| |
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 12, No. 41, April 14, 2014
Data and
assessments from SAIR can be freely published in any form
with credit to the South Asia Intelligence Review of the
South Asia Terrorism Portal
|
Maoists:
Disrupting Democracy
Fakir Mohan Pradhan
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
The Communist
Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
appears to be trying to stare down the ‘critical
situation’ facing the movement, exploiting
the vulnerabilities of the security arrangements to perpetrate
violence in the heightened atmosphere of the ongoing General
Elections. Despite increased Security Force (SF) presence
to secure free and fair polls, the Maoists have hit multiple
States in the areas where elections were held on April
10, 2014, in the second of the nine-phase election declared
by the Election Commission.
In Chhattisgarh,
the CPI-Maoist struck twice in an hour on April 12, killing
14 people, including seven polling officials and five
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, as they
blew up a bus and an ambulance, respectively, in the Bijapur
and Bastar Districts.
Maoists
first triggered a powerful blast, targeting a bus when
a polling party was returning, between Kutru and Gudma
in Bijapur District. Seven members of the polling party
were killed in the explosion and subsequent firing, which
also left five persons injured. Sources indicate that
75 to 100 armed Maoists were involved in the ambush.
Within
an hour, Maoists struck again and blew up an ambulance,
killing five CRPF personnel, a medical attendant and the
driver on the spot, in Darbha on the Jagdalpur-Sukma national
highway in the Bastar District.
On April
9, 2014, three personnel of the Commando Battalion for
Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the CRPF were killed and
another three were injured in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh’s
Sukma District. The incident occurred near the Chintagufa
village, when a team of the CoBRA and Sukma Police was
returning after escorting a poll party. In another incident
on the same day, three personnel of the 85th battalion
of the CRPF were injured in an improvised explosive device
(IED) blast near Kikler village in Bijapur District.
On April
10, 2014, in Bihar, two CRPF troopers were killed and
seven others were injured when the Maoists triggered an
IED planted under a bridge targeting a team of the paramilitary
force and Bihar Police personnel in two jeeps on their
way to a polling station in the Jamui parliamentary constituency.
The incident occurred near Sawa Lakh Baba Mandir
(temple) on the fringes of the Bhimbandh Forest in Munger
District, just four hours before polling commenced.
Three days
earlier, on April 7, 2014, at least three CRPF personnel
were killed and eight others, including Station House
Officer (SHO) Amar Kumar of the Bihar Police, were injured
in a landmine blast near Baranda Mor under the Dhibra
Police Station limits in Aurangabad District. The deceased
included a CRPF Deputy Commandant. The explosion occurred
when the troopers were attempting to defuse the mine.
In Maharashtra,
one Policeman was killed and five were seriously injured
when the Maoists opened fire on a police team in the Gadchiroli
District on April 11. The incident took place when a Police
team of the Jimalgatta Police Station, was providing security
to the polling party of the Dambrancha polling booth.
While things
remained relatively peaceful in Odisha, Maoists snatched
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) from polling personnel
at Jodamba in Malkangiri’s cut-off area (150-odd villages
of Kudumulu Gumma Block, separated from the rest of the
Block by the Balimela Reservoir), after the polling ended
on April 10. The Maoists also snatched one EVM from a
polling party while it was returning from Kanshariput
under the Mathili Police Station limits in the District.
Earlier, during the night of April 9, Maoists set ablaze
a vehicle carrying EVMs and other polling materials near
Mahupadar within the Mathili Police Station limits. The
Maoists detained a polling party on April 10 and released
them on the next day, asking them to hand over a letter
to the Government demanding operations against them be
halted.
Surprisingly,
areas of Jharkhand that went to poll on April 10 saw a
relatively peaceful process, though the State had been
placed on high alert, as Police believed SFs in the State
could be targeted, especially trains transporting troops.
Security
forces seized about 400 kilograms of explosives in the
form of IEDs from Maoist-hit Districts across four States
where polling was held on April 10. The biggest recovery
was from Bihar where the CRPF seized 225 kilograms of
IEDs —135 kg from Gaya and 90 kg from Aurangabad. Further,
about 90 kilograms explosives were recovered from different
locations in Bastar in south Chhattisgarh, about 52 kilograms
from Jharkhand and 20 kilograms from Odisha.
