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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 10, No. 51, June 25, 2012
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
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J&K:
Lingering Irritants
Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
Despite further consolidation
in the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), a range of
irritants continues to throw up challenges for the administration.
The Union Ministry of Defence, in its latest Annual Report (2011-12),
thus noted:
The security
situation in J&K has been stable in 2011 with an overall reduction
in violence. However, it has the potential to deteriorate
at short notice. Pakistan's support to the ongoing proxy war
continues unabated, the terror infrastructure, both in Pakistan/
PoK [Pakistan occupied Kashmir], remains intact. The Pakistan-Terrorist-Separatist
nexus continues their (sic) attempts to foment trouble with
an aim to internationalise the Kashmir issue.
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In a similar tenor, the then General
Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lieutenant General
Ata Hasnain, now Military Secretary to Chief of Army Staff General Bikram
Singh, on June 8, 2012, had observed, “The situation in Kashmir is unpredictable
and dynamic. It changes colours fast.” Terrorism-related
fatalities in J&K have declined considerably, at 42
[including 29 militants, eight civilians and five Security
Forces (SF) personnel] in 2012 [according to the South
Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database, till June 24];
as compared to 74 fatalities (including 41 militants,
21 civilians and 12 SFs) during the corresponding period
in the previous year. The militants continue to carry
out attacks at regular intervals, more so, in the State
Capital Srinagar. Inspector General of Police (IGP, Kashmir
zone) S.M. Sahai, on May 18, 2012, noted that the militants
were trying to carry out attacks in Srinagar and that
“Srinagar is being used for transit by militants.”
The capital
city has witnessed as many as nine incidents of violence,
including two involving killings. In the latest of these,
in the afternoon of June 15, 2012, militants shot dead
a Block President, Abdul Rehman Ganaie, of the ruling
National Conference (NC) in Srinagar. A March 19, 2012,
report disclosed that Members of the Legislative Assembly
and top Government officials had been advised not to make
frequent visits to markets in view of regular inputs regarding
the terrorist presence in the city.
Further,
according to a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) report,
as many as 14 attempts at staging terror attacks in the
Kashmir Valley had been interdicted till March 2012. In
one such incident, on May 17, 2012, Police averted a major
tragedy when a car, laden with multiple Improvised Explosive
Devices (IEDs), was detected and the xplosives defused,
on the Nowgam bypass road in Srinagar.
In another
worrying development, wary of the Government machinery
reaching to the grass root level, the extremists have
been pressurising and threatening the panchayat
(village level local self Government institution) members
to resign. Around 300 panchayat members in South
Kashmir resigned in the preceding three weeks after threats
from militants, according to a June 23, 2012, report.
Significantly, local newspapers carried notices of at
least seven panchayat members, including women,
from Rajpora in Pulwama District, announcing their resignations
on June 8, 2012. A woman panch (member of the panchayat),
Ameena Bano, from ward number 8 of Village Sahpora in
Pulwama, in her resignation advertisement stated, "Without
coming under any influence from any political or apolitical
body, I am resigning from the post of panch. In
future, I have nothing to do with this post and I will
have no connection with any political or apolitical body."
The Government, however, claims that they have not received
any resignation officially. At least one panchayat
member was killed and several others were injured during
the year. Notably, an average voting of 76.87 per cent
was reported in a largely peaceful 17-phases panchayat
election that was conducted between April 13, 2011 and
June 27, 2011.
In spite
of the Valley being comparatively free of major law and
order or civil disturbances of the nature seen in summer
of 2010, there have been repeated attempts to incite mass
violence. At least four such attempts have been recorded
in 2012, with the most recent in Bandipora town, where
a two day shutdown was observed in protest against the
alleged desecration of the Quran on June 16, 2012.
Sporadic protests were also recorded in other places,
including Srinagar. Clearly, the Standard Operating Procedures
(SOPs) devised after the 2010 summer unrest, and implemented
since early 2011, have been successfully implemented,
ensuring that there were minimal injuries during the quelling
of protests.
