| |
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 14, No. 6, August 10, 2015
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
|
Nagaland:
Tentative Accord
Ajai
Sahni
Editor, SAIR; Executive Director, Institute
for Conflict Management & South Asia Terrorism
Portal
A ‘historic
accord’ was signed between the Government of India and
the largest rebel Naga group, the National Socialist Council
of Nagalim – Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM)
on August 3, 2015, at once raising hopes and apprehensions
against the context of what has been India’s most enduring
insurgency. While few details of the actual contents of
the agreement are yet available, the Centre’s principal
interlocutor R.N. Ravi has clarified that the ‘accord’
is, in fact, a “framework agreement” that spells out the
terms of a “final settlement”. Reports suggest that such
a final settlement would be worked out in three months,
and would exclude any claims to sovereignty or alterations
in state boundaries.
There can
be little doubt that, coming after nearly 18 years of
negotiations under ceasefire, this accord has major significance.
That it has happened under the leadership of the Narendra
Modi Government, with R.N. Ravi as the Centre’s interlocutor,
and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval guiding the process,
the credit will naturally go to the current dispensation.
Nevertheless, it is useful to recognize that this is,
at best, a no doubt big step in a journey on which several
successive regimes had already covered many miles.
A release
issued by the Prime Minister’s office on August 3, 2015,
claimed that the Agreement would “end the oldest insurgency
in the country… restore peace and pave the way for prosperity
in the Northeast”, that it made an “honourable settlement”
possible”, and that the “NSCN was represented by its entire
collective leadership and senior leaders of various Naga
tribes.”
The August
3 Agreement is far from a conclusive resolution of the
‘Naga problem’. There are still several armed factions
that will need to be accommodated before the ‘Nagaland
problem’ can be said to have been ‘resolved’, and at least
some of these will be tempted to escalate violence in
the immediate future, partially to increase their ‘leverage’
in future negotiations, and partly to occupy the militant
‘space’ purportedly vacated by NSCN-IM’s accord.
The Congress
party has launched a campaign of rather strident, churlish
and at least occasionally mischievous criticism of the
accord, with party President Sonia Gandhi declaring that,
since the ‘States had not been taken into confidence’,
the accord was ‘insulting to the States and people of
the Northeast’. The reality is, while details of the accord
are yet to be disclosed, it is unlikely to deviate substantially
from the underlying principles established under previous
regimes, and would essentially reflect a continuity of
efforts. Over 80 rounds of talks have been held between
the Government and NSCN-IM leadership over the past 18
years. Through this process, the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) Government led by the Congress did not ‘take the
States into confidence’ any more than the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) regime has, and that is the nature of such
negotiations. The accord is expected to contain the basic
provisions that have crystallized over the past years,
specifically, that the immediate deal will relate only
to the territory of Nagaland, and that other territorial
claims of the ‘greater Nagalim’ will be resolved consensually
through dialogue with the neighbouring states. It is likely
that the deal will pave the way to an election where the
NSCN-IM or a successor political party will be facilitated
to secure power through polls. The Congress party’s problem
is sour grapes, because they weren’t able to push the
deal to a conclusion during their tenure – though they
were many occasions when a settlement was believed to
be tantalizingly within reach.
There are,
nevertheless, several aspects of the present Agreement
that are troubling. Among these are the circumstances
under which it is said to have been signed. The process
is said to have been accelerated on the request of Isak
Chisi Swu, NSCN-IM ‘chairman’, who is critically ill in
a Delhi hospital, and wished to see the agreement signed
in his lifetime, with several unsettled issues papered
over.
At least
some of this is already coming to the fore. Thus, NSCN-IM
‘kilo kilonser’ (‘home minister’) R.H. Raising has asserted,
“we have agreed to share sovereign power with each other”
and that “integration will be in the (final) agreement”.
The ‘integration’ of all Naga dominated areas in neighbouring
States is a sore point that led to widespread
violence in Manipur in 2001,
simply because the ceasefire with the NSCN-IM had been
extended “without territorial limits”, an arrangement
that had to be quickly reversed thereafter.