Keeping
Maoist and other insurgent violence in various states
in mind the, the Election Commission had declared a nine-phase
election. The worst-affected areas in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh were scheduled for
voting in a single phase (the second), with other affected
areas in these States to go to polls in subsequent phases.
This was done to prevent Maoists from moving from one
area to another to disrupt polls, and also to ensure a
maximum saturation of SFs in the polling areas during
the election process.
The Union
Home Ministry and the Election Commission had, while planning
the approach of polling personnel to booths in Maoist-hit
villages, taken care to minesweep the areas and also to
weave in an element of surprise by breaking the journey
of the contingents a little short of the polling stations.
The polling parties and troops covered the last few miles
only after dark, to minimize chances of an ambush. Also,
some polling stations were relocated to a nearby area
at the last minute to derail any Maoist plans to target
them during voting.
Anticipating
communal clashes and heavy violence by Maoists, in different
areas, including violence potentially targeting politicians,
the Centre had agreed to provide 200 battalions of armed
security personnel to the Election Commission for the
smooth conduct of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the
2009 General Elections, by comparison, the Election Commission
had deployed 120 battalions of armed security personnel.
In the current process, 175 battalions are drawn from
the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and about 25 battalions
from the State Armed Police Forces. In addition, Police
forces from the States District Police apparatus also
supplement the presence of the armed contingents provided
to the Election Commission. Sources indicated that, in
addition to the 90 battalions of CAPFs already deployed
in Maoist-affected states, another 700 companies of Central
Forces were being deployed in the Naxalite-affected Districts,
thus taking the total presence up to 160 battalions.
In the
2004 and 2009 General Elections, the six Left Wing Extremist
(LWE)-affected states had accounted for 108 and 124 violent
incidents, resulting in 9 and 24 deaths, respectively.
In the present process, the main focus area for security
deployment are the 33 Districts worst affected by Maoist
violence, which have been designated as 'A' category Districts.
Of these, 13 are in Jharkhand, eight in Chhattisgarh,
five in Bihar, four in Odisha, two in Andhra Pradesh and
one in Maharashtra.
In keeping
with their practice before almost every election now,
the Maoists had called for a boycott of the Lok Sabha
polls across the country and also of the Assembly Elections
being held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and
Sikkim.
In a statement
issued by the CPI-Maoist Central Committee (CC) spokesperson
Abhay, the outfit asked people not to vote for any of
the national or regional parties and also included the
new entity, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in its list to be boycotted.
The Maoists called the elections a "sham", since
the condition of the poor and the downtrodden remained
unchanged even after past changes in regime. Abhay argued:
The
great Marxist teacher Lenin stated in his 'State
and Revolution - "Elections are held to decide once
every few years which member of the ruling class
is to repress and crush the people through parliament-such
is the real essence of bourgeois parliamentarism,
not only in parliamentary-constitutional monarchies,
but also in the most democratic republics." This
is more applicable to our semi-colonial, semi-feudal
country that claims itself to be the 'biggest democracy
in the world.'
|
On other
occasions, the Maoists also slammed the introduction of
the 'none of the above' (NOTA) option in ballot papers,
declaring that its "purpose is to give validity to
a system that is fast losing relevance." They demanded
that the citizens' right to boycott polls - considering
it an expression of opinion - be legalized. In Jharkhand,
Sanket, spokesperson of the Eastern Regional Bureau of
the CPI-Maoist, issued an 'alternative manifesto' in the
form of a "short-term vision" document, appealing
to the masses to decide if they wanted "real democracy",
or preferred to reinforce the existing "pseudo-democratic
system" by casting their vote for the 16th Lok Sabha.
The Union
Home Ministry had earlier sounded an alert to the Governments
of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh warning
that the Maoists intended to disrupt the General Elections
by extensively mining their stronghold areas to target
political leaders and security forces as a 'bounce-back
strategy', after their failure to enforce their poll-boycott
in Chhattisgarh during the Assembly Elections in November
2013. The advisory document claimed that the intelligence
was based on specific disclosures by a leader of the Andhra-Odisha
Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), indicating that
the outfit planned to mine areas in the Narayanpatna,
Bandhugaon and Laxmipur areas of Odisha.
