At least 11 were killed and 91 injured in a bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court on the morning of Sept. 7. The militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) reportedly claimed responsibility in an e-mail. HUJI leader Ilyas Kashmiri, apparently based in Pakistan's tribal areas where he also headed al-Qaeda's "313 Brigade," repeatedly issued terror threats against India over the past year—but was reported killed in a drone strike in June. US citizen David Headley, who pleaded guilty in a Chicago federal court last year to involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is reported to have told the FBI that Kashmiri introduced him to top contacts in the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service. (IBN, Sept. 8; Times of India, Sept. 7)

Mumbai was hit by three coordinated bomb blasts during the evening rush hour on July 13, killing at least 21 people and injuring over 100, including businessmen from the city's thriving gold and jewellery trade. No organization has claimed responsibility, but authorities say they suspect the Indian Mujahedeen, a terrorist group sworn to avenge the 2002 massacre of hundreds of Muslims in the neighboring state of Gujarat (which has claimed recent attacks in New Delhi, Jaipur and elsewhere). The anniversary of the 2006 Mumbai train blasts that killed more than 180 commuters also fell this week, on July 11.

For more than a month now, large parts of Nepal have been periodically shut down by a series of bandhs, or civil strikes, called by indigenous groups, regional autonomists and former Maoist rebels. In the town of Hetauda, Makwanpur district, a group led by local businessmen on May 31 held a motorcycle rally to protest the protest campaigns which have demanded a halt to all business and traffic. Local bandhs were called there several days in succession by the Matrika Yadav faction of the CPN-Maoist, and the Sanghiya Loktantrik Party and Tamsaling Autonomous Council, two groups demanding greater autonomy for the Tamsaling region. (Himalayan Times, May 25) Two weeks earlier, a coalition of minority ethnicities and indigenous groups staged a coordinated nationwide bandh, shutting roads and markets across the country to demand greater rights as a new constitution is prepared. (Hindustan Times, May 13)

Pakistan's Supreme Court on April 21 upheld the acquittal of five of the six men accused in the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai—the woman whose refusal to remain silent about the crime committed in 2002 won international acclaim for her courage. The three-member bench of the high court freed all but one of the six men. Abdul Khaliq will continue to serve a life term, which in Pakistani practice would likely be no more than 25 years. The ruling stunned the victim, who also goes by Mukhtar Bibi. "I'm very sad," she said from her home in the southern Punjab village of Meerwala. "Why was I made to wait five years if this was the decision to be given?"

At least one was killed as police fired on protesters April 18 near Jaitapur, site of a proposed nuclear plant in Ratnagiri district of India's Maharashtra state. Authorities said officers opened fire after some 700 protesters set ablaze a police station and vehicles at Sakhrinate village. Villagers apparently took the opportunity to overrun the police station when most of the officers were mobilized to the Jaitapur project site where a demonstration was underway. (India Today, April 18)

A special court in India sentenced 11 Muslims to death Feb. 28 in connection with the Godhra train burning in 2002 that killed 59 Hindu nationalists and started the 2002 Gujarat riots. Special judge PR Patel handed down death sentences for 11 of 31 convicted last week of murder, attempted murder and/or criminal conspiracy. The remaining 20 all received sentences of life imprisonment, and 63 others were acquitted. The convictions were for setting on fire the S6 coach of Sabarmati Express, killing 59 people, mostly Vishwa Hindu Parishad members, returning from Ayodhya. The incident triggered riots in Gujarat in which more than 1,200 people were killed, mostly Muslims, in some of the worst violence between Hindus and Muslims in India since independence in 1947. The prosecution had sought the death penalty for all 31 convicted. The defense plans to appeal the death sentences and is prepared to take the matter to India's highest court.

The Jan. 4 assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who angered Islamists by calling for a revision of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, reveals escalating polarization between secular and fundamentalist forces. Shahbaz Bhatti, federal Minister for Minorities, said Taseer sacrificed his life for religious freedom and equality. "Those who issued [the] decree for killing should be investigated and blasphemy laws should be reviewed to control the increasing intolerance in society," Bhatti said. (Associated Press of Pakistan, Jan. 5)

Up to 3,000 villagers are facing arrest after taking part in a "silent protest" against the Jaitapur nuclear power project in India's Maharashtra state Oct. 29. The villagers, upset about the lack of transparency surrounding the project, organized a "Jail Bharo" (fill up the jail) protest, by showing up at the project site to await their arrest. The government reacted by issuing "preventive arrest" warrants, prohibitory orders and setting up road blocks. According to media reports, 750 people were arrested including a former Supreme Court Judge. (Times of India, Oct. 29)