South Asia

In 1999 the locus of terrorism directed against the United States continued to shift from the Middle East to South Asia ... The United States made repeated requests to Islamabad to end support for elements harboring and training terrorists in Afghanistan and urged the Government of Pakistan to close certain Pakistani religious schools that serve as conduits for terrorism.

Credible reports also continued to indicate official Pakistani support for Kashmiri militant groups, such as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) that engaged in terrorism ...

India

Security problems persisted in India in 1999 from ongoing insurgencies in Kashmir and the northeast. Kashmiri militant groups continued to attack Indian Government, military and civilians targets in India-held Kashmir and elsewhere in the country ...

The Indian Government took a number of steps against terrorism at home and abroad. In August the Indian cabinet ratified the international convention for the suppression of terrorist bombings. New Delhi also introduced a convention on the suppression of terrorism at the UN General Assembly meeting ... New Delhi announced in November 1999 the establishment of a US- India Counter-terrorism Working Group, which aimed to enhance efforts to counter international terrorism worldwide.

Pakistan

The United States repeatedly has asked Islamabad to end support to elements that conduct terrorist training in Afghanistan, to interdict travel of militants to and from camps in Afghanistan, to prevent militant groups from acquiring weapons, and to block financial and logistic support to camps in Afghanistan. In addition, the United States has urged Islamabad to close certain madrasas, or "religious" schools, that actually serve as conduits for terrorism.

Credible reports continued to indicate official Pakistani support for Kashmiri militant groups that engage in terrorism, such as the HUM ... Kashmiri extremist groups continued to operate in Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting new cadre. The groups were responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in 1999 against civilian targets in India-held Kashmir and elsewhere in India. Pakistani officials from both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government and, after his removal by the military, General Pervez Musharraf's regime publicly stated that Pakistan provided diplomatic, political, and moral support for "freedom fighters" in Kashmir - including the terrorist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen -but denied providing the militants training or material ..

Sectarian and political violence remained a problem in 1999 as Sunni and Shia extremists conducted attacks against each other ...