Tag: Pakistan

A Joke: Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Donny with a peace prize.

Just recently Pakistan has nominated Donny for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize….why is that?

he government of Pakistan on Friday recommended President Donald Trump for a 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in de-escalating a brief conflict between India and Pakistan earlier this year.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration intervened to stop a conflict between Islamabad in New Delhi in its early stages after a terrorist attack in the Kashmir region led India to attack its Islamic neighbor.

“The Government of Pakistan has decided to formally recommend President Donald J. Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis,” the government stated.

“At a moment of heightened regional turbulence, President Trump demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship through robust diplomatic engagement with both Islamabad and New Delhi which de-escalated a rapidly deteriorating situation, ultimately securing a ceasefire and averting a broader conflict between the two nuclear states that would have had catastrophic consequences for millions of people in the region and beyond,” it went on. “This intervention stands as a testament to his role as a genuine peacemaker and his commitment to conflict resolution through dialogue.”

(justthenews.com)

“A genuine peacemaker”?  Seriously?

India did not see Donny’s role in the ceasefire….

Government officials from India have disputed Trump’s characterization of his role in the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. According to a readout from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, “Prime Minister Modi clearly conveyed to President Trump that at no point during this entire sequence of events was there any discussion, at any level, on an India-U.S. Trade Deal, or any proposal for a mediation by the U.S. between India and Pakistan. The discussion to cease military action took place directly between India and Pakistan through the existing channels of communication between the two armed forces, and it was initiated at Pakistan’s request.”

(mediaite.com)

Then of course Donny could not accept the nomination without trying to toot his own horn….and failed….

“I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between India and Pakistan, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for keeping Peace between Egypt and Ethiopia (A massive Ethiopian built dam, stupidly financed by the United States of America, substantially reduces the water flowing into The Nile River),” Trump wrote on Friday. “And I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for doing the Abraham Accords in the Middle East which, if all goes well, will be loaded to the brim with additional Countries signing on, and will unify the Middle East for the first time in ‘The Ages!’”

Trump’s post came after he earlier in the day pressed that he should have received the Nobel Peace Prize “four or five times” in comments to waiting reporters on the tarmac. He had just landed in Morristown, New Jersey.  (No doubt on his way to some golf course)

“If you look, the Congo, or you could say Serbia, Kosovo, you could say a lot of them,” Trump said about his prize-worthy accomplishments

Seriously?

After the weekend of placing the US in a deadly crosshair and you think this idiot needs a prize….especially one called ‘peace prize’?

This is a joke and an ass kissing by Pakistan.

If he wins the prize then it will be as worthless as Donny and his supporters.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

India/Pakistan News

Last week old enemies started yet another cross border conflict….a conflict that has been basically going on since 1947 and on occasion becomes deadly….sometimes it appears as if they start these things on a whim….Conflict between India and Pakistan is not rare, with the two countries having periodically engaged in wars, clashes and skirmishes since gaining independence from British India in 1947.

After several days of firing across at each other these two nations have said to have agreed to a ceasefire and a halt to hostilities….

India and Pakistan said they won’t escalate hostilities if the other reciprocates, after they both fired volleys of missiles across their borders. It was the most serious increase in hostilities so far in a conflict triggered by a gun massacre last month that India blames Pakistan for. Pakistan’s foreign minister said on Saturday that his country would consider de-escalation if India stopped any further attacks. However, Ishaq Dar warned that if India launched any further strikes, “our response will follow.” Indian Wing Commander Vyomika Singh told a news conference in New Delhi that her country was committed to “non-escalation, provided the Pakistan side reciprocates.” However, Pakistani ground forces were observed mobilizing toward forward areas, she said, “indicating an offensive intent to further escalation.”

President Trump said the detente is now official. “After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed as much from the US side with his own tweet announcing a ceasefire, and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, also made the same acknowledgment. The AP reports that India also confirmed the ceasefire.

Good news right?

Diplomacy has won again, right?

Apparently not so much…..

