a breakthrough agreement to resume talks on the issues that divide them. The talks will cover terrorism, illegal drugs, cross-border trade, boundary disputes and a number of other points, but the main one is the fate of the Himalayan territory of Kashmir. It has been the trigger for two of the three wars fought between the two countries since independence from Britain in 1947. In 2002, a fourth Indo-Pakistani war almost broke out there. Pakistan controls one-third of Kashmir, India the rest. Both say that they alone should have all of it. Those positions appear irreconcilable, and may well turn out to be. But a solution is not beyond reach with good faith and practical action from each side.

To begin with, both countries have to acknowledge that they have failed to get what they want in Kashmir. Despite years of diplomacy, two costly wars and endless small-scale fighting, Pakistan has failed to budge India from the region and is unlikely to in the foreseeable future, given India's superior size and military might. Similarly, India has failed to bring Kashmir fully under its control. An anti-Indian insurgency has boiled there since 1989,leading India to occupy the mainly Muslim region and take repressive measures that have given it a black eye around the world.

Something has to change! Each side has to give up something. Pakistan has to give up the idea that it can rule Kashmir indefinitely without taking account of the views of its people.

General Musharraf and Mr.Vajpayee have already made a good start. The Pakistani leader made a categorical pledge not to allow anti-Indian terrorists to operate from Pakistan's side of the frontier, as they have for many years, often with Pakistani help. The Indian leader said his government was committed to a "peaceful settlement" of the Kashmir question "to the satisfaction of both sides."

But what kind of settlement will be that? Ideally, the people of Kashmir would decide the issue for themselves. The prospects for holding a fair and peaceful vote in the near future, however, are remote. In the interim, the best thing would be to accept that the frontier between the two nations, known as the Line of Control, is the de facto international border. On its side of that border, Pakistan would ensure that the territory it controls would cease to be a launching pad for militant attacks on targets in Indian-controlled Kashmir. On its side, India would ease its repression, withdrawing as many troops as possible, muzzling those who remain and giving the population broad control over its own affairs.

In the early days of independence, Indian leaders acknowledged Kashmir's special status as the only state with a Muslim majority. The people of Kashmir were to have their own flag, constitution and citizenship, with only defence, foreign affairs and communications in central hands. That could still happen.

At the very least, General Musharraf and Mr.Vajpayee need to bring a permanent end to the dangerous skirmishing along the frontier between these nuclear-armed rivals. Let the talks begin, and the birds stay.