| |
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 13, No. 25, December 22, 2014
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
|
The
Hatred Comes Home
Ajai Sahni
Editor, SAIR; Executive Director, Institute
for Conflict Management & SATP
In a barbaric
act of terror, a seven-member suicide squad of the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP)
killed at least 133 school children and nine staff members,
including the Principal, in an attack at the Army Public
School (APS), Peshawar (capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Province, KP) on December 16, 2014. Another 121 persons,
including 118 students and three staffers sustained injuries.
The attack, which started at about 10 am (PST), ended
after more than eight hours, when the seven-member suicide
squad was eliminated. Nine personnel of the Special Services
Group (SSG), a special operations force of the Pakistan
Army, including two of its officers, sustained injuries
during the operation. An estimated 1,100 students and
staff members were inside the school at the time of the
attack, of which some 960 were rescued.
Schools
and children have been targeted by terrorists before,
but there was a qualitative escalation in the Peshawar
atrocity. In the past, major incidents in which mass fatalities
have been inflicted on children have been hostage cases,
where terrorists had no qualms about accepting casualties
among children, but did not engage in the deliberate and
premeditated slaughter of children. Such incidents prominently
included the Ma'alot massacre in Israel, where terrorists
of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
took 115 persons hostage at the Netiv Meir Elementary
School on May 15, 1974. After a protracted standoff, 25
hostages, including 22 children, were killed and another
68 were injured, when Security Forces (SF) sought to mount
a rescue on the second day of the crisis.
The worst
such incident, of course, was at Beslan in Russia, where
over 1,100 persons, including 777 children, were held
hostage by Chechen separatists loyal to the warlord Shamil
Basayev. The incident commenced on September 1, 2004,
and on the third day of the standoff, SFs stormed the
building. 385 hostages were killed, including 186 children.
At Peshawar,
however, the terrorists initiated the attack with a clear
objective of killing as many children as possible. Indeed,
Muhammad Khorasani, spokesperson for the Maulana Fazlullah-led
faction of the TTP, declared, in the immediate wake of
the Peshawar incident, “Our six fighters successfully
entered the army school and we are giving them instructions
from outside. The suicide bombers had been given orders
to allow the youngest students to leave but to kill the
rest." Children as young as five-years were killed
in the attack.
The first
and natural response in Pakistan, and, indeed, across
the world, at the utter brutality of the attack, and the
systematic, intentional and cold blooded execution of
children, was shock and horror. In the immediate aftermath
of the incident, many commentators concluded that this
tragedy would be a watershed in Pakistan's history of
complicity in Islamist terrorism, a turning point where
the fiction of a distinction between the 'good Taliban
and bad Taliban' would finally be abandoned. Indeed, Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif declared, the day after the Peshawar
attack, "We announce that there will be no differentiation
between 'good' and 'bad' Taliban and have resolved to
continue the war against terrorism till the last terrorist
is eliminated."
This aroused
immediate and great hope among the naive, but evidence
of denial and deceit was quickly at hand. On the evening
of the attack itself, Pakistani commentators clarified
that the distinction between the 'good' and 'bad' Taliban
was only within factions of the TTP, and did not refer
to any other 'militants'; the former category was of those
who sought negotiations with the state, while the latter
rejected any settlement with Islamabad.
Very quickly
the terrible tragedy of Peshawar was harnessed to the
old mythologies of hatred that have long dominated Pakistan,
and that lie at the heart of the endless violence within
and emanating from that country. Within 24 hours of the
Army School attack, surprisingly similar statements were
made by former President and General Pervez Musharraf
and by the 'ameer' of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Hafiz Mohammad Saeed
that India was 'responsible for' the Peshawar massacre.
In an interview on National TV on December 17, Saeed argued,
further, "If India can send troops to Afghanistan
to help the US, then Mujahideen have every right to go
to Kashmir and help their brethren. Kashmiris are clamouring
for help and it is our duty to respond to their call."
Significantly, with a 10 million dollar US bounty on his
head, declared a terrorist by several countries, and by
the United Nations since 2008, Saeed not only operates
freely across Pakistan, he continues to enjoy Islamabad's
open
support, evident most recently during
the two day (December 4-5, 2014) “National Conference”
organized by him in Lahore, with special trains operated
by the state-owned Railways to bring his 'followers' to
the venue. Other commentators pointed to the significance
of the day of the Peshawar attack, December 16, the date
on which, Bangladesh separated from Pakistan forty three
years ago, to fortify arguments that India was to blame.
It is abundantly
clear, less than a week after the Peshawar attack, that
the focus of Pakistan's counter-terrorism response will
be restricted to domestic terrorism, particularly TTP,
and that the Afghanistan- and India-oriented terrorist
groups that flourish on Pakistani soil with abundant state
support, will remain untouched. Pakistan will milk the
tragedy at the Army Public School to secure international
sympathy and possibly corner some additional aid to 'fight
terrorism and radicalization', but will do nothing to
end its long-held policy of maintaining terrorist formations
as 'strategic assets' of the state against its neighbours.