Not long after India and Pakistan said they had agreed to an immediate ceasefire on Saturday, both nations said the other had violated it. Multiple explosions were heard in two large cities of Indian-controlled Kashmir, the AP reports, and shelling was reported along the border hours after the announcement. “What the hell just happened to the ceasefire?” Omar Abdullah, chief minister of India-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, wrote in posting video of tracer fire and artillery sounds, per the Washington Post. “Explosions heard across Srinagar!!!” Blasts were heard in Jammu, as well, and blackouts followed in both cities.

India’s foreign secretary accused Pakistan of violating the truce, per the New York Times. Vikram Misri told reporters there were “repeated violations of the understanding arrived between the two countries today” and said India would respond strongly. Pakistan’s foreign ministry denied any violations, with a spokesman saying his nation “remains committed to faithful implementation of ceasefire between Pakistan and India” and suggesting India had broken the peace. The clash began Wednesday with India launching airstrikes on Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. It’s the largest military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades, per the BBC.

Looks like the unqualified idiots at State did not do such a good job after all.

 

India/Pakistan: Why Now?

This is not a recent animosity they have been at each other’s throats since 1947/8.

But the question has been why the escalation now?

India and Pakistan have so far managed “to avoid a descent into full-blown conflict,” but the nuclear-armed countries who both lay claim to the region of Kashmir were tip-toeing around it Wednesday, per the Wall Street Journal, following what Pakistan’s president said was “an act of war.” The latest:

  • Operation Sindoor: India on Wednesday said it had carried out “non-escalatory” retaliatory strikes on nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites, including training camps, in Pakistan and the Pakistan-controlled area of Kashmir. The country said it chose to act based on intelligence that additional attacks, like the one that killed 26 people in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir last month, were on the horizon.
  • Killing the killers? India claims Pakistan was behind the April 22 attack, which Islamabad denies. “We killed only those who killed our innocents,” said India’s defense minister, Rajnath Singh, per the Guardian. “We have shown sensitivity by ensuring that no civilian population was affected in the slightest,” he added, per Reuters.
  • Pakistan counters: The country’s National Security Committee described the terrorist camps as “imaginary,” while claiming deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure, including mosques, per the Guardian. Reuters notes a mosque-seminary in the heart of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, was “badly damaged.”
  • ‘Act of war’: The office of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said it was an unprovoked and unlawful “act of war” and that Pakistan’s army had been authorized to undertake “corresponding actions,” per the Guardian. The message from India was that “if Pakistan responds, India will respond,” the outlet notes. But “we are prepared for an all-out war,” Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, tells CNN.
  • Trump comments: The escalation came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for the two sides to ease tensions in phone calls with Sharif and India’s foreign minister last week, per the Journal. It’s “a shame,” President Trump said Wednesday of the fighting, adding he hoped it would end “very very quickly.”
  • The significance of the name: The New York Times explains that sindoor, or vermilion powder, is used to designate the marital status of Hindu women: “Married women wear it either in the parting of their hair or on their foreheads, and they wipe it off if they become widowed.” The operation’s name is therefore a nod to the women who lost their husbands in the April 22 attack.

Tensions are high and since both countries have nuclear capabilities this could become dangerous for the nations in the surrounding area.

These are the capabilities of each country….https://www.aa.com.tr/en/info/infographic/45910

If we had a reliable diplomatic corps now would be the time for some intervention on the diplomacy front….but since we do not looks like there will be no attempts to curb the violence by the US.

I will be watching and writing….like I always do…..

Stay tuned….more to come….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ready! Set! War!

Oh crap!  Here we go again….two nuke power countries in a struggle for whatever it is they are actually after.

A Region that has been in conflict for decades and few people pay attention because it does not involve the US and its propensity for war.

The so-called ‘war’ between India and Pakistan over the region of Kashmir has been off and on since 1947 when India and Pakistan was liberated from the heel of England….and it has been off and on since that day.

The reason I am offering up this analysis is because the region has become hot yet again.

India has fired missiles into Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, marking a major escalation between the two nuclear-armed powers.

The attack came amid tensions over the April 22 terrorist attack near the Pahalgam area of Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people. All but one of the victims were Indian tourists.

