South Asia Security Monitor: No. 242

AMID TENSIONS, INDIA FORTIFIES BORDER WITH CHINA...
After announcing plans to deploy two mountain divisions, advanced aircraft and radar stations to shore up defenses along its contentious northeastern border with China, India is moving to do the same in its north and northwest. The Indian side of the 667-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC), adjacent to the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, will receive special mountain radars and Low Level Light Weight Radars (LLLWR) better suited to the unforgiving terrain, joining the two Rohini radar stations currently in place there. Reports of Chinese incursions over the LAC, including by PLA helicopters, have become more frequent in recent months and in October three Advanced Landing Grounds, in Daulat Beig Oldi, Fuche and Nyoma, were “activated” by the Indian Air Force. Future plans to bolster Indian forces in the region include the deployments of “two Su-30MKI squadrons to Punjab by 2011, [and] two units of Mi-17V medium lift helicopters… in Rajasthan and in Jammu and Kashmir” as well as Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters and Cheetal helicopters, according to one military official. (Chennai The Hindu, September 26, 2009)

...WHILE CHINA LOOKS TO PLAY THE KASHMIR CARD
Amid heightened tensions along their shared border, China and India are engaged in a deepening row over China’s policy toward the disputed territory of Kashmir. In a move seen by Indians as a challenge to their sovereignty, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi has begun processing Kashmiri visas separately from other Indian visas – stamping an added piece of paper rather than the actual passport. The practice had already been in place for Indians from the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, large parts of which China continues to claim as its own. Officials in New Delhi have protested Beijing’s new practice, which they’ve described as a tactic to pressure India over the border issue and India’s decision to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh this month.

India has struck back by denying the validity of the new visas and, at least in some cases, preventing travelers with the new stamp from traveling to China. India is also protesting Chinese plans to build a 7,000 megwatt hydropower project and upgrade the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna telling reporters “[a]ny activity by any country in Jammu and Kashmir is illegal.” (Indo-Asian News Service, November 2, 2009; Asia Times Online, October 21, 2009; Times of India, October 28, 2009)


BANGLADESH SHUTS THE DOOR ON HIZB-UT TAHRIR
Bangladesh has joined numerous countries in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa in imposing a ban on the transnational Islamist group Hizb-ut Tahrir (HuT). Formed in 1953 with a mission to “revive” the Islamic Ummah, to “liberate” the “thoughts, systems and laws of Kufr (disbelief),” and to “restore he Islamic Khilafah State,” Hizb-ut Tahrir has been accused by several governments of radicalizing followers and maintaining links to more militant Islamist groups, though the group itself officially renounces violence. Bangladeshi authorities had conducted a string of arrests of HuT members in September 2008 and the group responded by threatening the government with a countrywide movement: “HuT will stomp the city streets and no one will be able to live in peace on the soil of Bangladesh if… leaders are not released in 48 hours.” This October, Dhaka responded with the ban, accusing HuT of “anti-state,” “anti-government,” “anti-people,” and “anti-democratic” activities. (Counterterrorism Blog, September 21 2008; October 24, 2009).

MRAP GETS A MAKEOVER FOR AFGHANISTAN
The Pentagon is rushing a new light-armored vehicle to the battlefield in Afghanistan in an effort to protect U.S. troops from that country’s deadliest enemy: homemade roadside bombs. A variation on the Mine-Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicle that proved so effective protecting troops in Iraq, the new $1.4 million M-ATV is lighter (nearly half the weight of the MRAP) and more nimble than its predecessor, with an independent suspension better suited to Afghan terrain. The M-ATVs were procured with “unusual speed,” says Undersecretary of Defense Ashton Carter, noting that the request was issued less than a year ago and the military already has 41 on the ground, with 5,000 expected in the field by March 2010. (Agence Frence Presse, November 2, 2009)