South Asia Terrorism Portal
Gilgit Baltistan: Deception S. Binodkumar Singh Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On August 8, 2018, the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan restored the Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018, suspending the decision of the Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit Baltistan. A three-member SC bench, headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar heard the appeal moved by the federation. CJP Nisar observed, “The government needs to ensure that the people of GB have the same respect and rights as all others.”
The Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018 was promulgated by the former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on May 21, 2018, and replaced the Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009, with the ostensible aim to provide the ‘same rights enjoyed by the other citizens of Pakistan to people of Gilgit Baltistan’. The new order purportedly provides political, administrative, financial and judicial powers to people in the region. However, the order shifted powers from the Gilgit Baltistan Council — including those related to passing laws relating to minerals and tourism — to the Gilgit Baltistan Assembly. A comparative analysis of the 2009 ad 2018 Orders indicates that the ‘special rights’ the people of Gilgit Baltistan enjoyed have been curtailed further. For instance, the Legislative Power, according to the 2009 Order, was vested in the Gilgit Baltistan Council (though this was led by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, but also had representatives from Gilgit Baltistan) and the Gilgit Baltistan Assembly. As per the 2018 Order, this power lies with the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Gilgit Baltistan Assembly. Furthermore, as per 2018 Order, the “Government of Pakistan may, if it deems necessary to acquire any land situate in Gilgit-Baltistan for any purpose, require the Government to acquire the land on behalf, and at the expense, of the Government of Pakistan or, if the land belongs to the Government, to transfer it to the Government of Pakistan on such terms as may be agreed mutually”. There was no such provision as per 2009 Order. This inclusion appears to be intended to facilitate massive acquisitions to house the CPEC project. Further, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OUNHCHR) Report on Human Rights Concerns in Gilgit Baltistan released on June 14, 2018, the 2018 Order retains restrictions on freedom of expression and association of people that existed under the 2009 Order. Article 9(2) under the fundamental rights section states, “No person or political party in the area comprising Gilgit-Baltistan shall propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to the ideology of Pakistan.” This provision has employed in sweeping initiatives to quash any dissent in the region.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in a high-level meeting held at Prime Minister House, Islamabad, on February 15, 2018, directed the authorities concerned to abolish the Gilgit Baltistan Council within a month. Gilgit Baltistan Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan, Chaudhry Barjees Tahir, Planning Deputy Chairman Sartaj Aziz and senior Government officials attended the meeting.
Unsurprisingly, the newly introduced Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018 triggered protests, as thousands of people took to the streets in nine of the ten Districts of the region to express their opposition. The most notable was the May 25, 2018, demonstration by about 2,000 supporters and workers of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Islami Tehreek-i-Pakistan (ITP), Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM), Balawaristan National Front (BNF), Awami Action Committee (AAC), and members of civil society organizations and trade unions, who gathered at the Ittehad Chowk in Gilgit District and chanted slogans against the order. They alleged that the order that pretends to empower the people of the region by giving them unprecedented liberty to exercise their fundamental rights was, in reality, another document of deceit and falsehood, designed tactfully to further suppress the beleaguered indigenous people of the territory. Further, on May 26, 2018, several people were injured as Police fired tear gas and resorted to firing in the air in Gilgit city to stop protesters approaching the Gilgit Baltistan Assembly for a scheduled sit-in against the newly introduced order.
Criticizing the Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a statement on May 24, 2018, observed,
Baba Jan, a left wing political activist from the Hunza Valley in Gilgit Baltistan and two other youth activists, Amir Khan and Iftekhar Hussain, were convicted in August, 2011, by an anti-terrorism court for participating in a mass movement against the inaction of the Government during the Attabad incident. The protesters were seeking compensation for the loss of their hearth and homes in the wake of a landslide that hit Attabad on January 4, 2010, killing 19 people, blocking the Hunza River and forming a 23 kilometers long lake that submerged three villages upstream in Gojal, rendering around 500 people homeless and 25,000 stranded. On August 11, 2011, the Police opened fire on the internally displaced persons, triggering violent protest in the peaceful Hunza valley. Jan was among the nearly 100 people, including youth activists, arrested for allegedly ransacking a Police Station and torching Government offices after the death of an internally-displaced man and his son.