India blamed the massacre on a group called The Resistance Front (TRF) and accused Pakistan of supporting the attack, which Islamabad has strongly denied.

Early Wednesday morning, New Delhi time, India announced that its forces had struck nine locations in Pakistan and the Pakistan side of the disputed Kashmir region. Islamabad confirmed attacks on five locations: two in Pakistan’s Punjab province and three in Kashmir, including Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan officials have said at least eight people were killed by the Indian strikes. According to AP, one official said a missile struck a Mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab and killed a child.

India claimed that it only struck “known terror camps” and that the attack had been “measured, responsible, and designed to be nonescalatory in nature.” But the missile strikes are the most significant Indian attacks on Pakistani territory in decades. In 2019, India launched airstrikes on an alleged training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, but that attack only targeted one location.

Islamabad is vowing it will respond and has claimed that its forces shot down five Indian fighter jets. “We were fully prepared, which is why India received an immediate and firm response,” said Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.

Pakistani officials also said India has not provided any evidence for its allegations that Islamabad was involved in the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

In response to the news of the Indian attack, President Trump said the violence was a “shame” and that he hoped it would end quickly. “I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time,” he said. “I hope it ends very quickly.”

Indian officials have said they “briefed” Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the attack. Pakistani sources also reported that Rubio spoke with Pakistan’s national security advisor.

Any conflict between India and Pakistan always risks nuclear escalation since both sides have a nuclear arsenal. According to the Arms Control Association, Pakistan is believed to have about 170 nuclear warheads, and India has an estimated arsenal of 164 warheads.

(antiwar.com)

This may mean nothing to the average American but the key words are ‘nuclear escalation’….in case those words do not mean much it is when two countries exchange nuke attacks….got it now?

The missiles early Wednesday struck locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, according to Pakistani security officials. One of them struck a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, where a child was killed and a woman and man were injured, one official said. The officials, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity, said Pakistan had launched retaliatory strikes, without providing any details.

  • The Pakistani army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, told ARY News that the missiles were launched from within Indian territory and that no Indian aircraft had entered Pakistani airspace. “This was a cowardly attack targeting innocent civilians under the cover of darkness,” Sharif told the broadcaster.
  • “Let me say it unequivocally: Pakistan will respond to this at a time and place of its own choosing. This heinous provocation will not go unanswered,” Sharif said, per the Telegraph. “This temporary happiness that India has achieved with this cowardly attack will be replaced with enduring grief.”
  • India’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that at least nine sites were targeted “where terrorist attacks against India have been planned.” “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistan military facilities have been targeted,” the statement said, adding that “India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.” The military said the strikes were part of Operation Sindoor

Right now it is a minor mash-up and as usual there is the inevitable war of words and threats.

We have an idiot in DC and seems to have a taste for conflict…..who will the US side with?

Keep in mind the India is a member of the international bloc known as BRICS….and because of that alliance do you think if a wider war starts will Russia and China come to the aid of India?

If they do jump in on the side of India what will Little Donny and the MAGAt douches do in response?

This could get ugly if calmer heads do not prevail.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Pakistan—Bad Partner?

The Cricket player that became the prime minister of Pakistan has had his moments but his latest statements are doing nothing to improve the views about Pakistan…..

Pakistani opposition parties criticized Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday after he told parliament that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been “martyred” in 2011 by U.S. forces.

Bin Laden, who masterminded the 9/11 attacks on the United States, was killed in a raid on his hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad after eluding detection for nearly 10 years.

Pakistan was not aware of the operation, which involved U.S. helicopters flying deep into the country from Afghanistan.

“I will never forget how we Pakistanis were embarrassed when the Americans came into Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden, martyred him,” Khan said in his speech while recounting the lows of the relationship between Islamabad and Washington.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pakistani-prime-minister-under-fire-for-bin-laden-martyrdom-remark/ar-BB15Ye5e

For many decades Pakistan has done little to make the country free of jihadists influence…..

