India-Pakistan: Head Shots

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January 31, 2011:  In the Pakistani city of Peshawar, in the tribal territories, two suicide bomber attacks on senior police officials, left five dead. Islamic terrorists are increasingly trying to intimidate police and the army to back off, by sending death squads after police and army commanders.

India has arrested several New Delhi money dealers who were sending money, from Pakistani intelligence (ISI) to Islamic terrorists in Kashmir. The money has been arriving every two months, and much of it is used to bribe local Moslem politicians to back anti-Indian demonstrations and strikes.

In Pakistan, Islamic terrorists have increasingly allied themselves with criminal gangs, especially for carrying out kidnapping. The gangs know how to scout a victim and carry out a snatch. The Taliban provide hideouts in the tribal territories and additional muscle. This enables the gangs to grab more people, and the terrorists can use some of the captives to try and get terrorists out of jail. This has not worked, and a few captives have been murdered as a result. Kidnapping and alliances with gangsters is nothing new worldwide. But is usually represents a terror group in decline.

Another problem developing in Pakistan is the growing presence of corruption and political violence on university campuses. The increasing violence comes from students whose families are part of various political parties based on religion (Shia and different flavors of Sunni) and ethnicity (place of origin, inside India, before the 1947 partition, and in Pakistan.) In some large universities, these student thugs have increased their ability to force faculty to give passing grades to student political activists who would otherwise fail. This is part of the larger corruption problem in Pakistan. Some politicians simply lie about having a university degree, and often get away with it for years.

In Pakistan, six months after the massive floods that made 3.3 million people homeless, only five percent of these refugees are still in camps. But the relief effort has, as expected, suffered from corruption and interference from dishonest of inept government officials.  

January 28, 2011: In eastern India, police killed nine Maoist rebels in a night-time gun battle. In Pakistan, a road tunnel near the Khyber pass was attacked by two suicide truck bombs, killing four and wounding 19. One truck went off just inside the tunnel, causing some damage. The other truck detonated at a nearby checkpoint.  

January 27, 2011: Bangladesh revealed that they had arrested twenty Pakistani supported Islamic terrorists last year. Most were Pakistanis or Indians. Although Pakistan no longer supplies weapons (like hand grenades), lots of cash comes in to support terror activities or bribe people.

In the Pakistani tribal territories, near the Afghan border, troops killed twelve Islamic terrorists, including two suicide bombers. This happened south of Bajaur, where troops have been chasing down Taliban fighters for over a year.

January 25, 2011: In the Pakistani tribal territories, near the Afghan border, troops killed 18 Islamic terrorists, including two suicide bombers. Most of the dead did not belong to the Taliban, but to TTP, a Pakistani Islamic radical group that usually concentrated on attacking India.

In the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi, suicide bombers struck, killing 13 and wounding 50. One of the bombers was a 13 year old boy. The Taliban and al Qaeda took credit for the attacks, and warned that there would be more until the CIA stopped their use of missile armed UAVs to hunt down and kill terrorist leaders. The Pakistani government officially opposes this CIA program (because foreigners are fighting inside Pakistan), but otherwise supports it.

 

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