May 16,2008:
In Pakistan, popular support for
al Qaeda and the Taliban is declining. Police are getting more tips from
citizens about terrorist activities, and catching more terrorists before
attacks can be carried out. This does not apply in Pakistani Kashmir, where
terrorist camps remain undisturbed, and Islamic terrorists continue to sneak
across the border and attack Indian troops and police. There has been an
increase in such movements, with three groups of terrorists moving across in a
four day period in the last week. Over 50,000 have died in Islamic militant
violence in Kashmir over the last two decades. This ruined the thriving tourism based economy
of Kashmir, and eventually turned the largely Moslem population against the
terrorists. In Pakistan, Islamic militants have attacked the Swat Valley, also
a popular tourist area. Same thing in India, where the city Jaipur was recently
attacked, and the Islamic attackers said they would hit other tourist
attractions.
May 15,
2008: In Pakistan, the government has
agreed to remove some troops from the tribal areas along the Afghan border, and
the Taliban, in return halt terrorist attacks. As part of the deal, the government
released 30 tribal militants from prison, while terrorists released a dozen
soldiers they had captured. This, in effect, provides the Taliban and al Qaeda
with sanctuaries, although the peace deal includes a Taliban promise to expel "foreigners"
from their territories. But there is no way to verify this, and any terror
attacks that do take place in the future can just be denied by the Taliban, and
blamed on someone else. Meanwhile, more Pakistani tribesmen are moving into Afghanistan
to fight. These tribal war parties are getting clobbered, with a hundred or
more tribesmen killed each week. That sort of thing tends to make recruiting
more difficult, except at the religious schools on the Pakistani side of the
border, where "martyrdom" is sold as a good thing.
May 14,
2008: In Pakistan, two missiles hit a
building full of Taliban, killing 18 people. American Predator UAVs were
blamed. The U.S. has its own intelligence network on the Pakistani side of the
border, and gets some information from Pakistani counter-terrorism
organizations. Via an informal agreement, U.S. Predator UAVs, and other intel
aircraft, operate on the Pakistani side of the border, and set up these attacks
on Taliban and al Qaeda leaders.
May 13,
2008: In the western India city of
Jaipur, seven terrorist bombs went off, killing 61 people and wounding over a
hundred. An eighth bomb did not go off, and was disabled by police. A
previously unknown group, the Indian Mujahideen, took credit for the attack,
and threatened to attack more tourist sites (Jaipur is popular with tourists).
Police arrested suspects in Jaipur who had connections with Bangladeshi Islamic
terrorists, but the Bangladesh government pointed out that they had crippled
the group in question with a series of arrests over the past year. India has
also broken most of the known Indian Islamic terrorist groups in the past year.
But there are still thousands of Moslem young men out there, inspired by media
and Internet material to become terrorists. The key, however, is people capable
of handling the planning and technical aspects of such attacks. That requires
rare skills, so the Indian police are thinking about al Qaeda or Pakistani
sponsored groups helping out.
On the
Line of Control separating Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, Pakistani troops
opened fire with heavy machine-guns (about 50 rounds) and mortars (about 8
shells) on an Indian border bunker. This was the first time this has happened
in nearly five years, since a truce was established. There were no Indian
casualties, and the Indians did not return fire. The Pakistani commander for that section of
the border denied that the firing had taken place.
May 11,
2008: In eastern India, police and
troops intercepted a group of fifty Maoist gunmen who were preparing to attack
a construction company. Two police were killed, and the Maoists retreated. The communist
terrorists survive by extorting money from businesses. The police respond by
hunting down the Maoist "enforcers" and Maoist leadership.
May 10,
2008: A bomb exploded against the
outside wall of a college for women in Pakistan. There have been several
attacks against schools and colleges for women lately. Shutting down such
institutions is a major goal of Islamic terrorists. In Quetta, on the border of
the Pushtun tribal areas and Baluchistan, a crudely made bomb went off in a
restaurant, wounding 19 people.
May 9,
2008: Islamic radicals in Pakistan's
Swat Valley have agreed to cease their attacks, and the army will stop
searching for and arresting the militants. Peace talks will try and work out a
peace deal. This has been tried in the past, and usually results in ceasefire
that eventually breaks down. The militants are on a mission from God, and have
no intention of giving up.