Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Kashmiri Separatists Seek Saudi Mediation

Kashmiri Separatists Seek Saudi Mediation To End Dispute [blog], Reuters // India: A billion aspirations, 17 March 2010

EXCERPT: "Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a senior Kashmiri separatist leader, has urged Saudi Arabia to use its influence and bring India and Pakistan closer to solve the decades-long conflict over the disputed Himalayan region. Farooq arrived in the Kingdom last Thursday to perform the Umrah pilgrimage and his visit, two weeks after the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is being considered significant. [...] Singh’s visit, the first to Saudi Arabia by an Indian leader since 1982, sought to build economic ties and to enlist Riyadh’s help in improving regional security. 'Currently, a rethink is going on in India. Given the strengthening of ties between India and the Kingdom, New Delhi would be more comfortable with Saudi mediation than any other country,' Farooq told Arab News."

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Related articles:
Saudi mediation could resolve Kashmir issue, says Mirwaiz, Arab News, 13 March 2010
The exiles dreaming of a return to Kashmir, The Independent, 22 February 2010
Geelani's dialogue proposal to resolve Kashmir issue hailed, One India, 6 March 2010
Kashmir: "The world's most dangerous place" [book review], The New York Review of Books, 4 March 2010

Related posts:
Thousands rally for Kashmir, 5 February 2010
Symbiosis of peace and development in Kashmir: An imperative for conflict transformation, 27 January 2010
Militants killed as siege ends in Kashmir, 7 January 2010
Kashmir settlement vital for regional peace: Zardari, 5 January 2010
2,600 bodies found in Kashmir mass graves: Report, 2 December 2009

Three Dead in Renewed Violence in Kashmir

Three Killed, Eight Injured in Kashmir Attacks, Sify News, 16 March 2010

EXCERPT: "Militants struck twice in a day in the Kashmir Valley, killing two civilians and a policeman and injuring eight people, three of them securitymen, Tuesday. The rebels opened fire in the capital city's crowded business centre of Lal Chowk and then attacked a police patrol in Sopore town. A shop worker was killed and two civilians and two troopers were injured in the Lal Chowk militant attack - the second in the city in three days, police said. City police chief Javaid Riyaz told IANS that three militants opened fire with automatic weapons from a close range at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) posse in the main business hub of the city when the area was bustling with shoppers in the morning. He said five people -- three civilians and two CRPF troopers -- were injured in the firing before the guerrillas escaped in the labyrinthine lanes of Lal Chowk, the heart of Srinagar."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Separatist factions clash in Kashmir, Sify News, 15 March 2010
Indian soldier killed in Kashmir grenade blast, BBC News, 15 March 2010
Six Indian police hurt in Kashmir: Spokesman, AFP, 14 March 2010
Militant groups come together in Kashmir, Bangalore Mirror, 14 March 2010

Related posts:
Kashmir militants "boosted" by govt, 5 March 2010
India announces Kashmir "amnesty" initiative, 11 February 2010
Unrest in Indian Kashmir enters second week, 8 February 2010
Thousands rally for Kashmir, 5 February 2010
Kashmir a police state: Gilani, 15 January 2010

Kashmir Militants "Boosted" by Govt

Why Pakistan is "Boosting Kashmir Militants", BBC News, 3 March 2010 

EXCERPT: "Pakistan has long been accused of supporting militant groups operating in Kashmir. As a fledgling peace process between India and Pakistan developed in the years since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, it was widely believed that Islamabad's support for militancy had declined. This has changed once again. Since 2009 militant activity has been on the increase in the Kashmir region. After the deadly Mumbai (Bombay) attacks of 2008 India called off peace talks. Dialogue resumed in February 2010 but the issue of militancy allegedly supported by Pakistan remains high on India's agenda. Pakistan's government denies any knowledge of Kashmir militant groups increasing their activities. Initially militant groups in Kashmir appeared to be operating on their own - but there is evidence to suggest that they are once again under the protection of Pakistan's intelligence establishment."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
"Peace remains elusive without resolving Kashmir", DAWN, 5 March 2010 
Not talking to Pak won't help us: PM, The Times of India, 5 March 2010 
"Four militants" die in Kashmir clash, BBC News, 5 March 2010 
Talks between Pakistan and India face hurdles, China View, 4 March 2010 
Good relations between India-Pakistan imperative for regional peace: Mukhtar, One India, 4 March 2010
India, Pakistan need a little help, Asia Times Online, 3 March 2010 