Further
disturbing the projection of a wide consensus, Joyson
Mazamo, Member Secretary of the Committee on Naga Political
Affairs (CONPA) of the Naga Hoho, the influential apex
body of the Naga tribes, insisted that “The IM group does
not represent the entire Nagas” though he conceded that
the group “enjoyed popular support.” However, he argued
“We want integration and want all arbitrary boundaries
removed.” The Naga National Council’s (NNC’s) President,
Adino Phizo has declared, “Nagas are not Indians and Nagaland
is not Indian territory”. Similar statements reflecting
skepticism or hostility have come from a number of political
formations.
There will,
moreover, be renewed ferment among various armed Naga
factions. The ‘final agreement’ with NSCN-IM would naturally
and overwhelmingly favour this group and, at the same
time, vacate a vast dissenting space which other groups
– most significantly NSCN-K, but also the lesser formations,
such as NSCN-Khole Kitovi, NSCN-Reformation, NSCN-Reunification,
Naga National Council (NNC), Zeliangrong United Front
and Zeliangrong Revolutionary Army, among others – will
attempt to occupy. The contours of the final arrangement
are already crystallizing, with Nagaland Chief Minister
T.R. Zeliang declaring “I along with all members of the
Nagaland Assembly are ready to step down, if an acceptable
and honourable solution is found to the Naga people (sic),
in order to make a new beginning.”
This is
unlikely to satisfy the many other armed factions that
are jostling for a place on the high table. NSCN-IM’s
most irreconcilable adversary, NSCN-Khaplang, has already
rejected the deal, with Niki Sumi, its ‘military supervisor
(west)’, asserting that it was the ‘sole prerogative’
of NSCN-IM to ‘arrive at any kind of conclusion’ and was
intended ‘exclusively’ for that group. Sumi declared,
further, that the Nagas’ struggle for ‘sovereignty was
an international political conflict between nations”,
that “we do not recognize international boundaries” and
insisted on ‘the intrinsic ideal of a compact Naga nation
comprising every Naga-inhabited area as historically established.’
The NSCN-IM
is, of course, by far the largest of armed factions, with
an estimated cadre strength in 2012 of 5,600 based in
nine designated camps in Nagaland. Another 100 cadres
are located across the border in the Chittagong Hill Tract
(CHT) region of Bangladesh. While the group has not engaged
in violent activities targeting civilians or SF personnel
for some time, one clash in December 2013 resulted in
two civilian fatalities, and three Army personnel were
killed and four were wounded in an ambush on April 2,
2015, in which NSCN-IM cadres are suspected to be involved.
Nevertheless, the group has been involved in relentless
turf
wars with NSCN-K and, increasingly,
with ZUF. Other Naga factions have had violent mutual
rivalries, and there is little reason to believe that
a quick consensus can be reached if the Centre is able
to resolve its problems with NSCN-IM.
Further,
the possibilities of a split within IM cannot be ruled
out. IM was, itself, born out of a peace deal: the Shillong
Accord with NNC in 1975, which some elements refused to
accept, and came to create the then unified NSCN. When
the loaves and cakes have been distributed, there will
be many who feel they have lost out; it remains to be
seen what they would do. The NSCN-IM does not represent
the consensual leadership of all Naga tribes, and it is
useful to recall that S.S. Khaplang broke away from the
unified NSCN in 1988 along tribal fault lines, then claiming
leadership of the Hemi, Ao and Konyak Nagas; even as the
ZUF and ZRA were created in 2011 to represent the Zeme,
Liangmai and Rongmei Nagas. Isak Chisi Swu is a Sema Naga
with his principal support base among his own tribesmen,
while Thuingaleng Muivah has his political roots among
the Thangkul tribe; the NSCN-IM leadership is far from
representative of the kaleidoscope of Naga tribes, of
which 35 are listed among the Scheduled Tribes under Article
342 of the Constitution, and this has often given rise
to resentment.