Meanwhile,
confirmation of India’s enduring stand that the mischief
in J&K is fomented by Pakistan came from US attorney
Neil MacBride’s explanation of the conviction and sentencing
of Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director of the US
based Kashmiri American Council (KAC), where he observed
that the protest movement in Jammu and Kashmir was never
'indigenous' in nature and was financially and logistically
supported by Pakistan’s Inter Service Intelligence (ISI)
from the very outset. The KAC, MacBride asserted, was
run by the ISI, and the All Party Hurriyat Conference-Mirwaiz
(APHC-M) Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was also "supported
and controlled" by the ISI. Fai was arrested in July
2011 and was sentenced on March 30, 2012, to two years
in prison, for operating as an undeclared agent of the
ISI.
Meanwhile,
after pressure from within, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, on May
31, 2012, suspended former Chairman, Abdul Gani Bhat,
for his remarks on the irrelevance of the United National
Security Council Resolutions on J&K, and his proposal
for a joint political front of the separatist Hurriyat
Conference with pro-India political parties such as the
NC and the People's Democratic Party (PDP). Another two
members were also suspended. The rift within the Hurriyat
may have repercussions on the security scenario, and Central
agencies have asked the State Police to tighten security
around APHC-M leaders, especially Abdul Gani Bhat, amid
reports that terrorists may carry out assassination attempts
to vitiate the atmosphere.
Significantly,
there are still an estimated 250 terrorists operating
in the Sate – 147 in the Kashmir Valley and about 100
in the Jammu region. The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM)
accounts for nearly 35 to 40 per cent of all terrorists
in the State and is presently the "most active"
outfit in the Valley, after Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT),
in terms of strength and capability. Intelligence inputs
indicate, further, that there are some 42 terrorist training
camps in Pakistan and PoK, and a majority of these are
reported to be active. These camps house an estimated
2,000 to 2,500 terrorists, with around 300 currently located
at launching pads along the Pakistan border and Line of
Control (LoC).
Despite
intensive efforts to contain cross-border infiltration,
including round-the-clock surveillance and patrolling
and the establishment of observation posts, border fencing
and flood-lighting, infiltration attempts from across
the LoC continue unabated. Further, confronted with the
strong security efforts along the LoC and border, terrorists
are also adopting the alternative route, flying from Pakistan
to Dhaka in Bangladesh and Kathmandu in Nepal, and then
infiltrating into India from the two countries, which
share borders with India, principally along the States
of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Pakistan
also continues to violate the Cease-fire Agreement (CFA)
of November 26, 2003, which had held without major incident
till General Pervez Musharraf’s departure in 2008. The
year 2012 has already recorded 18 CFA violations [till
June 24, 2012], ordinarily initiated by Pakistani Forces
to facilitate terrorist infiltration across the border
and LoC. Among these was the succession of incidents initiated
on May 30-31, 2012, when Pakistani Rangers opened fire
at Regal Post on the International Border (IB) in Samba
sector, injuring a Border Security Force (BSF) trooper.
The trooper subsequently died. Since then, Pakistan has
initiated repeated firing, with at least six CFA violations
recorded in June (till June 24, 2012), with another trooper
killed, and several injured.
Continuous
flows of funds to terrorists and subversive fronts have
been recorded, both within India and internationally.
The then Acting Director General of Police K. Rajendra
noted, on June 11, 2102, that various channels were being
exploited for terrorist funding, including money transfers,
the depositing of money into the accounts of Over Ground
Workers (OGWs) from third countries, hawala, etc.
"Other banking channels of funding militancy are
also being used", he added. The LoC trade was also
being used to fund militancy in the State, he observed,
with the under-invoicing of goods emerging as the principal
modus operandi. He disclosed that six cases had
been registered in the funding of militancy through LoC
trade routes of Uri and Poonch, though he did not define
the period during which these cases were registered.
On May
24, 2012, the final report – ‘A New Compact with The People
of Jammu and Kashmir’ of the Group of Interlocutors for
J&K was released. The Central Government-appointed
Interlocutors favoured setting up a Constitutional Committee
to review all Central Acts and Articles of the Constitution
of India to the State extended after 1952. It also called
for making Article 370 of the Constitution as a special
provision of the State by deleting the word temporary
from the Constitution. The report ruled out a return to
the pre-1953 position, a major demand of the ruling NC.
