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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 11, No. 33, February 18, 2013
Data and
assessments from SAIR can be freely published in any form
with credit to the South Asia Intelligence Review of the
South Asia Terrorism Portal
|
Troubling
Prospects
Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
Addressing
the Congress during the annual State of the Union speech
in the night of February 12, 2013, United States (US)
President Barack Obama declared, “America will complete
its mission in Afghanistan and achieve our objective of
defeating the core of al Qaida”. Outlining his latest
Afghan policy he stated,
Already
we have brought home 33,000 of our brave servicemen
and women. Over the next year, another 34,000 American
troops will come home from Afghanistan. This drawdown
will continue. And by the end of next year, our
war in Afghanistan will be over. This spring, our
forces will move into a support role, while Afghan
security forces take the lead. Beyond 2014, America’s
commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan
will endure, but the nature of our commitment will
change. We’re negotiating an agreement with the
Afghan Government that focuses on two missions:
training and equipping Afghan forces so that the
country does not again slip into chaos and counterterrorism
efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of
al Qaida and their affiliates. Today, the organization
that attacked us on 9/11 is a shadow of its former
self.
|
The number
of US troops on Afghan soil, which had peaked at about
101,000 in 2011, is presently estimated at around 66,000.
With another 34,000 troops leaving in a year, just 32,000
troops will remain in Afghanistan. A studied ambiguity
has been maintained over the residual number of troops
that may remain after 2014. However, the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Army General Martin E. Dempsey,
stated on February 9, 2013, “we’re not going from number
to mission, we’re going from mission to number”, and that
the mission in Afghanistan would determine the number
of American troops to be deployed there after 2014. Dempsey
added, “I will not at any point ask 10,000 troops to do
20,000 troops’ work.” The post-2014 missions is thought
to necessarily include some continued counter-terrorism
effort against transnational global threats; the training
of, and advice and assistance to Afghan troops; and provision
of support to other US Government agencies working in
Afghanistan.
The ‘drawdown’
of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
troops follows a comparable pattern. The present strength
of ISAF is 102,052 (including 66,000 US troops) as against
a high of 140,000 in 2011. There is no clarity on ISAF
troop strength in Afghanistan after 2014. The phased withdrawal
of ISAF troops is being done in accordance with the Inteqal
(Transition) Framework
defined at the London (UK) and Kabul conferences on Afghanistan
in 2010. Under the Inteqal Framework, the international
community’s civilian and military representatives decided
to shift their responsibilities to the Afghans, and to
increasingly limit themselves to a supporting, mentoring,
and eventually sustaining role in security, governance
and development.
"Green-on-blue"
attacks (Afghan Forces attacking ISAF personnel) have
escalated considerably over the past two years, and can
be expected to have an adverse impact on the projected
US and ISAF mission. At least 60 ISAF personnel were reported
killed in such attacks just through 2012, as against just
10 ISAF fatalities in six "Green on Blue" incidents
in 2009; 20 fatalities in six incidents in 2010; and 25
fatalities in 21 incidents in 2011.
Meanwhile,
violence continues, albeit with some diminution. According
to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict
Management, at least 5,162 terrorism-related fatalities
were recorded in Afghanistan in 2012, as compared to 8,942
in 2011. The first 47 days of the current year have already
recorded 352 fatalities.
Terrorism-related
Fatalities in Afghanistan: 2007-2013
Year
|
Afghan
National Army
|
Afghan
National Police
|
ISAF
|
Civilian
|
Militant
|
Total
|
2007
|
278
|
688
|
232
|
1523
|
4500
|
7221
|
2008
|
259
|
724
|
295
|
2118
|
5000
|
8396
|
2009
|
292
|
639
|
521
|
2412
|
4610
|
8474
|
2010
|
821
|
1292
|
711
|
2777
|
5225
|
10826
|
2011
|
511
|
569
|
566
|
3021
|
4275
|
8942
|
2012
|
229
|
262
|
382
|
1573
|
2716
|
5162
|
2013
|
32
|
53
|
8
|
116
|
143
|
352
|
Total*
|
2422
|
4227
|
2715
|
13540
|
26469
|
49373
|
Source:
Institute for Conflict Management, *Data
till February 17, 2013
|
Though
fatalities have declined continuously since 2010, terrorist
formations, including the Mullah Mohammad Omar-led Afghan
Taliban, the Haqqani Network and the Hizb-i-Islami – Gulbuddin
(HIG), continue to control large swaths of territory.
