Pakistan
has managed to successfully carry out terrorist attacks inside India.
Alas, Pakistan
cannot admit this and adamantly denies responsibility. It is a victory without
honor or acknowledgement.
As a result of this dubious win, in the last decade India
has become much closer to Israel
when it comes to fighting Islamic terrorism. This is largely because both
countries have become a major target for Islamic terrorists. Until recently
this did not show up on international surveys of terrorist activity because
Islamic terrorism in Indian Kashmir was usually classified as separatist
activity. That has changed, as it became clear that the terrorism in Kashmir
was largely of Pakistani origin. This came about when Pakistan
adopted the use of Islamic terrorism over 30 years ago in a desperate attempt
to get all of Kashmir away from India.
The two countries have been fighting over ownership of Kashmir
since 1947. While Pakistani sponsored Islamic terror activity in Kashmir
has greatly declined in the last few years, the Pakistani terror operations
have been more frequent in the rest of India,
and these incidents do show up as Islamic terrorism on international surveys.
The Kashmir activity is now shown as Islamic terrorism,
and, as a result, last year India
was one of the top four locations for Islamic terrorist violence (after Iraq,
Pakistan, and Afghanistan).
Pakistan
failed with its terrorism campaign in Kashmir, but it
did succeed several times (especially 1999 and 2008) in nearly starting a war
with nuclear armed India.
This was often the result of making major terrorist attacks in Indian cities,
not just Kashmir.
For the last five years Israel
and India have
become particularly cooperative in the fight against Islamic terrorism. India
has been suffering from Islamic violence for centuries but Israel
has been at the forefront in developing effective weapons, equipment, and
tactics to deal with the problem. Five years ago Israeli counter-terror
personnel showed up in Kashmir, sharing their knowledge
of how to keep Islamic terrorists from sneaking across borders. Although the
Israeli experience is largely related to desert and semi-tropical borders, it
is applicable for the mountains and forests more typical of Kashmir
as well. The Israeli methods are highly dependent on many types of sensors and
computer software that can “learn” which combination of sensor readings
indicate some guys with guns trying to move through an area.
Even before these visits, Israel
had already sold India
millions of dollars-worth of night vision devices, which the Indians have used
with great success against the terrorist line crossers. The Israeli sensors
were not always as successful as they should be, and the Israeli trainers and
technical experts are now in Kashmir to work out the
kinks and set the stage for some large new sensor sales.
India
has been able to supply Israel
with a lot of useful intelligence on al Qaeda activities and what Iran
is up to. India
has maintained good relations with Iran,
which has been a trading partner for thousands of years. In this case, tradition
and mutual-need trumps religious differences. India
also has a good informant network in Pakistan
and Afghanistan.
This cooperation helped generate more evidence of Pakistani responsibility for
the Kashmir violence. More dead or captured terrorists
caught on the Pakistani border, and the documents or identities they provided,
made it clear to all where the terrorism was coming from.
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