The report also made no mention of the PDP’s self rule
proposals or any other ‘vision document’ of diverse separatist
formations and leaders. The Interlocutors – Dileep Padgaonkar,
Radha Kumar and M.M. Ansari – had submitted their report
in October 2011. They were appointed by the MHA in October
2010. Expectedly, however, the report has widely been
ridiculed as ‘old wine in a new bottle’, with all the
principal parties rejecting its proposals.
In the
meanwhile, the Governments, both at the Centre and in
the State, continue to push forward a range of counterproductive
measures which could well prove detrimental to the consolidating
peace at a time when, as Lt. Gen. Hasnain expressed it,
“the fast evolving geo-strategic environment in the region
has the potential to reignite militancy in Kashmir post-2014
US exit from Afghanistan”. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
has directly and repeatedly brought up the issue of the
removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)
from at least five Districts of the State, including Srinagar,
often at times of significant public tension. The State
Government has already de-inducted three Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) battalions and removed 43 Central
Paramilitary Forces (CPMFs) bunkers from Srinagar. This
was in addition to 80 bunkers, mostly from Srinagar, removed
in 2011. Another 25 bunkers are to be removed in 2012.
As many as 12 battalions of BSF and CRPF have been withdrawn
from the State since 2009. Indeed, Lieutenant General
Syed Atta Hasnain, the then Corps Commander, 15 Corps,
on June 8, 2012, observed that the dilution of security
presence was already fuelling terrorist efforts to regroup:
"We have reduced the night patrolling in the areas
of South Kashmir and this may be the reason that militancy
has been revived to some extent in South Kashmir especially
in the Pulwama District." Further, casting some doubts
over the proclaimed ‘successes’ of the State’s Rehabilitation
Policy for terrorists announced on November 23, 2010,
reports indicated that some of the militants who returned
after the Policy announcement had rejoined the militancy.
A reduction
of the military and paramilitary footprint in J&K,
and the surrender and rehabilitation of militants is,
of course, always desirable. Nevertheless, premature steps
in these directions can have significant adverse consequences,
and the approach to ‘normalization’ in the terror-wracked
State should be cautious and rooted in the realities of
the ground. The tremendous gains of the past years, secured
at great cost in blood and suffering, remain tentative
and fragile, and can quickly be dissipated by haste and
political gamesmanship.
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Staggering
Backwards
Fakir Mohan Pradhan
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On October
12, 2011, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M)
Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda told
party Vice President Mohan Baidya aka Kiran that
there was no sense in the latter remaining in the Party,
if his hard-line faction continued to function in a
parallel manner. Dahal observed that it would be better
for Baidya to part ways, if the party's decisions, norms,
values and discipline were to be continuously violated
by the hard-line faction.
Finally,
on June 19, 2012, after nearly a year of functioning
as a ‘party within the party’, Mohan Baidya caused a
vertical split, forming a new party to “accomplish the
remaining tasks of the people’s revolution.” The official
announcement came on June 19, following a decision to
the effect taken during a three-day national convention
organized by his faction in Kathmandu from June 16 to
June 18. The new party has been christened ‘Communist
Party of Nepal, Maoist’ (CPN-M). The name is very similar
to that of the Matrika Yadav-led CPN (Maoist), though
the new party’s Central Committee (CC) member Bharat
Bam points out that they have avoided any parenthesis
in the name.
The hard-line
national convention, attended by around 2,000 cadres,
declared Baidya the Chairman of the new party, with
Ram Bahadur Thapa as its General Secretary, Chandra
Prakash Gajurel its Secretary and Netra Bikram Chand
and Dev Gurung, Politburo members. It also formed a
five-member Standing Committee comprising these five
leaders. Besides them, other members of the Politburo
were Kul Prasad KC aka Sonam, Hari Bhakta Kandel,
Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, Narayan Sharma, Pampha Bhusal,
Indra Mohan Sigdel, Dharmendra Bastola and Hitman Shakya.