NATO troops have, nevertheless, succeeded in limiting
the extremist proliferation in the South. The militants,
however, have not been defeated, and have consolidated
their presence in much of North and Central Afghanistan.
Moreover, the terrorists have retained the wherewithal
to strike at will, a capability they demonstrated repeatedly
in major attacks through 2012, most prominently including:
October
26: A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a mosque
killing 41 people and injuring 56 others in Maymana, capital
of the Faryab Province.
October
1: Three US soldiers, the head of the Provincial Rapid-
reaction Police Force, Mubarak Shah, and 12 civilians
were killed, and 61 others were wounded, when a suicide
bomber blew his explosive-packed motorcycle in Khost city,
the capital of Khost Province.
September
18: Eight South Africans, a Kyrgyz citizen, all working
for a local aviation company, along with three Afghan
civilians, were killed, and 11 others were injured, when
a suicide car bomb targeted a minibus carrying the aviation
staff near Kabul airport.
September
14: 14 militants and two US Marines were killed and eight
coalition jets were destroyed or damaged when the Taliban
launched a massive attack against Camp Bastion, a main
Coalition base in the north-west of Lashkar Gah, capital
city Helmand Province.
September
4: At least 25 people were killed and 65 were injured
in a suicide bombing in Dur Baba District of Nangarhar
Province.
August
14: About 36 people were killed and 110 were injured in
a coordinated shooting and suicide bombing in Zaranj,
capital of the Nimroz Province.
August
13: Ishkamesh District Mayor Abdul Aziz, and Takhar High
Peace Council (HPC) member Haji Hashim and three others
were killed in a roadside-bomb attack in Takhar Province.
Local officials blamed the bombing on the Taliban.
June 21:
At least 23 people, including 14 civilians, three hotel
guards, five Taliban militants and one Afghan Policeman,
were killed in a gunfight, between militants and Security
Forces (SFs), which occurred following the seizure by
terrorists of the Spozhmai Hotel, outside Kabul, in the
night of June 21.
June 1:
Taliban militants detonated an explosives-laden truck
near the gate of Camp Salerno in Khost. At least two US
troopers and five civilians were killed in the explosion
while 125 others, including 100 US service members were
injured. 14 militants were also killed in the gun battle
that followed.
May 2:
Eight civilians and four suicide bombers were killed and
17 persons were injured when Taliban carried out an attack
against a civilian-military Coalition camp in eastern
Kabul.
February
27: Nine people were killed and another 12 were injured
in a suicide car bombing at an airport in Jalalabad, the
capital of Nangarhar Province.
January
18: At least 14 people, including a NATO soldier, were
killed and another 22 were injured in a suicide attack
in Helmand.
Worryingly,
reports indicate that the terrorist formations are uniting,
dangerously, across AfPak borders. Hakimullah Mehsud,
the chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),
thus declared, “We are Afghan Taliban and Afghan Taliban
are us. We are with them and al Qaeda. We are even willing
to get our heads cut off for al Qaeda.”
Unsurprisingly,
there are concerns that the ‘spring fighting season’ of
2013 may be bloodier than last year. Indeed, Afghan Taliban
warned, "The Afghans should be granted control, choice
of government and sovereignty of their country. If not,
then our sacred jihad will intensify and forge
ahead successfully even if one foreign soldier is present
in our country..."
2013 is
the first ‘fighting season’ in which the 352,000-strong
Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will be in
the forefront of the counter-terrorism effort, leading
90 percent of all operations and already “protecting more
than 75 percent of the (Afghan) population”. Though the
Government claims that the ANSF, which demonstrated exemplary
fighting effectiveness in June
2012, is “completely ready” to take
on the militants, it remains to be seen how Afghan Forces
perform without direct ISAF backing.
ANSF has
already started accounting for the bulk of casualties.
General Dempsey thus noted: “Every Sunday, John Allen
[General John R. Allen, former ISAF Commander] has a memorial
service outside his headquarters to remember the soldiers
who were lost in the past week. This past Sunday [February
3, 2013] was the first service he held since he was commander
where there wasn’t a single ISAF… soldier killed in action.
