February 21, 2013:
In Pakistan a recent opinion survey showed 77 percent of the population had no confidence in the elected government, while 88 percent trusted the military. Support for the United States slipped from 92 percent two years ago to 73 percent now. The main cause of the drop was the 2011 U.S. raid into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. Some 55 percent of Pakistanis (young and old) believed that interactions between the West and Moslems were a threat to Pakistani security. Only 39 percent believed such interactions were beneficial. Most conservative Moslems cannot accept that Islam itself is the cause of any of the many problems (economic, social, political) suffered by Moslems. Instead, the blame is placed on non-Moslems who must be attacking Moslems and causing all these problems.
The Pakistani Sunni Islamic terrorists (Lashkar i Jhangvi) responsible for killing over 200 Shia Moslems so far this year, have announced that there will be more attacks. The government, which has long supported Sunni terrorist groups, has finally gone after Lashkar i Jhangvi and made some arrests. But Lashkar i Jhangvi is at war with the Pakistani government (as are many other Sunni terrorists in Pakistan) and is taunting the government about repeated failures to suppress Islamic terrorism inside Pakistan.
India faces another defense procurement scandal. This time a $750 million contract for 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters is under investigatrion. Indian and Italian investigators say they have evidence that Italian executives of Finmeccanica (the Italian parent company of Britain based AgustaWestland) found Indian officers and defense officials eager to take a bribe to make the AW101 sale happen. India has been trying to purge the Defense Ministry and the military of corruptible officials. That work is not yet done. Finmeccanica is in a panic because prosecution for this could lead to Finmeccanica being banned from doing business in India. The military is alarmed because they sorely need the new helicopters.
February 19, 2013: In southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan) police arrested seven Sunni Islamic terrorists and killed four others that were part of the group that killed 89 Shia on the 11th. Since then the families of the victims refused to bury the dead (devout Moslems normally do this within 24 hours) until the government did something about the Sunni terrorists who have been attacking Shia in Baluchistan. Many Shia believe that the government tolerates these attacks on Shia in order to retain the loyalty of Sunni terrorists (that the government encourages to make attacks in Afghanistan and India). For over 30 years the government has encouraged and supported Islamic terrorist groups but since September 11, 2001, they have suffered because many of these groups have turned on their benefactors and declared war on the Pakistani government for joining the American war on terror.
February 16, 2013: In eastern India (Jharkhand State) police arrested a much wanted (for planning at least 32 attacks) Maoist leader.
February 15, 2013: The Pakistani Taliban launched three attacks near the Khyber Pass, leaving 17 dead.
Pakistan announced that one of its soldiers had got lost and accidently crossed the border into Indian Kashmir. India reported that a Pakistani soldier crossed the border, opened fire on Indian troops, and wounded two of them before returned fire killed the attacker. Pakistan accused the Indians of murdering their soldier.
February 13, 2013: In the Pakistani tribal territories (Peshawar), four Taliban wearing police uniforms and explosive vests attacked a police headquarters. All four attackers died along with five police. Apparently the attackers were trying to free some Taliban held at the jail in the headquarters. That effort failed.
While visiting Britain Pakistani leaders asked for donations of modern military equipment, so Pakistan could more effectively fight Islamic terrorists. Britain has long criticized the Pakistani military for using its weapons and equipment more against innocent civilians that against Islamic terrorists.
February 12, 2013: A senior Pakistani Taliban leader (Maulvi Faqir Muhammad) was captured in eastern Afghanistan, after American UAV launched missiles had flushed him from his hideout. Four of his followers were also captured. Maulvi Faqir Muhammad fled to Afghanistan three years ago, after Pakistani troops captured his bases across the border in Bajaur. Rather than flee to the sanctuary in North Waziristan, many Pakistani Taliban find it more convenient to just move across the border into a remote part of eastern Afghanistan. There they often find members of their tribe, as many Pushtun tribes are divided by the Afghan-Pakistan border.
February 11, 2013: In southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan) a Sunni Islamic terror group set off a bomb in a market, killing 89 Shia Moslems. A similar attack last month killed 92. There have been several other attacks. Violence against people because of their religion killed over 400 Pakistanis last year. Most of the violence is Sunni Islamic terrorists (like al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, and several other local groups) killing Shia Moslems (who are 20 percent of the population). Extremist Sunnis consider Shia to be heretics.
In Indian Kashmir three civilian protestors have died during a week of protests against the execution of one of the Islamic terrorists involved in a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament. The executed man came from Kashmir.
February 10, 2013: In a test the U.S. sent two truck convoys, each carrying 25 shipping containers from Afghanistan to Karachi, to test security along the route. The U.S. is moving over 100,000 containers of gear and over 60,000 vehicles out of Afghanistan in the next two years as the U.S. withdraws most of its forces. The Pakistani route is cheaper but if Pakistan cannot provide security then the more expensive northern route (via Central Asian and Russian railroads) will be used. This would be a major economic loss for Pakistan.