So has cricket, a game popular among young people of both countries. An Indo-Pak contest invariably draws the biggest crowds, finds the most sponsors and is a big money-spinner for pavement bookies. But special security is required when the teams venture across the border. In India, a match against Pakistan can sometimes lead to ugly taunts against local Muslims. The usual jibe is that every Indian Muslim secretly wants Pakistan to win, even though India's team captain, Mohammad Azharuddin, is himself a Muslim. Bal Thackeray, leader of the radical Shiv Sena party in Bombay, refuses to let Pakistan play in his cricket-mad city. "Sport is hyped up as being macho," says writer Urvashi Butalia. "And cricket is the only outlet for some people to express their prejudice."

In Pakistan, the sense of helplessness among young people is especially pronounced. Those who can leave the country do so. On the verge of bankruptcy, Pakistan's moribund economy offers little hope for young job-seekers. Demographer Numan Ijaz estimates that over the past 20 years, as many as 40,000 professionals have migrated abroad. Those left behind without money or influence in this feudal society are veering to perilous extremes. Over the past 10 years, heroin consumption has doubled, primarily among teenagers. Police records show the average age of murderers and bandits is dropping. Many are left with bleak outlooks. "My biggest fear is that one day I will open my front door and a terrorist will shoot me in the head," says Azad Zafar, a 17-year-old schoolboy.

Others boys become religious revolutionaries. With the state unwilling to provide much money for education--nearly 30% of the budget goes for defense--Pakistanis are enrolling their young sons in free Koranic schools. After six years of strict Islamic upbringing, many of these teenagers are sent to Afghanistan for arms training. Then they either join the Taliban militia or go to fight the Indians in Kashmir. Fired by Islamic fervor, many want to bring the holy war back to Pakistan. They assassinate mullahs from rival Muslim sects and occasionally fire off guns during religious party rallies. Muslim militant Naveed Illahi rants: "There is Westernization. There is immorality. These rulers are all corrupt. They all deserve to be hanged."

Lately, a new scare plagues Pakistan's elite: rumors of a gang of youths said to prowl shopping centers and cinema halls armed with needles carrying the hiv virus, targeting women wearing Western dress. With such fearmongering still prevalent on both sides of the sub-continent, it may be generations before Junoon and other young messengers of tolerance are heeded.

With reporting by Meenakshi Ganguly/Bombay, Ghulam Hasnain/Karachi, Syed Talat Hussain/Islamabad and Saritha Rai/Bangalore

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