Pakistan's good faith in its counter-terrorism campaigns
can only be demonstrated if it expels or hands over all
elements of the Afghan Taliban, including its leadership,
to Afghanistan; acts, not only against LeT, but against
the entire array of India-oriented terrorist formations,
including all 16 listed members of the present Muttahida
Jihad Council (MJC)
based in Muzaffarabad, with a vigour that is at least
comparable to its agitation against TTP; and cooperates
with the world in eliminating all factions of international
terrorist formations that currently find safe haven and
support on its soil. Such initiatives remain entirely
unlikely.
Of course,
the Peshawar incident has pushed domestic terrorism to
the top of the agenda, both of the civil Government and
the Army. In a dramatic demonstration of intent, Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the 2008 moratorium on the
execution of death penalties in terrorism-related cases,
and six condemned terrorists were quickly executed, while
at least 812 other 'terrorists' await the hangman's noose.
Significantly, Aqeel aka Dr. Usman, who was one
of the first two terrorists to be executed after the lifting
of the moratorium, had been convicted as the 'mastermind'
of the October 10, 2009, terrorist attack on the Army
Headquarters in Rawalpindi. His trial and appeals process
had long been exhausted, and he had survived only as a
result of the moratorium. Interestingly, at this extraordinary
juncture, a Special Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi
saw fit to grant bail to Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, 'military
commander' of LeT and the 'mastermind' of the November
26, 2008, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, also known as 26/11
attacks, in a case that has gone nowhere over the intervening
six years, despite overwhelming evidence provided by India
and the US, including technical evidence, such as Lakhvi's
voice recordings directing the terrorists in Mumbai through
the 'operation'. Lakhvi was, however, re-arrested under
other charges, and Islamabad has now announced that the
prosecution will appeal the decision to grant bail in
the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case.
At the
same time, the Army declared an intensification of operations
against TTP. Within days, the Ministry of Defence, claimed
that, among scores killed in aerial attacks, was the 'chief'
of the terrorist formation, Maulana Fazlullah, who had
been 'taken out' by the Pakistan Air Force. The claim
relating to Fazlullah was, however, quickly retracted,
and it now appears that he is likely to have survived
- it is not clear who has been killed. This continues
with Islamabad's established 'counter-terrorism' paradigm
of fighting the terrorists from the air, or with area
weapons, including heavy artillery, that devastate the
alleged 'support base' of terrorists and bomb out 'suspected
militant hideouts', including sizeable human settlements.
With the conflict areas excluded from media access, no
independent confirmation of the identities of the targeted
individuals is available. That the much vaunted Operation
Zarb-e-Azb has been indiscriminate
and has inflicted overwhelming civilian fatalities and
massive displacement in the target regions is, however,
obvious even from the trickle of evidence filtering through
from the areas of conflict. Indeed, this was the motive
ascribed by TTP spokesman Khorasani, for the Peshawar
attack, "We selected the army's school for the attack
because the government is targeting our families and females...
We want them to feel the pain." As anti-TTP operations
were intensified in the wake of the Army School attack,
Khorasani warned again, on December 19, "Let us make
it clear to Pakistan establishment that if any of our
associates is harmed, we will avenge ourselves by targeting
your children. We would ensure that houses of army generals
and political leaders become centers of mourning."
Indeed,
the attack in Peshawar is an index and manifestation of
the wider radicalization and brutalization of large segments
of the Pakistani population and society. According to
partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict
Management (ICM), since January 28, 2001, till December
18, 2014, at least 396 schools had been destroyed by terrorists
in Pakistan. These attacks resulted in 31 killings, though
these attacks were principally aimed at destroying school
buildings and infrastructure. ICM data, however, grossly
underestimates the magnitude of the problem. Significantly,
Pakistan's Intelligence agencies on March 26, 2013, had
informed the country's Supreme Court that, since 2008,
995 schools and 35 colleges had been destroyed in KP and
the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) alone.
An attempt
to execute a suicide attack targeting school children
in the Ibrahimzai area of Hangu District in KP on January
6, 2014 was, nevertheless, on record. On that day, Aitzaz
Hasan, 15, a student of the school, confronted and grappled
with the bomber, who then detonated his vest, killing
both of them on the spot, but saving the lives of hundreds
of others. There were some 2,000 students at the school
at the time of the attack. Of course, on October 9, 2012,
TTP terrorists, under Maulana Fazlullah's directives,
had shot and critically injured Malala Yousafzai when
she was going home from school. Several other children
- particularly girls - have been subjected to acid attacks
and shootings, to discourage them from going to school.
Despite
the enormity of the Peshawar incident, the power elite
in Pakistan are quickly returning to their default setting,
seeking to externalize the threat, to 'manage' their terrorist
assets to press on with their 'strategic objectives',
or, at best, to narrowly target domestically active terrorist
formations. This is a country that has recorded at least
55,878 terrorism related fatalities, including 19,917
civilians, since 2003 (with at least 5,362 deaths in 2014
alone, till December 21), and has consistently refused
to alter its trajectory.
