March 12, 2007:
While there are fewer Islamic terrorists crossing from northern Pakistan
into the Indian half of Kashmir, there are still dozens of these men operating
against Indian security forces in Kashmir. The Indians are getting an
increasing number of tips from Moslems villagers, and going after the Islamic
radicals who try to hide out among the mostly Moslem population of Kashmir.
Because of the increasing hostility of the Moslem civilians, the Islamic
radicals have been using more terror against Moslems. This has produced a
downward spiral of support for the Islamic terrorists.
March 11, 2007:
Maoist rebels in India are concentrating their combat operations in the
eastern India states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. There, two thirds of the
1,509 Maoist attacks in the last year occurred.
These left 750 people dead (a third of them rebels, the rest civilians
and security personnel.) The government has sent 33 additional battalions of
security troops to the area, and another 29 battalions are on the way. The
government is also spending half a billion dollars on infrastructure in the
area, to address some of the social ills
the communists are exploiting. March 10, 2007:
Despite efforts to keep it quiet, information about NATO and American
raids across the border are getting out. The raids have captured some Taliban
leaders, who were staying in Pakistani villages close to the border. These
actions are forcing the Taliban to move their forward bases (for controlling
the movement of gunmen across the border into and out of Afghanistan) deeper
into Pakistan, and make it more difficult to move men and supplies into
Afghanistan.
March 9, 2007:
More separatist violence in northeast India, with six dead in two
attacks.
March 8, 2007:
In southwest Pakistan, a motorcycle bomb wounded 13 pro-government
Baluchi tribesmen. The bombing was apparently the work of Baluchi separatist
tribesmen.
March 7, 2007:
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the most Islamic of the warlords that fought in the
Afghan civil war of the early 1990s, and later joined the Taliban after Iraq
was invaded, has offered to switch sides and ally himself with the
government. Hekmatyar was never very
cozy with the Taliban, considering them puppets of the Pakistani military
intelligence. Hekmatyars forces mainly operate in eastern Afghanistan, from
bases in Pakistan.
March 5, 2007:
In Waziristan, pro-government tribesmen attacked a group of foreign
(mainly Uzbek) al Qaeda, and killed twelve of them. Two tribesmen and one
bystander were also killed. The tribes
in the area have a recently signed treaty, that keeps the army out of the area.
But the tribesmen are supposed to shut down al Qaeda operations, and stop
Taliban from crossing into Afghanistan. There have been some battles with al
Qaeda, mainly because the Islamic terrorists, and their Taliban allies, have
been murdering tribesmen they accuse of being "spies for the
Americans." That's a phrase used for anyone who is trying too hard to
enforce the treaty. The tribesmen believe that if they make enough of an effort
to enforce the treaty, the government will stay away. But this approach still
allows the Taliban to use the tribal areas as a safe haven, and base for
operations in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda men can still use the area for a hideout,
as long as they do not take part in terrorist activities that can be traced
back to the tribal areas. The U.S. and NATO are not happy with all this, and
keep demanding that Pakistan either make the tribes enforce the treaty, or send
troops back into the tribal areas to do so. Although less than ten percent of
Pakistan's population are strong supporters of al Qaeda and the Taliban, most
of them live in the tribal areas, and a return visit by the army would mean war
with the tribes.