Things
are also likely to come to a head on the question of dismantling
the NSCN-IM camps, of demobilizing and disarming its armed
cadre, and of terminating the parallel ‘security’, ‘administration’
and ‘taxation’ networks long operated by NSCN-IM. Crucially,
IM cadres are likely to plead that, unless all other Naga
groups are disarmed, they will need to retain their capacities
to defend themselves. Such a position, however, would
lead to a perpetuation of an unacceptable status quo
on the ground.
The deal
with the NSCN-IM is also of critical importance for the
insurgencies across the Northeast, because the group had
become an opportunistic
facilitator for a number of other
insurgent formations in the region, and all these will
suffer as a consequence of the loss of underground support
from the IM faction. This may, however, mean that Khaplang
will gain in influence. Nevertheless, the much larger
infrastructure and capacities of the IM group would now,
hopefully, be lost to the other surviving insurgencies
in the region as well.
The peace
process in Nagaland has dragged on for decades and has
produced a succession of imperfect settlements. The NSCN-Reformation
group, while welcoming the Centre’s accord with NSCN-IM
with “high hopes” cautioned against to the “vast experience
of failed accords and agreements in the past”. This tempered
optimism is the only rational approach to perhaps the
most complex and intractable of internal conflicts in
India.
|
Islamist
Backlash, Measured Justice
S.
Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On August
7, 2015, Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy alias Niloy
Neel (28), a secular blogger and a Gonojagoron Mancha
(People's Resurgence Platform) activist was hacked to
death at his Goran residence in the Khilgaon area of the
national capital, Dhaka, in broad daylight. Later in the
evening, a group identifying itself as Ansar-al-Islam,
Bangladesh chapter of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-continent
(AQIS), claimed responsibility for the murder in an email
sent out to almost all media outlets. The email declared:
“Alhamdulillah! Mujahidin of Ansar-al-Islam (AQIS, Bangladesh
Branch) carried out an operation to slaughter an enemy
of Allah and His Messenger (peace & blessings be upon
him), whose name is Niloy Chowdhury Neel.”
Niloy is
the fourth blogger to be killed in 2015 by suspected Islamist
terrorists. Earlier suspected extremists had killed three
secular bloggers and writers in three
separate incidents: on May 12, 2015, Ananta Bijoy Das
(32), a progressive writer, blogger, editor of science
fiction magazine Jukti, and an organizer of Gonojagoron
Mancha, was hacked to death, using machetes, by four
assailants at Subidbazar Bankolapara residential area
of Sylhet city in Sylhet District; on March 30, 2015,
another blogger and online activist, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu
(27), was hacked to death in broad daylight in Dhaka city
for his allegedly atheist views; and on February 26, 2015,
Bangladesh-born American citizen blogger Avijit Roy (42),
the founder of the Mukta-mona.com blog, was hacked to
death in Dhaka city. Investigations into these cases later
confirmed that that Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT,
Volunteer of Allah Bangla Team), a terrorist outfit linked
with AQIS, organized the killing of these writers for
their position ‘against Islam’.
These killings
are, in some measure, a reaction to the assertiveness
demonstrated by the Government led by Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina Wajed, as a result of which the threat from Islamist
terrorism in Bangladesh has been minimized. Significantly,
various Islamist terrorist and extremist formations had
been operating menacingly across the country before Wajed
coming to power in 2009. The Government’s sustained efforts,
since, have led to widespread anxiety among the extremists,
who now find their very existence under threat.
The speed
and efficacy of the War Crimes Trials (WCTs) is another
worrying factor for the radicals within Bangladesh, who
once enjoyed state support under the predecessor regime
led by Begum Khaleda Zia. Significantly, on August 5,
2015, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) fixed
August 11 for the delivery of its verdict in the case
against two of the three Razakar (an auxiliary
force of the Pakistan Army during the Liberation War)
leaders – Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias Siraj Kosai
and Khan Akram Hossain – for genocidal crimes against
Hindus in Bagerhat District during the Liberation War
in 1971. The tribunal dropped charges against the third
accused, Abdul Latif Talukder, since he had died at the
Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on July 28, 2015.
