While the world is fixated on Israel, tensions rise between India and Pakistan, thanks to aggressive steps taken by the latter. Pakistan is even deploying its troops from “fighting” the Taliban and al-Qaeda — fellow Muslims deemed heroes by many Pakistanis, including the government — to face the real enemy: polytheistic Hindus who dare want to ensure that the Mumbai attacks are never repeated. Even Mumbai Muslims are blaming the Pakistani government of inaction towards terrorism and goading India to “destroy all militant camps operating in Pakistan.”
“Tensions Rise as Pakistan Moves to Redeploy Troops,” by Zahid Hussain and Matthew Rosenberg for the Wall Street Journal, December 28:
Tensions between India and Pakistan rose over the weekend as Pakistan said it was redeploying an unspecified number of troops from the fight against Islamic militants in the country’s northwest, a move decried by Indian officials as needlessly provocative.
Pakistani officials wouldn’t say where the troops were headed nor provide estimates of how many soldiers were on the move. But a Pakistani military spokesman suggested they will be redeployed to face Indian forces on the country’s eastern border, calling the troop movements and the restriction of leave “defensive and precautionary steps” prompted by souring relations with India.
Another Pakistani security official said some of the country’s soldiers were being moved from northwestern regions where there were no Islamic militants to fight, or where both sides were snowed in.
“No Islamic militants to fight.” Does this mean that there are no jihadists there, or that there are, but Pakistan simply has no intentions to fight them in the first place? Considering Pakistan’s track-record of duplicitous behavior, the question is valid.
Both officials insisted the redeployment was modest and won’t affect Pakistan’s campaign against the Taliban and al Qaeda, which control wide swaths of territory along Pakistan’s northwestern border with Afghanistan.[…]
But with tensions between India and Pakistan high in the weeks since terrorists armed with guns and grenades rampaged through Mumbai, leaving 171 people dead, Pakistani officials said Friday that the military was sharply curtailing leave for its soldiers and moving some away from the northwest, where they are battling Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
Diplomats and political analysts said Pakistan’s moves appeared intended to warn India from attempting any kind of retaliatory strike against militant targets inside Pakistan — and not a mobilization for war between the nuclear-armed neighbors.[…]
In other words, the Pakistani government can’t or won’t root out the jihadists in Pakistan — nor will it allow others who are directly suffering from jihadi terror to try.
In India, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Saturday it was unfortunate that a “sort of war hysteria” has been created in Pakistan.
“I appeal to Pakistan and Pakistani leaders: do not unnecessarily try to create tension,” he was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency. “Do not try to deflect the issue. A problem has to be tackled face to face[.”]…