Related posts:
India-Pakistan meeting a "first step" in rebuilding confidence, 25 February 2010 
Distrust over shared rivers complicates India-Pakistan talks, 24 February 2010 
India's focus on security detrimental to talks: Pakistan, 18 February 2010 
India announces Kashmir "amnesty" initiative, 11 February 2010 
Unrest in Indian Kashmir enters second week, 8 February 2010 

India-Pakistan Meeting a "First Step" in Rebuilding Confidence

In "First Step", India and Pakistan Resume Talks, The New York Times, 25 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao of India described the meeting with her Pakistani counterpart, Salman Bashir, as a useful discussion, saying it would be premature to restart broader bilateral discussions but adding that the two sides had agreed to keep talking informally... In her comments, Ms. Rao said she restated Indian concerns about terrorist groups operating inside Pakistan, presenting three dossiers of new information related to the Mumbai attacks. She also prodded Pakistan to take action against Hafiz Saeed, the leader of an Islamic charity closely linked to the banned militant group, Lakshar-e-Taiba, which has been accused of orchestrating the Mumbai assault... Mr. Bashir expressed exasperation with Indian depictions of Pakistan as an 'epicenter' for breeding terrorism, describing his country instead as a victim of terrorist groups... For his part, Mr. Bashir concurred that terrorism was a major issue between the nations. But he described the longstanding territorial disputes in Kashmir as the 'core issue' and also said that he presented documentation outlining Pakistani concerns over water rights."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Afghan factor behind moves to revive talks between India and Pakistan [op-ed], Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, 25 February 2010
India focus on Mumbai "unfair": Salman Bashir, DAWN, 25 February 2010
Factbox: Pakistan, India troop strength, deployments, AlertNet, 25 February 2010
Timeline: Flashpoints and flare-ups in India-Pakistan ties, AlertNet, 25 February 2010
The end of the Kashmir freeze, The National, 24 February 2010

Related posts:
Distrust over shared rivers complicates India-Pakistan talks, 24 February 2010
Preview: India-Pakistan to meet on Thursday, 22 February 2010
India's focus on security detrimental to talks: Pakistan, 18 February 2010
Latest bombing unlikely to derail India-Pakistan talks, 15 February 2010
A year after Mumbai, India offers to talk with Pakistan, 4 February 2010

Distrust Over Shared Rivers Complicates India-Pakistan Talks

Distrust Complicates India-Pakistan River Row, AlertNet, 24 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Distrust between India and Pakistan and a 'hawkish' Indian mindset were complicating efforts to resolve disputes over the water of shared rivers, Pakistan's top river water official said. Some analysts fear that disputes over water between the old rivals could in future spark conflict as the neighbours compete for dwindling supplies of water from melting Himalayan glaciers. The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since 1947, will meet in New Delhi on Thursday marking the resumption of official contacts which India broke off after militants attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in late 2008. Pakistan wants to put the dispute over river waters at the top of the agenda along with the core dispute over the divided Kashmir region. But Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday that Indian concerns about militant groups based in Pakistan would form the main focus of the talks with her Pakistani counterpart. 'There's mistrust and a lack of confidence,' Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, the Indus Water commissioner of Pakistan, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday."

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Related articles:
War of words ahead of key India-Pakistan meeting, BBC, 24 February 2010
Border firing reported in Kashmir on eve of talks, The Washington Post, 24 February 2010
Pakistan envoy meets Kashmir leaders ahead of talks, AlertNet, 24 February 2010
Factbox: Main problems between India and Pakistan, AlertNet, 24 February 2010

Related posts:
India's focus on security detrimental to talks: Pakistan, 18 February 2010
Latest bombing unlikely to derail India-Pakistan talks, 15 February 2010
A year after Mumbai, India offers to talk with Pakistan, 4 February 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2010
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in Central-South Asia, 19 January 2010