Pakistan remains a “safe haven” for a host of regional terror groups, including the Afghan Taliban and its integral subgroup, the Al Qaeda linked Haqqani Network, according the the State Department’s newly released Country Reports on Terrorism 2019.

“Pakistan continued to serve as a safe haven for certain regionally focused terrorist groups,” State notes in its opening paragraph on Pakistan.  “It allowed groups targeting Afghanistan, including the Afghan Taliban and affiliated HQN [Haqqani Network], as well as groups targeting India, including LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa] and its affiliated front organizations, and JeM [Jaish-e-Mohammad], to operate from its territory.”

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/06/29/pakistan_a_safe_haven_for_terror_groups_us_state_department_115417.html

The newest report shows that Pakistan is doing little to help with counter-terrorism…..

Washington’s annual terrorism report said Pakistan was doing too little to counter terrorist groups, particularly those taking aim at rival India and the dreaded Haqqani network operating in Afghanistan.

Islamabad bristled at the criticism in the U.S. State Department report, saying it has been relentless in its assistance to Washington as the United States brokered a peace deal with the Taliban, which it signed in February. At the time, the deal was touted as Afghanistan’s best chance in four decades of finding a lasting peace.

Amir Rana, executive director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, which tracks militant groups, said Friday the report is a warning to Pakistan that it needs to do more to target terrorist financing and dismantle terrorist networks if it wants to avoid being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force, the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog based in Paris.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2020-06-26/us-report-pakistan-doing-too-little-to-counter-terrorism

Once the US troops leave what will be Pakistan’s role in the War on Terror?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

India-Pakistan Situation

The age old conflict between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region of the Himalayas is getting hotter and hotter….keep in mind that both these countries have a nuclear capability…..that means they both have bombs in case that statement needed clarification.

Is this new edition of the Kashmiri conflict heading these two into a crisis?

Some think it is heading in that direction….

In August, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan pledged that he would serve as an “ambassador” for the embattled people of Kashmir, who are besieged by close to a million Indian security forces. And on Friday, he did exactly that, using the world’s largest platform—the United Nations General Assembly— to voice their plight.

Khan excoriated Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and called on the world to prevent a potential “bloodbath” in the disputed territory, where for two months over nine hundred thousand Indian security personnel have imposed a curfew on the Muslim-majority populace. Thousands of civilians, along with hundreds of political leaders, have been arrested.

After Khan’s speech on Friday, Kashmiris took great risk to show their gratitude to the Pakistani leader, coming out on to the streets, setting off firecrackers, and calling for freedom from India. One Kashmiri man told Al Jazeera that he “felt solace” when Khan spoke, knowing that Kashmiris “are not alone.”

New Delhi’s annexation and siege of Kashmir will prove to be strategic blunders. Indian officials and the country’s compliant private media falsely claim that there is “normalcy” today in Kashmir. They also say that the region will see even greater development and investment tomorrow.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/india-and-pakistan-are-headed-towards-crisis-over-kashmir-86071

In case anyone would like to hear the speech to the UN by Khan…then I am here to help..

But in case you do not have the time to watch…let me help out…..Khan basically called for a war over Kashmir…..

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the United Nations on Sept. 29 and threatened to change that. Mr. Khan took the 15 minutes of speaking time allotted him and went nearly an hour, using the entire speech to speak of “jihad” over Kashmir and rail against his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Nehendra Modi. 

“Jihad” is not a word the world wants to hear from a man atop a self-described Islamic republic that owns more than 100 nuclear weapons. 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/3/prime-minister-khan-threatens-nuclear-jihad-over-k/

Then there are those that look into the possibility of some stupid setting off a nuke in this conflict and just what would such an act bring about?

The U.S. and other nuclear powers should rapidly stop nuclear proliferation, researchers at Rutgers University said Wednesday as they released a study showing that a nuclear war between India and Pakistan could kill 125 million people instantly before causing global mass starvation.

Published in the journal Science Advances, the new research shows that rapidly growing nuclear stockpiles in India and Pakistan, which are currently in conflict over Kashmir, could release 16 million to 35 million tons of soot, or black carbon, into the atmosphere if the two countries escalated their standoff into nuclear strikes by 2025.

