Bihar, one of India’s most crime-ridden states, lost 18,000 police to a week-long strike July 23. The breach was filled by a combination of military police, home guards, retired police and common citizens, but the actions don’t inspire confidence for safety in the region.
The recent kidnapping of a German traveler and the killing of three Buddhist monks in Kashmir has reconfirmed that travel in the troubled state is inadvisable. The man was taken when the truck in which he was a passenger was commandeered by Muslim militants. Authorities are searching in the Kargil and Doda areas east of Srinigar, and thus far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.