A 'two-pronged
strategy' devised by the CPI-Maoist Jharkhand Regional
Committee also came to light following the seizure of
a document by SFs in the Jamui area of Bihar on February
2, 2014. Titled “Chunao Bahishkar (Election Boycott)”,
the paper purportedly outlined plans to disrupt the Lok
Sabha polls in certain Districts of Bihar and Jharkhand
through boycott campaigns coupled with attacks targeting
security forces and political leaders, especially those
belonging to the Congress, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)
and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha. The seized document indicated
that Maoist cadres had been instructed to arrange explosives
to carry out strikes, including the targeting of vehicles
used in election campaigns, abduction or elimination of
political leaders, and ambushing security personnel.
As noted
earlier
in SAIR , the Maoists have
resolved to "fight back the enemy onslaught on strategic
area and guerilla bases. As part of this, people and the
People’s Militia should be rallied on a vast scale and
mine warfare [emphasis added] should be intensified."
The efficient harnessing of diminished resources and concentrated
attacks on the weakest links of the state Forces are integral
to this effort.
The susceptibilities
of the polling process and personnel have been heightened
by the fact that the kind of saturation of Force that
could be achieved, for instance, in the Chhattisgarh Assembly
Elections in November 2013, and that ensured a relatively
peaceful poll with an extraordinarily high voter turnout,
has not been possible in the far more dispersed processes
of a General Election. Thus, during the Chhattisgarh Assembly
Elections, 564 additional companies of CAPFs were provided
to the State, to contain Maoist activities during the
election process. During the ongoing General Election,
Chhattisgarh has been provided just 143 additional Companies
of CAPFs, as against a request by the State Police of
at least 400 additional companies. Inevitably, vulnerabilities
across the Maoist afflicted regions in the affected States
will be greater than the case during the Chhattisgarh
Assembly polls. This is already visible in the attacks
and fatalities during the early phases of elections, and
can be expected to be compounded, in some measure, by
continuing Maoist strikes over the coming weeks.
|
J&K:
Kupwara: Gateway of Terror
Anurag Tripathi
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On April 7, 2014,
five persons, including one Junior Commissioned Officer of the Army,
two Policemen and two terrorists, were killed and six Security Force
(SF) personnel were injured in a gun battle in the Zunreshi area
of Chowkibal in Kupwara District of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
The exchange of fire ensued when an SF unit, on receiving information
about the presence of a group of four or five Lashkar-e-Toiba (
LeT) terrorists in the area, launched an operation.
The remaining terrorists managed to escape.
Earlier, on March
10, 2013, a 'divisional commander' of LeT, identified as Abu Huraira,
and his associate, identified as Abu Talha, were killed, and an
Army officer of the counter-insurgency Kilo Force was injured in
a gun battle between terrorists and SFs in the Handwara area of
Kupwara District.
On February 24, 2014,
at least seven LeT terrorists were killed by SFs in the Lolab forests
of Kupwara District. A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including
seven AK-47 rifles, 28 magazines and one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher
(UBGL), were recovered.
According to partial
data compiled by the South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP),
Kupwara District has witnessed a total of 332 fatalities, including
279 terrorists and 53 SF personnel since 2006. There had been no
fatalities in the District between March 2000, when the SATP database
commenced compiling data on terrorism-related fatalities in J&K,
and 2005]. In the first three months and 13 days of 2014, J&K
has already recorded 34 fatalities, including 25 terrorists, six
SF personnel and three civilians; of which Kupwara alone accounted
for 14 deaths, including 11 terrorists and three SF personnel. In
2013, out of 181 total fatalities in the State, Kupwara alone accounted
for 58 (32 per cent) including 53 terrorists and five SF personnel.
Significantly, no civilian fatalities have been recorded in terrorism-related
incidents in this District since March 2000.