The trio had been indicted on November 5, 2014, on eight
charges. Siraj Kosai was indicted on four charges – for
the killing of over 600 Hindus in Rampal; the killing
of 50 Hindus in Ranjitpur; the abduction and killing of
19 persons at Besargati and Kandapara; and the killing
of seven at Chulkathi. Two common charges were brought
against three – for the killing of 47 Hindus; while one
charge each was separately laid against Khan Akram and
Latif for the forcible conversion of 200 Hindus at Shakharikathi
and the killing of freedom fighter Fazlur Rahman Shikder
on December 13, 1971, respectively.
On July
16, 2015, ICT-2 had sentenced Forkan Malik (65), a member
of the then anti-liberation party, Muslim League (ML),
to death
for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
The tribunal found Forkan guilty in three of five charges
framed against him. Of the three charges, Forkan was given
the death sentence on two – the brutal rape and killing
of Golapi Rani Saha, a teenage Hindu girl, at Subidkhali
village of Patuakhali District on August 17, 1971; and
the rape of Aleya Begum and killing of her father and
two other civilians in Kakarbunia village on August 22,
1971. He was given life imprisonment for raping two Hindu
women in Subidkhali village and forcing them to leave
the village for India on August 20, 1971. However, he
was acquitted of two charges for lack of evidence – for
killing four people, including two local Awami League
(AL) leaders in Mirzaganj upazila (sub-District)
on August 12, 1971; and for forcing three Hindu siblings
to accept Islam, who later left the country.
On June
9, 2015, ICT-1 had awarded the death
sentence to Syed Muhamad Hasan Ali
(65) aka “Razakar Daroga (Head of Razakar ‘police’
unit)”, an alleged commander of the Tarail Razakar
unit in Kishoreganj District and a member of another then
anti-liberation party, Nezam-e-Islami (NeI), for his crimes
against humanity during the Liberation War. Hasan was
found guilty on five of six charges brought against him.
He was sentenced to death on two charges – for killing
12 Hindus and torching 10 houses at Shimulhati village
on September 9, 1971; and for killing eight people and
the abduction of another 10 in Borgaon village on September
27, 1971. He was sentenced to life terms until death on
three charges – for killing a villager, Tofazzal, abduction
of two others and burning two houses at Konabhawal village
on August 23, 1971; for abduction and murder of Kamini
Kumar Ghosh and Jibon Chakravarty and looting the Ghosh
house at Araiura village on October 8, 1971; and for the
killing of villager Rashid Ali Bepari and the torching
of 100 houses at Sachail village on December 11, 1971.
The tribunal relieved him of the charge of torching and
looting seven houses at Sachail village on April 27, 1971.
Earlier,
on May 20, 2015, ICT-2 awarded life
imprisonment to Mahidur Rahman (84)
and Ashraf Hossain Chutu (65), active members of ML who
later turned into Razakar leaders, for their involvement
in crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
The tribunal found Mahidur and Chutu guilty on two of
the three charges leveled against them, awarding imprisonment
until death for the abduction of 39 villagers from Chandshikari,
Chamatola, Kabirajtola and Eradot Biswasertola under Shibganj
upazila of Chapainawabganj District and killing
24 of them on October 6, 1971, and October 7, 1971. They
were sentenced to a five-year prison term on the second
charge of attacking and burning down houses after looting
them in Kabirajtola and Eradot Biswasertola villages on
October 13, 1971. The third charge of attacking the houses
of Kalumuddin Mondol, Abdur Rashid, Gajal and Ilias Mondol
of Sherpur Bhandar village and torturing them on November
2, 1971, was dropped as the duo had already been sentenced
under the 1972 Collaborators Act on the same charge.
