February
6, 2007: In Kashmir, police investigators uncovered a strange incident of
murder and resume building by ambitious, and amoral, police. Two police
commanders have been arrested for killing innocent Kashmiri Moslems, and
claiming that the dead men were Islamic militants. The policemen enhance their
promotion prospects as a result of successful encounters with Islamic
militants. But new security measures on the border (Israeli night vision
equipment, new sensors, UAVs) have made it much more difficult for the Islamic
terrorists to get from their training camps in Pakistan, into Kashmir. The
shortage of terrorists to kill led some police to go after innocent civilians.
This is a publicity disaster for India, which had been gaining more support
from most Kashmiris for a peace deal. The accused police will have to be
prosecuted honestly and vigorously in order to calm down Kashmiri public
opinion. So far, four police, including two commanders, have been arrested for
three murders. There may have been many more.
February
5, 2007: In southwest Pakistan, Baluchi tribal separatists continued their
attacks, this time blowing up the main rail line again. In northwest Pakistan,
two tribal elders were killed by a roadside bomb. Pro-Taliban tribesmen in this
area are going after tribesmen, and tribal leaders, that oppose the
Taliban.
February
4, 2007: Indian Maoists in central India, are leaving areas they have long
dominated, because of police pressure. Rather than stand and fight, the Maoists
have up and moved south, into Tamil Nadu. There are sparsely populated areas in
the south, where several hundred armed Maoists can hide, for a while anyway.
The police and army are already aware of the movement, and have security forces
trying to locate the new Maoist camps.
February
3, 2007: In northwest Pakistan, a suicide car bomber hit an army convoy, killing
himself and two soldiers. No group took credit for the attack.
February
2, 2007: Confronted with much evidence (videos taken from UAVs and security
troops inside Afghanistan), Pakistan admitted that its border guards often let
truckloads of armed Taliban drive right through checkpoints, towards
Afghanistan. The Pakistani solution is to begin building monitored fences along
those areas, near the roads, that Taliban use to sneak across the border when
the border guards at crossing points are disciplined and strong enough to stop
them. The fence will slow down border crossers, and create situations where
there will be more small battles. If the Pakistanis pass on information about
Taliban tearing through the fence, NATO and Afghan security forces could chase
after the border crossers.
February
1, 2007: In Pakistan, police have arrested six Sunni terrorists, for attacks on
Shia, and found the terrorists linked to al Qaeda groups. This is not unusual,
as one of the goals of al Qaeda is the destruction of the Shia sect (and any
Shia believers who don't convert to the Sunni brand of Islam.) There has been
low level violence over this issue since the late 1970s, which the Pakistani
government began encouraging Islamic radicals. This has led to over 4,000 deaths
from religious violence. Pakistan has 30 million Shia, fifty percent more than
live in Iraq, and these Shia have developed their own militant groups, to fight
back against the Sunni terrorists. As in Iraq, the Sunni radicals have common
cause with foreign al Qaeda operatives. As a result, over 300 have died in
Sunni-Shia violence in the past year. The Taliban are a Sunni radical
organization that persecuted and murdered Afghan Shia during the late 1990s,
when they controlled Afghanistan. Most Pakistanis consider the Sunni-Shia
terrorism more dangerous than the Taliban related violence on the Afghan
border. That's because the Pakistani Shia live in the major population centers
and cities, and that's where this religious violence takes place.