“Such a war would threaten not only the locations where bombs might be targeted but the entire world,” said Alan Robock, co-author of the study and a professor of environmental sciences at Rutgers.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/03/new-study-warns-india-pakistan-nuclear-war-could-kill-125-million-immediately-then

Nothing good will come from the use of nukes…and yet we are still stockpiling these weapons….India and Pakistan need to settle down and find mutual ground to avoid in stupidity.

I Read, I Wrote You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Kashmir–The Saga Goes On

Not that great rock song from Led Zepplin…..but rather that region in the mountains around China, India and Pakistan…..a disputed land….

Let me go on record as I am not an expert on this region so my limited knowledge comes from reports I read….please if anyone wants to correct anything feel free to jump in…..I will not be offended.

India and Pakistan is at odds over the Kashmir region and then China is sitting on the Northern border of the region and have an interest on who does what to whom…..

India’s ongoing crackdown on once-autonomous Kashmir has fueled a lot of criticism from neighboring Pakistan, and unsurprisingly is also being criticized by Pakistan’s closest regional ally, China.

China’s foreign ministry says that it wants to see India play a constructive role in regional peace and stability, and not take unilateral actions. These comments came as India’s FM flew to China to meet his counterpart related to the upcoming UN Security Council matter.

Pakistan has promised to take the issue of India’s crackdown on Kashmir to the UN Security Council, and is counting on China’s support. The Indian government, however, is warning China to stay out of the matter, saying it should not allow any differences of opinion to become disputes.

That’s likely unavoidable, however, as Kashmir is a huge issue to the Pakistanis, and anything that brings India and Pakistan into conflict will also be a huge issue to China. The Chinese government may have less direct interest in whether India respects constitutional autonomy for Kashmir, but that area is right on their border, and they clearly don’t want to see it flare up, either internally in Kashmir, or into a direct India-Pakistan War.

(antiwar.com)

Moving on to India’s crackdown……

Restrictions over the past eight days have been severe enough that a lot of Kashmiris have been all but confined to their homes. Indian forces went to the extent that reporters said the communications blackout meant some Kashmiris didn’t even know what was going on.

Indian forces expected that the Eid al-Adha holiday would lead to large protests in Kashmir, and in trying to prevent such demonstrations, the military imposed even more severe restrictions, including closing the largest mosque in Srinagar.

Muslims, who are the heavy majority of Kashmir, are allowed to go to mosques for the Eid, but only smaller mosques. The expectation seems to be that the largest, most influential mosque would be used to organize big protests.

(antiwar.com)

This is an article that was written recently and ask a good question….not that I agree but a question that needs an answer…..

It has long been called the most dangerous place in the world. Still, few Americans know anything about the place; nor could they point out the troubled region of Kashmir on a map. Yet for 62 years India and Pakistan have contested for control of the province. In fact, a long-running insurgency there has even been punctuated by at least three inter-state wars between the nuclear armed powers. Now, after India recently revoked Kashmir’s “special status” – essentially annexing the disputed (and Muslim-majority) territory – there might just be another war. Tens of thousands have already been killed over the years; how many more will now die is anyone’s guess.

India: The Next Apartheid State?

The PM of Pakistan just back from the schmooze with Trump decided to do some chest thumping of his own…..

Pakistan is prepared to “fight to the end” over Kashmir if necessary, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Wednesday during a speech from the Pakistani-controlled part of the disputed region.

Khan, who was in Kashmir to mark Pakistan’s independence day, accused India of trying to marginalize and radicalize the region’s Muslims. He also called New Delhi’s move to strip Indian-controlled Kashmir of its autonomy a “strategic blunder” by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

All that editorializing aside…..let us look at a real problem….food shortages…..

Residents of Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) were running short of essentials on Tuesday as an unprecedented security lockdown kept people indoors for a ninth day.

India has imposed a near-constant curfew and a communications blackout as it tries to stave off a violent reaction to the government’s decision on August 5 to strip Kashmir of its autonomy.

