J&K: Shrinking Extremist Space | LeJ : Sectarian Impunity | South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR), Vol. No. 10.12
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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 10, No. 12, September 26, 2011

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


ASSESSMENT


INDIA
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J&K: Shrinking Extremist Space
Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management

Security Forces (SFs) on September 13, 2011, killed the ‘chief operational commander’ of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Abdullah Uni, in an encounter at Batpora in the Sopore area of Baramulla District. Uni, a resident of Multan in Pakistan, was nominated as ‘chief operational commander’ after SFs killed his predecessor, Hafiz Nasir, on March 16, 2008.

Earlier, on August 4, 2011, the SFs had killed LeT ‘chief’ for the Kishtwar Sub-division, Habib Gujjar alias Salman, and his associate, Irshad Ahmed Koli, in a gun battle at village Nagaran in the Nagni area of Kishtwar District. On the same day, LeT’s Pulwama 'district commander’, Shakoor Ahmad Teli alias Saif alias Abu Bakar, was killed in an encounter with the SFs at Khar Mohalla village in the Putchal area of Pulwama District.

On April 23, 2011, SFs shot dead Mohammad Aiyaz Malik alias Abu Moosa, a ‘divisional commander’ of the LeT. Moosa had been operating in Banihal, Gool and other parts of Ramban District for over 15 years.

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database, a total of 26 top militants (‘district commanders’. ‘divisional commanders’, ‘battalion commanders’, etc.) of different outfits operating in the State have been killed in 2011. Prominent among these were:

August 7: An LeT ‘divisional commander’, identified as Fadullah, was killed by SFs in Rajwar forests of Handwara in Kupwara District.

July 15: SF personnel killed four LeT militants in Kupwara District, including the North Kashmir ‘divisional commander’, Saqib alias Sohail, belonging to Kasur in Pakistan, who had been operational in North Kashmir since 2009; Kupwara ‘divisional commander’, Hamad alias Haneef alias Alfa Islam of Abbottabad in Pakistan; Central Kashmir ‘divisional commander’, Qari Saifullah and ‘battalion commander’ Chotta Saad. Umair alias Hafiz, the ‘battalion commander’ of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), was also killed in the operation.. One Army trooper was also, killed while five Army personnel, including a Captain, were injured in the encounter.

July 9: JeM’s South Kashmir ‘divisional commander’, identified as Ahsan Bhai, and his associate, Javed Ahmad Nengroo, were killed in a gun battle with the SFs in Hanjan Payeen village in Pulwama District. Ahsan Bhai had been active in the Kashmir Valley for the past 11 years.

June 28: Two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) militants, identified as ‘divisional commander’ Muzaffar Ahmad Malla alias Chota Moulvi and his associate Suhail Khan alias Shahid, were killed in a 12-hour long gun-battle with the SFs in Pulwama District.

May 26: SFs killed two JeM militants, including ‘divisional commander’ Qari Zubair, in an encounter in the Keller area of Shopian in Baramulla District.

April 5: A ‘divisional commander’ of HM, Sajad Ahmad Dar alias Bale Bale, was killed by SFs during an encounter at Dadsar-Tral in Pulwama District. A Sub-Inspector of Police, Stazin Norboo and an Army trooper were also killed in the encounter.

March 13: A ‘divisional commander’ of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Chota Kalimullah alias Shamsher alias Talwar Bhai, was killed in an encounter with SFs at Kralteng-Muslim Peer area of Sopore in Baramulla District.

March 10: Police killed Sajjad Afghani alias Qari Hamaad, the ‘commander-in-chief’ of JeM, along with his bodyguard Umar Bilal, in an encounter at the outskirts of Srinagar. Sajjad Afghani hailed from the Balochistan Province of Pakistan.

The SFs have also arrested 164 militants, including six ‘commanders’ in 2011. In one such incident on August 24, SFs at village Daroo in Pulwama District arrested two HM 'commanders' and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from their possession.

In addition to targeting the top terrorist leadership, the SFs also launched intensified operations to neutralize terrorist hideouts and seize their weaponries. At least 131 incidents of recovery have been recorded thus far in 2011. In one such incident on August 21, the SFs seized more than 5,100 rounds of ammunition from a LeT hideout in the Sarnihal forest area of Banihal in Ramban District. Earlier, till August 20, the Army had recovered 4,500 rounds of different types of weapons in 2011.

