Last week, political assassinations were added to the mix when they gunned down a leading Kashmiri peace activist.
The implication is that Pakistan is responsible, but that peace activist was actually the leader of an Islamic political party, and the masked men who killed him also tossed a hand grenade into the moslem supporters at his rally. The terrorists all miraculously got away without being caught.
In all likelihood, the assassins were Hindu extremists, who had previously attacked this same politician last month.
That's nitpicking on my part, and I suppose there's a chance this was another Islamic hit, perhaps by al-Qaida, but there's an awful lot of blaming going on, and not much constructive effort to solve the problem, by Musharraf or anyone else.
That's nitpicking on my part, ...
No. No. You go right on ahead with your usual support of Pakistan and of your role-model Musharraf.
In all likelihood, the assassins were Hindu extremists, who had previously attacked this same politician last month.
You're right in pointing out that a Shiv Sena extremist had assaulted him in the recent past. If nothing, this does indicate the possibility that the assassins could have been Hindu.
However, there was plenty of motive for the hardline factions of Kashmiri separatist movement to do the same. Lone was one of the only leaders of the Hurriyat Conference who was willing to work with the Indian government in the upcoming elections. He was one of the only Hurriyat leaders who openly and publicly proclaimed that there was no place for violence in the Kashmiri separatist movement. He also, in contravention to other leaders of the Hurriyat, said that his goal was an independent and secular Kashmir. He faced serious opposition from the jihadi groups which have wet dreams of an Islamic Kashmir, in full union with an Islamic Pakistan. They had just as much, and maybe more, motive to eliminate the only serious Kashmiri Muslim leader who was mature enough to be a true leader, and not just another Arafat-style rabble rouser. Oh, and one more thing - I read in the NYT after he was assassinated that he was the only Kashmiri leader with links to the American Embassy in New Delhi. I see his assassination as a part and parcel of the current military standoff along the Indo-Pak border - a standoff which, as you so consistently point out, has been instigated by hardline Islamists.