First week in 19 months. However, there were 25 Afghan
soldiers killed.”
Meanwhile,
the much-talked-about peace
talks have floundered. While “there
are no active negotiations now” with the Taliban, General
Dempsey has conceded, “there will be irreconcilable parts
of the Taliban that are just so ideologically skewed that
the idea of any concessions is just anathema to them”.
Significantly, a number of Afghan Taliban officials and
militants freed by Pakistan, purportedly to help bring
peace to Afghanistan, have rejoined their colleagues in
waging war against Kabul and the Western Forces. A February
9, 2013, Washington Post report thus quoted US,
Afghan and Pakistani officials to observe, "Pakistan's
release late last year of several imprisoned Taliban officials
and fighters, which it advertised as a good-faith effort
to help bring peace to Afghanistan, is now prompting questions
about whether the gesture has yielded anything but potential
new dangers for NATO and Afghan troops." A Pakistani
security official confirmed that 18 men were freed and
described them as junior to midlevel Afghan Taliban militants,
including ‘field commanders’ and foot soldiers.
America’s
‘drawdown’ is taking place at a time when a troubled Afghanistan
has been tainted by large-scale corruption (the country
ranked 174th out of 176 in the 2012 Corruption
Perceptions Index), and capacities for governance remain
deeply suspect. Though apprehensions of an abrupt collapse,
comparable to events in the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal
in 1989, have receded, the uncertainties of the situation
are monumental. Worse, the future of Afghanistan remains
as intimately tied to global peace and stability as has
been its recent past. If the Western powers leave chaos
behind in this unfortunate country, it is likely to follow
them home in their baggage trains.
|
Assam:
Another Faultline
Giriraj Bhattacharjee
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
On February
12, 2013, at least 20 persons were killed in Rabha Hasong
Autonomous Council (RHAC) areas in Goalpara District,
Assam, as violence engulfed the region during the third
and final phase of Panchayat (village Self-Governing
body) elections in Assam. While 13 people died as a result
of Police firing, when violent mobs comprising the Rabha
people attacked polling centres and polling teams in RHAC
areas, another seven were killed in clashes between Rabha
and non-Rabha groups on the same day.
Chief Minister
(CM) Tarun Gogoi, however, put total fatalities at 19,
adding that about 70 persons, including 30 Policemen,
were injured, while over a 100 houses were burnt during
the violence. Till February 17, 2013, over 17, 949 people
had taken shelter in 20 relief camps as the violence triggered
an exodus of people from villages in the affected area.
The Army was deployed to help Police and Central Paramilitary
Forces (CPMFs) maintain order in the region.
The first
phase of Panchayat polls held on January 30, 2013,
in the Districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Sivasagar,
Golaghat, parts of Nagaon, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji, variously
recorded between 65 and 70 per cent voting. The second
phase of polls, on February 6, 2013, in the Districts
of Sonitpur, Darrang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Kamrup (Metro),
parts of Kamrup (Rural), Bongaigaon and parts of Dibrugarh
and Morigaon, recorded 65 per cent voting. Both phases
passed off peacefully, with the exception of a few minor
incidents. Elections for the Districts of Goalpara, parts
of Kamrup (rural), Dhubri, parts of Nagaon, Morigaon,
Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi, were conducted in the
third phase on February 12, 2013, and recorded 75 per
cent polling.
Violence
in the RHAC region started as the Rabha Hasong Joint
Movement Committee (RHJMC), an umbrella organisation of
34 Rabha groups, opposed the polls. The RHJMC had been
demanding RHAC polls before Panchayat elections
in the RHAC areas. Incidents of arson in RHAC areas were
engineered on January 24, 2013, during a 72-hour bandh
(general shutdown) called by RHJMC. Then, on February
3, 2013, unidentified miscreants set ablaze an All Rabha
Student’s Union (ARSU) office at Kalyanpur, amidst a nine-day
‘civil disobedience’ movement called by the RHJMC.
Road blockades
were enforced and more violent incidents of arson occurred
during the 36-hour Janata (peoples’) curfew ‘imposed’
by the RHJMC from February 11, 2013, preventing poll officials
from entering the RHAC areas.
Meanwhile,
on February 13, 2013, CM Gogoi, who also holds the Home
portfolio, conceded that “there were some lapses and we
had no prior information.”