The convention also elected a 44-member CC. The 44 were
also CC members in the mother party.
On June
19, 2012, Baidya declared that his party was against
parliamentary politics and that it might not even register
with the Election Commission.
Mohan
Baidya has the support of 48 CC members out of 148 and
72 out of 236 UCPN-M members of the dissolved Constituent
Assembly (CA). Further, the CPN-M
has claimed that 19 of the 26 chiefs of the parent party’s
‘sister organizations’ have come into its fold. “Of
the remaining seven organizations, four sister organizations
have majority of former chairman [Dahal] and three others
have majority of Baburam Bhattarai,” Suresh Ale Magar,
General Secretary of the Aadibasi-Jaatiya Kshyatriya
Mahasangh, Nepal, claimed, "but majority of leaders
in those organizations are on our side."
Magar
also asserted that the chiefs of all 19 ‘sister organizations’,
including the All Nepal Women´s Association (Revolutionary);
Revolutionary Journalists Association; All Nepal Farmers’
Federation (Revolutionary); Society of Disappeared Fighters
Families, Nepal; All Nepal Progressive Health Workers’
Association; All Nepal National Independent Students’
Union-Revolutionary; Nepal National Intellectuals Organization;
Federation of National Industries and Commerce, Nepal;
Dalit Liberation Front; All Nepal Ex-servicemen´s Organization;
and Nepal National Industry and Commerce Organization,
were in their front.
Similarly,
the chiefs of the Unified All Nepal Cultural Federation,
All Nepal Teachers’ Organization, All Nepal Trade Union
Federation, Nepal National Government Employees Federation,
Nepal National University Teachers’ Organization, All
Nepal Landless Association, along with more than 80
per cent of leaders and cadre are claimed to have joined
the Baidya-led Party.
The CPN-M
(Baidya) has declared that its ultimate goal was to
establish a ‘People's Republic’ through People's War.
The Mohan
Baidya faction has argued that the ultimate goal of
establishing a ‘people’s republic’ was no longer possible
under the leadership of Prachanda and Bhattarai, as
both had done irreparable damage to this aspiration
by dismantling the PLA, handing over the keys to the
arms’ stores, making the base areas and the parallel
system of government dysfunctional, and failing to draft
the Constitution. Only the ‘people’s war’ can secure
the objective of the People's Republic. The Prachanda-Bhattarai
‘clique’ is now viewed as a ‘revisionist forces’, and
the Baidya faction has also accused the ‘establishment
faction’ to have failed to defend the party line of
anti-fudalism and anti-imperialism, and to have succumbed
to Indian ‘hegemony’. The Baidya faction views India
as an ‘imperial power’, and as the principal enemy of
the ‘revolution’.
Significantly,
Baidya was arrested by Indian authorities in Siliguri
in West Bengal (India) on March 28, 2004. Earlier, CP
Gajurel aka Gaurav, Politbureau member of the
original CPN-Maoist, was arrested at Chennai airport
on August 20, 2003, while attempting to escape to Europe
on a fake passport. A number other Nepalese Maoist leaders
were also arrested in India. Both Baidya and Gajurel
were released from Indian jails on November 30, 2006,
and both feel they were set up by their own party. At
that time they blamed Bhattarai and leaders close to
him for their arrests, forcing the party to sack some
leaders, including Devendra Paudel, Kalpana Dhamala
and Devendra Parajuli. Baidya and Gajurel, moreover,
enormously resent the fact that some of the most crucial
decisions of the party, which altered the course of
the movement, were taken while they were in jail in
India.
Then,
in 2005, the Party´s meeting at Chungang, Rukum, adopted
the political line of a “democratic republic”, as against
a “people’s republic” in the first manifest attempt
to abandon the Maoist revolutionary doctrine. The Chungang
Meet had paved the way for the signing of the 12-point
deal with the then Seven-party Alliance (SPA), in India
in November 2005. The Baidya faction interpreted the
12-point agreement as a dissociation from the leftist
and "revolutionary" parties and an increasing
proximity with parliamentary parties. The Baidya faction
also opposed the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement
as a betrayal of the people, country and "revolution".
