ISLAMABAD, 17 April 2004 — Despite a humbling defeat for hosts Pakistan, India’s first full cricket tour here in 14 years has eased tensions between the warring neighbors and underscored both peoples’ thirst for peace ahead of government talks that could yet flounder over the Kashmir dispute.

India yesterday chalked up their first ever Test series victory in Pakistan in five-decade sporting rivalry often held hostage to politics.

The outgunned home side slumped to a 2-1 loss, compounding an earlier 3-2 defeat in the one-day series, watched by hundreds of millions on both sides of the cricket-crazy subcontinent.

Yet Pakistanis and Indians alike have hailed the tour as a boost to bilateral relations. Pakistani fans with faces daubed with the colors of both flags have held banners at matches reading, “Let’s Make Friends.

“Indian political heavyweights have paid tribute to the tour while on the campaign trail for general elections that start next week.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told a rally in the Indian portion of Jammu-Kashmir this week that the years of shelling between Indian and Pakistani troops across the military line that divides the disputed Himalayan region had stopped, replaced by a healthy sporting rivalry.

“We are happy that cricket balls have taken the place of cannon balls,” he said.

Fears of anti-Indian unrest that have marred previous tours have proved unfounded, and supporters of the two countries have got on well — united by a shared love of a sport introduced by British colonialists in the 19th century.

“Through cricket we are closer to each other,” said Mohammed Naveed Ullah, 19, a local computer science student, wrapped by a billowing, green and white Pakistan flag in Rawalpindi, the venue for the final match. “Our doubts about Indian people have reduced.”

“The common man in Pakistan has no grudge against Indians,” echoed Lokesh Bajaj, 42, an Indian bank cashier making his first visit to Pakistan, although his parents were born here before partition of the subcontinent.

“The good will generated by this series can force the governments to reach a peace and open our borders,” Bajaj said.

The tour came at a crucial juncture in India-Pakistan relations, as the two countries embark on a peace process to bury a history of acrimony that has led to three wars since independence in 1947.

Unfair to Grade US Ties With India, Pakistan: Rumsfeld.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington on Thursday that US military ties with nuclear rivals Pakistan and India have improved but refused to assess the relationships individually.

He was asked how India would rank in the relationship between the United States and the South Asian neighbors, especially after Washington granted an elite military status to Pakistan last month.

The “major non-NATO ally” status to Islamabad had angered certain groups in India, coming just after US forged a “strategic partnership” accord with New Delhi which emphasized largely on high-tech industry.

Ahead of parliamentary polls beginning April 20, India’s main opposition Congress party had described the award to Pakistan as a “public repudiation” for New Delhi.

The special status puts Pakistan in an exclusive club of nations such as Australia, Egypt, Israel, Japan and Thailand given preferential US treatment in military cooperation.

“We value our relationship with each country,” Rumsfeld said Thursday.

“They’re different countries and our relationships are slightly different.”