After more than a half century of war and the threat of nuclear disaster, in which tens of thousands of civilians have been killed by military personnel and terrorist groups, peace between India and Pakistan may closer than ever.

Ever since the threat of a new war in 2002 sparked international fears of nuclear annihilation on the subcontinent, the two countries have been initiating negotiations and confidence-building measures that are unprecedented in their long running conflict over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Both countries scaled down the amount of troops along the border in 2002, and then in 2003 issued a formal ceasefire along the infamous Line of Control that completely separates the territory into its respective Indian and Pakistani controlled regions. Bus services between the two territories have since been started and efforts to crack down on violent militants have helped defuse tensions.

However, one single event may signal a dramatic leap forward in the peace process. The devastating October 8 earthquake that destroyed the lives of over three million people in the region has driven both governments to coordinate in order to ensure that aid can reach the quake????????s helpless victims, and because of it, the Line of Control is slowly being opened.

Telephone lines between the two Kashmirs have been reinstated for the first time since the Line of Control was formalized in 1972, allowing families torn apart for generations to speak to each other for the very first time. India will open three relief centers on its side of the line for those without aid in the Pakistani-controlled area, an offer that Pakistan accepted and which prompted it to propose the opening of five routes of travel along the line.

It has taken a disaster as big as the past 60 years of violence combined to achieve these seemingly minor results, but it may signal the beginning of closer bilateral relations between the two nations. This would not be the first time in recent memory that an unprecedented natural disaster has forced people to come together in a hard-negotiated peace for the greater good.

After the tsunami that swept Southeast Asia last year, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, Indonesia had just as much trouble delivering aid to its Aceh province, a part of the country dominated by militant separatists. It was perhaps the most devastated of all places hit, but the international aid needed to help people there sat idle while local militants were the ones giving a helping hand. The direness of the situation eventually ended the fighting between the rebels and the Indonesian government, resulting in a peace agreement in August that gave limited autonomy to the province, amnesty for the rebels, complete disarmament, and smoothed the way for aid to reach those affected by the tsunami.

The end result, though it took months of politicking and cost thousands of more lives than it should have, is what looks to be a lasting peace where people are no longer killing other people and aid can reach those affected by natural disasters immediately.

India and Pakistan would do well to learn from this peace agreement, as they face similar problems in Kashmir. Militants have taken it upon themselves to help those affected by the earthquake, aid is all but impossible to deliver due to relations between the two countries, and the harsh Himalayan winter is about to set in.

Both countries are worried that one will try to capture the other????????s part of Kashmir in the process. For example, Pakistan will not allow helicopters carrying aid to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to be manned by Indian teams, and India is worried that completely opening the Line of Control will allow militants to flood into its area. Terrorist attacks have fallen dramatically over the past two years, but the past two decades are still hot in peoples???????? memories.

However, both countries also have a lot to gain and are seemingly working toward that end. They are hurrying with negotiations as quickly as possible so as to quell the rising legitimacy of armed groups who are filling in for the lack of government aid, and they are also facing increased international pressure to settle on a humanitarian basis. While too slow to help the people that are dying right now, the end result of this disaster will be the desirability on both sides for an entirely new level to the peace process in Kashmir that will have similar results to the treaty signed over Aceh.

People will be able to travel between the two occupied zones, allowing them to help each other, and aid will be able to reach those trapped in mountain and valley villages that are cut off from the outside world. It would also help quell Islamic militancy, and therefore violence, in the region by stemming local reliance on such groups. Already, we are beginning to see a reversion from the current religious zealotry back to the original movement for Kashmiri independence; or, in the very least, Kashmiri normalization.

It could take months before the results of current and further measures taking place now will be seen, but it will mean better relations between the two rival nuclear powers. Yet in the end, the people that will benefit the most are the divided people of Kashmir ???????? those who have for so long been estranged from their loved ones and who have not been helped after being ravaged by the earthquake.