Interestingly,
a news report dated September 4, 2012, had stated that
the Central Government, following the July-September 2012
Bodo-Muslim
clashes, sent at least two advisories
to the State Government indicating that the State might
face trouble in RHAC areas, as the Rabhas have been demanding
elections to the RHAC. The report quoted an unnamed senior
Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official as stating,
“Rabhas want elections to the Council and Garos want panchayat
elections and are opposed to the autonomous council. The
focus is now shifted to the south bank of Brahmaputra
and we have told this to the State Government.”
Clashes
between Garos, Bengali-speaking Muslims and Rabhas had
been reported in 2010-2011 as well. The Rabhas, who constitute
just over a fifth of the population in Goalpara, where
almost 60 per cent of the population is Muslim, are up
against the combined strength of the Garos and Muslims,
who are on the same side. In December 2010, the ARSU enforced
a blockade of National Highway 37 in Goalpara District,
demanding Sixth Schedule status for RHAC. On January 3,
2011, the Garo National Council of Assam responded by
calling a 12-hour bandh in Goalpara District, and
30 Rabha houses in Mendipathar in East Garo Hills District
were reportedly set ablaze. The ensuing clashes left 12
persons dead and 50,000 displaced. Before this, in 2008,
at least nine people were killed in Police firing when
an All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF)-backed movement
demanded Panchayat polls in the Lakhipur area of
Goalpara District, a disputed area, which falls under
the RHAC. Panchayat polls had to be suspended in
RHAC areas following the violence.
In 2007
and 2009, ARSU had submitted memoranda to Gogoi, demanding
the inclusion of the RHAC into the Sixth Schedule of the
Indian Constitution and seeking exemption from Panchayat
elections in the RHAC area. ARSU had also urged the Government
to conduct RHAC election immediately.
Interestingly,
on February 14, 2013, the State Government admitted its
inability to exclude RHAC areas from the Panchayat
Act. The Chief Minister's Office issued a statement signed
by the CM's press adviser, Bharat Chandra Narah, stating,
"Clause 5 of the Rabha Hasong Accord signed between
the Government of Assam and the All Rabha Students Union
and the Rabha Hasong Demand Committee on March 10, 1995,
at Dispur, was unconstitutional because the State Government
had no jurisdiction to exclude Rabha Hasong Autonomous
Council areas from the purview of the 73rd
Amendment of the Constitution of India under Article 244M."
The statement further observed that though Clause 5 existed
in the Accord, it was not included when the State Legislative
Assembly passed the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council Act
in 1995 to give legality to the Accord. On February 13,
2013, Chief Minister Gogoi had termed the Rabha Accord
“faulty”.
The State
Government had established the RHAC, Head Quartered at
Dudhnoi, on March 10, 1995, with 779 villages in its jurisdiction,
and had formed an ad hoc body to protect the political
rights and uplift the socio-economic condition of the
Rabha and Hasong people living in Goalpara and parts of
the then undivided Kamrup District. There are 36 General
Council constituencies – 17 in Kamrup (Rural) District
and 19 in Goalpara District – under the RHAC. The total
number of village constituencies under RHAC is 360. The
RHAC however continues to have problems regarding its
territorial jurisdiction even after 17 years since its
inception in 1995, and not a single Council election has
been held, despite the agreement to hold elections within
six months of the Accord.
Agitated
Rabha groups finally got some relief when the Gauhati
High Court, in response to a PIL filed by ARSU President
Tonkeswar Rabha, directed the State Government, on November
23, 2012, to hold polls to the RHAC within six months.
On January 18, 2013, following the Court order, the State
Election Commission, announced that elections to the 360
village council constituencies would take place on April
30, 2013. This did not satisfy the Rabhas, RHAC elections
to be held before panchayat polls. On February
11, 2011, in another case, the Court observed, further,
that there were no legal complications in holding elections
to the Council.
The problem
is compounded by the fact that non-Rabha organisations
oppose RHAC elections without proper delimitation of non-Rabha
villages. The fresh delimitation of 36 RHAC constituencies
is yet to be done in accordance with a 2008 notification
for ‘exclusion and inclusion of villages’. Garo National
Council-Assam President Benedict Areng consequently argues
that Garo and various non-tribal groups had opted for
the exclusion of their villages from RHAC in 2008. In
Kamrup (rural) District, there are 81 Garo villages and
in Goalpara, another 272, together accounting for a population
of over 200,000, Areng claimed. Chandan Keshav, Advisor
to the Non-Tribal Security Forum (NTSF) further asserted
that there were 217 non-tribal villages with a population
of about 350,000, which had been included in the RHAC
area. Further, Non-Rabha groups wanted immediate panchayat
elections in villages within the RHAC areas, in direct
conflict with the stand adopted by Rabha groups.
