Overview: Game run by Mike D. that is scheduled to begin some time in December or January 1998-1999. One or two game sessions. Should be very cool and give us all a chnce to shoot and loot, hop and pop. Operations are to include but not be limited too recon, surgical strikes, intel gathering, escort duty, counter-terror, and possibly armed extraction.
India and Pakistan were composed of many independent kingdoms united under British colonial rule. When the British pulled out in 1947 they established the borders, not caring how they actually divided the land. Pakistan immediately commenced one of four invasions, moving into the Kashmir area. During these invasions they took some land, gave some to China, and helped to create the nation of Bangladesh.
But it was during this first invasion that the Hindu leader of the then-independent Kashmir begged India to help. Nehru, the leader or Prime Minister of India and friend of Mahatma Gandhi, said that India would assist provided that Kashmir became part of India. The leader agreed, and India threw Pakistan out, but Pakistan managed to hold some territory.
The primarily Muslim population of Kashmir (NOTE: the leader of Kashmir was Hindu when they were independent. India is Hindu. See conflict.) has had some grievances, primarily based on ethnicity and religion. Pakistan invaded to annex the country several times, and India had to leave a permanent military presence there. When India exploded its first atomic bomb, Pakistan ignored the Non-Proliferation Treaty and accumulated materials and exploded its own A-bomb, refusing to allow India so great an edge. Somehow, they managed to avoid persecution by the global community (grim satire). The disintegration of the USSR provided Pakistan with a ready supply of cheap weapons, while India received huge amounts of aid and investment from the USA.
SITREP:
If there is one magic name in India, it is Gandhi. First there was Mahatma, then Indira and her son Rajiv. Merely being a Gandhi in the Congress Party is usually enough to become Prime Minister. The BJP, a Hindu fundamentalist party, is a coalition party composed of twenty-two separate political parties, and spent its few years (that it was in power) desperately trying to hold together due to internal strife. The BJP is strictly Hindu, and would rather see the muslims leave India. The seats in the Parliament voted no-confidence, declaring the ruling party incompetent. In the new election Sonia Gandhi ran for the Congress Party. She was formerly an Italian model, but she married Rajiv and started to get into politics. Is now age ~50. For a while she didn't want to run for any office whatsoever, both Rajiv and his mother Indira were removed from office by assassination, and Sonia didn't want the same fate.
NOTE: Indira was killed by her own bodyguards. They belonged to an ethnic group called the Sikhs, and she had many policies that were hard on minorities, so they killed her. Rajiv was killed by a woman with a bomb strapped to her chest. She belonged to the Sri Lanka Tamil guerillas operating in Tamil Nadu, and when she was paying her respects she blew up.
But she eventually ran, promising to do something about repairing Hindu-Muslim relations.
Kashmir is a real problem, and beyond what internal Indian and Pakistani politics can handle. There was an executive agreement on who could arbitrate, each side hoping that the arbitration would rule in their favor, but knowing that it wouldn't rule too much in the others' favor. The USA has chosen to intervene. The leaders of the US (Clinton is still POTUS, he was censured), India, and Pakistan all endured great criticism, both at home and abroad. The UN announced that it will uphold the arbitration, but will not intervene until a resolution is made (on account of all the violence in the region.)
BRIEFING:
The Kashmir conflict is really getting out of hand, thousands are dying. The BJP coalition in India was given a vote of no confidence, so elections were held and the Congress Party is in power. (MEMORY NOTE: BJP is Hindu funtamentalist -- they want Muslims out of Kashmir; Congress is Hindu mid-stream--they want a arbitrated setlement.) Congress and the other parties voted them out, and the BJP coalition disintegrated, so the individual parties (in the BJP) voted against each other. The new PM, Sonia Gandhi, has asked for US third-party arbitration to resolve the conflict over Kashmir. The Senate has agreed, and so did Pakistan, India, and the local Kashmir government. There are many groups within Kashmir, and all concerned governments fear that they will not get proper treatment from the arbitration, and are prepared to fight. For security reasons the US wants to send in a covert SpecFor unit. They will be required to have knowledge of the area and the languages, to be able to operate covertly.
The Mujahadeen (which the CIA gave support to in their war against the USSR in Afganistan) are now terrorizing the Kashmir region, being backed by Pakistan. You may have to kill some.
The US thought it would make great PR if they stopped the violence in the region.
Muslim groups are working the countryside, they drag people from their homes and either beat them to death or shoot them.
There are incidents of Muslims pulling over a bus, having the Muslim passengers get off, then killing all of the Hindus. The other Hinuds who didn't feel like dying left the Kashmir valley and are in refugee camps. The refugee's condition is poor, but no better or worse than any other refugee group.
Pakistan is supporting mass terrorist activity, giving weapons and money to anyone who will cause trouble. They will also be hiring mercs to go in and cause more trouble by training terrorist groups and making surgical strikes. But in Kashmir many terror groups are extremely overt, burning buildings and hanging Hindus in broad daylight. The Indian Army can't stop them. And the more instability caused, the less likely a resolution will be reached.
You'll be doomed because of inept leadership, wishsy-washy political leadership, and inept intelligence services. Plus we'll be sent in too late with too little to do too much. (ha ha ha j/k)
Another consideration is the KGB. They have (had) stronger resources in the area and are likely to know about the CIA listening post we'll be operating out of.
MISSION:
Yet to be released. But would seem to be to counteract through the use of counter-terror the above actions.
REQUIREMENTS:
Minimum of 10 in ST, DX and IQ. Minimum of 13 in HT. Not more than 150 points in attributes.
-20 point disadvantage 'Hazerdous Duty'. Does not count against the -40 limit.
At least one Area Knowledge skill from South Asia, India, Pakistan, or Kashmir.
At least one language skill from Kashmiri, Hindi, Urdu (same as Arabic but different written language), or Punjabi.
Skill Template for Special Forces Operations Group Delta:
No more than three points per year of age.
Military Rank no higher than 4.
Decorations give a reaction bonus among those who know, although the point
values indicate recognized by everyone all the time which is not true since
a civilian hasn't the foggiest clue of the true meaning of a decoration and
what it takes to get it.
Medal of Honor (+4) 20 pts Unavailable for this campaign
DSC, multiple Silver Stars (+3) 15 pts
Silver Star, multiple Bronze Stars with "V" (+2) 10 pts
Bronze Star with "V," multiple ARCOM's with "V," Combat Infantry Badge (+1) 5 pts
Skills we've all agreed to take: Gesture, Hiking, Running.
No magic, no psi, no monters/supernatural/supers/vampirism, no nothing but meat.
Bear in mind your meat will be equivelant to super-heros. So they're good meat. But scrubs to Black Ops.