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  • #16
    Originally posted by anil View Post
    The north-east and kashmir valley will continue to remain a battlefield but the tensions are reduced when the locals are given control of their region and society. The question is not whether the step will prove favorable or unfavorable to the locals.
    Balderdash! The locals do have control of both Kashmir and NE states, just like every other Indian state. The CM and state govt. leaders are locals, elected by the local people. The militants are actually trying to stop village level local government elections by killing the elected Sarpanches (village heads).

    In addition to that there are more privileges granted to Kashmir by Article 370 of the Indian constitution, like no one from outside the state being able to buy land there for example.

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    • #17
      Originally posted by Firestorm View Post
      ...like no one from outside the state being able to buy land there for example.
      How is that a good thing?
      No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

      To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Doktor View Post
        How is that a good thing?
        Oh, it's not. It has stifled economic development in Kashmir for decades. If you ask me, the entire article 370 is egregious and should have been discarded ages ago. The problem is, Kashmiris don't see it that way. They consider it a measure of their autonomy and will oppose any attempt to revoke it tooth and nail. It is not something imposed on Kashmir by the Indian state. They actually want it.
        Last edited by Firestorm; 22 Apr 13,, 19:40.

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        • #19
          The Kashmiri's have got use to free doles from the Indian state, that is why they want Article 370 to remain.

          Cheers!...on the rocks!!

          Comment


          • #20
            Do you guys think insurgency can exist without the assistance of the local people?

            What is the point in having village leaders when the indian army cannot even protect them from insurgents? If every little guy who goes against the insurgents is a target then indian army will have to keep aside a portion of its resources for protecting each one of these guys and quite frankly that is not possible. Lets be realistic.

            In such a situation, the best option is to convince the insurgents to join politics in lieu of peace and stability. Basically, both Kashmir and North East are never going to become normal. We have to accept this fact. Besides normalcy, Kashmir has article 370 and NE has ILP and ADCs, both of which restrict free movement of people and wealth so these regions will not see economic and social development also. The point is not to develop the region(because we don't have that option) but to contain the instability within these regions. The worst thing that could happen is insurgents from unstable regions plotting an attack on stable regions. If that happens, we can at least hold the insurgents(who we promoted as politicians in the region) responsible, accountable and punishable. However, if insurgents already have a free rein in their own territory, it would discourage them from plotting attacks elsewhere. There is no guarantee but it keeps peace for the longest time regardless of the few bomb attacks once in a while.
            Last edited by anil; 23 Apr 13,, 06:51.

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            • #21
              Originally posted by anil View Post
              Do you guys think insurgency can exist without the assistance of the local people?
              Yes in Kashmir's case. The terrorists are mainly Pakistani not Kashmiri.

              In such a situation, the best option is to convince the insurgents to join politics in lieu of peace and stability.
              You want to convince Pakistani backed jihadi groups to join politics and make them MPs and MLAs....

              Basically, both Kashmir and North East are never going to become normal.
              Who says???
              Do you know that MNF in Mizoram was the LTTE of its time. The 1988 peace accord held true (thank God). The state is peaceful and a calm.
              Nagaland and Manipur are more intricate, but solveable.

              Cheers!...on the rocks!!

              Comment


              • #22
                Quite a big hit carried out by the Maoists. They took out some very senior leaders of the Congress Party.

                Maoist Attack Kills Dozens in India

                NEW DELHI — Hundreds of Maoist guerrillas ambushed a convoy of top state political leaders in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Saturday and killed at least 27 people, including three leaders of the nationally dominant Indian National Congress Party.