Since
his release, Baidya has been opposing the line taken
by Prachanda and Bhattarai at various forums within
the party. The divide has widened progressively, especially
since the four-point agreement
with the Madheshi parties. Later, the faction also had
strongly opposed the party decision to hand over the
keys of the arms containers to the Government and the
process of integration
of the PLA with the Nepal Army (NA). It also accused
the establishment faction of indulging in corruption
in the payment of compensation. The Baidya faction also
saw the integration process as a sort of coup by the
NA, in view of the deployment in the cantonments on
April 10, 2012.
The Baidya
faction believes that “the objective circumstances are
favorable for revolution but we should create the subjective
circumstances for revolution.” In the document that
Baidya presented at the hard-line convention of June
16-18, it was concluded that all national and international
circumstances are also conducive to revolution, and
that "capitalist" parties like the Nepali
Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist
Leninist (CPN-UML) were in crisis, and there was no
possibility of the revival of "old forces"
like the monarchy. Likewise, it concluded that the "capitalist
and imperialist" countries were also in crisis.
In the document, Baidya labeled UCPN-M Chairman Dahal
and Vice-chairman Bhattarai as the main obstacles to
an immediate people´s revolt. “The [national and international]
situation is favorable for revolution but there is no
possibility of an immediate revolution because of Dahal
and Bhattarai, who deviated from the revolutionary line,”
the document stated.
A Politburo
meeting of the newly formed CPN-Maoist has decided to
unveil various ‘protest programmes’ to create awareness
about national independence, increase pressure on the
Government to address the day-to-day problems faced
by the public, and organise orientation programmes for
cadres to justify the party split. The faction is also
laying groundwork to make new appointments of office
bearers and Politburo and Central Committee members.
Leaders state that, once the 75-member Central Committee
is given full shape, they will make appointments in
these party units, and will concretize the party's tactical
and strategic orientation. It is clear, however, that
the ‘ultimate goal’ has already been defined as the
establishment of a ‘People's Republic’ through a revolt
or People's War.
Prachanda
has responded to the split, dismissing the newly-formed
party as a group of ‘petty bourgeois anarchists’. He
also claimed that Baidya’s move would only help a counterrevolution,
declaring, "It is ridiculous that the newly-formed
party aims to launch people’s war and people’s revolt,
criticizing the former decisions taken by the party.”
The split
in the UCPN-M and the creation of the CPN-M (Baidya)
has again raised the spectre of violence in Nepal, with
the new formation openly declaring its commitment to
revolution and the ‘people’s war’. Nevertheless, there
is little danger of a quick hurtle into violence, as
the nascent group has little current capacity for sustained
violence, and obstacles to the creation of a new ‘people’s
army’ and the acquisition of necessary resources and
weaponry will be great. Nevertheless, given the instability
and political chaos in Nepal, and a significant pool
of frustrated ex-CPN-M armed cadres, the danger of a
new armed movement are real. The Baidya faction’s ideological
and strategic position, moreover, will bring it close
to India’s Maoists, and the possibility of support and
cooperation from this group would be significant. That
bodes ill, both for Kathmandu and for New Delhi.
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Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
June 18-24,
2012
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
7
|
Manipur
|
2
|
0
|
5
|
7
|
Nagaland
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
Odisha
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Total
(INDIA)
|
3
|
1
|
17
|
21
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
20
|
9
|
1
|
30
|
FATA
|
5
|
10
|
24
|
39
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
5
|
11
|
26
|
42
|
Sindh
|
30
|
1
|
0
|
31
|
Total
(PAKISTAN)
|
60
|
31
|
51
|
142
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
BANGLADESH
ICT-2
court
indicts
JeI leader
Ali Ahsan
Mohammad
Mojaheed:
The International
Crimes
Tribunal-2
(ICT-2)
on June
21 indicted
Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI)
leader
Ali Ahsan
Mohammad
Mojaheed
(64) with
seven
charges,
including
murder,
torture,
and imprisonment
of people,
genocide,
and hatching
a conspiracy
to kill
intellectuals
during
the Liberation
War. Mojaheed
is now
secretary
general
of the
JeI and
he was
as a minister
during
the Bangladesh
Nationalist
Party
(BNP)-led
four-party
alliance
rule in
2001-2006.