Meanwhile, highlighting the tactics of the Pakistan Government to establish military control in the disputed area, BNF Chairman Abdul Hamid Khan on May 31, 2018, wrote a letter to United Nations Security General Antonio Guterres, pointing out,
Significantly, on June 20, 2018, the Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit Baltistan, the highest court of the region, suspended the newly-promulgated order. In a short order, it also issued contempt of court notices to respondents, including the former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Chairman of the Gilgit Baltistan Council, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan and Joint Secretary of the Gilgit Baltistan Council, for violation of law. Earlier, Member of the Gilgit Baltistan Council Saeed Afzal, elected from the Gilgit Baltistan Legislative Assembly, had filed a petition in the Supreme Appellate Court in April under Article 61 of the Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009, pleading that the court declare the Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018 illegal and issue a stay order. In the petition, Afzal had stated that he was elected amongst others as a Gilgit Baltistan Council member, who took oath under Article 33 of the Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009 and was entitled to hold the office till 2020.
The Supreme Court’s decision comes in the context of unabated political persecution in Gilgit Baltistan. On Jul 17, 2018, the Gilgit Baltistan Home Department added several political workers, social activists and religious leaders to its watch list, on suspicion of being involved in terrorism or abetting terrorism, and barred them from moving out of their districts without the permission of the Police. In total 12 people from Gilgit, seven from Ghizer, three from Kharmang, two from Skardu and one each from Hunza, Shigar, Ghanche and Nagar have been included in the list. Their accounts have been frozen and their mobility restricted because they are considered potential 'terrorists' and 'saboteurs,' said Baltistan's Commissioner Hamza Salik while talking to media. Further, on July 20, 2018, a high-level Police meeting headed by Inspector General Police Gilgit-Baltistan to discuss the overall progress in National Action Plan (NAP) informed that 700 suspects were arrested during various operation from January to July 2018. 5812 combing operations, 61 intelligence base operations, 1206 snap checking, 22330 hostels checking, 5905 rented houses checking was carried out during this period. There is no record of any demonstrable ‘terrorist’ activity against any of the individuals arrested or placed on the watch list. Terrorism in Gilgit Baltistan has overwhelmingly been the work of outside Sunni majoritarian formations, ordinarily implicitly supported by Pakistan’s state agencies, against the Shias who constitute a majority in the disputed territory.
Denouncing the flagrant abuse of the Anti-Terrorism Act by Islamabad scores of people residing in Gilgit Baltistan launched a protest on the streets of Ghizer city in Ghizer District, on July 29, 2018. One of the leaders declared,
Schedule-IV of Anti-Terrorism Act deals with people who are not directly involved in terrorist activities, but whose affiliation with banned outfits or previous criminal record brings them ‘under suspicion’. They are kept under surveillance by the Police to prevent the possibility of their involvement in any potential or future terrorist activity.
Shedding light on how the human rights situation for ethnic and religious minorities in Pakistan has regrettably deteriorated in recent years, especially for those living in Sindh, Balochistan, and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan, a March 2017 report ‘From Occupied Gilgit-Baltistan to Gwadar: Human Rights in Pakistan’ revealed,
Meanwhile, on July 21, 2018, in a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), Sher Nadir Shahi, an activist from Gilgit Baltistan, while stating that several activists have been arrested under Schedule-IV of Anti Terrorism Act, wrote "Hundreds of activists have been confined to their houses and cannot move without permission of local police and administration. They are not allowed to participate in political gatherings and cannot protest for their rights."
