South Asian Jihad Continues

In Thailand, the jihadis are restless and like clockwork, they murdered four Buddhists in a bloody spree:

Two Buddhist health workers have been gunned down in a clinic in Thailand's restive south, while two others were beheaded in a grisly killing spree blamed on separatist rebels, police say.

Three other people have been killed in shooting attacks around the Muslim-majority region bordering Malaysia, in the latest sign of intensifying violence this month.

The attacks came as authorities stepped up a crackdown on separatists in the region where more than 2,400 people have been killed and thousands more wounded since the unrest broke out in January 2004.

The two health workers were killed inside a clinic in Pattani province late on Wednesday (local time), when militants stormed into the building and shot them at their desks, police said.

Authorities shut down 15 nearby clinics in response and could not say when they would reopen.

The seperatists are Islamists who want to impose Sharia on Southern Thailand. The Thai government's response is not to go after those who killed the Buddhists, but to close the clinics instead, hoping that the Islamists would find some other target instead.

They did:

Separatist rebels also torched two schools in Pattani, gutting the buildings early on Thursday.

Ignoring the problem doesn't make it disappear. Appeasement doesn't work as it only emboldens the Islamists and the threats become more widespread.

Just ask Pakistan's Musharraf. He's beset on all sides by political opportunists and jihadi supporting Islamists who threaten his regime by operating from Warizistan and the NWFP because they took advantage of his hands-off policy for much of the past year.

There's been rumors that Musharraf might enact a state of emergency, but he's ruled that out.

President Pervez Musharraf has decided not to impose a state of emergency in Pakistan, ignoring the advice of aides who want strong action to prevent more instability.

Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani says the military ruler, facing the greatest challenge to his leadership since he seized power in a 1999 coup, has opted against the move, which would have postponed elections.

"President Musharraf has decided not to impose the state of emergency in the country as suggested by some political parties and others," he said.

"The decision was taken because the priority of the President and present Government is to have free, fair and impartial elections in line with the constitutional requirements."

Pakistani forces have been operating against al Qaeda bases in Warizistan and have come under attack from the Islamists/Taliban as well. At least 10 of the Taliban were killed in that fight and five Pakistani soldiers were wounded.