The standard
state response to Peshawar has been to dismiss the atrocity
as the 'desperate act' of terrorists 'under pressure'
from Operation Zarb-e-Azb. It is, however, more likely
a calculated act of escalation on the part of TTP, which
seeks a widening and intensification of the conflict,
with a clear assessment that overwhelming retaliation
by the Pakistan military will follow. There is an increasing
trend towards extreme and demonstrative brutality among
Islamist terrorists worldwide, now led by the appalling
viciousness of excesses by the Islamic State (formerly,
Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham, ISIS). Indeed, support
to such terrorist formations among radicalized populations
appears to increase in proportion to their ruthlessness
- and this may well be the space that the Fazlullah-led
TTP is attempting to occupy in Pakistan. Of course, the
immediate impact of the Peshawar attack seems to be the
isolation of TTP-Fazlullah among the jihadis, with
condemnations coming from its breakaway faction, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar
(JuA, Assembly of Freedom), the Afghan Taliban and elements
within al Qaeda, among others. The survival and future
strength of the group, however, will depend on its capacity
to engineer even greater atrocities, and to ensure that
its top leadership is able to evade the clumsy and indiscriminate
operations mounted by the Pakistan Army and Air Force.
|
Visible
Gains, Hidden Dangers
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On December
18, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2)
indicted Forkan Mallik, an alleged Razakar (a paramilitary
force organized by the Pakistan Army) commander from Mirzaganj
sub-District in Patuakhali District, for his involvement
in crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of
1971. The tribunal framed five
charges against Forkan, a supporter
of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
On November
24, 2014, ICT-1 awarded the death
penalty to Mobarak Hossain aka
Mobarak Ali (64), former rukon (union member)
of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and commander of the Razakar
force. Mobarak was indicted on April 23, 2013, on five
specific incidents of murder, abduction, confinement,
torture and loot.
On November
13, 2014, ICT-1 sentenced Zahid Hossain Khokon alias
Khokon (70), vice-president of BNP's Nagarkanda unit and
a Razakar commander of Faridpur District, to death
in absentia. Khokon was indicted on October 9, 2013, on
11 charges, including genocide, torture, abduction and
confinement during the Liberation War. He is absconding
and, while Bangladeshi authorities say they have no information
regarding his whereabouts, reports suggest that he may
be residing in Sweden with his elder son and daughter.
The War
Crimes (WC) Trials began on March 25, 2010, and through
2014, the two ICTs indicted nine persons and delivered
four verdicts. Thus far, the ICTs have indicted 25 leaders,
including 13 from JeI, five from Muslim League (ML), four
from BNP, two from Jatiya Party (JP) and one Nizam-e-Islami
leader. Verdicts against 14 of them have already been
delivered – 12 were awarded death sentence while the remaining
two received life sentences. One of the 12 who received
the death sentence has already been executed, while the
remaining 11 death penalties are yet to be executed. The
two persons who were awarded life sentences have already
died serving their sentence. They were JeI Ameer
(Chief) Ghulam Azam (91), who died on October 23, 2014;
and former BNP minister Abdul Alim (83), who died on August
30, 2014.
Sheikh
Hasina Wajed’s Awami League (AL)-led Government, which
retained power winning the 10th General
Elections held on January 5, 2014
in the face of a comprehensive Opposition boycott, has
enormously consolidated its secular commitments and kept
its promise to punish the perpetrators of the 1971 genocide.
By bringing the war crimes' perpetrators to justice, Dhaka
has also succeeded in minimizing the threat of Islamist
extremists within the country, both because they have
become conscious of the clear intent of the incumbent
Government, and because many of their top leaders are
among those arraigned or convicted for the War Crimes.
The Government
also remained determined in its approach to dealing with
JeI, the country's largest right-wing party and main Islamist
extremist troublemaker. Law Minister Anisul Huq, speaking
at Dhaka city on December 7, 2014, announced, "The
Draft Bill to ban JeI will be placed in the Cabinet this
month and it is expected to be passed in the first session
of the Parliament in 2015." Notably, in a landmark
ruling, the Dhaka High Court, on August 1, 2013, had declared
the registration of JeI as a political party, illegal.
A three-member Special Bench, including Justice M. Moazzam
Husain, Justice M. Enayetur Rahim and Justice Quazi Reza-Ul
Hoque, passed the judgment, accepting a writ petition
challenging the legality of JeI's registration as a political
party. Further, in a major blow to JeI, Election Commissioner
Shah Nawaz, on November 7, 2013, declared that the party
could not participate in the General Elections of January
2014, in line with the High Court order. JeI was, of course,
one of the Opposition parties that boycotted
the Election.
Significantly,
Security Force (SF) personnel arrested at least 1,757
cadres of JeI and Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS),
the student wing of JeI, through 2014, in addition to
4,038 such arrests in 2013.
Nevertheless,
disruptive elements led by the BNP-JeI-ICS combine, continued
to engage in violent activities through 2014. According
to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism
Portal (SATP), a total of 60 people, including 29
civilians, nine SF personnel and 22 extremists, were killed
in incidents related to Islamist extremism in 2014 (data
till December 21), in addition to 379 persons, including
228 civilians, 18 SF personnel and 133 extremists, killed
in 2013.