Thus far,
the two ICTs have indicted 27 leaders including 13 from
Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), six from ML, four from Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) and two each from NeI and Jatiya
Party (JP). Verdicts against 22 of them have already been
delivered – 16 were awarded the death penalty, while the
remaining six received life sentences. Of the 16 who received
the death sentence, JeI Assistant Secretary Abdul Quader
Mollah (65), who had earned the sobriquet ‘Mirpurer
Koshai (Butcher of Mirpur)’, was hanged
on December 12, 2013, and JeI Senior Assistant Secretary
General Mohammed Kamaruzzaman (63), was hanged
on April 11, 2015. Eight cases are currently pending with
the Appellate Division of the SC, including that of JeI
Ameer (Chief) Motiur Rahman Nizami; JeI Nayeb-e-Ameer
(Deputy Chief) Abdus Subhan; JeI Secretary General Ali
Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed; JeI Assistant Secretary General
ATM Azharul Islam; JeI central executive committee member
Mir Quasem Ali; Mobarak Hossain, former AL general secretary
of Mogra union and a rukon (union member) of the
JeI and Razakar commander; former State Minister
of HM Ershad's Government Syed Mohammad Qaisar; and Forkan
Malik, a member of the then-ML. The case of BNP standing
committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury (66), which
was also pending with the Appellate Division of the SC,
was decided on July 29, 2015, when the SC upheld his death
sentence. On October 1, 2013, ICT-1 had sentenced Salauddin
to death after proving his involvement in nine of 23 charges
beyond reasonable doubt. However, on October 29, 2013,
Salahuddin again appealed to the SC against the verdict,
seeking acquittal on all charges. Meanwhile, immediately
after the July 29, 2015, SC verdict upholding his death
penalty, Gonojagoron Mancha demanded the immediate
execution of the verdict. Gonojagoron Mancha spokesperson
Imran H. Sarkar argued, “The evil force and conspiracy
against the country has been destroyed through the verdict."
The remaining
five death penalties are in absentia, and include Abul
Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar, former Al-Badr
leader and JeI member; Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Khan alias
Nayeb Ali and Chowdhury Mueenuddin, former Al-Badr leaders
and JeI members; Zahid Hossain Khokon alias Khokon,
vice-president of BNP's Nagarkanda unit and a Razakar
commander of Faridpur District; and Syed Muhamad Hasan
Ali, commander of the Tarail Razakar unit in Kishoreganj
District and a member of NeI. Out of six persons who were
awarded life sentences, two persons have already died
serving their sentence – former JeI Ameer Ghulam
Azam (91), who died on October 23, 2014; and former BNP
minister Abdul Alim (83), who died on August 30, 2014.
JeI Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee is lodged
in Kashimpur Central jail of Gazipur District; Mahidur
Rahman (84) and Ashraf Hossain Chutu (65), active members
of the then-ML are lodged in Dhaka Central Jail; and former
JP Member of Parliament (MP) Abdul Jabbar was sentenced
in absentia.
Vowing
to execute all war crimes trial verdicts, Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina Wajed declared, on April 15, 2015, "Two
war crimes trial verdicts (one against Abdul Quader Mollah
and another against Mohammed Kamaruzzaman) have already
been executed, Inshaallah, we'll execute the rest of the
verdicts, no matter what barriers come. We'll move ahead
and seek cooperation of all, including the media personalities,
in this regard." Meanwhile, on July 16, 2015, Law
Minister Anisul Huq announced, “The two International
Crimes Tribunals will be merged into one after their judges’
return to the country from a conference in Argentina.”
The six judges of the two tribunals are to attend a two-week
international conference in Argentina to share their experience
of holding war crimes’ trials and are expected to return
towards the end of August. The AL-led Government formed
ICT-1 on March 25, 2010, in line with the party's electoral
pledge to try people who committed crimes against humanity
during the Liberation War. Furthermore, the Government
constituted ICT-2 on March 22, 2012, to expedite the trial
process. Each tribunal consists of a Chairman and two
other members.
The Islamists
have been pushed back decisively in Bangladesh, but latent
capacities remain, and a backlash is building up as greater
and greater pressure is exerted on them by the state.
