Staying on the path provided by my Boston Globe:

"Pakistan, India clash across Kashmir border; US drones kill 12 in Waziristan, officials say" by Declan Walsh  |  New York Times, January 07, 2013

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged gunfire across the disputed Kashmir border early Sunday, leaving one Pakistani soldier dead in a relatively rare fatal confrontation between the two neighbors.

 Better get down, and their got the good relations again. Kinda of strange how something happens every time.

As usual, the rival armies, which have been engaged in a faceoff in Kashmir for decades, disagreed about who started the shooting or what happened next. Pakistan said Indian troops crossed the disputed boundary, known as the Line of Control, into Pakistani-controlled territory, where they attacked a remote outpost and wounded two soldiers, one of whom later died.

 Related: Avalanche of Pakistan Items

How would you like a deployment there, huh? Makes you wonder wtf they are fighting over.

‘‘Our army troops effectively responded and repulsed the attack successfully,’’ said a Pakistani military spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity. ‘‘Indian army troops left behind a gun and a dagger.’’

But the Indian military said that its troops had not crossed into Pakistani territory and that it was only responding to an unprovoked Pakistani shelling across the Line of Control that destroyed a civilian house.

‘‘None of our troops crossed the Line of Control,’’ Colonel Jagadish Dahiya, an Indian army spokesman, told Reuters. ‘‘We have no casualties or injuries.’’

 My sources seem to indicate a violation by Pakistani extremists within the Army; however, they are the side that ended up with one dead. 

The clash was an unusual breach of an almost decade-long cease-fire that has largely held between the two rivals, whose leaders have concentrated on building economic and diplomatic ties.

In the last major shooting, in September 2011, Pakistan claimed to have lost three soldiers while India said one of its officers was killed. There have been other, smaller, clashes in recent months.

 Just as that peace talk is getting underway, huh?

But in the last year, encouraging signs have emerged that relations are thawing.

 And who would want to spoil that? 

The two countries have eased travel restrictions for Kashmiris living on both sides of the de facto border and introduced encouraging economic initiatives intended to foster bilateral trade.

It was unclear whether Sunday’s clash would affect any of that. The Pakistani cricket team is visiting India, and on Sunday, a match was played between the two sides in New Delhi, the Indian capital.

Still, military and ideological hard-liners in both countries consider the bitter conflict over Kashmir, which erupted just after independence in 1947, as the core issue that needs to be resolved. Pakistan and India, both of which claim the mountainous territory in its entirety, have fought two wars over the region. Pakistan said that Sunday’s clash occurred at a remote post in the Bagh district, more than 50 miles east of the capital, Islamabad.

One encouraging sign is that the recent warming of relations could not have taken place without approval from Pakistan’s generals, who are increasingly absorbed by the fight against Islamist militants along their western border with Afghanistan.

That fight has been complicated by strained relations with the United States.... 

 The drone strikes will be included in another post.

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"India and Pakistan trade gunfire in Kashmir" by Declan Walsh  |  New York Times, January 09, 2013

ISLAMABAD — Indian and Pakistani soldiers traded gunfire in the disputed territory of Kashmir for the second time in three days Tuesday, this time leading to Indian claims that the Pakistanis had killed two Indian soldiers.

The sudden surge in fatal combat is a troubling development in Kashmir, a disputed mountainous area that has been a focus of bitter tensions between the neighbors over six decades. A cease-fire has been in place for almost 10 years.

Although both sides have exchanged accusations of cross-border infiltration, the incidents have received muted media coverage and showed few signs of escalating into a diplomatic crisis. 

 I'm thankful it's not escalating, and the media coverage doesn't surprise me. The mute about to go on here, too.

The Indian military said fighting erupted on its side of the de-facto border, known as the Line of Control, on Tuesday when an Indian patrol clashed with Pakistani troops who had crept across under cover of fog. The Pakistanis retreated after a brief firefight in which two Indian soldiers were killed, an Indian army officer said.

 Maybe they just got lost?

‘‘The government of India considers the incident as a provocative action and we condemn it,’’ the Indian Defense Ministry said in a statement. ‘‘The government will take up the incident with the Pakistan government. We expect Islamabad to honor the cease-fire agreement strictly.’’

Pakistan’s military quickly rejected that version of events. A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called it ‘‘Indian propaganda’’ to divert attention from an earlier clash Sunday, in which a Pakistani soldier reportedly died.

 That could also be a possibility. 

“Pakistan military officials deny Indian allegation of unprovoked firing,’’ the official said in a text message.

 Too high and too far for me to find out. 

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Related:

[This is the real threat, that the Punjabi Taliban would join with LeT, to become a force to reckon with in Kashmir.  Such a force might easily move beyond Kashmir, given time.  

 The fact that this announcement came from Taliban No. 2,  Waliur Rehman and not the Numero Uno, Hakeemullah might seem to reinforce the often-heard idea of a split within the Pakistani Taliban, a struggle for dominance between Hakeemullah and Rehman.  Adding fuel to that suspicion was a TTP video tape and pamphlet from Mehsud which was released a few days earlier in North Waziristan, renouncing the use of violence against Pakistani troops, even while some of them were detonating bombs and killing 14 Pakistani soldiers near Razmak Cadet College.  It is easy to believe that there is an ongoing leadership feud within the TTP (no matter which intelligence agency they work for), with one side friendlier to the Pak Army than the other.  A split in the Pakistani Taliban would also reflect a split between the consortium of intelligence agencies which feed the anti-Pakistan terrorist outfits, like the TTP and the BLA (Baloch Liberation Army).  If there was such a feud  it would seem to be to the Army's advantage to exploit their differences, instead of simply pounding them from the air after these harsh attacks.  The barbarity of some of the TTP attacks (like the one from the video below) is so extreme that most governments might find it impossible to negotiate with such monsters afterwards, but not Pakistan.  