Mounting of SF pressure has also forced militants to surrender. In one such incident on August 18, four HM militants, operating in Reasi District, reportedly surrendered before the SFs at village Hakawas on the border of Reasi-Kulgam Districts, falling under the jurisdiction of Damhal Police Station of Kulgam District. The Police also claimed that they had " achieved a major success by forcing the surrender of longest surviving and only active militant group of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Pir Panchal Regiment (HMPPR) in the State at Kulgam."

As a result of sustained operational successes, many areas of J&K are now free of terrorism. On January 3, 2011, Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda had claimed that five out of 10 Districts of the Jammu region – Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Reasi and Udhampur – were completely free of militancy. Doda District had been cleared of all foreign mercenaries. Again, on August 19, 2011, Inspector General of Police (IGP, Jammu) Dilbagh Singh had declared that militancy in the Reasi District had been completely wiped out. Out of a total 153 terrorism-related fatalities in the State in 2011, 112 – including 69 militants, 27 SF personnel and 16 civilians – occurred in the Valley, while the remaining 41 – including 29 militants, seven SF personnel and five civilians – were located in the Jammu Division.

The dramatic decline of militancy is visible in available statistics. The Ministry of Home Affairs notes that the number of violent incidents in the first five months in 2011 stood at 84, against 200 in 2010 for the same period. A total of 69 SF personnel were killed through 2010, while the number stood at 22 for 2011 (till September 24). The number of civilians killed is more or less the same, 36 through 2010 and 32 in 2011 (till September 24). Chief Minister Omar Abdullah thus noted, “Barring the killing of civilians by militants, all the parameters related with militancy are well within control.” Indeed, even the index of civilian fatalities has declined drastically since the peak of militancy, in 2001, when 1,067civilians lost their lives.

More significantly, the ‘summer unrest’, massive street mobilization and stone pelting by separatist formations, which had become a ‘routine affair’ in the state since 2008, also failed in 2011, despite several attempts. Potential flashpoints, such as the alleged Kulgam Rape [charges by a woman, Rukaya Bano, that she was abducted and raped by Army personnel on July 19 were found to be false]; the arrest of Qurat-ul-Ain [on July 10, after an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on Sopore Police Station in Baramulla District on July 6, she was released on bail on July 23]; the custodial killing of Nazim Rashid [arrested by Army and sent to Police custody on July 30, where he died the same night]; the ‘fake encounter’ on August 7, when SFs wrongly shot dead an insane man claiming he was an LeT ‘divisional commander’ Abu Usmaan in an exchange of fire in the Mehrota area of Poonch District; and the August 21, State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) statement that there were 2,156 unmarked graves in 38 places of the Valley, in which persons whose identity had not so far been established had been buried; were handled effectively by the administration. Even when the separatists brought protestors on the road and stones were pelted, the better prepared SFs were successful in containing the situation. Significant efforts had been made in the beginning of the year to retrain and equip the SFs with non-lethal weapons. The arrest of more than 5,255 stone pelters, between January 1, 2010 and February 28, 2011 [246 are still in jail, while rest have been released] also worked as a deterrent. Clearly, the unrest in the past years had more to do with the Government's ‘mishandling of situation’, than with any wave of ‘spontaneous protests’ that some analysts claimed.

In a surprising move on August 28, 2011, Chief Minister Abdullah announced an amnesty package for nearly 1,200 youth arrested during the 2010 summer agitation in the Kashmir Valley. The announcement was made hours after a Police spokesman said that around 300 miscreants riding motorcycles threw stones at the Nowhatta (Srinagar) Police Station and also hurled two petrol bombs at the Police. Six police men were injured in these incidents, two of them seriously. The Police arrested 73 agitators and seized 10 motorcycles during the clashes, which lasted for about five hours.

While SF and administrative successes on the ground have provided significant relief to the State, they have provoked an escalation in terrorist infiltration bids across the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) with Pakistan.

According to Government estimates, a total of 93 militants attempted to infiltrate this year, up to July 31, 2011. On May 26, 2011, Chief Minister Abdullah confirmed that 30 to 40 militants had succeeded in entering the State in recent infiltration attempts. An overwhelming proportion of infiltration attempts has, however, been detected and foiled. In one such incident on August 20, at least 12 militants and a 26-year-old Army officer were killed in a fierce gunfight on the LoC in Bandipora District. The terrorists, carrying an inflatable five-man dinghy, were trying to cross the Kishanganga in a pneumatic boat.

