Friday, October 25, 2013

Blog 7 : Indian and Pakistani Conflict


Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged gunfire and mortar rounds over the territorial lines dividing the two countries. At least 12 people have been injured including innocent women and children. Both sides, India and Pakistan, blame each other for the escalation in the conflict. Each of the countries is nuclear-armed and has a very long history for always having animosity. A retired Indian diplomat feels that the violence and the rising tensions between the two countries could be an attempt to draw international attention to the conflict. There has been an increase in cross-border attacks in both countries. The latest violence was between India and Pakistan in the Jammu and Kashmir region along the Indian and Pakistani border. There were reports of gunfire at a dozen of the posts along the border and was a violation of the cease-fire. In 1948, the cease-fire line was created to split control over the region and is now called the “line of control”. An estimated 68,000 people have been killed in this conflict.


With each country being nuclear-armed, this conflict is a huge social problem not only for India and Pakistan, but is an international social problem. As of now, the two countries are only using small arms in the conflict but it has potential to reach a point where weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and nuclear arms could be used. This is an issue of state terror because it involves a cycle of revolutionary terror between two countries. This terror, has stated by a retired Indian diplomat, may be an attempt to grab headlines and command attention. That is the power of terror. Innocent lives may be lost in order to gain international attention to a pressing issue in a country.






Ashley Moore
Blog 7
10/25/2013
11:53 am
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/25/kashmir-tensionsriseasindiapakistanexchangegunfireoverborder.html

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