The anti-cartoon protests in Pakistan seem to be mounting towards a national revolutionary movement. The government has banned the latest march in Islamabad, arrested some 200 followeres of the organization that called it, and placed its leader under house arrest. But the organizers pledge defiance, even as army troops have been called to the streets. Note that even the government spokesman feels obliged to diss the protests as part of a Jewish conspiracy to defame Islam. From Pakistan's Dawn, Feb. 19:

The heroic Mukhtar Mai is exploited by the Bushes for war propaganda—then sold down the river by the UN to appease Pakistan. Did the US protest this cynical capitulation? We doubt it. From the New York Times, via India's Deccan Herald, Jan. 22:

Mukhtar Mai, the Pakistani woman whose defiant response to being gangraped by order of a tribal court had brought her worldwide attention, was denied a chance to speak at the United Nations on Friday when Pakistan protested that it was the same day the country's prime minister was visiting.

Nepalese police fired tear gas and charged with batons in clashes with pro-democracy activists in Kathmandu Jan. 21. Street battles lasted for two hours around Durbar Square. The protests came after the house arrest of political leaders campaigning to force King Gyanendra to give up power. Over 500 activists were arrested in the sweeps, including former foreign minister Ramsharan Mahat, former finance minister Mahesh Acharya, both from the Nepali Congress party. (NDTV, India, Jan. 22)

Business and commerce in Sri Lanka's port city of Trincomalee were paralyzed as a three-day strike in protest against renewed violence by the Tamil Tiger guerillas entered its last day Jan. 14. Main roads in the town were deserted except for government troops on patrol. Shops, government offices, schools, public markets, banks and transportation were all closed in the hartal (strike) called by the Sinhala Vimukthi Sanvidanaya, a civil organization of the dominant Buddhist Sinhalese ethnicity. A Jan. 13 rally in support of the strike was reportedly attended by Tamils and Muslims as well as Sinhalese. (Qatar Gulf Times, Jan. 15) Authorities said they also suspected that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was involved in the work stoppage. The Marxist JVP is currently a key ally of President Mahinda Rajapakse's government. (PTI, Jan. 13) The TamilNation website accuses the JVP of representing "Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalism in Marxist garb."

Maoist guerrillas bombed two police stations and a municipal office on the outskirts of Kathmandu Jan. 14, killing at least 11 officers in the first attacks in the capital region since the rebels ended their cease-fire on Jan. 2. Hours earlier, 16 guerillas and a government soldier were killed in a firefight in Syangja, a Maoist stronghold 140 miles west of Kathmandu. Two days earlier, 10 rebels were killed in the same area, the army said.

Naga separatist guerillas in India's remote northeast are once again being hunted down by the authorities in neighboring Burma (Myanmar), where they had previously been granted refuge. This appears to be leading to a two-front insurgency in which the Naga separatists are seeking an independent state straddling the current Burma-India border. On Jan. 10, Naga guerilla leaders claimed to have killed seven Burmese soldiers while losing three rebel fighters in a heavy gun battle in Burmese territory.

The gas pipeline to the Uch power plant in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan was blown up late Jan. 3, cutting off gas supplies to the plant. The attack came as sporadic rocket and artillery duels continued between Pakistani security forces and Baluch insurgents in the town of Dera Bugti.

In a surprising shift of strategy, Nepal's Maoist guerillas have reached a 12-point common agenda with the top parliamentary parties, subsequently endorsed by UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. The new pact between the armed rebels and political opposition does not seek abolition of the monarchy, but envisages a limited monarchy where the king's powers are well-defined and constitutional. It calls for elections for a constituent assembly, prior to which Maoists will desist from violence and place their arms under the supervision of the UN or other international agency.