The reaction to India’s unprecedented move has so far been largely subdued. But anti-India protests and clashes have occurred daily, mostly as soldiers withdraw from the streets at dusk. Though the scale of the lockdown is unprecedented, civil resistance to Indian rule is not uncommon in IHK, and young men have hurled stones and abuse at police and soldiers.

Food running out as IHK under strict lockdown for 9th day

Maybe to help my reader understand….,the UN report on Kashmir would help…

Click to access KashmirUpdateReport_8July2019.pdf

Learn Stuff!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Nuclear Push Shove

With all the problems this silly world has it gets more tense when two nuclear powers confront each other……I am talking about India and Pakistan (Do not forget China) in the Kashmir region of the Himalayas…..

India’s government revoked disputed Kashmir’s special status with a presidential order Monday as thousands of newly deployed troops arrived and internet and phone services were cut in the restive Himalayan region where most people oppose Indian rule. Home Minister Amit Shah announced the revocation amid an uproar in India’s Parliament and while Kashmir was under a security lockdown that kept thousands of people inside their homes. The order revokes Article 370 of India’s Constitution, which the AP reports gives the state of Jammu and Kashmir its own constitution and decision-making rights for all matters except for defense, communications, and foreign affairs. The article also forbids Indians outside the state from permanently settling, buying land, holding local government jobs, and securing educational scholarships.

Critics of India’s Hindu nationalist-led government see the move as an attempt to dilute the demographics of Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu settlers. The announcement came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a Cabinet meeting and the government’s top-decision making body on security matters, the Cabinet Committee on Security, which he heads. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim the region in its entirety. Two of the three wars India and Pakistan have fought since their independence from British rule were over Kashmir. Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, told a Pakistani TV station that Pakistan will step up diplomatic efforts to prevent the order from taking effect. “India is playing a very dangerous game by changing the status of Kashmir through illegal acts,” he said.

So far the Chinese are not part of this dust up (or are they?)

What is all the hard feelings about?

A short video to help you understand this conflict….

It seems that this conflict never really goes away for when things calm down someone heats it up just as fast.

Pakistan has asked Trump to intervene…..

Tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir have the potential to blow up into a regional crisis and it is the right time for U.S. President Donald Trump to mediate, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday.

Khan’s comments come a day after Pakistan accused India of using illegal cluster bombs, killing two civilians and wounding 11, in the disputed Kashmir region. India denied it had used such weapons.

“President Trump offered to mediate on Kashmir. This is the time to do so as situation deteriorates there and along the LOC(line of control) with new aggressive actions being taken by Indian occupation forces,” Khan said on Twitter, referring to the heavily militarised de facto border that divides the two parts of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

“This has the potential to blow up into a regional crisis,” Khan said.

India’s foreign affairs ministry and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Khan’s remarks.

(Japan Today)

Maybe Pakistan’s new found friendship with Trump gives them some sort of “get out of jail free” card…..I do not think our beloved leader has the props to broker a deal for a peaceful end.

India has made its move…..

Always a restive territory, the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir is expected to see a huge upsurge in disquiet following Monday’s move by India’s Hindu nationalist government to permanently revoke Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted Kashmir broad autonomy.

Under Article 370, Kashmir was allowed almost total self-governance, beyond military and foreign affairs. The revocation not only eliminates this, but will allow Hindu settlers to buy land, permanently settle in Kashmir, and hold local government positions.

This is seen by many as the major point, as India’s government has long struggled with independence ambitions in Muslim-dominated Kashmir, and may believe they can rapidly change the region’s demographics.

Constitutional experts are questioning the legality of this abrupt move, and a substantial legal challenge is expected to the government’s move, which comes amid an ongoing crackdown in the region.

(antiwar.com)

Seems the nuclear world is once again ready to step on the accelerator….which is never a good idea.

