A series of four bomb blasts rocked the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan over the weekend, wounding one person and damaging shops and businesses. One blast was in the Bhutanese capital, Thimphu; the others targeted shops and markets in the remote districts of Samste, Chukha and Dagana. The explosions come as the once rigidly closed monarchy is preparing its first national elections on March 24. Bhutan's authorities say they suspect one of three militant organizations based in refugee camps in nearby Nepal—the Bhutan Tiger Force, the Bhutan Maoists Party, and the Communist Party of Bhutan.

At least four people are dead following sectarian clashes that broke out over Christmas celebrations in Kandhamal district of the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Hindu and Christian residents put each other's homes to the torch in the Christian-dominated village of Brahmanigaon. When Hindu residents took refuge in the police station, a group of some 500 besieged the station house—some reportedly firing on it. When police returned fire, four residents were killed. Three police were also reported injured. More may have been killed in clashes, but all communication to the village has been cut.

Ashish Khetan, the journalist who secretly taped Hindu rightists boasting of their role in the mass murder of Muslims in the 2002 Gujarat pogroms, says he now fears for his life and is frustrated by the lack of response. Khetan's "sting operation" for the left newsweekly Tehelka caused a national scandal, but the Hindu nationalists linked to the killings seem set for re-election in Gujarat state polls this month. "I got them to speak to me, make self-damning revelations, details of the killings and rapes," Khetan told AFP. "Despite the evidence, the political reaction to the exposé has been at best tepid and I feel very, very disappointed. There has been no action." Khetan said he was also shocked to receive "hate mails and even threats from journalists." He added: "My work has angered a lot of people. Who knows, some fanatic sitting in some corner of the country may have made a plan to kill me. Yes, I am afraid that I could be on the hit list of some fanatic or another." (AFP, Dec. 5)

Indian army troops are patrolling the streets of Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, following a wave of arson and violence this week. Protesters repeatedly clashed with police, and torched several vehicles and the local offices of the state's ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). The street-fighting was sparked by protests both of atrocities earlier this year against Muslim residents in the nearby town of Nandigram, Purba Medinipur district, and the presence in the city of exiled Bangladeshi feminist writer Taslima Nasreen—who was flown to Delhi for her safety. The protests were called by the Muslim-supported All India Minority Forum (AIMF), which threw up roadblocks around the city—then fought back when police tried to break them up. AIMF leader Idris Ali was arrested Nov. 24 and charged with riot and property destruction. (IANS, BBC, Nov. 24; IANS, Nov. 21)

Near-simultaneous bombs exploded at courthouses in the northern Indian cities of Lucknow, Varanasi, and Faizabad Nov. 23, killing at least 13 lawyers (nine in Varanasi; four in Faizabad), and leaving over 50 injured. All three cities are in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where lawyers declared earlier this year they will not defend terrorist suspects. The explosives were apparently packed on parked bicycles at the court complexes. Authorities say they suspect militant groups trying to spark violence between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority. Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest city, was the site of terror attacks on a Hindu temple and a train station last year. Faizabad is near the site of the attack on the Babri Mosque in 1992, which sparked widespread Hindu-Muslim riots. (Jurist, NDTV, Nov. 23)

David Adler on his Lerterland blog exposes the latest ugly manifestation of idiot leftism—which, unfortunately, seems to be rapidly eclipsing any legitimate critique of empire. Arundhati Roy's latest seems to be an advocacy of revolutionary suicide—a cheerful admission that the jihadists and Maoists she roots for would hang feminists, bohemians and dissident intellectuals such as herself if they ever acheived power. We don't know whether to laugh or cry over this one:

From AFP via Pakistan's Daily Times, Oct. 28 (links added):

PALWAL — A serpentine column of India’s poorest of the poor is moving across cities, determined to reclaim their land taken over in the name of the country’s heady economic boom.

At least two people were killed and nearly 20 injured when a bomb exploded inside the revered Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer in India's western state of Rajasthan Oct. 11. The attack came when the shrine was packed with hundreds of worshipers during evening Eid al-Fitr prayers. (Sify, Oct. 11) A day after the attack, a second explosive device was found in the shrine and defused by police. Six people were detained for interrogation, including two pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. (The Hindu, Oct. 13)