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The impact of armed violence on poverty and development

This study aims to aid understanding on how and when poverty and vulnerability are exacerbated by armed violence. It synthesises the findings of 13 country case studies: Algeria, Chechnya, El Salvador, Nairobi, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Northeast India, Northern Kenya, Brazil, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Southern Sudan, Sri Lanka. In addition it has a practical policy-oriented purpose and concludes with programming and policy recommendations to donor government agencies. (Mandy Turner, Jeremy Ginifer and Lionel Cliffe, University of Bradford, March 2005)

http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/cics/publications/AVPI/poverty/AVPI_Synthesis_Report.pdf

(Added: Thu Oct 19 2006   Hits: 117)

Everyone Lives in Fear': Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir

The Indian government's failure to end widespread impunity for human rights abuses committed both by its security forces and militants is fueling the cycle of violence in Jammu and Kashmir. This report documents recent abuses by the Indian army and paramilitaries, as well as by militants, many of whom are backed by Pakistan. Indian security forces have committed torture, "disappearances" and arbitrary detentions, and they continue to execute Kashmiris in faked "encounter killings," claiming that these killings take place during armed clashes with militants. Militants have carried out bombings and grenade attacks against civilians, targeted killings, torture and attacks upon religious and ethnic minorities. These abuses have taken place against the backdrop of almost two decades of the failure of the political and legal systems in India and Pakistan to end abuses or punish the perpetrators. (Human Rights Watch, 12 September 2006)

http://hrw.org/reports/2006/india0906/

(Added: Thu Sep 14 2006   Hits: 29)

CrisisWatch N°36, 1 August 2006

In 36 months of publishing CrisisWatch, the International Crisis Group has not recorded such severe deteriorations in so many conflict situations as in the past month. The Middle East erupted with full-scale conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in south Lebanon, and there was a major escalation in Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Insecurity and sectarian violence surged in Iraq, claiming over 100 civilian lives daily. Somalia sits on the brink of all-out civil war, which is drawing in the wider region: Ethiopian troops entered Somalia to support the transitional federal government, and Eritrea is arming the opposing Union of Islamic Courts. In Sudan, implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement was at a standstill, with rebels split, and fighting, over the agreement. The Mumbai bombings that killed over 200 had wider implications for the normalisation process between India and Pakistan. Tensions rose dramatically on the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang fired seven test missiles. The situation also deteriorated in Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire and Haiti. Four situations showed improvement in July 2006: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Timor-Leste, and Cyprus. (ICG, 1 August 2006)

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4296

(Added: Wed Aug 02 2006   Hits: 115)

India, Pakistan and Kashmir: Stabilising a Cold Peace

Kashmir remains a potential flashpoint. Although the ceasefire there has been holding, the normalisation process between India and Pakistan is reversible. Unless the two nuclear-armed powers work harder at advancing it, a resumption of conflict is still possible. Pakistan must end support for militancy in Kashmir. India should reduce its heavy security presence in order to remove a major source of Kashmiri disaffection. Both sides would save the lives of their soldiers and neutralise Pakistani spoilers by agreeing to resolve the dispute over the Siachen Glacier. Above all, the two neighbours need to end the cycle of mutual recriminations and prove to Kashmiris that they value their welfare over narrow interests. Progress is likely to remain frustratingly slow, and international support is essential to sustain the process and consolidate its gains. (Crisis Group. June 2006)

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4173

(Added: Fri Jun 16 2006   Hits: 49)

Indian, Pakistani leaders exchange verbal payload; New missiles stoke swagger

From The San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, January 18, 2003. This article covers the militarisitic tension between India and Pakistan, and points out that the resources poured into weapons programmes are having an adverse impact on each country's development.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/01/18/MN147077.DTL

(Added: Wed Jan 22 2003   Hits: 133)

Kashmir flashpoint

Background information, analysis, a forum where correspondents answer your questions, a timeline and the latest news concerning Kashmir from the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2002/kashmir_flashpoint/

(Added: Tue Sep 24 2002   Hits: 186)

Kashmir: Where Conflict Rules (CNN)

CNN in-depth special with the latest reports, features, profiles and resources concerning the troubled state.

http://asia.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2002/kashmir/

(Added: Tue Sep 24 2002   Hits: 151)

Kashmir: Confrontation and Miscalculation

The dynamics underpinning the conflict between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control have not changed - even though tensions in Kashmir appear to have cooled. Both India and Pakistan have sought to use the US-proclaimed 'global war on terrorism' to their own tactical advantage, increasing the risk of military missteps. Pakistan must discontinue support for cross border militants and the training camps and religious schools from which they come, and India needs to show greater flexibility about reopening diplomatic and military channels of communication with Islamabad.

http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=696

(Added: Mon Aug 26 2002   Hits: 136)

Thinking the unthinkable! Preparing for Armageddon in South Asia

By Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta and Samiran Nundy (doctors from Pakistan and India respectively). The unthinkable has actually happened. Over a span of barely four years, the subcontinent and its military and political leadership seem to have moved seamlessly from an obtuse nuclear capability and a doctrine of nuclear deterrence to the present state of nuclear weaponisation. As a million soldiers face each other across the volatile line of con­ trol and the border between India and Pakistan, the arguments have shifted from no use of nuclear weapons to their potential use in the event of conven­ tional war, to the current state of actual deployment.

http://www.dev-zone.net/downloads/Thinking_the_Unthinkable.pdf

(Added: Thu Jun 27 2002   Hits: 140)

What, Us Worry?

Pervez Hoodbhoy examines the dangerous notion that it's reasonable to have nuclear war in the Indian sub-continent.

http://www.zmag.org/content/TerrorWar/hoodbhoyworry.cfm

(Added: Fri Jun 14 2002   Hits: 151)

Kashmir: An Uninvited Second Coming

The Kashmir crisis demands international mediation, but Britain and the US are hopelessly insensitive, writes Isabel Hilton. Thursday, January 10, 2002. The Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/kashmir/Story/0,2763,630300,00.html

(Added: Fri Jan 11 2002   Hits: 171)