The succession of brutal killings of bloggers constitute
high visibility soft target attacks intended to destabilize
the situation and draw recruits into new Islamist formations,
even as the older groups lose leadership and cadres to
the relentless judicial and enforcement processes initiated
by the Sheikh Hasina regime. Enormous gains have been
registered by this regime in Bangladesh, but vulnerabilities
persist, particularly as the global environment unravels,
and Islamist terrorism assumes new and fearsome forms
across wide areas of the world.
|
Weekly Fatalities:
Major Conflicts in South Asia
August 3-9, 2015
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
|
Islamist Terrorism
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
INDIA
|
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
7
|
Manipur
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Left-Wing
Extremism
|
|
Maharashtra
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Total (INDIA)
|
1
|
4
|
4
|
9
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
FATA
|
0
|
1
|
24
|
25
|
Punjab
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
Sindh
|
10
|
1
|
0
|
11
|
PAKISTAN
(Total)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
BANGLADESH
Secular
blogger
Niladri
Chattopadhyay
Niloy
hacked
to
death
in
Dhaka
city:
On
August
7,
2015,
Niladri
Chattopadhyay
Niloy
alias
Niloy
Neel
(28),
a
secular
blogger
and
a
Gonojagoron
Mancha
(People's
Resurgence
Platform)
activist
was
hacked
to
death
at
his
Goran
house
in
Khilgaon
area
of
Dhaka
city
in
broad
daylight.
Later
in
the
evening,
a
group
identifying
itself
as
Ansar
Al
Islam,
Bangladesh
chapter
of
Al-Qaeda
in
the
Indian
Sub-continent
(AQIS),
claimed
the
responsibility
for
the
murder
in
an
email
sent
out
to
almost
all
media
outlets.
Daily
Star,
August
8,
2015.
INDIA
Terror
claimed
lives
of
over
200
defence
personnel
since
2012,
says
Defence
Minister
Manohar
Parrikar:
Defence
Minister
Manohar
Parrikar,
in
a
written
reply
in
Lok
Sabha
(lower
house
of
Parliament),
said
that
over
200
defence
personnel
have
been
killed
due
to
insurgency,
terrorism
and
cross
border
firing
in
the
country
since
2012.
Parrikar
said
that
61
were
martyred
in
2012,
54
in
2013,
56
in
2014
and
in
2015,
till
August
3,
30
have
been
killed.
Times
of
India,
August
8,
2015.
FICNs
worth
INR
1364.3
million
seized
in
three
years,
says
Union
Minister
of
State
for
Finance
Jayant
Sinha:
Union
Minister
of
State
for
Finance,
Jayant
Sinha
on
August
4
said
in
Rajya
Sabha
(Upper
House
of
Parliament)
that
more
than
2.73
million
pieces
of
Fake
Indian
Currency
Notes
(FICNs),
with
face
value
of
INR
1364.3
million,
were
seized
in
three
years
(2012-2014).
Replying
to
a
question
in
Rajya
Sabha,
Jayant
Sinha
said
that
in
order
to
stay
ahead
of
the
counterfeiters,
the
government
has
recently
introduced
revised
numbering
pattern
in
all
denominations.
Business
Standard,
August
5,
2015.
Keralite
youth
in
Islamic
State
(IS)
fold,
says
Police:
The
Intelligence
Wing
of
the
Kerala
Police
has
confirmed
that
a
youth
from
the
state
has
joined
the
Islamic
State
(IS).
Officials
who
refused
to
share
the
whereabouts
of
the
person
said
he
had
been
working
in
the
Middle
East
before
joining
the
militant
group
a
year
ago.
"The
information
is
reasonably
confirmed.
He
is
reported
to
have
lived
in
Syria
and
Iraq
afterwards,"
the
officials
said.
Though
there
are
reports
that
two
other
Keralites
too
joined
the
group,
the
Police
said
they
were
yet
to
receive
reliable
information
in
this
regard.
New
Indian
Express,
August
4,
2015.