                The attackers blocked the road by felling trees, forcing the convoy of vehicles to a halt, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. The guerrillas set off a land mine that blew up one of the stopped vehicles, and then they opened fire on those remaining. Officials estimated that 200 to 300 guerrillas were involved.
                ...
                http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/wo...ndia.html?_r=0
                And an intriguing view regarding the attack:

                Questions Raised Over Intended Target of Maoist Attack


                NEW DELHI— On May 25, a convoy of cars carrying senior leaders of the Congress Party and others was attacked by the Maoist guerrillas in southern Chhattisgarh in central India. It was one of the most audacious attacks by the Maoists, who now work under one umbrella group called the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

                One of the 25 who were killed was a man the Maoists had been trying to hunt down for years. In 2006, Mahendra Karma of the Congress Party founded Salwa Judum (which in the local tribal language means “purification hunt”), an anti-Maoist militia made up of young tribal men. But instead of inflicting significant damage on the Maoists, the group ended up isolating the tribal population further after its cadre recklessly killed innocent people and looted and plundered villages, resulting in the displacement of over 150,000 people. Over the years, Mr. Karma had escaped many assassination attempts. But this time, the Maoists got him.

                But what was really surprising about the attack was the way another Congress leader, Nand Kumar Patel, was targeted. The National Investigation Agency said that according to survivors, the Maoists took Mr. Patel and his son Dinesh hostage after tying their hands, and then shot them in a little forest clearing. The Congress Party general secretary Digvijaya Singh said in a post on his personal blog that the rebels had been looking for Mr. Patel in this particular attack and had not been expecting the presence of Mr. Karma, but he didn’t say where he had gotten this information.

                A few days after the killings, however, the Maoists released a statement saying that their main target was Mr. Karma but they also sought to kill Mr. Patel, along with Mr. Karma, because Mr. Patel had been the home minister of Madhya Pradesh, which governed Chhattisgarh at the time he sent paramilitary forces to root out Maoists. They added that Mr. Patel had a “history of suppressing the people.”

                But the question is: if that was the case, why was Mr. Patel never the target of such attacks before? Mr. Patel has had no history of rancor with the Maoists. In fact, he was among the few politicians in Chhattisgarh who were not seen as hawkish on the issue of dealing with the Maoists.

                While conspiracy theories floated around in the state capital Raipur, Mr. Singh, in the same blog post, raised questions over the killing of Mr. Patel. “Why were they looking for Nand Kumar Patel, who was apparently not a supporter of Salwa Judum and who had been consistently opposing the police atrocities on tribals in Bastar? Why did they kill him and his son?” Mr. Singh asked.

                A day after the blog post, the central government minister for tribal affairs, K.C. Singh Deo, alleged that some politicians and corporate houses could be “in tandem” with the Maoists.

                While the truth behind Mr. Patel’s killing may take some time to appear, Mr. Deo has some basis for his allegations, since in Maoist areas many local government officials connive with the Maoists to siphon off government funds. In fact, the nexus between politicians and Maoists is quite old. In Andhra Pradesh, where the majority of senior Maoist cadre comes from, politicians have piggybacked to power on Maoist support. In 1982, the popular Telugu actor-turned-politician N.T. Rama Rao won the state’s chief minister post after calling the Maoists “Desh Bhaktalu” (patriots). But once he assumed his position, he went after them.

                In 1989, the Congress Party snatched power from him by repeating the same formula: declare Maoists as patriots and use their popularity to win elections. This trend continued for many years.

                In the Maoist-affected state of Jharkhand, bordering Chhattisgarh, it is widely believed that in many areas, one cannot win an election without shaking hands with the Maoists. In caste-ridden Bihar, Maoists have received political patronage for decades.

                In the recent times, this murky association has come to fore in West Bengal as well. In a newspaper interview in April 2009, the Maoist leader known as Kishenji admitted that the rebels had sided with the mainstream leftist party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), in 2000 in West Bengal to fight another political party, Trinamool Congress. The guerrilla leader revealed that he had personally collected 5,000 cartridges from the Communist Party office to be used against the Trinamool Congress.

                But in 2009, the tide turned. This time, the Maoists turned against the governing party and established liberated zones in the Lalgarh area of the state. This time, they had the support of Trinamool Congress.