Gilgit Baltistan has no record of local terrorism. Occasional terrorist activities of the past have been executed by groups drawn from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the latest such incident, on August 2, 2018, unidentified assailants burned down 12 girls' schools in Gilgit Baltistan's Diamer District and fled, causing panic among residents. The prime suspect responsible for torching the schools was killed during a search operation in the Tanger area of Diamer District on August 5, 2018. On August 9, 2018, Diamer Superintendent Police (SP) Rai Ajmal, in a report submitted to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, disclosed that the suspect, ‘Commander’ Shafiur Rehman, killed in an exchange of fire with the Police was a “high-profile Afghan-trained militant”. An official privy to details had revealed that the ‘militants’ were part of a wider nexus associated with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Gilgit Baltistan did not account for any terrorism-related fatality through 2017. In 2016, two incidents were reported in which 10 people, including two civilians, four Security Force (SF) personnel, and four terrorists were killed. On March 17, 2016, two soldiers and two women were killed in a suicide explosion in the Smagal area of Darel Valley in the Diamer District of the Gilgit-Baltistan. On the same day, in a rare incident, two soldiers and three terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire in the Gayyal area of Tarel Valley in Diamer District. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, in a statement released on the same day, did not mention which group the terrorists belonged to. But, the District is a known stronghold of Sunni extremist outfits such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Gilgit Baltistan has recorded at least 87 terrorism-related fatalities (51 civilians, 16 SF personnel, and 20 terrorists) since 2011 (data till August 12, 2018).
Moreover, since its commencement in 2013, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project has been facing strong opposition from the local people. Though Islamabad claims the project would create employment opportunities for some 1.8 million people in Gilgit Baltistan, locals explicitly reject the claim, and there is no evidence of any significant local employment generation till date. Discrediting the Federal Government's assurance of employment, Amir Hussain, a political analyst from the Lower Hunza part of the region argued, "The Chinese bring their own manpower wherever they go. For CPEC, they are likely to bring seven million Chinese workers to Pakistan. Around 400,000 of them will be working in Gilgit-Baltistan. How will the locals get jobs?" Accusing Pakistan of making moves to sell the disputed region of Gilgit Baltistan to China, Dušan Vejinovic, Senior Research Analyst at the European Foundation for South-Asian Studies, stated, at the 37th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Genva on March 9, 2018,
Significantly, Pakistan has already illegally ceded 5,180 square kilometers of occupied territory in Gilgit Baltistan to China, and commentators are now arguing that Pakistan has ceded operational control of Gilgit to the Chinese under various ‘security arrangements’ for the CPEC project. An influx of about 7,000 to 11,000 Chinese soldiers in the region has already been confirmed by international media.
With the exception of occasional and largely peaceful political demonstrations, there have been no local disorders in Gilgit Baltistan. However, Islamabad continues to employ oppressive methods of administration in the region, and these have intensified with strong local opposition to the CPEC projects. As Gilgit Baltistan is the only contiguous point of contact between China and Pakistan it is critical to the strategic ties between the two countries, as it is to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), of which CPEC is a component. The opposition to the CPEC rampage through Gilgit Baltistan is likely to escalate; Islamabad, in turn, will likely get more brutal in its attempt to crush all voices in the region.
Sukma: Losing the Heartland Deepak Kumar Nayak Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
A team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel of the Chhattisgarh Police killed at least 15 Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres in an encounter in a forested area between Golapalli and Konta, near Nalkatong village in Sukma District. Chhattisgarh, on August 6, 2018. Special Director General (SDG), anti-Naxal[Left Wing Extremism, LWE] Operations, Durgesh Madhav Awasthi, confirmed that a ‘militia platoon commander’, identified as Vanjam Hunga, was among those killed, while the identities of rest of the deceased Maoists were yet to be ascertained. Four Maoists, including a woman, were also arrested during the operation. Of the three male Maoist cadres arrested, one Madkami Deva is an ‘area committee member’ and carried a bounty of INR 500,000. The identities of the other three, including the woman cadre, were yet to be ascertained. The slain and arrested Maoists belonged to three separate militia formations–the Gompad militia, Balatong militia and Belponcha militia –which are active in the Konta, Golapalli, and Bhejji areas in Sukma.
Disclosing details about the operation, Awasthi, stated that the combing operation was launched after receiving specific intelligence inputs about the locations of camps being held by Maoists in the area. Seeing the presence of armed Maoists in the camp, the team cordoned off the area, and there was an exchange of fire between the Security Forces (SFs) and Maoists which lasted for over half-an-hour. Subsequent to the encounter, the SFs recovered bodies of 15 Maoists along with 16 weapons, including ten muzzle guns, one .315 bore rifle and one 12 bore rifle, one pistol, one country-made pistol, banners and posters, medicines, ammunitions of different calibre, detonators, battery, electric wire and other materials.