Most of infiltration bids have been backed by Pakistani Rangers. On September 20, 2011, for instance, terrorists, backed by Pakistani Rangers, resorted to firing on a patrol party of the Border Security Force (BSF) in the forward area of Benglard in the Samba Sector of the Samba District, killing a Sub-Inspector of the BSF and injuring a civilian.  On September 1, 2011, similarly, a Junior Commissioned Officer of the Army was killed when Pakistani troops violated the cease-fire for the second consecutive day in the Keran Sector of Kupwara District, to provide cover to infiltrators. The cease-fire came into effect in November 2003 and held for just over a year, but has been repeatedly violated since January 18, 2005. 23 cease-fire violations have been reported till August this year. These violations are intended to facilitate the infiltration of an estimated 2,500 militants, trained at 42 terror camps in Pakistan, waiting at launching pads across the LoC. On September 16, 2011, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned, "there is no room for complacency on the security front in the State", as reports confirmed “cross-border camps for terrorists being reactivated to induct fresh batches of militants into the country”.

Meanwhile, according to a J&K Police census, 325 militants were currently present in J&K. Of these, 119 were still active — the lowest number since militancy erupted in the State in 1989. While 168 were local militants, 134 were foreign nationals. A majority of the foreign terrorists were associated with LeT. Most of the terrorists currently operate in North Kashmir. Despite setbacks, HM remained the numerically largest militant outfit operating in Kashmir, with 143 active cadres, including 15 foreign militants. To enhance their cadre strength, the LeT and HM, have reportedly revised compensation for ‘local guides’, who are now offered nearly INR 150,000 for each successful infiltration, as compared to INR 50,000 given earlier.

The terrorist infrastructure in the State continues to retain some residual capacities to strike. On April 25, 2011, for instance, two Policemen were shot dead and another was injured by militants near a Police Station in the Nowgam area in Srinagar. On May 2, 2011, LeT militants triggered a car bomb explosion at Birma Pul (bridge), about one kilometer short of Udhampur town, on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, targeting an Army vehicle carrying Major General D.S. Pathania, Commandant, Northern Command Hospital. While one civilian was killed and another seven were injured in the attack, the targeted officer escaped unhurt.

SFs have successfully thwarted a number of attacks as well. For instance, an IED was defused by a Bomb Disposal Squad of the Police along a canal on the Satwari-Belicharana road in Jammu District on September 23, 2011.

The militants have also sought to create social unrest by killing separatist leaders. Ghulam Rasool Malik, president of Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith, citing an LeT report submitted to his organistaion, stated, on August 25, that Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik was the next target for assassination, after the killing of Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith leader Moulvi Showkat Ahmad Shah, in a bomb attack in Srinagar on April 8, 2011. The report also claimed that Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) was involved in Shah’s killing. The LeT and TuM were purportedly involved in the ‘investigation’ process to unravel the conspiracy behind Malik’s killing.

The Baramullah District, and Sopore at its core, has emerged as the ideological heartland of the surviving militancy. An unidentified intelligence officer thus stated, “The day support for militancy ends here, it`s finished. Sopore is the key.”

Pakistan-backed Islamist terrorism and extremism in J&K have declined radically over the past years, substantially as a result of the growing domestic and international pressures on Pakistan, and that country’s strategic priorities in Afghanistan. Operational successes within the State have substantially consolidated these gains, establishing an opportunity for creating a permanent peace in J&K.

PAKISTAN
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LeJ: Sectarian Impunity
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

On September 20, 2011, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants shot dead 29 Shias in two separate incidents in Balochistan. In the first incident, a bus carrying 45 Shia pilgrims, travelling from Quetta, the provincial capital, to Taftan (Iran), came under attack in Mastung. About 10 assailants, riding on a twin-cab pick-up and armed with AK-47 rifles and rocket launchers, intercepted the bus, ordered all the passengers out and then opened indiscriminate fire, killing 26 and injuring another five. An hour after the first attack, militants killed another three Shias, who Police said were relatives of victims of the first incident en route to collect their bodies, on the outskirts of Quetta. Claiming the attack, LeJ ‘spokesperson’ Ali Sher Haideri declared that his outfit would continue to target people from the Shia community.

Three days later, on September 23, three Shias were killed and another four injured in an attack on a passenger van on the outskirts of Quetta.