26/11
Mumbai
attack
planned
&
launched
from
Pakistan,
says
retired
Pakistani
official:
In
deeply
embarrassing
disclosures
for
Pakistan,
its
chief
investigator
of
the
26/11
Mumbai
terror
attacks
has
stated
that
the
mayhem
was
planned
and
launched
from
this
country
and
that
the
operation
was
directed
from
an
ops
room
in
Karachi
(Pakistan).
Tariq
Khosa,
a
top
police
officer
who
was
made
Director
General
of
the
Federal
Investigation
Agency
(FIA)
weeks
after
the
26/11
Mumbai
terror
attacks,
has
written
a
revealing
article
in
Dawn
newspaper
giving
graphic
details
of
the
plot
and
its
investigation,
thereby
confirming
what
India
has
been
saying
for
long.
Economic
Times,
August
5,
2015.
ISI
trying
to
push
militants
to
attack
India's
hinterland,
according
to
Intelligence
inputs:
Pakistan's
Inter-Services
Intelligence
(ISI)
has
intensified
its
attempts
to
push
terrorists
into
India
to
carry
out
terror
strike
in
hinterland,
official
sources
said
on
August
6.
Quoting
intelligence
inputs,
they
said,
there
have
been
intensified
attempts
of
infiltration
by
militants
from
across
the
border
in
recent
past.
All
these
attempts
were
being
made
at
the
behest
of
ISI
with
the
objective
of
carrying
out
terror
attacks
in
the
hinterland,
sources
added.
Times
of
India,
August
7,
2015.
Terror
strike
in
Udhampur
is
part
of
persistent
attempts
by
terrorists
from
Pakistan
to
vitiate
peaceful
atmosphere
in
J&K,
says
UHM
Rajnath
Singh:Union
Home
Minister
(UHM)
Rajnath
Singh
making
a
suo
moto
statement
in
both
Houses
of
Parliament
on
August
6
said
that
the
terror
strike
in
Udhampur
is
a
part
of
persistent
attempts
by
terrorists
from
Pakistan
to
vitiate
the
peaceful
atmosphere
in
Jammu
and
Kashmir
(J&K).
"The
Government
remains
committed
to
combating
terrorism
with
a
strong
resolve
and
ensuring
the
safety
and
security
of
our
citizens
and
our
security
personnel,"
he
said
in
the
identical
statements
made
in
Rajya
Sabha
(Upper
House)
and
Lok
Sabha
(Lower
House).
Daily
Excelsior,
August
7,
2015.
Maoists
making
inroads
into
urban
areas
of
the
State,
admits
Maharashtra
CM
Devendra
Fadnavis:
Chief
Minister
(CM)
Devendra
Fadnavis,
who
also
holds
the
Home
portfolio,
told
Maharashtra
Legislative
Council
that
the
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
cadres
are
trying
to
create
base
in
Mumbai-Nashik-Pune
belt.
"It
has
come
to
light
that
in
the
urban
and
industrial
belts
in
these
areas,
the
Maoists
are
trying
to
clandestinely
propagate
their
ideology
and
are
creating
an
impression
that
they
are
raising
their
voice
on
Dalit
issues
and
attracting
Dalit
youth
to
the
Maoist
movement,"
admitted
CM
Fadnavis.
DNA,
August
5,
2015.
Wipe
out
extremist
ideologies
from
State,
GoI
tells
Assam
Police:
Union
Ministry
of
Home
Affairs
(UMHA)
has
asked
the
Assam
Police
to
launch
a
'counter-radicalization'
programme
to
eliminate
fundamentalist
extremist
ideologies
in
the
state.
The
directive
came
following
a
recent
intelligence
report
that
marked
Assam
as
'vulnerable'
to
radical
extremism.
An
unnamed
UMHA
official
stated,
"The
presence
of
Jammat-ul-Mujahedeen
of
Bangladesh
(JMB)
in
the
state
has
triggered
a
huge
concern.
Now,
the
report
of
Islamic
State
of
Iraq
and
Syria
(ISIS)
ideology
spreading
in
the
State
is
surely
a
matter
of
serious
concern.
The
Police
have
been
asked
to
alert
all
its
forces
to
keep
a
sharp
eye
on
any
such
activities."