Fatalities in Kupwara District: 2006-2014*
Years
|
SFs
|
Terrorists
|
Total
|
2006
|
3
|
33
|
36
|
2007
|
13
|
58
|
71
|
2008
|
12
|
46
|
58
|
2009
|
3
|
16
|
19
|
2010
|
4
|
27
|
31
|
2011
|
6
|
17
|
23
|
2012
|
4
|
18
|
22
|
2013
|
5
|
53
|
58
|
2014
|
3
|
11
|
14
|
Total
|
53
|
279
|
332
|
*Data till
April 13, 2014, Source: SATP
|
The reason for this somewhat
unique pattern of violence in Kupwara is that the District is used by the
terrorists as a ‘gateway’ to enter J&K and then move into other parts
of the State to execute attacks, rather than as a target in itself. Indeed,
of the 192 infiltration attempts into J&K since January 1, 2006, recorded
by SATP, Kupwara has accounted for 66 (about 34.37 per cent) resulting in
183 fatalities in the District (164 terrorists and 19 SF personnel).
Significantly, the
biggest ever incursion after the Kargil Sector intrusion in 1999,
was engineered by Pakistan-backed terrorists at
Shala Bhata village in the Keran Sector of Kupwara
District in September 2013. As a result, the Army was forced to
launch Operation Shala Bhata on September 24, 2013,
during which at least 19 terrorists were killed, while five Army
troopers also sustained injuries. The Operation continued for nearly
two weeks, eventually to be called off on October 8, 2013.
Kupwara District
lies in the extreme north-west of the Kashmir Valley, and has been
a traditional strategic route for terrorist infiltration from across
the border. With a geographical area of 2,379 square kilometers,
the District’s northern and western borders form the Line of Control
(LoC) between India and Pakistan, while the eastern and southern
borders touch Bandipore and Baramulla Districts in J&K. Terrorist
handlers in Pakistan have recognized the geo-strategic importance
of Kupwara, and have used it as a principal route of infiltration
into the Indian side for Pakistan-based terrorist formations, prominently
including LeT, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (
HM), Jaish-e-Muhammad (
JeM),
Harkat-ul-Mujahiddeen among others.
Kupwara has been
notified as a ‘Disturbed Area’ in 1990, along with Srinagar, Budgam,
Anantnag, Pulwama and Baramulla Districts of the Srinagar Division,
and Jammu, Kathua, Poonch, Udhampur, Rajouri and Doda Districts
of the Jammu Division, under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (J&K)
Special Powers Act, 1990. The Act came into being in 1958 and was
extended to Kashmir in 1990, and has remained
in force since. Terrorism has afflicted Kupwara since 1988-89. The
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (
JKLF),
the first extremist formation to go to Pakistan for arms training,
started its activities from Kupwara. Most Kashmiri youth went across
the border for training via Kupwara from the very outset.
Though the terrorists have
not targeted civilians in the District, they have released several posters
threatening them. In a latest of this series of threats, on February 8, 2013,
hand written posters threatening Panches (members of Gram Panchayats
- village level local self-Government institutions) and Sarpanches
(heads of Gram Panchayats) and asking them to resign or face
'consequences', appeared in Kupwara’s Wadpora village. Nine Gram Panchayat
members have been killed across J&K since the Panchayat Elections
of 2011, though no such killing has yet occurred in Kupwara.
A significant circulation of
Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) printed in and brought in from Pakistan
by an established network, has also been noticeable in the District. On April
17, 2013, Police arrested three Police personnel and a hotel owner on charges
of running a FICN racket from the Lolab area. Deputy Inspector General (DIG)
of Police, North Kashmir, J. P. Singh disclosed, "Investigations have
revealed that fake currency notes had come from PaK (Pakistan administered
Kashmir) via Keran area (Kupwara District)."
On December 13, 2013, Union
Minister of Home Affairs (UMHA) Sushil Kumar Shinde stated that terrorist
groups were currently principally operating in the Districts of Baramulla,
Kupwara, Bandipore, Anantnag and Pulwama in the Kashmir Division; and Poonch,
Ramban and Rajouri Districts in the Jammu Division.
Not surprisingly,
Pakistan, in its recurrent demands for withdrawal of Indian troops
from J&K, has particularly emphasized on two Districts - Kupwara
and Baramulla. Thus, in a bid to
re-open terror routes the then-President of
Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, during the India-Pakistan dialogue
on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly session
in New York, in September 2006, specifically identified these two
Districts for immediate troop withdrawal by India as a 'gesture'
to help build the 'impetus for peace'.
