The 12th SAARC summit may well be remembered as a landmark in the history of the organisation for two reasons. First, it promises to mark the beginning of its emergence as a forward-looking body like the ASEAN and the European Union, and like them an effective instrument of regional prosperity. Second, in a development that is clearly tantamount to a major diplomatic achievement of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government, it may well have marked the beginning of a new chapter in India-Pakistan relations. That the two developments are related is clear from the summit's adoption of an agreement to set up the SAFTA.

Though India has been in favour of it-as have been Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives-it had so far remained elusive because of Pakistan's stand that regional economic cooperation could make significant progress only after the Kashmir issue was solved, and Bangladesh's fear of India's economic strength. A crucial change in Pakistan's approach has clearly paved the way for it, and facilitated the development that provides the summit with the second reason for its place in history, the possible beginning of a new chapter in India-Pakistan relations.

Central to this are indications that Pakistan is prepared to give up its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism against India without which, New Delhi has repeatedly made clear, there can be no progress towards a meaningful dialogue between the two countries. Apart from such exchanges as may have taken place during Mr Vajpayee's meetings with his Pakistani counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, and President Pervez Musharraf, a transformation is also suggested by the summit's adoption of an additional protocol, aiming at the abolition of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and dealing effectively with its financing, to the existing SAARC Regional Convention on Combating Terrorism.

The most crucial indication of a change in Islamabad's attitude, however, is contained in the joint statement adopted by India and Pakistan following Mr Vajpayee's meetings with Mr Jamali and President Musharraf and talks conducted at the levels of officials and foreign ministers of the two countries. It enshrines the format of a composite dialogue which was first agreed upon by Mr Vajpayee and the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Nawaz Sharif, when they met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in September, 1998, and which was followed by two rounds of talks in October and November of that year, and the Indian Prime Minister's historic journey to Lahore in February of 1999. Unfortunately, Pakistan's intrusion into the Kargil area and the conflict that followed, interrupted the process. It remained interrupted because General Musharraf, who seized power through a coup in October, 1999, rejected a composite dialogue and projected Kashmir as the core issue whose resolution was a pre-requisite for an improvement in India-Pakistan relations.

The sea change in the global climate vis-a-vis terrorism in the wake of 9/11, the two recent attempts on his life, and India's finely nuanced diplomacy, have clearly made General Musharraf change his mind. Whatever it is, the change is welcome and should he be as good as his words, particularly about not allowing the use of Pakistan's soil for terrorism, it will not only give a new turn to India-Pakistan relations but help SAARC to become the kind of organisation that the Declaration issued at the end of the summit wants it to be.