As the
Government continued with its policy of checking the growth
of Islamist extremist forces led by the BNP-JeI-ICS combine,
it deprived the Islamist terrorist formations of any opportunity
to revive their activities within the country, despite
sustained efforts, through 2014. The Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB) arrested JMB chief coordinator Abdun Noor and four
of his close aides from the Sadar Sub-District Railway
Station of Sirajganj District, on October 31, 2014, and
recovered 49 detonators, 26 electronic detonators, four
time bombs, 155 different kinds of circuits, 55 jihadi
books, and a power regulator. During preliminary interrogations,
the JMB operatives confessed that they were planning to
carry out large-scale bomb attacks across the country,
particularly in Dhaka city.
In a disturbing
development, the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan
Police (DMP) arrested two cadres of the Ansarul Bangla
Team (ABT), Tanjil Hossain Babu (26), who had some technological
expertise, and Muhamad Golam Maula Mohan (25), a Computer
Sciences and Engineering graduate, along with a plastic
frame of a drone, electronic devices and some books on
jihad, from Dhaka city's Jatrabari area on December
16, 2014. After their interrogation, Joint Commissioner
Monirul Islam of DB claimed, "They reached the final
stages of making the drone after a six-month planning
and research. Once completed, the drone could be flown
up to around 25th floor of a building to launch an attack."
ABT is an al Qaeda inspired terrorist formation that crystallized
in 2013 from the remnants of the Jamaat-ul-Muslimeen.
Nevertheless,
under the sustained pressure exerted by Security Forces,
the country did not record a single major terrorist incident
(resulting in three or more fatalities) by any Islamist
terror outfit through 2014. In fact, only one violent
incident involving such groups was reported through the
year. On February 23, 2014, a Police Constable was killed
and another two Policemen were injured, as an armed gang
of 10 to 15 unidentified terrorists ambushed a prison
van that was carrying three convicted Jama'at-ul-Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists in the Trishal Sub-District
of Mymensingh District. All the three convicts managed
to escape during the ambush. Though Police arrested one
of them soon after, the whereabouts of the other two remain
unknown.
On the
other hand, a total of 96 terrorists were arrested through
2014, adding to the 163 detained in 2013. Of these 96,
43 belonged to JMB, 25 to Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), 12 to
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B),
six to Kalamaye Jamaat, five to ABT, three to Hizb-ut-Towhid
(HT), and one each to Kalema Dawat and Islamic State.
Dhaka has
also continued its campaign against an incipient Left
Wing Extremist (LWE) movement in a somewhat one-sided
battle. Through 2014, 16 LWE cadres were killed - 11 of
the Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP), three of the
Purbo Banglar Sarbahara Party (PBSP), one of the Biplobi
Communist Party (BCP), and one unidentified. No civilian
or SF fatality took place in LWE-linked violence through
2014. In 2013, a total of 25 fatalities were connected
to LWE violence, including four civilians and 21 militants.
The nation,
however, continues to face a significant threat from Islamist
extremism. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA),
investigating the October 2, 2014, accidental
blasts at Burdwan in West Bengal,
uncovered a plot by JMB to assassinate Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina Wajed and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda
Zia. According to revelations made by arrested accused
in the case, JMB was planning to establish an 'Islamic
state' in Bangladesh through armed struggle. The projected
'Islamic state' was also intended to incorporate the Districts
of Murshidabad, Nadia, and Malda in West Bengal. Referring
to the development, Bangladesh's National and Security
Intelligence (NSI) Director General, Mohammad Shamsul
Haque, observed, on December 15, 2014,
We
have largely neutralized radical groups like the
JMB or HuJI-B, but now they seem to have found sanctuaries
across the border. If we think we have neutralized
a group and sit easy, it is (a) big mistake. There
is no room for complacency. We need to closely monitor
their activities even if a few terrorists are left
in the fray. Because they may well set up bases
across the border, make fresh recruitment, acquire
weapons and plan attacks.
|
Further,
on September 5, 2014, Asim Umar, the leader of the newly
formed al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) based
in Pakistan, incited Muslims to engage in the global jihad
(holy war) and expressed his group’s determination to
extend the fighting from Pakistan to Bangladesh, Myanmar
and India. Further, a video released on November 29, 2014,
and attributed to the 'Bangladesh division' of AQIS, encouraged
Bangladeshi Muslims to come to the jihadi battlefield
and included glimpses of a base of fighters in the Afghanistan-Pakistan
region.
Threats
from the Islamic State (IS, formerly the Islamic State
of Iraq and al Sham, ISIS) are also very much a reality.
On September 29, 2014, a 24-year-old British citizen was
arrested in Dhaka city on suspicion of recruiting people
to fight alongside IS cadres in Syria. When asked about
Bangladesh’s position on the IS and the Syrian crisis,
Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali disclosed, on September
30, 2014, “We have not heard about any presence of the
[ISIS] group, but a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin
was arrested.”