The continued exploitation
of the Kupwara District for infiltration of terrorist cadres into J&K
demonstrates both the Pakistani intent to sustain terrorism in J&K as
well as the centrality of this 'gateway' in the enduring terrorist campaigns
in the State.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
April 7-13,
2014
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
|
Islamist Terrorism
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
6
|
4
|
10
|
Manipur
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Bihar
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
5
|
Chhattisgarh
|
9
|
8
|
0
|
17
|
Maharashtra
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Total (INDIA)
|
9
|
20
|
7
|
36
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
21
|
0
|
30
|
51
|
FATA
|
1
|
0
|
40
|
41
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
5
|
Punjab
|
23
|
0
|
0
|
23
|
Sindh
|
9
|
0
|
4
|
13
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
|
SRI LANKA
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
Seven
polling
officials
and
five
CRPF
personnel
among
14
persons
killed
in
twin
Maoist
attacks
in
Chhattisgarh:
The
Communist
party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
cadres
struck
twice
in
an
hour
on
April
12,
killing
14
people,
including
seven
polling
officials
and
five
Central
Reserve
Police
(CRPF)
personnel,
as
they
blew
up
a
bus
and
an
ambulance
in
Bijapur
and
Bastar
Districts.
Maoists
first
triggered
a
powerful
blast,
targeting
a
bus
when
a
polling
party
was
returning,
between
Kutru
and
Gudma
in
Bijapur
District.
Seven
members
of
the
polling
party
were
killed
in
the
blast
and
subsequent
firing
which
also
left
five
others
injured.
Sources
said
around
75-100
armed
Maoists
were
involved
in
the
ambush
on
the
polling
party.
The
Maoists
fled
to
the
forests
after
Security
personnel
launched
a
retaliatory
attack.
Within
an
hour,
Maoists
struck
again
and
blew
up
an
ambulance,
killing
five
CRPF
personnel,
a
medical
attendant
and
the
driver
on
the
spot
in
Darbha
on
Jagdalpur-Sukma
national
highway
in
Bastar
District.
Times
of
India,
April
13,
2014.
Five
persons
killed
in
Jammu
and
Kashmir:
Five
persons,
including
two
Policemen,
one
Junior
Commissioned
Officer
of
Army
and
two
militants
were
killed
and
six
Security
Force
personnel
were
injured
in
a
gun
battle
with
militants
in
the
Zunreshi
area
of
Chowkibal
in
Kupwara
District
on
April
7.
Huge
cache
of
arms
and
ammunition
was
recovered
from
the
encounter
site.
Daily
Excelsior,
April
8,
2014.
Yasin
Bhatkal
revealed
about
Dawood
Ibrahim
linkages
and
IM
finances,
says
report:
Arrested
Indian
Mujahideen
'Indian
Operations
Chief'
Yasin
Bhatkal
revealed
about
Dawood
lbrahim
linkages
before
the
Bangalore
Police's
Anti-Terrorist
Cell
and
the
National
Investigation
Agency
(NIA).
Also,
he
told
investigators
that
he
collected
hawala
(illegal
money
transaction)
money,
sent
from
Dubai
or
Sharjah
by
another
IM
member,
Hafeef
Bhatkali,
during
the
November
26,
2008
(26/11)
terror
attacks
in
Mumbai
(Maharashtra).
DNA,
April
6,
2014.
Face
value
of
confiscated
FICNs
surged
by
more
than
440
per
cent
in
past
five
years,
says
report:
Counterfeit
rackets
are
pumping
more
Fake
Indian
Currency
Notes
(FICNs)
into
the
Indian
market
than
ever
before.
The
face
value
of
forged
notes
seized
has
surged
by
more
than
440
per
cent
over
five
years,
from
INR
38,18,600
in
2008
to
INR
1,69,46,970
in
2013,
and
investigators
say
confiscated
notes
represent
only
a
small
fraction
of
the
amount
of
counterfeit
notes
in
circulation
at
any
given
time.
Times
of
India,
April
10,
2014.
