Word: kashmir
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...Mumbai attacks or allow an Indian police team to visit Pakistan and interrogate them." But the Pakistani military and intelligence services are reluctant to comply. In the past, they have used groups like Lashkar to fight a proxy war against India, and the militants keep the cause of Kashmir--a popular one throughout Pakistan--alive. Islamabad has traditionally argued that the best way to stop the militants is to resolve the long-standing dispute. But after the terrorism of Mumbai, the Indian government is unlikely to be any more conciliatory...
With neither side inclined to give any ground, U.S. officials are concerned that renewed tensions over Kashmir could have consequences across the region. The most pressing fear is that Pakistan, worried about Indian retaliation for Mumbai, will send more troops to shore up its eastern border, taking away vital resources from the fight against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other extremist groups along its border with Afghanistan. That would enable these groups to step up their operations against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. It's a prospect that troubles not just the Bush Administration but also its successor. President...
...Kashmir conflict has defeated the good intentions of plenty of would-be mediators, including the U.N. and several previous incumbents of the White House. "The U.S. has been involved since 1947," says Manoj Joshi, who has written two books on the conflict. "They've tried everything." The dispute began when the two countries won independence from Britain in 1947 and the Hindu ruler of Muslim-majority Kashmir chose to join India rather than Pakistan. That decision has never been accepted by Pakistan, and a de facto boundary, the Line of Control, divides Kashmir between them. India and Pakistan have fought...
...jihadis--and not just those in Pakistan--Kashmir has become a symbol of injustice against Muslims everywhere. Extremist websites and literature are replete with examples of atrocities by the Indian army and state police, which have ruthlessly put down the pro-independence militant movement. Human-rights groups also blame Indian authorities for widespread abuses like rape, torture and disappearances, but note that militants have engaged in similar brutal tactics. Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 50,000 people--civilians, soldiers and militants--have been killed in the past 20 years. Some activists say the toll is tens of thousands...
...reject it as a tactic in the freedom struggle. Local militancy is on the wane; the official annual death toll from violence slipped from 5,000 in 1996 to 1,000 in 2007 and 600 so far this year, according to Ashok Bhan, director of police intelligence for Kashmir. Thanks in part to draconian security measures, turnout in this winter's local elections has exceeded 60% in some districts. That's a far cry from the single digits reported during the height of the insurgency, when polling booths were targeted by militants...