Incidentally, the August 6, 2018, operation is the most successful operation against the Maoists in the District in terms of fatalities, since Sukma was carved out of Dantewada District on January 16, 2012.
Previously, the most successful operation against the Maoists in the District was on March 1, 2016, when at least eight members of the Venkatapuram 'area committee' of the CPI-Maoist, which operates in the Bhadrachalam area of Khammam District in Telangana, were killed in an encounter in the Sakler area of Sukma District. Along with the bodies of the eight slain Maoists, SF personnel had also recovered an AK-47 rifle, three Self-Loading Rifle (SLRs), several .303 rifles, and ammunition from the encounter spot.
Since the formation of Sukma on January 16, 2012, the SFs have eliminated at least 118 Maoists in 62 operations in the District. Seven of these were major incidents (resulting in three or more fatalities). These included:
June 15, 2018: Three CPI-Maoist cadres were killed during an encounter in the Chintagufa village area of Sukma District.
September 28, 2016: Three women CPI-Maoist cadres, including a 'commander', were killed in an exchange of fire with SFs near Bade Satti village under Gadiras Police Station limits in Sukma District.
March 1, 2016: Eight CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter in the Sakler area of Sukma District.
November 22, 2015: Four CPI-Maoist woman cadres were killed in an encounter with SFs at Nagalguda hill area under Gadiras Police Station limits in Sukma District.
April 16, 2013: Nine CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with SFs in the forest area of Puarti village in Sukma District.
On the other hand, the Maoists have killed at least 140 SF personnel in 45 attacks in the District since its formation. 11 of these attacks were major incidents (three or more fatalities). Some of the major attacks on SFs include:
March 13, 2018: At least nine Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and two were critically injured when CPI-Maoist cadres blew up a Mine Protected Vehicle (MPV) in the Kistaram jungle area of Sukma District.
April 24, 2017: At least 25 personnel of the 74thBattalion of CRPF were killed and six were injured in an attack by 300 to 400 CPI-Maoist cadres near Burkapal village in the Chintagufa Police Station limits in Sukma District.
March 11, 2017: At least 12 personnel of the 219thbattalion of the CRPF were killed and another four injured when CPI-Maoist cadres ambushed a road opening party in the dense forests near Kottacheru village under Bhejji Police Station in Sukma District.
December 1, 2014: At least 14 CRPF personnel, including two officers, were killed and another 13 troopers seriously injured in a CPI-Maoist ambush near the Kasalpara village in Sukma District.
March 11, 2014: At least 15 SF personnel were killed in a CPI-Maoist ambush near the Tongpal village in Sukma District. One civilian, identified as Vikram Nishad, also died in the crossfire, while three others sustained injuries.
May 25, 2013: At least 10 SF personnel and 21 others were killed when heavily-armed CPI-Maoist cadres ambushed a convoy of political leaders inside a dense forest near Darbha Ghati valley in Sukma District.
More worryingly, the Sukma region has the ‘distinction’ of recording the worst ever attack on SFs engaged in anti-Maoist operations. The incident in which 75 CRPF personnel and one State Policeman were killed occurred on April 6, 2010, at Tarmetla village near Chintalnad under the Konta Block (administrative division), one of the seven Blocks of the undivided Dantewada District, which is now among one of the three tehsils (revenue units) of Sukma District.
According to SATP data, the overall Police:Maoist kill ratio in the District (between January 16, 2012 to August 12, 2018) is marginally in favour of Maoists – 1.8:1. Moreover, out of six years (2012 to 2017), the ratio has gone in favour of the Maoists in four. These include 2012 (4:1); 2013 (1.5:1); 2014 (11.66:1) and 2017 (2.8:1). The ratio was in favour of the SFs in 2015 (1:1.07) and 2016 (1:3.54). The ratio stands in favour of SFs in the current year, so far, at 1:2.53.
