India-Pakistan: The Vicious Violence Of The Victims

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May 25, 2010: Afghan police again blame Pakistan for supporting terrorist groups carrying out suicide bombings in the Afghan capital. A recent attack killed six NATO troops, and even more Afghan civilians. While the local Taliban are usually found responsible for such attacks in the south, Pakistani money and personnel are often found responsible for attacks in Kabul. Pakistan denies everything.

In Quetta (southwest Pakistan), a roadside bomb was used to try to kill a prominent Shia scholar. It failed, but killed two other people and wounded fifteen. Such secular violence has been a problem for decades, and has gotten worse with the growth of Sunni radical groups like al Qaeda and Taliban. Meanwhile, the dominant Baluchi tribe in the area (called Baluchistan) also has separatist groups that have been murdering prominent non-Baluchis (over a hundred in the last year) in an effort to drive non-Baluchis out.

The Pakistani Army continues to pursue Taliban who fled Waziristan. This involves some detective work, and local police are used to locate where the Taliban, from outside Waziristan, live and direct the troops to the family compounds (which are sometimes destroyed, if the Taliban members cannot be found.) Although on the run from their bases in Waziristan, there are still Taliban activists in places like Peshawar (the largest city in the tribal territories), and these men continue to destroy girls schools and attack police.

The army is still waiting for orders on what to do with North Waziristan. There, Islamic terrorist groups who long had an "arrangement" with the government, stand ready to put up a lot of resistance if attacked. Some of the tribes up there are also relying on past agreements with the government to keep the army out. In other words, North Waziristan could be a much bloodier battle than South Waziristan. The army has already lost over 2,000 dead fighting Islamic terrorists in the tribal territories, and doesn't want to take a lot of casualties in North Waziristan. But negotiation is going nowhere, and the Americans and Afghans (and a lot of Pakistanis) are demanding action.

The U.S. is putting more pressure on Pakistan to shut down all the Islamic terrorist organizations in the country. Many, if not most, of these groups are not only supporting, or carrying, out attacks against foreign nations (India, and the West in general), but are also trying to overthrow the Pakistani government. But the government is reluctant to fight back too vigorously because these Islamic radical groups have the support of up to a third of the population. The government fears triggering a civil war, or at least a larger one than is already taking place.

The recent arrest, in the United States, of Pakistani migrants from affluent families, raised the issue of how often well educated young Pakistanis are radicalized. This is a common phenomena. In the last century, we have seen the educated young embrace radical socialism (communism, Nazism) and many other less well known radical movements, to disastrous effect. Radical Islam is unique as it is based on the idea that Islam is under attack, and the world is out to keep Moslems poor, badly governed and generally oppressed. This belief has created a schism within the Moslem world, between those who believe the cause of these problems is local (corruption, acceptance of despotism and lack of personal responsibility), and those who believe someone else (usually the West, but a neighboring nation will do) is at fault. These mass delusions are nothing new, but are easier to get going since the development of mass electronic media (that can reach largely illiterate audiences) and the Internet (which snags the young and overeducated). Many young Pakistanis just don't want to face the fact that they, and their families, are part of the problem. It's so much easier to blame powerful outside forces.

The defeat of the Taliban in Waziristan has sent hundreds of them fleeing to the largest city in Pakistan; Karachi. There, gang and terrorist related violence has been increasing, as the Islamic radical thugs seek to establish themselves.

The Indian government is planning to use the air force to support police and army operations against over 10,000 Maoist rebels in the eastern part of the country. The air force would be used to find, and bomb, the remote camps the Maoists use as bases. This is where Maoist gunmen often live, and undergo training. Supplies are also stockpiled at these camps. There are over 50,000 police and soldiers concentrated in six (out of twenty) states where the Maoists are active. This operation is expected to last five years or more, and eventually clear most Maoists out of all twenty states. Meanwhile, the government has undertaken large scale economic development programs in those same states. The poor economic and political conditions in those states were the main reasons the Maoists were able to establish themselves and grow. Out of the 626 districts in India, Maoists are a major problem in 34. The Maoists are often standing their ground, and actively resisting police attempts to oust them.

May 24, 2010: In eastern India, a Maoist land mine destroyed a police vehicle, killing four paramilitary soldiers.

May 23, 2010: In India, fifty Maoist rebels surrounded two villages and killed eight villagers suspected of being police informants. There is much popular opposition to the Maoists, who are seen as political fanatics who sustain themselves by operating like bandits.

May 20, 2010: In Indian Kashmir, a policeman and five Islamic terrorists were killed in two separate incidents. The Islamic radicals have lost most of their local support because of two decades of destructive and futile violence, but the terrorism is sustained by terrorist training camps, just across the border, which the Pakistani government refuses to shut down.