Coal
India
loses
INR
6000
million
a
year
due
to
CPI-Maoist
insurgency,
says
official:
The
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
cadres
are
illegally
mining
and
selling
coal
from
coalfields
owned
by
Coal
India
Limited
(CIL),
causing
revenue
losses
of
up
to
INR
6000
million
a
year,
according
to
a
top
executive.
The
illegal
extraction
and
sale
by
the
Maoists
is
impacting
coal
output
to
the
tune
of
three
million
tonnes
(metric
tonne)
at
the
state-run
firm
and
hitting
operations
at
its
subsidiary
Central
Coalfields
Limited.
Live
mint
,
April
8,
2014.
Withdraw
poll
boycott
first,
Centre
tells
CPI-Maoist:
Responding
to
a
truce
offer
by
the
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist),
the
Central
Government
on
April
7
asked
the
outfit
to
first
withdraw
its
call
for
boycott
of
the
ongoing
Lok
Sabha
(Lower
House
of
Indian
Parliament)
elections
and
shun
violence
to
create
conditions
for
peace
talks.
In
a
statement
on
April
6,
the
CPI-Maoist
'spokesperson'
Abhay
said
it
was
not
against
peace
talks
with
the
Government.
The
Hindu,
April
8,
2014.
NEPAL
Government
tables
reviewed
bill
on
TRC
and
CED
with
special
focus
on
reconciliation:
The
Government
on
April
9
tabled
a
reviewed
bill
on
Truth
and
Reconciliation
Commission
(TRC)
and
Commission
on
Enforced
Disappearances
(CED)
with
special
focus
on
reconciliation.
The
bill
has
proposed
a
commission,
which
will
have
a
status
of
a
judicial
commission
with
rights
akin
to
a
court.
The
commission
will
have
tenure
of
two
years.
The
bill,
which
provisions
two
separate
commissions
of
inquiry,
has
incorporated
some
provisions
of
the
previous
ordinance
regarding
transitional
justices,
which
were
struck
down
by
the
Supreme
Court.
Ekantipur,
April
10,
2014.
PAKISTAN
30
militants
and
21
civilians
among
51
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
Balochistan:
At
least
17
people,
including
a
woman
and
five
children,
were
killed
and
44
others
were
wounded
when
a
passenger
train,
Jaffar
Express,
was
bombed
at
Sibi
Railway
Station
in
Sibi
District
on
April
8.
Frontier
Corps
(FC)
on
April
7
claimed
to
have
killed
more
than
30
militants
in
the
Parodh
area
of
Kalat
District.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;The
News;
Tribune;Central
Asia;
The
Nation;The
Frontierpost;
Pakistan
Today;Pakistan
Observer
,
April
8-14,
2014.
40
militants
and
one
civilian
among
41
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
At
least
10
militants
were
killed
in
the
ongoing
infighting
in
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
in
the
Shawal
tehsil
(revenue
unit)
of
Miranshah
in
North
Waziristan
Agency
(NWA)
of
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA).
Three
Haqqani
Network
militants
were
killed
and
two
wounded
when
a
vehicle
hit
a
roadside
bomb
in
the
Dattakhel
area
of
NWA
on
April
11.
Nine
more
persons
were
killed
on
April
9
in
fighting
between
two
feuding
factions
of
the
TTP
in
South
Waziristan
Agency
(SWA).
At
least
14
TTP
militants
were
killed
in
clashes
between
two
factions
of
the
militant
outfit
on
April
8
in
SWA.
At
least
four
TTP
militants,
including
a
local
'commander'
of
the
Hakimullah
Mehsud
group,
identified
as
Kashed
Khan
Mehsud,
were
killed
and
another
was
injured
in
Shaktoi
area
of
SWA
on
April
7.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;Central
Asia;
The
Nation;The
Frontierpost;
Pakistan
Today;Pakistan
Observer
,
April
8-14,
2014.
23
people
killed
in
bomb
explosion
in
Punjab:
At
least
23
people
were
killed
and
many
others
were
injured
in
a
bomb
explosion
at
Pir
Wadhai
area
near
Sabzi
Mandi
locality
in
Islamabad
on
April
9.
Police
said
that
the
explosives
were
planted
in
a
guava
box,
which
at
the
time
of
auction
exploded.