On August 31, 2011, an LeJ suicide bomber had killed at least 11 Shias and injured 22  during Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations in a Shiite mosque in Quetta.

According to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management a total of 2,555 sectarian attacks have taken place across Pakistan since 1989, inflicting a total of 3,622 fatalities.

Some of the major attacks (involving three or more fatalities) in 2010-11 include:

July 29, 2011: LeJ militants killed at least seven people, including four Shias, waiting to travel to Mashhad in Iran, at a bus terminal on Saryab Road in Quetta.

May 18, 2011: At least seven Shias, including a passerby, were killed and six others sustained bullet injuries in an attack near the Killi Kamalo area of Quetta.

September 1, 2010: 43 persons were killed and another 230 injured in two suicide attacks and one grenade attack on a Shia procession marking Hazrat Ali's martyrdom in Lahore. LeJ Al-Alami claimed responsibility for the three attacks, which occurred minutes apart in the Bhaati Gate locality of Lahore.

April 17, 2010: Two burqa-clad suicide bombers targeted a crowd of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) waiting to get registered and receive relief goods at the Kacha Pakka IDP camp on the outskirts of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), formerly known as North West Frontier Province (NWFP), killing at least 44 and injuring more than 70. The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's Al-Aalmi faction claimed responsibility for the bombings, and cited the presence of Shias at the IDP camp as the reason for the attack.

April 16, 2010: A suicide bomber blew himself up in an attack inside the Civil Hospital in Quetta, killing 11 persons and injuring 35 others. Unidentified assailants riding a motorcycle killed Arshad Zaidi, the son of the chief of the Shia Conference Balochistan, Syed Ashraf Zaidi. Hundreds of supporters, including Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Nasir Ali Shah and dozens of journalists, rushed to the hospital where the body was lying. The suicide bombing occurred when a large crowd had gathered at the casualty ward. The LeJ claimed that it had carried out the suicide bombing that also injured MNA Shah of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

March 12, 2010: At least 57 persons, including eight soldiers, were killed and more than 90 persons were injured as twin suicide blasts, moments apart from each other, ripped through the Lahore's RA Bazaar in the cantonment area. The primary target was a Shia Imambargah during Friday prayers. LeJ claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rising sectarianism in Pakistani society has emboldened militant groups that espouse sectarian violence. The primary player, here, is the LeJ, which was formed in 1996, when it formally separated from Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) now known as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ). The LeJ aims to transform Pakistan into a Sunni state, primarily through violence. Muhammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori is the present Saalar-i-Aala (‘Commander-in-Chief’) of the LeJ. Lahori is currently in Police custody following his arrest from Orangi Town in Karachi on June 17, 2002. Although Lahori officially remains the LeJ chief, Qari Mohammad Zafar is now believed to be the strategic ‘commander’, while operational command is understood to have moved to middle ranking leaders.

The LeJ consists of eight loosely co-ordinated cells spread across Pakistan with independent chiefs for each cell. Headed by Maulana Abdul Khalil, a fugitive militant leader from central Punjab, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Aalmi (the ‘international’ wing) operates mostly in central parts of Punjab and the tribal areas. The group works in close connection with al Qaeda and its activists have been used as foot soldiers by Arab-dominated terror groups in their plots inside Pakistan. Asian Tigers, another LeJ cell, is dominated by Punjabi militants, though some Pakhtoon militants of the Mehsud tribe are affiliated with it as well. The third cell is Junoodul Hafsa, comprising militants who aim to exact revenge for the storming of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid and its affiliated female seminary, Jamia Hafsa, in a military operation in 2007. The group operates in close coordination with the Ghazi Force, a network named after one of the two clerics of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, who was killed in the operation. The outfit, led by a former student of Lal Masjid, Maulana Niaz Rahim, operates out of Ghaljo area of the Orakzai Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the adjacent Hangu District in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and targets military installations and personnel in parts of KP and upper Punjab, especially Islamabad. The fourth cell affiliated to LeJ is the Punjabi Taliban. Other small cells, which operate under this umbrella outfit, include those commanded by Usman Punjabi, Qari Imran, Amjad Farooqi and Qari Zafar. These cells generally operate within Punjab.

