I missed this in the news when it happened (if it was there) but this is welcome news to me:
The surprise Pakistani change in military doctrine, which now recognizes internal Islamic terrorist groups as the main threat has caused many Islamic conservatives in Pakistan to call for “true Moslems” in the military to rise up and oppose this disturbing policy change. For over thirty years the Pakistani military leadership has supported Islamic radicalism and many Pakistanis are not willing to let go.
I've long thought it was folly for the Pakistani government to believe they could host tame jihadis for use as a tool against their enemies.
That "tool" doesn't like this new policy. So the jihadis (or pro-jihadi Islamists) struck at India in a particularly brutal manner to incite India into action that will negate Pakistan's recent reality check:
Indian media reported one of the Indian soldiers killed on January 8 was beheaded and the "Hindustan Times" reported the second soldier had his throat cut.
Pakistan denies its troops were involved in any attack.
Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid called the killing of the two soldiers "absolutely unacceptable, ghastly, and really terrible." He vowed a "proportionate" response but said the incident should not be "escalated" and allowed to derail efforts to improve relations with Islamabad.
India can hardly let this go. But they understand that it should not interrupt a welcome development in relations between the two governments that could eventually make such clashes a rare event.
UPDATE: Jihadis always provide reminders about why they really are the primary threat to Pakistan:
At least 101 people were killed in bombings in two Pakistani cities on Thursday in one of the country's bloodiest days in recent years, officials said, with most casualties caused by sectarian attacks in Quetta.
The bombings underscored the myriad threats Pakistani security forces face from homegrown Sunni extremist groups, the Taliban insurgency in the northwest and the less well-known Baloch insurgency in the southwest.
But that doesn't mean the jihadis can't reverse Pakistan's flirtation with reality:
The Pakistani Islamist leader accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai massacre said India was trying to destabilize Pakistan and predicted violence in the disputed region of Kashmir could get "ugly".
"We do not want any force to be used or any military operation for this. But the Indians are opting for the other alternative," Hafez Saeed told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday. ...
Saeed also denied allegations by Indian officials that he had recently visited Kashmir, potentially to incite action against India, just before the recent outbreak of the worst violence in the territory since the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to a ceasefire nearly a decade ago.
In the third fatal attack in Kashmir this week, a Pakistani soldier was killed on Thursday by "unprovoked" Indian fire, a Pakistan army spokesman said. ...
Saeed accused India of trying to disrupt the peace process with Pakistan and dragging its feet on the long-standing issue of Kashmir.
India has already shifted focus to China as their primary threat. Yet jihadis can ramp up violence, behead an Indian soldier and slit the throat of another, and then manage to blame India for undermining improved ties.
I'm not impressed with our own left-wing, self-described "reality-based community," so why should I expect better there?