Daily
Star,
June 22,
2012.
BNP-JeI
activists
killed
22,000
AL men,
alleges
Prime
Minister
Sheikh
Hasina:
Prime
Minister
Sheikh
Hasina
on June
21 alleged
that Bangladesh
Nationalist
Party
(BNP)-Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI)
men killed
around
22,000
leaders
and activists
of Awami
League
(AL) during
their
tenure.
She said
BNP not
only unleashed
such brutalities
against
AL leaders
and workers
but also
against
members
of the
minority
community.
Daily
Star,
June 22,
2012.
INDIA
Six
persons
killed
in a clash
between
Naga militant
factions
in Manipur:
Six persons
were killed
in a gun
battle
between
Naga militant
groups
that took
place
in the
remote
Haochong
village,
located
about
68 kilometers
North
of Nungba
Police
Station,
in Tamenglong
District
at about
2.30am
on June
21. The
killed
persons
include
two civilians,
two cadres
of Nationalist
Socialist
Council
of Nagaland-Khaplang
(NSCN-K)
and one
Zeliangrong
United
Front
(ZUF)
cadre.
Another
killed
militant
has not
been identified.
The
Sangai
Express,
June 22,
2012.
IM
is a LeT
front,
India
tells
Pakistan:
India
has for
the first
time lodged
a strong
protest
with Pakistan
and given
concrete
evidence
proving
that IM,
which
has been
responsible
for a
series
of bomb
blasts
across
the country,
is a front
of terror
outfit
Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT).
New Delhi
has also
categorically
told Islamabad
that LeT
was using
the Pakistani
soil to
give training
and other
logistical
support
to the
IM. Deccan
Herald,
June 18,
2012.
71
elected
representatives
of civic
bodies
in Gadchiroli
of Maharashtra
resign
due to
Maoists
threat:
Seventy
one elected
representatives
of civic
bodies
in Gadchiroli
District
of Maharashtra
have resigned
from their
posts,
apparently
due to
Communist
Party
of India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
threat.
Chief
Executive
Officer
(CEO)
of Gadchiroli
Zilla
Parishad
(ZP, district
level
local
self-Government
institution)
Sumant
Bhange
on June
20 said
71 elected
representatives
have resigned
in the
last one
month.
No
nomination
has been
filed
in 132
out of
139 gram
panchayats
going
for polls
on June
24 in
CPI-Maoist-affected
Gadchiroli
District.
Only candidates
in five
wards
in four
gram panchayats
(GPs)
have dared
to contest
the elections
in entire
District.
The
Indian
Express,
June 21,
2012,
, Times
of India,
June 22,
2012.
New
militant
group
floated
in Meghalaya:
A new
outfit,
Hynniewtrep
People's
Liberation
Front
(HPLF),
has reportedly
been floated
in Khasi-Jaintia
Hills
Districts.
Sources
informed
that the
HPLF has
been formed
by certain
surrendered
Hynniewtrep
National
Liberation
Council
(HNLC)
members.
The
Shillong
Times,
June 21,
2012.
New
militant
group
formed
in Assam:
A new
militant
formation,
namely
United
Karbi
Liberation
Army (UKLA),
has been
formed
in Karbi
Anglong
District,
as reported
on June
21. UKLA
'publicity
secretary'
Angtar
Phura
said that
the outfit
would
fight
for the
Statehood
demand.
Sentinal
Assam,
June 21,
2012.
NEPAL
UCPN-M
formally
splits:
The Unified
Communist
Party
of Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M),
the largest
party
in the
dissolved
Constituent
Assembly,
has formally
split
with the
dissident
Mohan
Baidya
faction
announcing
the formation
of a new
party,
Communist
Party
of Nepal,
Maoist
(CPN-M).