Other Autonomous
Council areas for Scheduled Tribes (Plains) have also
experienced similar contradictions. Assam has Autonomous
Councils for six Scheduled Tribe (Plains) communities
– Tiwa, Rabha, Mishing, Sonowal-Kachari, Thengal-Kachari
and Deuri — in addition to two Autonomous District Councils
(Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao) for 14 Scheduled (Hill)
Tribes and a separate Autonomous Council comprising four
Districts for the Bodo tribe. While the two District Councils
have been in existence for over 50 years under the Sixth
Schedule, the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) covering
four Districts of Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang
was created in 2003 following an amendment to the Sixth
Schedule. Significantly, the BTC areas have experienced
repeated
cycles of violence, killings and mass
displacement, the most recent of which occurred in 2012,
claiming 109 lives. This is despite the fact that the
BTC has a clearly-demarcated (though contested) geographical
area, while the remaining six autonomous councils only
identify specific villages, and not any contiguous territory,
as their jurisdictions.
The working
of the State Autonomous Council was scrutinised by an
expert committee constituted by the Ministry of Panchayati
Raj in 2006. The report, Planning for Sixth Schedule
Areas, and evaluating areas not covered by Parts IX
and IX-A of the Constitution, stated:
An
examination of the functioning of these councils
shows a picture of confusion. The Panchayati
Raj system continues to exist in these areas,
as there is no constitutional basis for their removal.
These areas are not exempt from Panchayati Raj in
the same manner as other areas such as Nagaland
and hill areas of Manipur have been exempted. The
problem of institutional overlap in such areas is
thus further compounded by the formation of these
councils. There are three authorities operating
in parallel in these areas, namely, the Council,
the State departmental system and the Panchayati
Raj system. These issues must be urgently solved
so that there is only one single authority.
|
The inherent
contradictions within the RHAC set-up have widened existing
faultlines, and the imposition of panchayat elections
in RHAC areas without addressing these incongruities has
provoked the current cycle of bloodshed.
The Southern
bank of Brahmaputra in Western Assam, dominated by the
Rabha-Hasong tribe in the two western Districts of Goalpara
and Kamrup (Rural), has now added to the BTC areas on
the North Bank of the river, where the Bodos hold sway,
to create a widening theatre of ethnic conflict in Assam.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
February 11-17,
2013
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
|
Islamist Extremism
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
5
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
Meghalaya
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Nagaland
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Chhattisgarh
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
Jharkhand
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
Total (INDIA)
|
7
|
0
|
5
|
12
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
97
|
0
|
0
|
97
|
FATA
|
10
|
0
|
50
|
60
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
11
|
7
|
9
|
27
|
Punjab
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
Sindh
|
40
|
2
|
0
|
42
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
Death
toll
in
violence
during
Panchayat
polls
in
RHAC
areas
in
Assam
rises
to
20:
On
February
12,
2013,
at
least
20
persons
were
killed
in
Rabha
Hasong
Autonomous
Council
(RHAC)
areas
in
Goalpara
District,
as
violence
engulfed
the
region
during
the
third
and
final
phase
of
Panchayat
(village
Self-Governing
body)
elections
in
Assam.
While
13
people
died
as
a
result
of
Police
firing,
when
violent
mobs
comprising
the
Rabha
people
attacked
polling
centres
and
polling
teams
in
RHAC
areas,
another
seven
were
killed
in
clashes
between
Rabha
and
non-Rabha
groups
on
the
same
day.
The
Hindu,
February
13,
2013.
GNLA
still
a
concern,
says
Meghalaya
Governor
R.
S.
Mooshahary:
Meghalaya
Governor
R.
S.
Mooshahary
said
that
the
Garo
National
Liberation
Army
remains
a
concern
in
the
present
security
situation
in
the
state.