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Sub-Continent Slow Boil

Things got a bit warm between India and Pakistan…..first a suicide attack within India and then India hits a camp within Pakistan and two Indian jets are shot down and a pilot captured…..then the back and forth about Kashmir and the rhetoric around the captured pilot…..https://lobotero.com/2019/02/20/the-sub-continent-smolders/

To ease the rising tensions the PM of Pakistan Khan has decided to return the Indian pilot……

Imran Khan has kept his promise. On Thursday, Pakistan’s prime minister vowed to release Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who’d been captured after his MiG-21 jet was shot down Wednesday by a Pakistani fighter over the disputed Kashmir territory. And on Friday, Khan made good, with video showing the 38-year-old fighter pilot walking over the border near the Pakistani town of Wagah, per Reuters. The Washington Post notes Varthaman was dressed in a “sharp suit” as he crossed back into India with lots of security nearby and hundreds of cheering Indians waiting to greet him.

“It is good to be back in my country,” were his reported first words, an official told the media, per NDTV. Even though Pakistan and India have long been fighting over Kashmir, Varthaman’s plane was the first to be shot down in such an “aerial dogfight” between the two countries in nearly a half-century, the Post notes. The pilot was said to have chewed and swallowed some of the maps and other sensitive papers in his possession after his plane crashed to keep them out of the wrong hands. Many hope that the pilot’s release will tamp down the India-Pakistan tensions that’ve been escalating over the past couple of weeks. Varthaman will be debriefed and checked out by doctors, Indian officials say.

Pilot is home but the tension remain high with cross border shelling…..

A Pakistani government official says Indian troops with heavy weapons have “indiscriminately targeted border villagers” along the two nations’ Line of Control in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing a boy and wounding three others. The official, Umar Azam, said Saturday that Pakistani troops are “befittingly” responding to the Indian fire, per the AP. He says several homes were destroyed in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety. Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule in 1947.

Saturday’s exchange of fire came a day after Pakistan handed over captured Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman to India as a “gesture of peace” to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the disputed Kashmir region. Meanwhile, officials say two siblings and their mother have been killed in cross-border shelling between Indian and Pakistani soldiers in disputed Kashmir. Indian police say the three died overnight after a shell fired by Pakistani soldiers hit their home in the Poonch region near the so-called Line of Control that divides the Himalayan territory of Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

The world can only hold its breath and hope a peaceful solution can be found for this region does not need another war.

 

One Step Closer To War

This post could be about any country in the 21st century…..it seems that everybody is more than willing to go to war……but for this post it is the tensions between India and Pakistan…….

The usual tensions are over the Kashmir region which both countries have claimed and have fought several conflicts over the region……I wrote about the most recent clash of the two rivals…….https://lobotero.com/2019/02/20/the-sub-continent-smolders/

After I wrote that piece the tensions got more tense……Pakistan claims that it has shot down two Indian planes……

Pakistan’s military says it has two Indian pilots in custody, captured after the Pakistani air force shot down their aircraft Wednesday on its side of the disputed region of Kashmir. The military’s spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, says one of the pilots is injured and is being treated in a military hospital. He did not elaborate on the pilot’s injuries. Ghafoor says the other pilot is in custody. The military says the Indian Air Force plane was downed on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in Kashmir—a boundary separating the disputed Himalayan region between the nuclear armed neighbors, the AP reports.

Officials say another Indian Air Force plane crashed in an Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir. Tensions between the two countries started to escalate Tuesday following a pre-dawn airstrike by India that New Delhi said targeted a terrorist training camp in northwest Pakistan. Pakistan says Indian warplanes dropped bombs near the town of Balakot but that there were no casualties. India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swara said the objective of the strike was to act decisively against the Jaish-e-Mohammed group, which claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a convoy of India’s paramilitary forces in the Indian portion of Kashmir on Feb. 14 that killed 40 troops. (Read more India-Pakistan relations stories.)

This situation deteriorates and the US has troops in the region….just how will that effect those troops?

The US does not need another conflict to manage……and without the proper diplomats in place a conflict to manage is what we shall get.

It is sad that this news gets no response…..our troops…..our sons, daughters, Moms, Dads and others could be at risk and NO one can take the time to acquaint themselves with this situation…..it is pathetic…..and to say they support the troops is a goddamn LIE!