The Baidya
faction
announced
the new
party
at the
end of
the three-day
national
gathering
of its
cadres
at Sherpa
Sewa Kendra
in Bouddha,
Kathmandu
on June
18.
Nepal
News,
June 19,
2012.
'My
party
is against
parliamentary
politics
and that
it might
not even
register
with EC',
says Chairman
of newly
formed
CPN-Maoist
Mohan
Baidya:
Chairman
of the
newly
formed
Communist
Party
of Nepal-Maoist
(CPN-Maoist)
Mohan
Baidya
on June
19 said
his party
was against
parliamentary
politics
and that
it might
not even
register
with the
Election
Commission.
He also
accused
the Unified
Communist
Party
of Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M)
chairman
Pushpa
Kamal
Dahal
aka Prachanda
and Prime
Minister
Baburam
Bhattarai
of ruining
the achievements
of the
'people's
war' and
compromising
the party's
basic
principles.
Nepal
News,
June 21,
2012.
PAKISTAN
26
militants
and 11
SFs among
42 persons
killed
during
the week
in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa:
The Afghanistan-based
Pakistan
militants
attacked
a military
convoy
on June
24 in
Upper
Dir District
of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa,
resulting
in the
killing
of at
least
21 persons,
including
11 militants
and 10
soldiers.
As many
as 15
militants
and one
Security
Force
(SF) official
were killed
and two
SFs were
injured,
when terrorists
from Afghanistan
attacked
Karakar
security
check
post (near
Afghan
border)
in the
Barawal
area of
Upper
Dir District
on June
22 .
A
bomb on
a donkey
cart killed
three
people
at a Sufi
shrine
in Peshawar
on June
21.
Daily
Times;
The
Dawn;
The
News ;
Tribune;
Central
Asia Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post ;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
24
militants
and 10
SFs among
39 persons
killed
during
the week
in FATA:
The Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
claimed
on June
22 that
they had
beheaded
seven
Security
Force
(SF) personnel,
who were
kidnapped
on June
21 after
a clash
with Security
Forces
(SFs)
near Laddah
in South
Waziristan
Agency
(SWA)
of Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA).
At
least
11 militants
were killed
and three
others
received
injuries
when jetfighters
pounded
their
positions
in Sharqi
and Janata
areas
of South
Waziristan
Agency
on June
21 .
At
least
13 Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
militants
were killed
and several
others
injured
when helicopter
gunships
bombed
their
positions
in Tirah
valley
of Khyber
Agency
on June
20.
Three
people,
identified
as Murtaza
Khan,
Jaffar
Khan and
Namdar
Khan,
were killed
and two
others
Mir Shah
Gul and
Noor Din,
received
injuries
when mortar
shells
hit a
caravan
of migrating
tribesmen,
(IDPs)
at Mandani
Kallay
locality
of Ali
Sherzai
area in
Orakzai
on June
18. Daily
Times;
The
Dawn;
The
News ;
Tribune;
Central
Asia Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post ;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
June 19-25,
2012.
20
civilians
and nine
SFs among
30 persons
killed
during
the week
in Balochistan:
At least
four Policemen
were shot
dead in
an ambush
at Bakra
Mandi
area of
Eastern
Bypass,
on outskirts
of Quetta,
the capital
of Balochistan
on June
24.
At
least
eight
persons
(Sindhis),
including
a Policeman,
were killed
and another
was injured
in an
attack
by unidentified
militants
in Mill
area of
Sariab
Road area
of Quetta
in Balochistan
on June
23.
Three
persons,
Muhammad
Irfan,
Hafeezullah
and Ahmed
of Bugti
tribe,
were killed
when their
motorcycle
hit a
landmine
in Pat
Feeder
area of
Dera Bugti
District
on June
21.