 Pakistan has uses for the kinds of services that monsters like this can provide.  Some monster recently stole a man’s head in Kashmir.  That makes it sound like Waliur Rehman’s head-hunters are already at work there.  The next question will be whether the head-chopping monsters in Kashmir are there at the Army’s invitation, or could they possibly do this on their own?  In this propaganda war we fight along the Durand Line, it is all about fighting monsters, monsters that we blame on Pakistan, taking no responsibility for them ourselves, even though they fight for us daily in Syria and elsewhere.

 The purpose of the monsters that we create then unleash upon the unsuspecting people of the world is to terrorize the innocent into believing what we want them to believe.] -- Everybody Plans A Trip To Kashmir

And I'm sure this won't help the situation:

"India hangs man for ’01 attack in Parliament; Questions raised on trial’s fairness" by Muneeza Naqvi  |  Associated Press, February 10, 2013

NEW DELHI — A Kashmiri man convicted in a 2001 attack on India’s Parliament that left 14 people dead was hanged Saturday after a final mercy plea was rejected, a senior Indian Home Ministry official said....

 What would Gandhi think?

Afzal Guru was given a Muslim burial in the prison compound, Press Trust of India news agency reported. His family in India’s Jammu-Kashmir state has demanded that his body be handed over, but that seems unlikely because of the highly sensitive nature of the execution.

Guru had been on death row since being convicted in 2002.

You may find this surprising, but I oppose the death penalty. There is already enough murder and killing on this planet without adding to it (I make exceptions for unrepentant and recalcitrant war-criminals and looter bankers if it is the popular will).

Subsequent appeals in higher courts were also rejected, and India’s Supreme Court set an execution date for October 2006. But his execution was delayed after his wife filed a mercy petition with India’s president. That petition, the last step in the judicial process, was turned down last week.

Some rights groups across India and political groups in Indian Kashmir have said that Guru did not get a fair trial.

 No.

‘‘Serious questions have been raised about the fairness of Afzal Guru’s trial,’’ Shashikumar Velath, Amnesty International India’s programs director, said in a statement. ‘‘He did not receive legal representation of his choice or a lawyer with adequate experience at the trial stage. These concerns were not addressed.’’

Protests erupted Saturday in at least four parts of Indian Kashmir, including Sopore, which was Guru’s hometown. Scores of protesters chanting slogans including ‘‘We want freedom’’ and ‘‘Down with India’’ defied a curfew and clashed with police and paramilitary troops, who opened fire. Four protesters sustained bullet wounds and one of them was in critical condition, a senior police officer said on customary condition of anonymity.

 I don't see the U.S. picking up the torch for Kashmir, or demanding elections be held like in Sudan or Kosovo.

Thousands of police and paramilitary troops fanned out across the state preparing for more protests and violence after the announcement of the execution. A curfew was also imposed in most parts of Indian Kashmir, and cable television channels were cut off in the region.

 The Kashmir people are sadly used to such things.

About 30 Kashmiri students and antideath penalty activists clashed with Indian police and right-wing Hindu groups in New Delhi. Most of the protesters were detained by the police.

Police in Indian Kashmir also detained on Saturday several leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organization of separatist political and religious groups, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

 Yes, that will really help matters. 

The group called for four days mourning in the disputed region and called Guru’s hanging ‘‘an attack on the collective conscience of the Kashmiri people.’’

‘‘We appeal to the people to rise in one voice and protest this aggressive act so that it’s known to everyone that even if the heads of Kashmiris are cut, they’ll never bow under any circumstances,’’ the group said in a statement.

 Apparently that has been going on up there. 

The statement said that Indian Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who ­also heads the separatist alliance, was detained in New Delhi and not allowed to travel to Srinagar, the main city of Indian Kashmir. Another top separatist leader, Syed Ali Geelani, was also detained.

When Guru’s death sentence was handed down by India’s Supreme Court it sparked protests in Kashmir, and the state government has warned that his execution could destabilize the volatile Himalayan region.

 Related: [What the hell were they thinking?] -- India Seems Intent On Provoking New Kashmiri Uprising with Surprise Hanging of Pak. Prime Suspect In Parliament Attack

That was my first impression upon reading the article this Sunday morning. 

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Muslim-majority Kashmir, which is divided between Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-majority Pakistan but is claimed by both nations.

 Is that why they can't have a vote?

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 Also see: India Creates Concentration Camp in Kashmir

 You didn't know about those?

"Kashmir girl band breaks up after threats" by Aijaz Hussain  |  Associated Press, February 06, 2013

SRINAGAR, India — The first all-girl rock band in Indian-controlled Kashmir has decided to disband after only one concert because of threats its teenage members received on social media and a demand from a top Muslim cleric that they stop performing.

The fate of Pragaash, which means ‘‘First Light’’ in Kashmiri, highlights the tension between modernity and tradition in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Separatists criticized the band for ‘‘Western-style cultural waywardness.’’

 I think I smell a pussy provocation, folks.

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 I must tell you, readers, I am always surprised to find Kashmir mentioned in my paper. 

 Related: Pakistan-India Peace Talks Torpedoed by Terrorists

Gee, who would want to do that?