SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 14, No. 5, August 3, 2015

PAKISTAN

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Frenetic Hangings
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On July 29, 2015, eight death row prisoners were executed in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. Three prisoners, identified as Muhammad Safdar, Aftab and his father, were hanged at Attock District Jail. Aftab and his father Usman had killed a man in 1998 over a monetary dispute. Muhammad Safdar had murdered two people over a ‘petty issue’ in 2003. Another convicted prisoner, Muhammad Tufail was hanged till death in Kasur District Jail. Tufail was hanged for killing a man and his son in 2001. Separately, another convict, Mohammad Nawaz was hanged till death in Sargodha District Jail for killing his relative over a land dispute in 2002. In Multan District Jail, death row prisoner Nayyar Abbas was hanged for killing a man in 1996. Another prisoner, Gulfam alias Gullu, was hanged till death in Gujrat District Jail for killing a man in 2001. Ahmed Din was hanged at the Jhang District Jail for killing Shireen Khan in a land dispute in April 2001.

Earlier, on July 27, 2015, two death row prisoners, Farooq Babar and Karim Nawaz, were hanged till death in Multan Central Jail. Babar had been found guilty of killing a man in 1998 after the deceased had failed to return an amount of borrowed money, while Nawaz, was convicted of murdering a man on 1999 over an old feud.

Prior to that, eight more death row prisoners were hanged in different prisons of Punjab on June 16, 2015, in spite of Federal Government’s one month moratorium on executions during Ramazan (Islamic month of fasting). A notification was issued on June 12, 2015, by the Federal Ministry of Interior and Provincial Governments had also been requested to comply with the order.

According to partial data compiled by The Express Tribune, at least 195 convicts were hanged till death across Pakistan since December 17, 2014.

Ironically, the Pakistan Government had lifted a seven-year moratorium on executions on December 17, 2014, in response to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attack on Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), on December 16, 2014, in which 148 persons, including 135 children were killed. The resumption of executions was justified as a necessary measure to deal with terrorism. While lifting the moratorium, the Federal Minister of Defence Khwaja Asif stated, on December 19, 2014, that the Government had consciously decided to lift the moratorium on capital punishment and that carrying out of death penalty against terrorists would begin soon. He asserted, further, "There will be no discrimination in carrying out convictions of terrorists who have been sentenced to death and whose appeals have been rejected," and that the process of establishing military courts for the purpose of trying terror suspects was already underway.

Of the 195 persons hanged since December 17, 2014, just 23 were involved in acts of terrorism. Moreover, even between December 17 and March 9, 2015, when executions were limited to terrorism offences only, of the 24 persons hanged, only eight were involved in acts of terror. Significantly, it was on March 10, 2015, that the Government decided to implement the death penalty in all cases.

In the interim, and despite objections from the Judiciary, opposition political parties and civil society, the Government went ahead with the establishment of military courts. The Army set up nine courts — three each in KP and Punjab, two in Sindh and one in Balochistan. According to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s special assistant for law, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, about 100 cases have gone to military courts and 27 judgments have been pronounced. The case files are ‘secret’ and it is not known how many of these judgments have awarded the death sentence, and to how many people. However, on April 2, 2015, military courts across the country on April 2, 2015, announced the award of the death sentences to six persons on terror charges. On April 15, 2015, the Supreme Court stayed the execution of these six terrorists, and the stay currently continues.

According to Ministries of Interior and Law and Justice and Human Rights officials, as on December 17, 2014, there were around 8,261 prisoners on death row in more than five dozen jails of the country. Of these, more than 6,770 were in various jails of Punjab. An unnamed senior official of Ministry of Interior disclosed that though it was difficult to put a precise number on how many prisoners were convicted for terrorism related offenses, estimates put roughly 30 per cent in this category.

During the hearing on the 21st Constitutional Amendment, which is intended to vest jurisdictional power in the Army for the establishment and operation of the military courts, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa of the Supreme Court questioned, on June 23, 2015,  whether the Army should be given a free hand to do everything in the name of ‘defence of Pakistan’. During the hearing he demanded, “Tell the court how many challans have been submitted in the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) and the situation of trial and why the prosecution failed to proceed in terrorist cases.” Replying to the query, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt informed the court that, in 2014, 85 per cent of cases were outstanding in regular anti-terrorism courts (ATCs), but didn’t give the reasons as to why so many cases were pending. Parliament passed the 21^st Constitutional Amendment and the Army Act to pave the way for the establishment of military courts for a period of two years.