Bangladesh’s
achievements on the counter-terrorism and internal security
fronts through 2014 have been remarkable. Further, over
the last few years, the WC Trials have also progressed
quite well. A note of caution, nevertheless, remains to
be sounded, as the residual capacities of subversive and
extremist elements, prominently including JeI-ICS, are
still significant, and their alliance with BNP remains
sound. Further, surviving fragments of a range of other
outfits, including JMB, HuT, HT, HuJI and ABT, also have
a potential for regrouping and fomenting violence. In
the unstable environment of South Asia and the wider Asian
region, there is little space for complacence.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
December 15-21,
2014
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
2
|
0
|
6
|
8
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
Manipur
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
6
|
Meghalaya
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Jharkhand
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Odisha
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Total (INDIA)
|
11
|
0
|
8
|
19
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
11
|
1
|
8
|
20
|
FATA
|
1
|
3
|
144
|
148
|
KP
|
141
|
5
|
16
|
162
|
Punjab
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
Sindh
|
13
|
0
|
17
|
30
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh
upgrading
counter-terrorism
capabilities,
states
NSI
Director
General
Mohammad
Shamsul
Haque:
National
and
Security
Intelligence
(NSI)
Director
General,
Mohammad
Shamsul
Haque
said
that
keeping
in
mind
global
and
regional
trends
in
terrorism,
Bangladesh
is
continuously
upgrading
its
counter-terrorism
capabilities.
BDNews,
December
15,
2014.
INDIA
Centre
reissues
guidelines
to
deal
with
terror
threats,
says
report:
The
Centre
on
December
19
reissued
a
set
of
guidelines
detailing
how
schools
can
ward
off
terror
threats
and
respond
effectively
in
the
event
of
a
terror
attack.
The
Standard
Operating
Procedures
(SOP),
last
conveyed
to
schools
through
a
CBSE
circular
dated
April
5,
2010,
advise
the
school
managements
on
how
to
deal
with
kidnapping
of
students
during
arrival/departure,
random
firing
from
the
road
near
the
school,
armed
intrusions
followed
by
hostage
taking
and
explosives
planted
on
school
premises.
Times
of
India,
December
20,
2014.
'If
Pakistan
is
serious
about
fighting
terrorism
it
should
hand
over
Hafiz
Saeed
and
Dawood
Ibrahim
to
India',
says
Union
Minister
M
Venkaiah
Naidu:
India
on
December
18,
asked
Pakistan
to
hand
over
Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT)
'founder'
and
Jamaat-ud-Dawa
(JuD)
'chief'
Hafiz
Muhammad
Saeed
and
Dawood
Ibrahim.
Union
Minister
M
Venkaiah
Naidu
said
Pakistan
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif
should
seize
the
opportunity
in
the
wake
of
terror
attack
on
Peshawar
school
and
take
bold
steps
to
combat
terrorism.
"If
Pakistan
is
serious
in
fighting
terrorism,
it
should
arrest
Hafiz
Saeed
and
Dawood
Ibrahim
and
hand
them
over
to
India...
I
hope
Nawaz
Sharif
will
seize
this
opportunity
to
take
bold
steps
against
terrorism,"
he
stated.
Times
of
India,
December
19,
2014.
'I'm
a
soldier,
I
have
no
regrets',
asserts
IS
operative
Mehdi
Masroor
Biswas:
On
December
18,
Islamic
State
(IS)
operative
Mehdi
Masroor
Biswas
asserted,
"I'm
a
soldier
and
messenger.
I
don't
regret
what
I've
done".
Mehdi
was
remanded
to
15
days
in
Police
custody
by
Special
Judge
Somaraju.
One
of
the
advocates
asked
Mehdi
outside
the
courtroom,
"Why
did
you
do
this,
man?"
Mehdi
replied
he
had
no
regrets.
Times
of
India,
December
19,
2014.
India
bans
Islamic
State:
Terror
group
Islamic
State
(IS)
has
been
banned
in
India,
Union
Home
Minister
(UHM)
Rajnath
Singh
disclosed
on
December
16."We
have
banned
this
organisation
(IS)
as
a
first
step.
I
will
like
to
inform
(the
House)
that
the
group
has
been
banned
under
Unlawful
Activities
(Prevention)
Act,"
he
said
during
the
Lok
Sabha
(Lower
House
of
Indian
Parliament)
Question
Hour.
Outlook,
December
18,
2014.
Naxals
planning
to
attack
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi,
say
Intelligence
Agencies:The
intelligence
agencies
have
got
credible
evidence
that
Naxals-[Left-Wing
Extremists
(LWEs)]
are
planning
to
attack
Prime
Minister
(PM)
Narendra
Modi
during
his
visit
to
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoists)-infested
States.
Sources
said
the
agencies
saw
video
footage
recovered
from
the
laptops
of
LWE
cadres
arrested
in
the
past
few
weeks
of
a
number
of
rallies
addressed
by
PM
Modi
in
the
run-up
to
the
Lok
Sabha
(Lower
House
of
Indian
Parliament)
polls
and
the
ongoing
polls
in
Jharkhand.
Most
of
the
footage
is
from
Chhattisgarh
and
Jharkhand
rallies.
Deccan
Chronicle,
December
15,
2014.