The lethality and operational successes of the LeJ, over the years, are substantially attributed to its multi-cell structure, with each maintaining limited contact with the others. Each sub-group is responsible for carrying out activities in a specific geographic location. Reports indicate that, after each attack, LeJ cadres disperse and subsequently reassemble at the various bases/hideouts to plan future operations.

LeJ’s presence and operations have been reported from locations as varied as Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Islamabad, Jhang, Khanewal, Layyah, Bhakkar, Sargodha, Rahimyar Khan, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar in Punjab; Orakzai Agency, Bajaur Agency, Parachinar, Kurram Agency, South Waziristan and North Waziristan in FATA; Bannu, Kohat, Chitral, Gilgit and Dera Ismail Khan in KP; Karachi, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, and Mirpur Khas in Sindh; and Mastung and Quetta in Balochistan.

While Shias remain the primary targets of the LeJ, the group has, since 2002, broadened its focus to include other civilian, Government and Western targets. Despite the ban on the group since January 12, 2002, the Pakistani Government has been unable to neutralise its operations. An intelligence agency’s report on August 25, 2011, noted that banned militant organisations, including LeJ, had resumed ‘full-scale public activity’ and had begun recruiting young men from Punjab. Another report forwarded by the Punjab Home Department stated that LeJ had also become more active, particularly after the release of the group’s founder Malik Ishaq in July 2011.

One of the prominent leaders and co-founder of LeJ, Malik Ishaq had been charged in 44 cases, involving the murder of 70 persons, most of them Shias. He was, however, released by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence. Ishaq was suspected to have been involved in the March 3, 2009, attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, but was granted bail on July 14, 2011. Ishaq was arrested in 1997 for a variety of crimes, most of which were of a sectarian nature. Over the years, the cases against him faltered, as many witnesses were too scared to testify. Ishaq was acquitted in 34 out of 44 cases, while, in the remaining 10, including the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team, he had already been granted bail.

Significantly, during his stay in jail he received a stipend from the Punjab Government and, like other key terror suspects, was allowed to use a mobile phone. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed the disbursement of the stipend, but clarified that it was given to Ishaq’s family, not to him, as per orders of the court. Further investigations, however, revealed that there was no such disbursement to the family, nor was there any court order pertaining to the matter.

A US State Department report published on August 31, 2011, observed that Pakistan was incapable of prosecuting terror suspects. It said that, while Pakistan maintained it was committed to prosecuting those accused of terrorism, its Anti-terrorism Court (ATC)’s rulings in 2010 tell a different story, showing that the acquittal rate among suspected terrorists was approximately 75 percent. 

Meanwhile, buoyed by his release, Malik Ishaq declared, “We are ready to lay down our lives for the honour of the companions of the Holy Prophet.”

Tariq Ilyas Kyani, an officer at the Lahore Police Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) department, rightly observed, “Terrorist activities did not stop even when [Ishaq] was in captivity.” However, sectarian violence has witnessed a surge since Ishaq’s release. Out of 19 sectarian attacks in 2011, in which 176 persons were killed, seven attacks, resulting in 62 fatalities, have taken place after July 14.

Instead of launching any hard initiatives against the LeJ, the Punjab Government, on September 22, 2011, again placed Malik Ishaq under temporary detention at his home, charging him of stoking Sunni-Shia conflict since his release from prison. The Punjab Government ordered that Ishaq remain at home for 10 days.

Given Islamabad’s lackadaisical approach towards Islamist terrorism in general, and sectarian violence against the country’s minorities, in particular, action against the LeJ has generally been an eye wash, and the present steps hold no promise of reining in the menace of sectarian terror across the country.



NEWS BRIEFS

Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
September 19-25, 2011

 

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

BANGLADESH

  

Left-wing Extremism

0
0
1
1

INDIA

  

Assam

1
0
0
1

Jammu & Kashmir

0
1
0
1

Nagaland

1
0
0
1

Left-wing Extremism

  

Andhra Pradesh

0
0
2
2

Bihar

1
0
0
1

Jharkhand

0
0
1
1

Maharashtra

3
0
0
3

Odisha

3
0
0
3

West Bengal

2
0
0
2

Total (INDIA)

11
1
3
15

NEPAL

1
1
1
3

PAKISTAN

  

Balochistan

33
1
0
34

FATA

12
2
55
69

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

5
3
20
28

Sindh

2
0
0
2

Total (PAKISTAN)

52
6
75
133
Provisional data compiled from English language media sources.



