She came, gave a coy smile and conquered a nation. For two-and-half year-old Noor Fatima, the dividends of peace has helped her live. Noor suffered from a condition doctors call ventricular septal defect with pulmonary stenosis. But lay people like Noor's parents -- Tayyaba Sajjad and Nadeem Sajjad -- knew it as holes in the heart.

On July 11, 2003, the first bus from Lahore, the first in 18 months, transported Noor to Delhi en route to Bangalore for an operation to save her life.

Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images