PAKISTAN
144
militants
and
three
SFs
among
148
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
At
least
25
militants
were
killed
and
three
soldiers
sustained
injuries
in
a
clash
at
Baghzai
check
post
in
the
Shawal
area
of
South
Waziristan
Agency
in
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
on
December
21.
Twenty
militants,
including
an
important
Uzbek
commander,
Islamuddin,
were
killed
when
the
Pakistan
Air
Force
(PAF)
jet
fighters
blitzed
their
hideouts
in
the
Akakhel,
Sepah
and
Kukikhel
areas
of
Tirah
Valley
in
Khyber
Agency
on
December
18.
At
least
10
militants
were
killed
and
two
were
seriously
injured
in
a
ground
action
at
Malak
Shaga
Nullah
near
Warwandu
Mella
and
Hossai
Nullah
in
Bajaur
Agency
on
December
18.
Three
personnel
of
Frontier
Corps
(FC)
were
killed
in
a
remote
controlled
bomb
blast
in
the
Damadola
area
in
Mamond
tehsil
(revenue
unit).
The
Director
General
Inter-Services
Public
Relations
(ISPR),
Major
General
Asim
Bajwa
on
December
17
said
Pakistan
Army
launched
20
air
strikes
including
"dynamic
targeting"
killing
57
terrorists
in
Tirah
Valley
of
Khyber
Agency.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
December
16-22,
2014.
132
children
among
148
persons
killed
in
school
carnage
in
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa:
At
least
148
persons,
including
132
children,
nine
school
staff
members
and
all
seven
suicide
attackers,
were
killed
by
when
Tehreek-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
militants
stormed
and
opened
fire
at
the
school
children
in
Army
Public
School
located
on
Warsak
Road
in
provincial
capital
Peshawar
on
December
16.
TTP
claimed
responsibility
for
the
attack
saying
that
the
attack
was
in
retaliation
to
the
military
operations
in
North
Waziristan
Agency
and
Khyber
Agency
of
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA).
"Our
six
fighters
successfully
entered
the
army
school
and
we
are
giving
them
instructions
from
outside,"
TTP
'spokesman',
Muhammad
Khorasani
said
over
phone.
The
Government,
however,
claimed
that
there
were
seven
attackers.
Dawn,
December
17,
2014.
General
Raheel
Sharif
didn't
ask
for
TTP
chief
Mullah
Fazlullah
handover,
says
Afghan
Army
chief
General
Sher
Muhammad
Karimi:
The
Afghanistan
Army
Chief
General
Sher
Muhammad
Karimi
said
on
December
19
that
his
Pakistani
counterpart
General
Raheel
Sharif
has
not
asked
for
handing
over
of
the
chief
of
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP),
Mullah
Fazlullah,
who
is
believed
to
be
hiding
in
Afghanistan.
General
Raheel
Sharif
and
Inter-Services
Intelligence
(ISI)
chief
Lieutenant
General
Rizwan
Akhtar
visited
Kabul
on
December
17,
a
day
after
the
TTP
attack
on
the
Army
Public
School
and
College
in
Peshawar.
General
Raheel
had
shared
"vital
elements
of
intelligence
with
concerned
authorities,
with
regard
to
the
Peshawar
incident,"
the
Army
spokesman
had
said.
However,
the
Afghan
Army
Chief
said
that
the
top
Pakistani
military
officials
didn't
ask
for
custody
of
Mullah
Fazlullah.
"They
didn't
mention
Mullah
Fazlullah.
He
doesn't
live
in
Afghanistan
and
we
are
not
sheltering
him,"
General
Karimi
said.
Tribune,
December
22,
2014.
US
may
not
target
Mullah
Omar
after
this
year,
says
Pentagon
spokesman
Rear
Admiral
John
Kirby:
The
United
States
has
said
that
after
January
2,
US
forces
in
Afghanistan
will
not
target
Mullah
Omar
and
other
Taliban
leaders
unless
they
posed
a
direct
threat
to
the
US.
"Being
a
member
of
the
Taliban
doesn't
mean
that
the
United
States
is
going
to
prosecute
operations
against
you
for
that
reason
alone,"
Pentagon
spokesman
Rear
Admiral
John
Kirby
told
a
recent
news
briefing
in
Washington.
But
he
also
drew
a
line
between
combatant
and
non-combatant
Taliban,
saying
that
those
who
continued
to
fight
would
not
be
spared.
"We've
also
concurred
that
a
member
of
the
Taliban
who
undertakes
missions
against
us
or
our
Afghan
partners
-
by
that
act
alone,
renders
himself
vulnerable
and
liable
to
US
action,"
Rear
Admiral
Kirby
said.
Dawn,
December
22,
2014.
LeT
'commander'
Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi
granted
bail,
detained
subsequently:
A
day
after
an
Anti-Terrorism
Court
(ATC)
granted
bail
to
Lashker-e-Toiba
(LeT)
''commander''
Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi,
the
mastermind
of
the
2008
Mumbai
(Maharashtra)
terror
attacks
(26/11),
the
Government
detained
him
under
Maintenance
of
Public
Order
(MPO)
on
December
19.
