Crossfire War – Rapid Fire News=Tehran – Islamabad – Beijing Watch – South Asia Theatre
Pakistan/Indian Soldiers Exchange Fire for Second Time in Three Days – Action Ongoing One Indian Soldier Killed So Far; Iran – North Korean Foreign Ministers Meet in Tehran
Night Watch: NOWGAM – “They fired heavily toward the Indian army pickets in the sector. The fire was returned by the army personnel, triggering a fierce gunfight. The fierce gunfight was going on when reports last poured in.” That was the statement from an Indian army spokesman as Fayaz Wani of NewsBlaze reported a unit of 14-18 Pakistani soldiers crossed into India at Eagle 5 post at Nowgam, Handwara sector in North Kashmir. A top Indian police officer said he believes there were also heavy casualties on the Pakistan side. He added, “Additional troopers have been rushed to the area to tackle the attack of the Pakistani soldiers.”
Leepa Sector – This is the heaviest fighting between Pakistan/Indian troops since the Kargil Probe conducted by President-General Pervez Musharraf in 1999 when he was Pakistan’s leading general. It was a limited attack designed to test the effectiveness of an enemy’s response. According to a Deutsche Bank study a few months later India barely responded adequately due to neglect of its conventional forces for the sake of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Nuclear and ballistic missiles are of questionable reliability, particularly the guidance systems, even more so when produced in great numbers and conventional forces will still do most of the fighting. I do not believe this is another probe but the opening moves of President-General Musharraf’s Action Plan which he presented to Tehran in Feb. 2007. [SWISSINFO]
Reports coming in through Swissinfo/Reuters say the action was in the Leepa sector and according to a Pakistan military spokesman, “The Indians started unprovoked firing at 04:50 pm (11:50 am GMT). We only returned fire.” I repeat I believe these are just some of the opening moves, preparing an enemy for a much larger invasion as bomb attacks continue inside India. No regional theatre in this war is more affected by the weather than South Asia and the best time for (f)allout fighting to begin is September at the end of the monsoon which is why I concentrate on the Dry Season from September-April. During that time I suspect Beijing to take advantage of the war and invade India again in its northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh as China did for one month in October 1962. Beijing still claims the area is Chinese territory which is the reason China has played such an eager, crucial role in the nuclear-ballistic missile programs of Iran-Pakistan.
Tehran – One of the national vehicles Beijing has used to export nuclear-ballistic missile technology to both countries is still North Korea and IRNA has just reported the Foreign Minister of North Korea, Pak Ui Chon met, in Tehran, with Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki behind the scenes of the Non-Aligned Movement gathering in the Iranian capital. I suspect Mottaki was inquiring whatever remnants of North Korea’s nuclear program or ballistic guidance systems still exist should be sent right away. [IRNA]