India's Focus on Security Detrimental to Talks: Pakistan

India Security Focus Would Limit Talks: Pakistan [interview], Reuters India, 18 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Talks with nuclear-armed rival India will not make the required progress if New Delhi insists on focusing on security, Pakistan said on Thursday, touching on one of the most contentious issues between the Asian neighbours.  Top officials in the foreign ministries of the two countries are to meet in New Delhi on Feb. 25 after India this month offered to hold high-level talks. 'Why this focus on terrorism? How can we have good relations if we just ignore the outstanding issues like Kashmir?' Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told Reuters. 'That's an ostrich mentality.' Analysts say Pakistan does not want the talks to concentrate on security because it is sensitive to Indian criticism it has not done enough to curb anti-Indian Pakistani militant groups. Qureshi, in an interview on the sidelines of an Eastwest Institute security conference in Belgium, said much would depend on India's 'mindset' about the agenda of the meeting. 'If they want to narrow it down, if they want to restrict, if they want to overlook reality, overlook the disputes between us, we will not make the headway that is required,' he said. 'But if we put everything on the table and if we can sit and peacefully negotiate and find a peaceful resolution of the outstanding issues, then I think there is hope for the future.' Asked if his comment meant Pakistan did not want security to dominate the talks, he replied: 'If you restrict the dialogue to the area of your interest, then you're defeating the purpose - there are our interests as well.'"

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Related articles:
India, Pakistan peace necessary for growth, stability: World Bank, Hindustan Times, 19 February 2010
Pakistan seeks deal, The Washington Times // Embassy Row, 18 February 2010
On a short fuse, The Economist, 18 February 2010
India-Pakistan talks are better than nothing, World Politics Review, 17 February 2010
Composite dialogue with Pakistan suspended: Krishna, DAWN, 17 February 2010
LeT change of tack? Saeed open to dialogue with India, The Times of India, 18 February 2010

Related media and report:
Interview: Hafiz Muhammed Saeed [video], Al Jazeera via YouTube, 17 February 2010
Promoting economic co-operation in South Asia, World Bank, 16 February 2010

Related posts:
New Pakistan group claims India's Pune bombing, 17 February 2010
A year after Mumbai, India offers to talk with Pakistan, 4 February 2010
India-Pakistan relations post-Mumbai terrorist attacks, 19 January 2010
Lashkar-e-Taiba: One year after Mumbai, 26 November 2009
Another go at India-Pakistan dialogue, 5 November 2009

Latest Bombing Unlikely to Derail India-Pakistan Talks

India Says Pakistan "Talks on Track" After Blast, AFP, 15 February 2010

EXCERPT: "India and Pakistan will resume peace talks as planned, government sources said Monday, despite a deadly restaurant bombing and questions over whether Islamist militants were involved. As police scoured security camera footage of Saturday's blast at the German Bakery in Pune, western India, a government source in New Delhi told AFP there was 'no change' to a scheduled meeting of Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries on February 25. It will mark the first official talks between the two South Asian rivals for 14 months.  Another source said the government would refrain from any 'knee-jerk reaction,' amid calls from the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the meeting should be called off.  India broke off all official dialogue with Pakistan following the November, 2008 Mumbai attacks which it blamed on the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).  Saturday's blast in Pune was the first major attack on Indian soil since then and came just a day after the two sides agreed to the foreign secretaries' meet.  Two foreigners -- an Italian woman and an Iranian man -- were among the nine people killed. Twelve of the 57 people injured were foreign nationals."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Experts back India-Pakistan dialogue, The Hindu, 16 February 2010
Kerry says India-Pakistan talks must go on, The Wall Street Journal, 15 February 2010
Pune blast part of Lashkar's "Karachi Project"?, The Times of India, 15 February 2010
Pune bombing unlikely to derail India-Pakistan talks [blog], Reuters // Pakistan: Now or never?, 14 February 2010
Will India and Pakistan talks survive Pune bombing?, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 February 2010
Al-Qaeda chief delivers a warning, Asia Times Online, 13 February 2010

Related posts:
A year after Mumbai, India offers to talk with Pakistan, 4 February 2010
India-Pakistan relations post-Mumbai terrorist attacks, 19 January 2010
Contingency planning for Pak terrorist attacks on India, 14 January 2010
Managing Indo-Pak tensions, 12 January 2010
Seven charged over Mumbai attacks, 25 November 2009

Confidence Building Measures Between India and Pakistan

Cross-LoC Confidence Building Measures Between India and Pakistan: A Giant Leap or a Small Step Towards Peace?, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, 12 February 2010

EXCERPT: "The origins of cross-LoC contacts lie in the 2003 ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Following a meeting between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Parvez Musharraf on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad in 2004, came the Pakistani assurance that it would not allow any part of its territory in its control to be used against India. As a result, a new beginning was made by implementing Confidence-Building Measures in Kashmir. This process was taken further by Dr Manmohan Singh’s speech in Amritsar on March 24, 2006 where he spoke of a joint mechanism for socio-economic cooperation between the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Cross-LoC people-to-people contact in the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad sector started in 2005 and was extended to the Poonch-Rawalakote sector in 2006. Cross-LoC trade in both the sectors commenced on October 21, 2008. These contacts have opened up immense possibilities for cooperation between the two sides of Kashmir.  Both India and Pakistan have taken cautious steps and would like to move on the path of cooperation gradually. Once this process is strengthened, perhaps more joint ventures can be envisaged between the two sides of Kashmir."