Lakhvi
was
granted
bail
by
ATC
Judge
Syed
Kausar
Abbas
Zaidi
against
submission
of
surety
bonds
worth
PKR
0.5
million.
The
News,
December
20,
2014.
Military
courts
being
set
up
for
trial
of
terrorists,
says
Minister
of
Defense
Khwaja
Asif:
Minister
for
Defence
Khwaja
Asif
on
December
19
said
that
military
courts
were
being
established
for
trials
of
terrorism-related
cases.
He
said
that
the
Government
had
consciously
decided
to
lift
the
moratorium
on
capital
punishment,
adding
that
carrying
out
of
death
penalty
against
terrorists
would
begin
soon.
He
said
that
the
process
of
establishing
military
courts
for
the
purpose
of
trying
terror
suspects
was
already
underway.
"There
will
be
no
discrimination
in
the
carrying
out
convictions
of
terrorists
who
have
been
sentenced
to
death
and
whose
appeals
have
been
rejected,"
he
added.
Daily
Times,
December
20,
2014.
If
any
of
our
associates
is
harmed,
we
will
avenge
ourselves
by
targeting
your
children,
TTP
threatens
politicians:
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
in
a
threatening
letter
on
December
19
warned
the
Federal
Government
that
it
will
start
eliminating
children
of
politicians,
including
Sharif''s
family,
and
Army
officers,
if
the
Pakistan
Government
keeps
its
commitment
to
hang
militants
owing
allegiance
to
the
terror
outfit.
The
letter
was
received
by
Pakistan
authorities
on
December
19,
2014.
Sources
said
that
they
were
trying
to
verify
if
the
letter
was
genuine.
The
letter
justified
the
killing
of
young
children
saying
the
kids
were
committed
to
following
in
the
footsteps
of
their
parents.
Times
of
India,
December
20,
2014.
Operation
Zarb-e-Azb
expanded
against
terrorists,
abettors:
The
top
civil
and
military
leadership
on
December
19
resolved
to
expand
the
ongoing
military
Operation
Zarb-e-Azb
and
take
forceful
action
against
terrorists
and
their
abettors.
The
resolve
was
made
in
a
meeting
of
the
civil
and
military
leadership
chaired
by
Prime
Minister
(PM)
Nawaz
Sharif
at
the
General
Headquarters
(GHQ).
The
Chief
of
the
Army
Staff,
General
Raheel
Sharif,
and
other
senior
military
and
civil
officials
attended
the
meeting.
The
News,
December
20,
2014.
Umar
Mansoor
was
the
mastermind
of
the
Peshawar
school
attack:
Umar
Mansoor,
a
key
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
commander
and
a
close
aid
of
Mullah
Fazlullah
was
the
mastermind
of
December
16
militants'
attack
on
Peshawar
Army
Public
School.
A
video
posted
on
December
18
on
a
website
used
by
the
TTP
shows
a
man
with
a
luxuriant
chest-length
beard,
holding
an
admonishing
finger
aloft
as
he
seeks
to
justify
the
December
16
attack.
The
caption
identified
him
as
Umar
Mansoor.
"If
our
women
and
children
die
as
martyrs,
your
children
will
not
escape,"
he
said.
"We
will
fight
against
you
in
such
a
style
that
you
attack
us
and
we
will
take
revenge
on
innocents."
Tribune,
December
20,
2014.
Pakistan,
Afghanistan,
US
agree
on
anti-Taliban
operations:
Pakistan,
Afghanistan
and
the
US-led
International
Security
Assistance
Force
(ISAF)
have
agreed
to
launch
a
trilateral
operation
against
Taliban
on
both
sides
of
the
Pak-Afghan
border,
a
senior
Pakistani
official
said
on
December
19.
"It
will
be
a
coordinated
trilateral
operation
launched
jointly
by
Pakistan,
Afghanistan
and
ISAF
on
both
sides
of
the
border,"
National
Security
Adviser
Sartaj
Aziz
told
The
Anadolu
Agency's
Turkish
service
in
an
exclusive
interview.
Daily
Times,
December
20,
2014.
US
President
Barack
Obama
grants
USD
one
billion
to
Pakistan:
The
United
States
(US)
President
Barack
Obama
on
December
19
signed
an
annual
defence
Policy
Bill
which
grants
USD
one
billion
to
Pakistan
for
the
expenses
made
by
its
Army
in
support
of
the
US
military
operations
in
war-torn
Afghanistan.
The
National
Defence
Authorization
Act
for
the
fiscal
year
2015,
signed
by
Barack
Obama,
sets
overall
defence
spending
at
USD
578
billion
which
has
provision
for
release
of
Coalition
Support
Fund
amounting
to
USD
one
billion
to
Pakistan.
Times
of
India,
December
20,
2014.
14,115
persons
in
terrorism-related
cases
acquitted
in
four
years,
reveals
Federal
Ministry
for
Interior:
At
least
14,115
persons
have
been
acquitted
in
terrorism-related
cases
by
the
Anti-Terrorism
Courts
between
2008
and
2012
while
some
10,387
people
booked
in
similar
cases
were
granted
bail
during
this
period,
according
to
the
data
compiled
by
Federal
Ministry
for
Interior
to
formulate
National
Internal
Security
Policy
2014-2018
reveals.