The data on kill ratios as well as major incidents involving the Maoists and the SFs indicate that the SFs have of late succeeded in making decisive gains in the region, though they continue to suffer major losses in this Maoist stronghold.
Further, civilian fatalities, a crucial index of the security situation, indicate a cyclical trend in Sukma. A total of 68 civilian fatalities has been recorded since the creation of the District in January 16, 2012. At peak, 26 fatalities were registered in this category in 2013. The district recorded a low of three civilian fatalities in 2014, rising to nine in 2015, and 10 in 2016. 2017 saw a decline to six, but the current year has already recorded eight civilian fatalities (data till August 12, 2018).
The Sukma success reflects a wider continuum of SF operational gains across the country since the beginning of 2018 and steady successes in recent years. In at 10 major incidents, SFs have eliminated at least 83 Maoists in the current year (data till August 12, 2018). One of the biggest successes came on April 22-23, 2018, in which SFs killed at least 40 Maoists in the Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra. This was the biggest victory for the SFs since the formation of the CPI-Maoist in September 21, 2004. The second most successful operation in terms of fatalities among Maoists across India was the October 24 – 27, 2016, incident, in which SFs killed at least 30 Maoists in two successive encounters in the Bejingi Forest area, between Ramgarh and Panasput, in the Malkangiri District of Odisha.
The Maoists are indeed feeling the heat of intensified operations. Significantly, on March 20, 2018, Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir informed the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament) that elimination of LWE cadres has increased by 88.6 per cent, while surrenders increased by 92.2 per cent over the past three years (2015-17) as compared to the preceding three years (2012-2014), indicating waning Maoist capacities and will. These operational successes have put further pressure on the Maoists and have helped SFs restore peace in larger areas of erstwhile Maoist influence. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on August 7, 2018, Ahir stated that there had been a reduction in Naxal violence and its geographical spread since 2017.
Returning to Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh, speaking at the passing out parade of trainee constables at the Police Training School in the Mana Camp area in Raipur, on August 2, 2018, stated:
hough the Central Government has not disclosed actual strength of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) deployment in Maoist affected areas, CRPF Inspector General (Chhattisgarh), Sanjay Arora, on July 25, 2018, disclosed that over 33,000 CRPF personnel are deployed in the State to combat Maoists. This includes 28 regular battalions and five teams of the Commando Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA). This combined Force is deployed in the Bastar region comprising seven Districts – Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur and Sukma. In addition, the CRPF has raised a specialised ‘Bastariya Battalion’ comprising 534 personnel, including 189 women commandoes, to combat the Maoists in Dandakaranya region of the State. The battalion, named “Bastariya Warriors”, comprises personnel, largely drawn from the tribal population of the Bastar region. Of these 534 personnel, 140 are from Sukma, 150 from Dantewada, 81 from Narayanpur and the remaining 163 from Bijapur District.
Sukma which shares its borders with the Maoist-infested Bastar, Bijapur and Dantewada Districts of Chhattisgarh to the north and west; the Malkangiri District of Odisha to the east; and the Khammam District of Telangana to the South, has long been used by the Maoists to establish a disruptive dominance over much of the region. It is here that the final battle continues. The Maoists are clearly hurting in this last bastion, though they continue to demonstrate capacities to inflict significant harm on SF and civilians alike.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia August 6-12, 2018
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
Terrorists/Insurgents
Total
INDIA
Jammu and Kashmir
Manipur
INDIA (Left-Wing Extremism)
Chhattisgarh
Odisha
INDIA (Total)
PAKISTAN
Balochistan
Gilgit-Baltistan
PAKISTAN (Total)
'Working on ceasefire with Taliban in Eid Al-Adha', says Government: Speaking during a meeting with the representatives of the registered political parties, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani pointed towards the successful experience of the ceasefire with the Taliban during Eid Al-Fitr and said the government is working on a similar ceasefire during the upcoming Eid Al-Adha, according to the Office of the President. Presidential spokesperson, Haroon Chakhansuri had earlier said that there are chances of another ceasefire announcement with the Taliban group during Eid Al-Adha. Khaama Press, August 7, 2018.