INDIA


Infiltration attempts increasing in Jammu and Kashmir, says Army official: General Officer Commanding (GOC, 16 Corps) Lieutenant General J. P. Nehra on September 19 said that infiltration attempts have increased during the past few months. During the past one and half months, infiltration attempts have been increasing in the area of White Knight Corps but each and every attempt was foiled by the alert and vigilant troops, he said. Daily Exclsior, September 20, 2011.

Tripura militants getting reorganized, says Director General of Police: Tripura Director General of Police K Saleem Ali on September 22 said that militants are getting themselves re-organized in Tripura with better coordination among different factions. Ali further said that militant activities were reported recently to be more vigorous than last several months in border adjacent areas like Kanchanpur, Chowmanu, Gandacherra and Raishyabari. Sentinel, September 23, 2011.

ULFA received a massive consignment of arms and ammunition from China, says intelligence report: Citing intelligence inputs from top intelligence agency reports that Anti-Talks Faction of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-ATF) 'chairman' Paresh Baruah received a massive consignment of arms and ammunition worth USD 2.5 Million from China as recently as in May. The consignment, including 1,600 pieces of arms and ammunition, including AK-47s, rocket launchers, light machine guns and 800,000 rounds of ammunition, were sent to Paresh Baruah from two units of National Ordinance Factory in North and South China. Deccan Chronicle, September 26, 2011.

HuJI had plotted Delhi High Court blast in Nepal, claims intelligence report: The conspiracy to carry out the September 7, 2011 bomb blast at the Delhi high court was hatched in Nepal by the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), according to an intelligence input generated in Kolkata (in West Bengal). Information to that effect was received from Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a central armed Police force deployed on the borders with Nepal and Bhutan, officials said. Hindustan Times, September 22, 2011.

IM leader Iqbal Bhatkal is on most wanted list: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has added the name of Iqbal Bhatkal, the co-founder of Indian Mujahideen (IM), to the recently updated list of fugitives most wanted by Indian enforcement agencies. Incidentally, Iqbal is the first IM member to be added in the most wanted list. Times of India, September 20, 2011.

Ganapathy and Kishanji on top of Government's most-wanted Maoists list: The Centre has compiled a most-wanted list of top Communist party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) leaders, identifying all members of the politburo as well as central committee, along with their known addresses and photographs, and circulated them to all States for necessary action. The dossier names eight politburo members, including 'general secretary' Ganapathy alias Mupalla Laxman Rao and number 2 Kishenda alias Prashant Bose, besides all the 23 central committee members. Economic Times, September 22, 2011.

Former Prime Minister Bangladesh Khaleda sheltered ULFA, says Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi: Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia gave shelter to United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) when she was the Prime Minister. He, however, conceded that present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has helped us apprehend the ULFA leadership in Bangladesh. Times of India, September 24, 2011.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram makes fresh offer of talks to Maoists: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on September 21 made a fresh offer to the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) saying the Government is ready to talk to them if they simply suspend violence. "You don't have to lay down arms. You don't have to surrender. You don't have to disband your outfits. You don't have to give up your ideology either. You just suspend violence and come forward for talks...'' the Home Minister said. Indian Express, September 22, 2011.

Bru refugees' identification begins in Mizoram: The identification process of Bru refugees resettled in Mamit District started on September 20. The identification of the repatriated Brus was undertaken after a meeting of civil society groups and political parties held during the day. Times of India, September 21, 2011.


PAKISTAN

55 militants and 12 civilians among 69 persons killed during the week in FATA: Security Forces (SFs) on September 24 killed 14 militants and neutralised two of their hideouts during operations in Orakzai and Khyber Agencies in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Two missiles fired by a US drone on September 23 killed six persons in Khushali Turikhel village in Mir Ali tehsil (revenue unit), about 40 kilometres from Miranshah , headquarter of North Waziristan Agency (NWA). In addition, four Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants were killed in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency after a time device fitted in their vehicle went off.

A powerful roadside bomb targeting an anti-Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militia ripped through a pick-up vehicle in Chamarkand village of Bajaur Agency on September 22 killing at least five persons and inuring another eight.

The beheaded bodies of three tribesmen, abducted by militants a month ago, were found in Sam Ghakay area of Khwezai tehsil in Mohmand Agency on September 21.

SFs on September 20 killed 29 militants during a search operation in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency. Dawn; Daily Times; The News; Tribune, September 20-26, 2011.