The
policy
says
that
the
criminal
justice
system
is
ill-equipped
in
dealing
with
the
internal
security
threats.
Inability
to
successfully
prosecute
cases
of
terrorism
remains
a
matter
of
serious
concern.
The
News,
December
19,
2014.
Hang
3,000
terrorists
in
48
hours,
announces
CoAS
General
Raheel
Sharif
on
his
Twitter
account:
Chief
of
Army
Staff
(CoAS)
General
Raheel
Sharif
on
December
17
tweeted,
"Asked
PM
Nawaz
Sharif
to
hang
all
terrorists.
More
than
3,000
terrorists
should
be
hanged
in
next
48
hours".
He
announced,
"Enough
is
enough,
now
strict
action
should
be
taken
against
those
who
speak
in
favour
of
terrorists."
He
further
announced
on
Twitter
that
the
army
"has
launched
massive
air
strikes
in
Khyber
on
the
intelligence
reports.
More
than
10
air
strikes
have
been
carried
out
in
last
1
hour."
Times
of
India,
December
19,
2014.
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
Government
warns
of
'massive
jailbreak'
attempt:
The
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
(KP)
Government
issued
a
threat
alert
on
December
18,
warning
that
militants
could
stage
a
'massive'
prison
break
in
the
province
in
addition
to
targeting
more
schools
in
the
province
following
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif's
announcement
ending
moratorium
on
the
death
penalty
in
terror-related
cases.
The
KP
Home
and
Tribal
Affairs
sent
a
communiqué
carrying
the
warning
to
all
deputy
commissioners
and
central
and
district
jails
across
the
province,
officials
said.
Tribune,
December
19,
2014.
Now
no
distinction
between
'good
and
bad
Taliban',
says
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif:
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif
on
December
17
said
that
there
is
now
no
distinction
between
'good
and
bad
Taliban'
and
that
the
country
was
united
to
fight
the
menace
of
terrorism.
"This
conference
expresses
profound
grief
over
the
tragedy
which
has
no
equal
in
history…Terrorism
and
the
fight
against
extremism
is
our
fight."To
defeat
it
we
must
unite…our
armed
forces
have
given
many
sacrifices
to
defeat
terrorists
and
root
out
their
hideouts,"
the
Prime
Minister
said,
adding,
"This
fight
will
continue
until
all
terrorists
are
defeated".
Dawn,
December
18,
2014.
Conviction
rate
slow
in
Anti-Terrorism
Courts
in
Rawalpindi
and
Islamabad:
The
lack
of
progress
on
tackling
terrorism
is
evident
from
the
fact
that
in
2014,
the
conviction
rate
in
the
three
Anti-Terrorism
Court's
(ATCs)
of
the
twin
cities
of
Rawalpindi
and
Islamabad
remained
low.
In
the
two
ATCs
of
Rawalpindi,
205
cases
were
heard
but
there
were
convictions
in
less
than
ten.
However,
even
this
was
a
success
compared
to
the
Islamabad
ATC
which
did
not
convict
a
single
accused.
Dawn,
December
18,
2014.
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif
lifts
moratorium
on
capital
punishment:
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif
on
December
17
lifted
the
moratorium
on
executions
and
allowed
capital
punishment
for
those
sentenced
to
death
in
the
cases
of
terrorism.
Sources
said
that
Prime
Minister
lifted
the
ban
on
capital
punishment
of
convicted
terrorists
on
the
demand
of
Army
Chief
made
in
a
meeting
in
Peshawar
on
December
16,
2014.
Implementation
on
the
death
penalty
if
convicted
terrorists
will
start
within
48
hours.
Chief
of
Army
Staff
(CoAS)
General
Raheel
Sharif
suggested
to
PM
Nawaz
to
lift
ban
on
all
the
terrorists
serving
time
in
jail
whereas
similar
sentiments
were
expressed
by
prominent
political
figures
through
social
media.
More
than
8,000
prisoners
were
sentenced
to
death
by
the
courts
but
the
punishment
was
not
implemented
as
capital
punishment
was
barred
in
the
country.
Daily
Times,
December
18,
2014.
SRI
LANKA
'After
27
years,
we
gave
you
an
election',
says
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa:
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
addressing
an
election
campaign
rally
in
Mullaitivu
District
on
December
18
said
"After
27
years,
we
gave
you
an
election.
You
all
elected
your
members.
This
election
will
decide
a
leader
for
the
country".
Speaking
further
President
Rajapaksa
said
the
Government
has
done
a
massive
amount
of
work
to
rebuild
the
war-torn
area
and
uplift
the
lives
of
the
people
in
the
North.
Among
other
initiatives
to
improve
their
livelihood,
the
Government
has
provided
self-employment
loans
for
430
ex-Liberation
Tigers
of
Tamil
Eelam
(LTTE)
cadres
of
Mullaitivu,
he
noted.
Colombo
Page,
December
19,
2014.
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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