- $1 billion Empire State Building IPO: why it won't be like Facebook IPO
- In surprise move, GOP leaders admit defeat in payroll tax battle
- More than 30,000 Germans turn out against anti-piracy treaty ACTA
- Does Obama blueprint reduce budget deficit fast enough? (+video)
- Pentagon budget: Does it pit active-duty forces against retirees? (+video)
- Murdoch media crisis deepens with five new arrests
- How Pinterest combines the best parts of Facebook, Tumblr, and Etsy
- US, China face 'trust deficit' as China's heir apparent visits
The US quietly wades into South Asia's rebel conflicts
Armed insurgencies in Sri Lanka, Kashmir, and Nepal have hit crucial turning points.
(Page 2 of 3)
"They are attacking everything that used to be a success story in Nepal," says Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times, the main political weekly based in Kathmandu. "If you look at the broader picture, they're trying to use the year after the royal massacre to speed up their revolution. But it can be seen as a sign of desperation to put pressure on the government to get the public opinion to say, 'Enough is enough; let's have talks.' "
Last week, the shadowy Maoist leader Prachanda, alias Pushpa Kamal Dahal, called for immediate peace talks to halt any "foreign interference." Prime Minister Deuba rejected this call, however, saying that the Maoists must first surrender their arms. "No talks are possible with the followers of Pol Pot," Deuba said, referring to the Maoist-trained Cambodian leader.
Deuba's cabinet say US military assistance is necessary in present times.
"The threat to the law and order situation is so intense, threatening, and sophisticated that the [military] apparatus needs to be reinforced and modernized," said Prakash Sharah Mahat, Deuba's military adviser, to the Himalayan Times. As for the Maoists, he ruled out peace talks. "They are on the run. We need to give them a decisive push."
But there is a growing chorus building for talks, backed by businessmen, opposition leaders, and even a few members of Deuba's ruling party, including former Prime Minister Girija Koirala. In this view, every day of bloodshed weakens Nepal's chief industry tourism. "The answer is simple: Clear up corruption and bring transparency to government, and the support for the Maoists will go away," says Bharat Basnet, a prominent social activist and tour operator in Kathmandu. "If we go on fighting, we will destroy Nepal."
Kashmir: battle fatigue
Farther west on the Himalayan mountain chain, in the valley of Kashmir, a group of Muslim separatists calling themselves the All Parties Hurriyat Conference have pushed for separation from India, although they agree on little else.
It was the brazen attacks of Kashmiri militants a truck bombing of the state assembly in the summer capital of Srinagar last October, killing 40 people, and the Dec. 13 assault of India's parliament itself in New Delhi that pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of war. At present, nearly a million Indian and Pakistani troops remain on a war footing along the Indo-Pakistan cease-fire line.
Yet in the valley itself, there are signs that militancy has lost its popularity among the shopkeepers, hoteliers, and taxi drivers who once made a living off of tourism. Daily newspapers regularly now show the bodies of Kashmiri militants, stacked like cords of wood. With no visible results from the armed militants no "liberation zones," no shift of boundaries there is a growing chorus for peace talks among separatists.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a leading separatist and perhaps the most powerful Muslim cleric in Kashmir, recently told his followers that it was his "duty to God to end the bloodshed in Kashmir." Many Kashmir-watchers say this may be an indication that Mr. Farooq may start pushing his fellow separatists to restart negotiations with the Indian government, or more shockingly, that he may decide to enter mainstream politics in the state elections this fall.