Read the full brief.

Related articles:
Pakistan, India foreign secretaries to meet on February 25, DAWN, 12 February 2010
India-Pakistan peace talks better taken in doses, World Politics Review, 12 February 2010
Pakistan's anti-terror moves led to resumption in talks: Antony, Daily Times, 12 February 2010
India's "amnesty" to Pakistan-based Kashmiri rebels [blog], Reuters // India: A billion aspirations, 12 February 2010
India and Pakistan: Losing time, Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, 10 February 2010

Related reports:
Confidence-building measures in South Asia, Stimson Centre

Related posts:
India announces Kashmir "amnesty" initiative, 11 February 2010
Unrest in Indian Kashmir enters second week, 8 February 2010
Thousands rally for Kashmir, 5 February 2010
Kashmir a police state: Gilani, 15 January 2010
Militants killed as siege ends in Kashmir, 7 January 2010

India Announces Kashmir "Amnesty" Initiative

India Announces Kashmir "Amnesty" Initiative, BBC News, 11 February 2010

EXCERPT: "India has said the hundreds of men from Indian-administered Kashmir who have crossed into Pakistani territory should be able to return without punishment. Home Minister P Chidambaram said anyone willing to give up the fight against Indian rule would be welcomed home. The home ministry and state government are discussing how best to manage their rehabilitation into mainstream society."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
India offers amnesty to Pakistan occupied Kashmir ultras, Daily News and Analysis, 12 February 2010
Despite UN ban, Lashkar front face JuD openly espouses jihad for liberating Kashmir, One India, 11 February 2010
India guards admit soldier killed Kashmir boy, Reuters India, 10 February 2010
Qureshi rejects Musharraf govt claim on Kashmir, DAWN, 8 February 2010

Related media:
The future of Kashmir, BBC News

Related posts:
Unrest in Indian Kashmir enters second week, 8 February 2010
Thousands rally for Kashmir, 5 February 2010
Kashmir a police state: Gilani, 15 January 2010
Militants killed as siege ends in Kashmir, 7 January 2010
Terror without frontiers: Lashkar-e-Taiba’s global reach, 15 December 2009

Unrest in Indian Kashmir Enters Second Week

Unrest in Indian Kashmir Enters Second Week, The Washington Post, 8 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Authorities put separatist leaders under house arrest and thousands of armed troops in riot gear warned people to stay indoors in Indian Kashmir's main city Monday in an attempt to block a seventh day of violent demonstrations against Indian rule. Widespread unrest has rocked the disputed Himalayan region for the past week, as protesters have taken to the streets in anger over the deaths of two teenage boys they say were killed by police and government forces... Kashmir, which is predominantly Muslim, is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the Himalayan region, where more than a dozen rebel groups have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the uprising and the subsequent Indian crackdown"

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Will Kashmir tensions hurt fresh India-Pakistan peace efforts? [blog], Reuters // India: A billion aspirations - Perspectives on South Asian politics, 8 February 2010
Mood gloomy in Kashmir over India-Pakistan talks, AFP, 7 February 2010
Kashmir is the key to peace in Afghanistan [blog], Newsweek // Wealth of Nations, 7 February 2010
India asked to stop rights violations in Kashmir, DAWN, 6 February 2010
Hafiz Saeed preaches jihad in Kashmir [blog], The Long War Journal, 5 February 2010

Related reports:
A guide to militant groups in Kashmir, The Jamestown Foundation // Terrorism Monitor, 4 February 2010

Related posts:
Thousands rally for Kashmir, 5 February 2010
India-Pakistan relations post-Mumbai terrorist attacks, 19 January 2010
Kashmir a police state: Gilani, 15 January 2010
Militants killed as siege ends in Kashmir, 7 January 2010
Terror without frontiers: Lashkar-e-Taiba’s global reach, 15 December 2009