At
least
five students
were killed
and 53
injured
in a suicide
attack
that targeted
a university
bus near
Federal
Investigation
Agency
(FIA)
office
on Samungli
Road in
Quetta
on June
18.Daily
Times;
The
Dawn;
The
News ;
Tribune;
Central
Asia Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post ;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
June 19-25,
2012
Kabul
Ashura
attack
was planned
in Peshawar
by "regional
spy agencies",
alleges
Attorney
General
Eshaq
Aloko:
Afghan
authorities
on June
19 said
'regional
spy agencies'
were behind
the December
6, 2011,
suicide
attack
in Kabul
targeting
a Shia
gathering
that killed
more than
80 people
in a veiled
reference
to Pakistani
intelligence.
Attorney
General
(AG) Eshaq
Aloko
said the
attack
was planned
in Peshawar,
by "regional
spy agencies"
aimed
at "provoking
sectarian
violence,"
adding,
"Although
the Jhangvi
group
claimed
responsibility,
it was
masterminded
by some
spy agencies
in our
neighbouring
countries."
The
Dawn,
June 20,
2012.
Pakistan
ranks
13th in
failed
states
index,
reveals
Foreign
Policy
magazine
report:
Pakistan
has been
placed
13th in
the latest
ranking
of failed
states
compiled
by Foreign
Policy
magazine.
Pakistan
with 101.6
points,
the magazine
said,
is ranked
13th,
a slight
improvement
from the
previous
two years.
In 2011,
it was
ranked
12th in
the list
of failed
states,
while
in 2010
and 2009
it was
ranked
10th.
Daily
Times,
June 20,
2012.
Federal
Government
asks Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
Governor
to hold
talks
with TTP
leader
Hafiz
Gul Bahadur
on polio
vaccination
ban:
The Federal
Government
on June
20 asked
the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
Governor
Syed Masood
Kausar
to try
to enter
into dialogue
with the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
in North
Waziristan
Agency
of Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
to pave
the way
for vaccination
of children.
A letter
sent to
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
Governor
Syed Masood
Kausar
by Shahnaz
Wazir
Ali, focal
person
for polio
at the
Prime
Minister's
Polio
Eradication
Cell Secretariat
requested
the Governor
to start
talks
with the
TTP through
the political
agent
of North
Waziristan.
The
Dawn,
June 21,
2012.
US
diplomats
in Pakistan
facing
harassment,
says US
State
Department:
US diplomats
working
in Pakistan
face increasing
harassment
amid a
sharp
deterioration
in ties
in the
wake of
last year's
killing
of Osama
bin Laden,
a State
Department
report
said on
June 21.
Such harassment
and obstruction
is described
by US
embassy
staff
as "deliberate,
willful
and systematic,"
according
to the
76-page
report.
Express
Tribune,
June 22,
2012.
Supreme
Court
disqualifies
Prime
Minister
Yousuf
Raza Gilani:
The Supreme
Court
(SC) on
June 19
disqualified
Prime
Minister
Yousuf
Raza Gilani,
in what
was the
culmination
of a two-and-a-half-year-long
clash
between
judiciary
and executive.
The SC
said a
bench
of seven
judges
through
its judgement
dated
April,
26, 2012,
followed
by the
detailed
reasons
released
on May
8, 2012,
had found
Yousuf
Raza Gilani
guilty
of contempt
of court
under
Article
204(2)
of the
constitution
of the
Islamic
Republic
of Pakistan,
1973,
read with
Section
3 of the
Contempt
of Court
Ordinance,
2003 and
sentenced
him to
undergo
imprisonment
until
the rising
of the
court
under
Section
5 of the
said ordinance,
and since
no appeal
was filed
against
the judgement,
the conviction
has attained
finality.
Daily
Times,
June 20,
2012.
The
Pakistan
People's
Party
(PPP)
candidate
Raja Pervaiz
Asharaf
has been
elected
as the
25th Prime
Minister
(PM) of
the Islamic
Republic
of Pakistan
on June
22. The
newly
elected
PM and
a new
federal
cabinet
was sworn
in at
the Presidency
in Islamabad.
Twenty
seven
new federal
ministers
and 11
new ministers
for state
took oath;
most of
them were
part of
the previous
cabinet
as well.
The
Dawn,
June 23,
2012.
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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