The
Governor
said,
"The
increased
activities
of
the
GNLA
and
its
growing
influence
in
Garo
Hills
and
parts
of
West
Khasi
Hills
is
a
matter
of
concern."
He,
however,
added
that
the
peace
agreement
with
the
Garo
militant
outfit
Achik
National
Volunteer
Council
(ANVC)
would
be
signed
shortly.
Shilong
Times,
February
14,
2013.
Maharashtra
ATS
announces
INR
one
million
each
reward
for
IM
India
'chief'
Yasin
Bhatkal
and
his
three
aides:
Maharashtra
Anti-Terrorism
Squad
(ATS)
on
February
12
announced
a
reward
of
INR
one
million
each
to
anyone
giving
information
on
elusive
Indian
Mujahideen's
(IM)
'chief'
Yasin
Bhatkal
and
his
three
aides
allegedly
involved
in
several
terror
cases.
ATS
chief
Rakesh
Maria
said,
"We
would
like
to
announce
a
cash
reward
of
Rs
10
lakh
[1
million]
each
to
any
person
providing
information
leading
to
the
arrest
of
Mohammed
Ahmed
Siddhibappa
alias
Yasin
Bhatkal
(30),
Tahaseen
Akhtar
Wasim
Aktar
Shaikh
(23),
Asadulla
Akhtar
Javed
Akhtar
(26)
and
Waqas
alias
Ahmed
(26)".
India
TV
News,
February
13,
2013.
Geographical
spread
of
LWE
shrinking
in
the
country,
says
Prime
Minister
Manmohan
Singh:
Prime
Minister
(PM)
Manmohan
Singh
while
addressing
a
conference
of
State
Governors
in
New
Delhi
on
February
12
said
that
Left
Wing
Extremism's
(LWE)
geographical
spread
in
the
country
is
showing
a
shrinking
trend
even
though
in
Assam,
it
is
expanding,
which
is
"worrisome".
Explaining
the
Centre's
"two
pronged"
policy
to
tackle
the
LWE
issue,
he
said,
"Even
as
we
have
intensified
operations
against
the
extremists,
we
have
also
endeavoured
to
bridge
the
development
and
governance
deficit
in
these
areas,
many
of
which
have
predominantly
tribal
population."
India
Today,
February
13,
2013.
Government
inks
MoU
with
three
armed
groups
of
Manipur:
The
Centre,
State
Government
and
three
militant
outfits
signed
a
tripartite
Memorandum
of
Understanding
(MoU)
on
February
13.
The
three
groups
which
signed
the
MoU
were
the
United
Revolutionary
Front
(URF),
which
was
constituted
by
the
Lanheiba
faction
of
Kangleipak
Communist
Party
(KCP-Lanheiba),
Chingkheinganba
faction
of
KCP
(KCP-Chingkheinganba)
and
Sunil
Meitei
faction
of
(KCP-Sunil
Meitei)
faction;
KCP-Lamphel
which
was
constituted
after
the
merger
of
KCP-Lamphel,
KCP-City
Meitei
and
KCP-Taibangnganba;
and
the
Kanglei
Yawol
Kanna
Lup-Military
Defence
Force
(KYKL-MDF),
with
its
two
factions
namely
Athouba
group
and
Achouba
group.
Sangai
Express,
February
14,
2013.
NEPAL
Taskforce
finalizes
draft
of
"consensus"
agreement
on
formation
of
11-member
neutral
cabinet
led
by
Chief
Justice
to
hold
fresh
CA
election:
The
taskforce,
comprising
two
members
from
each
of
the
four
major
parties
-
Unified
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M),
Nepali
Congress
(NC),
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Unified
Marxist
Leninist
(CPN-UML)
and
United
Democratic
Madhesi
Front
(UDMF)
-
on
February
17
finalized
a
draft
of
"consensus"
agreement
on
the
formation
of
11-member
neutral
cabinet
led
by
Chief
Justice
to
hold
fresh
election
to
the
Constituent
Assembly
(CA).
Top
leaders
of
all
the
four
major
parties
are
scheduled
to
make
a
formal
announcement
in
this
regard
on
February
18
(today).
My
Republica,
February
18,
2013.
PAKISTAN
84
persons
killed
and
more
than
169
injured
in
bomb
attack
on
Shia
Hazaras
in
Balochistan:
A
remote-controlled
bomb
targeting
Shias
Hazaras
killed
84
persons,
including
women
and
children,
and
injured
more
than
169
others
in
Hazara
town
of
Quetta,
the
provincial
capital
of
Balochistan,
on
February
16.