Times
of
India,
August
8,
2015.
NEPAL
Nepal
four
major
parties
sign
6-province
model
deal
in
new
constitution,
says
report:
Nepal's
four
major
parties
have
reached
a
landmark
deal
to
divide
the
country
into
six
provinces,
each
sharing
its
border
with
India,
resolving
contentious
issues
of
federalism
under
the
new
constitution.
Following
a
meeting,
the
Constitutional
Political
Dialogue
and
Consensus
Committee
(CPDCC)
of
the
Constituent
Assembly
(CA)
finally
inked
an
agreement
at
midnight
to
carve
out
the
six
federal
units.
"A
constitution
with
federalism
and
demarcation
has
been
ensured,"
Prime
Minister
Sushil
Koirala
tweeted.
"I
call
on
everyone
to
not
be
stuck
on
minor
disagreements
and
work
to
build
and
develop
the
country."
The Hindu,
August
10,
2015.
PAKISTAN
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif
approves
Pur
Aman
Balochistan
Plan:
Prime
Minister
(PM)
Nawaz
Sharif
on
August
6
approved
the
Pur
Aman
Balochistan
(Peaceful
Balochistan)
plan
aimed
at
bringing
the
angry
Baloch
back
to
the
national
mainstream.
He
said
that
those
who
would
lay
down
their
arms
would
be
given
incentives.
Nawaz
asked
the
authorities
concerned
to
reach
out
to
the
people
of
Balochistan
and
make
them
partners
in
the
development
process.
The News,
August
7,
2015.
Army
chief
enjoys
support
of
Government,
Army,
and
the
entire
nation,
says
Federal
Minister
for
Interior
Chaudhry
Nisar
Ali
Khan:
Ruling
out
the
possibility
of
any
conspiracy
against
Chief
of
the
Army
Staff
(CoAS)
General
Raheel
Sharif,
Federal
Minister
for
Interior
Chaudhry
Nisar
Ali
Khan
on
August
3
said
that
the
COAS
has
the
confidence
of
the
Government,
armed
forces
and
the
entire
nation.
He
further
said
that
the
Pakistan
Army
was
a
disciplined
and
highly
professional
force
and
speaking
against
the
army
was
harmful
to
the
country
and
the
military.
The News,
August
4,
2015.
Nexus
between
terrorists
and
drug-pushers
to
be
broken,
says
CoAS
General
Raheel
Sharif:
The
Chief
of
the
Army
Staff
(CoAS),
General
Raheel
Sharif
on
August
3
said
that
the
nexus
between
drug-
pushers
and
terrorists
would
be
eliminated
at
all
costs
as
drug
peddlers
and
those
involved
in
drugs
production
were
as
much
pernicious
to
the
national
security
as
the
terrorists.
"Drug
money
is
being
used
for
abetting
terrorism
and,
therefore,
it
is
important
that
drug
dealers
are
dealt
with
an
iron
hand,"
Sharif
emphasised,
adding,
"We
will
break
the
nexus
among
drug
dealers,
financiers
and
perpetrators
of
terrorism.
We
will
not
allow
these
drug
barons
to
negatively
influence
and
spoil
our
future
generations."
The News,
August
4,
2015.
SRI
LANKA
Prime
Minister
Ranil
Wickremesinghe
assures
national
security
under
a
future
UNP
Government:
Prime
Minister
(PM)
and
leader
of
the
ruling
United
National
Party
(UNP),
Ranil
Wickremesinghe
on
August
6
assured
the
people
of
Sri
Lanka
not
to
fear
over
a
resurgence
of
the
Liberation
Tigers
of
Tamil
Eelam
(LTTE)
as
the
country
would
be
safeguarded
with
an
excellent
defense
minister
under
a
future
UNP
Government.
Wickremesinghe
said
that
the
defense
minister
under
a
future
UNP
government
will
be
President
Maithripala
Sirisena,
who
is
the
commander-in-chief.
Colombo Page,
August
7,
2015.
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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