                In 2011, the Trinamool Congress snatched away West Bengal from the Communists, which had governed the state for more than three decades, and the seats in the Maoist-affected areas played a vital role in that victory. Immediately after winning the elections, the Trinamool chief, Mamata Banerjee, turned against the Maoists, and in November same year, Mr. Kishenji was killed near Lalgarh by security forces. Her own senior party member, Kabir Suman, spilled the beans about her ties with the rebels by writing in his book an account of how Ms. Banerjee had met two senior Maoist leaders.

                More recently, the Home Department of the Maharashtra state government has cautioned that Maoist leaders and their supporters may have been elected to panchayats, local village-level governing councils.

                The politicians know how to use the Maoists in their areas of influence to their advantage. The Maoists may not believe in democracy, but they know that it is important to keep ties with politicians for short- and long-term gains. In public, both ridicule each other. But sadly, in this nexus, it is the innocent people who ultimately drown in the cesspool this nexus creates.

                Questions Raised Over Intended Target of Maoist Attack - NYTimes.com
                Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
                -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

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                • #23
                  at least this time only politicos died.
                  Not one tear for them.
                  For Gallifrey! For Victory! For the end of time itself!!

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                  • #24
                    That is why it looks more like a paid hit.

                    Cheers!...on the rocks!!

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Originally posted by bolo121 View Post
                      at least this time only politicos died.
                      Not one tear for them.
                      Only a few were politicos. The rest must have been their security and staff.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Firestorm View Post
                        Only a few were politicos. The rest must have been their security and staff.
                        Of the 27 dead, 9 were policemen and the rest were party workers. 37 others were also injured.

                        Cheers!...on the rocks!!

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Originally posted by lemontree View Post
                          That is why it looks more like a paid hit.
                          Yep. Live by the scam die by the scam
                          For Gallifrey! For Victory! For the end of time itself!!

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Lethal tribal jungle unit joins war on Naxals


                            India is raising an unnamed jungle commando outfit of young tribal men in Chhattisgarh's Bastar to counter Maoist guerrillas.

                            Cobra, the most elite commando unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), has so far trained and absorbed 300 men aged 18 to 30.

                            The six-month gruelling course at CRPF's Lanjhi forest camp in Bastar is perhaps the world's longest training module in jungle warfare. The Ranger School at Fort Benning, US, has a similar but shorter, 61-day course.

                            The driving philosophy: Locals know their habitat best. In Bastar's dense saal forests where one of the world's bloodiest guerrilla wars is fought, stealth is precious.

                            In the war that is fought behind trees, darkness, glowworms and birdcalls, and where sniper bullets lurk, the local tribals' instincts and familiarity with the terrain are an asset.

                            "There's no foolproof strategy in this war. You have to keep trying new things," says Zulfiquar Hasan, inspector general, CRPF, Chhattisgarh.

                            The commandos are trained to pick up Maoists' tracks, identify fake animal calls used by the enemy as signal, survive for a week or more without carrying food - eating animals and plants and extracting water from spongy roots - and using a range of guns.

                            They use naptha balls to light small, hard-to-detect fires which don't emit smoke of odour.

                            They can tell a poisonous berry from an edible one.

                            "Their local expertise and intuitiveness is proving to be a huge asset against the Naxalites," says Uday Divyanshu, commander of the 204 Cobra battalion.

                            The tribal commandoes are being used mainly to track down Maoists from the faintest clues and to evacuate injured soldiers.

                            At the Cobra headquarters in Karanpur, HT met five members of the new elite jungle force last week.

                            Their favourite diet in the forests: Instant noodles.

                            "But when it gets over, we make do with what the forest offers," says a 22-year-old freshly-trained commando from Bastar's Gond tribe.

                            His next mission after joining the force: To get married.

                            Lethal tribal jungle unit joins war on Naxals - Hindustan Times

                            Maoists and security forces both recruiting from the tribals means a more contained insurgency. Just hope this new all-tribal unit is put under tight oversight, and things don't go the Salwa Judum way.
                            Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
                            -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

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