33 civilians and one SF among 34 persons killed during the week in Balochistan: Three people from the Hazara community were killed and three others, including a child, sustained injuries when a passenger van was attacked by unidentified assailants on Sibi Road in Sayrab area of Quetta on September 23.

The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants had shot dead 29 Shia persons in two separate incidents in Balochistan on September 20. In the first incident, a bus carrying 45 Shia pilgrims, who were travelling from Quetta to Taftan (Iran), came under attack in Mastung. About 10 assailants, riding on a twin-cab pick-up and armed with AK-47 rifles and rocket launchers, intercepted the bus, ordered all the passengers to vacate the bus and then opened indiscriminate firing killing 26 of them while injuring five others. An hour after the first attack, militants killed another three Shias, whom Police said were relatives of victims of the first incident en route to collect their bodies, on the outskirts of Quetta. Claiming for the attack, LeJ 'spokesperson', who introduced himself as Ali Sher Haideri, said his outfit will continue to target people from Shia community. Dawn; Daily Times; The News; Tribune, September 20-26, 2011.

20 militants and five civilians among 28 persons killed during the week in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: At least 15 militants and one soldier were killed during a clash near Kharkai hills in the Lower Dir District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on September 24.

A suicide bomber was killed along with two facilitators and two terrorists were arrested after an hour-long search-and-cordon operation by the Army in Malukabad area of Mingora town in Swat District on September 22.

At least five persons were killed and 33 injured when a powerful bomb exploded in the busy commercial area of Nishtarabad Chowk along the GT Road in Peshawar in the night of September 19. Dawn; Daily Times; The News; Tribune, September 20-26, 2011.

ISI using Haqqani network for 'proxy war', says US: The US on September 21 accused the Inters Services Intelligence (ISI) of using the Haqqani network to wage a 'proxy war'. Admiral Mike Mullen, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that in a discussion with Pakistan's Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that lasted about four hours, he had pressed Pakistan to break its links with the group.

It also warned Islamabad to cut ties with the terror group and help eliminate its leaders or it will act unilaterally. The US administration has indicated that the US will act unilaterally if Pakistan does not comply, The Washington Post reported.

Again on September 22 he accused Pakistan of "exporting" violent extremism to Afghanistan by backing militants that attack American and NATO troops. "The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency," Mullen told the US Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the Haqqani Network, during a conversation with Reuters said that the US will suffer more losses (in North Waziristan) than they suffered in Afghanistan. Daily Times; Indian Exrprss, September 22-24, 2011.

Haqqani Network not in Pakistan, claims Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik: Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik on September 21 claimed that the Haqqani Network is not in Pakistan. "I assured Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller that the Haqqanis are not on the Pakistani side, but if there was any intelligence, which was provided by the US, we would definitely take suitable action," Rehman Malik said. "The Haqqanis are the product of the Soviet Union and the Afghan war, and we were partners and they are sons of the soil," Malik told reporters after a meeting with Mueller. Daily Times, September 22, 2011.

Operation against militant and sectarian outfits will be lunched soon in Karachi, says Federal Minister of Interior official: Intelligence agencies are learnt to have identified as many as two dozen extremist militant and sectarian outfits operating in Karachi who may face a crackdown once the hunt for politically-backed target killers is over, an unnamed senior official of the Federal Minister of Interior said on September 18. The official said that extremist organisations will be targeted in the next phase. "This proposal is under consideration," he added. Tribune, September 20, 2011.


SRI LANKA

Government to close the last IDP camp in North: The Government on September 20 announced that the last of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in North will be closed soon. Preparations were underway to construct a new village of 600 acres in Kombavil of Mullaitivu District for the IDPs currently remaining in the Manik Farm relief village in Vavuniya. Accordingly, 7,394 IDPs of 2,097 families presently living in Manik Farm relief village will be resettled in the Kombavil village. Colombo Page, September 22, 2011.

Hundreds of LTTE cadres likely to be indicted: Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris said that all but 3,000 of 11,500 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants who were either arrested or surrendered after end of war have been released from military-run rehabilitation camps and are reintegrating into society. He said that of those remaining, "less than 2,000"' hardcore cadres were expected to be indicted, and that court proceedings were likely to being next year. Times of India, September 25, 2011.


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.

South Asia Intelligence Review [SAIR]

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Dr. Ajai Sahni


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