Wazir
Khan
Nasir,
senior
Police
officer
in
Quetta
said,
"It
was
a
sectarian
attack,
the
Shia
community
was
the
target".
Spokesperson
of
the
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
(LeJ),
Abubakar
Siddique,
claiming
responsibility
for
the
attack
said,
"Our
suicide
bomber
carried
out
the
blast
and
the
Shia
community
in
Hazara
Town
was
the
target."
Daily
Times;
Dawn,
February
17-18,
2013.
50
militants
and
10
civilians
among
60
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
At
least
10
militants
were
killed
when
the
jetfighters
pounded
their
hideouts
in
Jandary
Killay,
Mir
Qalamkhel
and
other
adjoining
localities
in
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)-controlled
Mamozai
tehsil
(revenue
unit)
area
in
Orakzai
Agency
of
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
on
February
17.
At
least
eight
militants
were
killed
and
two
hideouts
were
destroyed
in
Army
air
strikes
in
the
Mamozai
area
on
February
15.
An
explosion
in
the
village
of
Hassanzo
in
Orakzai
Agency
killed
seven
persons
and
injured
13
others
on
February
14.
The
on-going
infighting
between
the
TTP
and
Ansar-ul-Islam
(AI)
killed
19
more
militants
from
both
sides
in
Drey
Stani
area
of
Tirah
Valley
in
Khyber
Agency
on
February
13.
Eight
militants
were
killed
and
15
others
received
injuries
as
the
militants
of
TTP
and
AI
clashed
in
Bhuttan
area
of
Tirah
valley
on
February
12.
At
least
five
AI
militants
were
killed
and
four
others
were
injured
in
clashes
with
TTP
in
Tirah
valley
of
Khyber
on
February
11.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
February
12-18,
2013.
40
civilians
and
two
SFs
among
42
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
Sindh:
As
many
as
11
persons
were
killed
in
separate
acts
of
violence
and
target
killing
in
Karachi,
the
provincial
capital
of
Sindh,
on
February
17.
At
least
10
persons
were
killed
in
separate
incidents
of
target
killing
in
Karachi
on
February
15.
At
least
five
persons,
including
an
activist
of
Muttahida
Qaumi
Movement
(MQM),
were
killed
in
separate
acts
of
violence
in
Karachi
on
February
12.
At
least
12
persons,
including
two
Policemen,
were
killed
in
separate
incidents
in
Karachi
on
February
11.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
February
12-18,
2013.
12
civilians
and
nine
militants
among
27
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa:
At
least
11
persons,
including
three
Frontier
Corpse
(FC)
personnel,
two
Policemen
and
one
Levies
man,
were
killed
and
over
23
persons
were
injured
as
a
suicide
bomber
rammed
his
explosive-laden
vehicle
into
a
security
post
in
Spin
Thall
area
of
Hangu
District
on
February
14.
Police
and
Law
Enforcement
Agencies
(LEA)
repulsed
a
terrorist
attack
on
Miryan
Police
Station
of
Bannu
District,
killing
five
suicide
bombers
while
another
militant
blew
himself
up.
Four
persons
were
killed
and
another
was
injured
when
unidentified
persons
opened
fire
on
them
in
Palai
area
in
Malakand
District
on
February
11.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
February
12-18,
2013.
TTP
still
recruiting
White
Jihadis
from
the
West:
A
recent
video
released
by
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP),
eulogizing
two
'martyred'
White
Jihadis
(holy
warriors)
from
the
US
and
UK,
confirms
that
the
TTP
is
still
recruiting
White
Jihadis
from
the
West.
Westerners,
including
Americans,
Britons,
Germans,
French,
and
Australians,
who
wanted
to
join
the
jihad
that
al-Qaeda
is
waging
against
the
US-led
Allied
Forces
in
Afghanistan,
have
travelled
to
the
Pakistani
tribal
areas
in
recent
years.
The
News,
February
18,
2013.
The South
Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that
brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on
terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on
counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on
related economic, political, and social issues, in the South
Asian region.
SAIR is a project
of the Institute
for Conflict Management
and the
South
Asia Terrorism Portal.
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