Government will bring back JMB leader Jahidul Islam Mizan from India, says Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal: Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on August 10 said the Government will bring back Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leader Jahidul Islam Mizan alias "Boma" Mizan from India. "We have an extradition treaty with India. Prisoners whom we want to bring back and they [India] want to take back are already being swapped. We will also bring him [Mizan] back in time," he said. Mizan was arrested at Ramanagara near Bengaluru on August 6. The Daily Star, August 11, 2018.
Militant groups are trying to regroup with aim to create anarchy ahead of national elections, alert Intelligence agencies: Intelligence agencies alerted the Home Ministry that militant groups are trying to regroup with the aim to create anarchy ahead of the national elections. "The militants are planning to kill popular, progressive and secular Awami League leaders, progressive writers, thinkers and bloggers, foreigners working in development projects and minorities," discloses the Home Ministry letter. The Police headquarters has already stepped up monitoring and taken preventive steps to thwart the "regrouping" attempt by radical groups. The Daily Star, August 8, 2018.
Four Army soldiers including a Major and two LeT militants killed in Jammu and Kashmir: Four Army soldiers, including a Major and two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants, were killed as Army foiled a major infiltration bid by heavily armed LeT militants along the Line of Control (LoC) in Gurez sector of Bandipora District on August 7. The troops of 36 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in the morning intercepted a group of at least eight heavily armed infiltrators of LeT near Bakhtor area of Gurez along the LoC. The troops challenged the infiltrators but they opened fire on the Army triggering an encounter. Daily Excelsior, August 8, 2018.
Pakistan Army officer conspires the pro-Khalistan initiative in Canada and Europe, claims Indian Intelligence agencies: Intelligence agencies alerted the Home Ministry that militant groups are trying to regroup with the aim to create anarchy ahead of the national elections. "The militants are planning to kill popular, progressive and secular Awami League leaders, progressive writers, thinkers and bloggers, foreigners working in development projects and minorities," discloses the Home Ministry letter. The Police headquarters has already stepped up monitoring and taken preventive steps to thwart the "regrouping" attempt by radical groups. Times of India, August 8, 2018.
Naxal activities decline since 2017, says Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir:Union Minister of State for Home, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, on August 7, informed the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament) that there was a reduction in Naxal Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence and its geographical spread since 2017. The violent incidents have come down to 908 in 2017 from a high of 2258 in 2009 and their geographical spread of violence has also shrunk considerably, Ahir said. . Business Standard, August 8, 2018.
Criminal Court releases 'top terrorist leader', says report: The Criminal Court on August 5 released Mohamed Abdul Rahman-an alleged 'top terrorist leader' who was charged with terrorism for his participation in conflicts at foreign land and had sentenced to imprisonment up to 20 years if found guilty. Mohamed Rahman had fought in Pakistan's Waziristan for almost ten years. He could not be charged under the terrorism because the prosecutors failed to prove that he had taken part in conflicts as a terrorist, after the Maldives' Anti-Terrorism Act came into force in 2015, said Judge Ahmed Hailam. Maldives Times, August 7, 2018.
Drop community service provision in Transitional Justice Related Bill-2018, suggests NHRC: Concerned over the provision of community service for war criminals involved in serious human rights violations, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has suggested drop community service provision in Transitional Justice Related Bill-2018. "Granting amnesty to rights abusers under the pretext of community service is not in line with the norms of transitional justice. The international community will not accept such provision nor is the provision in accordance with the past Supreme Court verdicts," said NHRC Secretary Bed Prasad Bhattarai. My Republica, August 8, 2018.
106 terror financing cases filed in Punjab since 2015: The Punjab Police have registered 106 cases of terror financing involving proscribed organisations since 2015, and arrested 144 suspects, 42 of whom were convicted by courts. This has been stated in a report which is part of similar narrations three other provinces have prepared for a briefing the Pakistani authorities are scheduled to give to a delegation of the UN Security Council's Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on August 15 on steps taken to curtail financial and other activities of the organisations proscribed by the world body, including the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Dawn, August 13, 2018.
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.
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