11.   But there is little likelihood that Pakistani leaders would dare upset Islamic militants by scrapping the law.

12.   He has made no secret of his growing sense that Pakistani leaders, especially Musharraf, had betrayed him over the past three years.

13.   If he has the sense to do that, he will go down in history as one of the few Pakistani leaders who has done his country a favor.

14.   If the Pakistani leader denounced terrorism unequivocally, the American official said, India might be placated and tensions could be diffused.

15.   In firmly enlisting with the United States, the Pakistani leader took great risks.

16.   In Pakistan, the struggle for Kashmir is an epic that no Pakistani leader could abandon without risk of immediate ouster, by fellow politicians or the army.

17.   India had registered misgivings by proposing ceremonial arrangements that seemed to fall short of a full head of state welcome for the Pakistani leader.

18.   It is politically untenable for a Pakistani leader to appear as though he is bending to an American diktat.

19.   It was reassuring, as well, for India to react by welcoming the decision by Musharraf, the Pakistani leader, which he announced over the weekend.

20.   Likewise, Pakistani leaders hope a Bush administration would again value Cold War era ally Islamabad over the friendship forged with New Delhi by President Clinton.