The
News,
April
9,
2014.
TTP
holds
meeting
to
discuss
ceasefire
amid
drone
flights
in
FATA:
A
meeting
of
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan's
(TPP)
Shura
(council)
was
held
at
an
undisclosed
place
in
the
North
Waziristan
Agency
of
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
on
April
11
to
decide
about
extending
or
ending
the
ceasefire
as
United
States
(US)
drones
conducted
low
altitude
flights
in
parts
of
the
tribal
region.
At
the
beginning
of
peace
talks
with
the
Government,
the
TTP
had
announced
a
month-long
ceasefire
on
March
1,
2014.
Later,
it
extended
it
for
10
days
until
April
10,
2014,
to
give
peace
talks
a
chance.
But
no
important
development
has
taken
place
during
the
10-day
period.
Dawn,
April
12,
2014.
Anti-peace
negotiation
group
Ansar-ul-Hind
planning
terrorist
attacks
in
major
cities,
warn
Intelligence
Agencies:
The
proceeding
in
the
November
26,
2008,
Mumbai
terror
attacks
case
(26/11)
has
come
to
a
standstill
as
the
special
judge
of
the
Anti-Terrorism
Court
(ATC),
Atiqur
Rehman,
has
expressed
his
inability
to
conduct
the
trial
of
seven
Pakistani
suspects
in
the
Adiala
Jail
of
Rawalpindi
District
of
Punjab
due
to
security
reasons.
Sources
close
to
the
proceedings
revealed
that
since
March
3,
2014,
when
terrorists
attacked
the
District
Courts
in
Islamabad,
there
has
been
no
progress
on
the
trial
with
the
ATC
unable
to
complete
the
cross
examination
of
even
a
single
witness.
Dawn,
April
8,
2014.
National
Assembly
pass
Protection
of
Pakistan
Amendment
Bill
2014:
The
National
Assembly
on
April
7
passed
Protection
of
Pakistan
Amendment
Bill
2014
amid
strong
protest
from
the
opposition
benches.
The
Protection
of
Pakistan
Bill
2014
also
contains
provisions
from
the
2013
Bill.
It
states
that
Special
Courts
will
be
established
for
disposing
of
cases
against
terrorists
while
Joint
Investigation
Teams
(JITs)
will
undertake
probe
into
the
terror-related
cases.
Under
the
new
Bill,
a
person
declared
convict
by
a
court
could
be
kept
in
any
prison
of
the
country.
The
News,
April
8,
2014.
SRI
LANKA
Three
LTTE
leaders
and
one
trooper
killed
in
Vavuniya
District:
Four
people
were
killed
in
a
clash
between
Security
Forces
(SFs)
and
Liberation
Tigers
of
Tamil
Eelam
(LTTE)
terrorists
in
the
Nadunkarni
area
of
Vavuniya
District
on
April
10.
The
clash
ensued
when
SFs
launched
a
search
operation
for
the
wanted
LTTE
suspect
Ponniah
Selvanayagam
alias
Gopi.
Gopi
was
among
the
three
LTTE
leaders
killed.
The
other
two
killed
LTTE
leaders
were
identified
as
Sundaralingam
Kajeepan
alias
Thevihan
and
Navarathnam
Navaneethan
alias
Appan.
ColomboPage,
April
11,
2014.
'Second
in
command'
of
LTTE's
Nediyavan
Group
arrested
in
Iran:
Kapilan
alias
Nandhagopan,
the
'second
in
command'
of
the
Liberation
Tigers
of
Tamil
Eelam
(LTTE)'s
Nediyavan
Group,
was
arrested
at
Tehran
(Iran)
Airport
on
March
6,
2014.
Nandhagopan
was
arrested
by
Sri
Lankan
authorities
with
the
help
of
Iranian
and
Malaysian
authorities.
Nandhagopan
was
transported
to
Colombo.
www.dailymirror.lk,
April
8,
2014.
Dailymirror,
April
8,
2014.
The South
Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that
brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on
terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on
counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on
related economic, political, and social issues, in the South
Asian region.
SAIR is a project
of the Institute
for Conflict Management
and the
South
Asia Terrorism Portal.
|
|
|