Sarah Belal, head of Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a human rights organisation that launched the report “Terror on Death Row” on December 18, 2015, lamented, "Lifting the moratorium is a knee-jerk reaction. Our research shows that the government is clueless on who is an actual terrorist on death row and who isn't. Keeping that in mind, we're going to see some gross violations of rights." According to the report, 80 per cent of those on death row have not committed acts of terror, but were wrongly convicted. "They have the wrong people and terrorists roam free", Belal added.

The problem is compounded further by the fact that several terrorist organizations in Pakistan continue to enjoy state support, creating systemic biases against a non-discriminatory policy of executing terrorists on death row. In a recent assertion, the Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan defended the terrorist Jamat-ud-Da’wah (JuD) on the floor of the Senate (Upper House of Parliament), arguing that it was involved in ‘charitable works’. On July 7, 2015, he argued, “Presently, JuD is engaged in charity and social work, operating hospitals, clinics, schools, ambulance service and religious institutions.” He went on to add that that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had listed JuD as a resurrection of LeT, but no ‘supporting evidence’ was shared with Pakistan to establish such a connection. The JuD, a front of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), is led by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the mastermind of the November 26, 2008 (26/11) Mumbai (India) terror attacks, and the US has declared a reward of USD 10 million against him.

Though the Government and the all powerful military in Pakistan remain in denial, the Supreme Court, on July 2, 2015, asked the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) why no action was being taken against terrorist organisations. Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja remarked,

You have an action plan [National Action Plan (NAP)], then why it is not being implemented? Why terrorist organisations are overlooked by them? Action should be taken against them as well. Governments should do their job. The Court will issue no directive. No one can heave a sigh of relief. Every day a terror incident is published in newspapers. This is the level of seriousness of governments that terror incidents are taking place every day. Tell us, what the government has done within six months and six days (sic).

A ‘20-point Plan’ on counter-terrorism was announced by Prime Minister Sharif in a televised address to the nation in the night of December 24, 2014. NAP was another element incorporated in the Constitution by the 21^st Constitutional Amendment on January 7, 2015.

Expectedly, a handout has been issued by the Federal Ministry of Interior on July 4, 2015, to counter the Supreme Court. According to the handout, some 54,376 combing operations have been carried out under NAP, which came into effect on January 7, 2015, resulting in 60,420 arrests. Under NAP 3,019 intelligence-based operations were carried out while 1,388 pieces of intelligence were shared. Some 97.9 million mobile SIM cards have been verified using bio-metric technology, while 5.1 million SIM cards have been blocked. Further, Federal Minister of Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, on July 4, 2015, argued that it was wrong to say that 'not a single bit of work' has been done under NAP, and that, had this been so, international think-tanks would not have included Pakistan in the list of countries where acts of terrorism declined over the past year. Nisar added that NAP is not the sole responsibility of a particular department, institution or Ministry, but that it is a "national agenda" for the success of which numerous Ministries of the Federal Government, intelligence agencies, armed forces and provincial Governments are striving. 

Pakistan has long harnessed the issue of terrorism to actions and policies entirely unrelated to counter-terrorist objectives. The current frenzy of executions is a case in point, even as the collusion of the state establishment with externally directed terrorist groupings in particular, and some domestic groups as well, remains undiminished. Despite the great misfortunes this enduring strategy of complicity and support to terrorism has brought upon the people of Pakistan, the state, its agencies, and the elites that control these, still appear to believe that there are profiting from these processes.

INDIA

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Maoists: Never forgive, never forget
Mrinal Kanta Das
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

A former Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadre, identified as Madhav Warlu Padda (38), was killed by his former colleagues with sharp weapons near Mauja-Kotmi village in Etapally area of Gadchiroli District in Maharashtra on July 22, 2015. An unnamed official said the former Maoist was eliminated because the Maoists were against his decision to surrender. He had surrendered in November 2014. Before his surrender, Padda had been with the Kasansoor Dalam (armed squad) of the CPI-Maoist for 10 years, since 2005.

Earlier, between June 22 and July 5, Maoists killed another four of their senior cadres – Hemla Bhagat, a member of the Darbha Divisional Committee (DVC) and ‘chief’ of the Maoists’ military intelligence wing in the area; Kosi Kursem, wife of Hemla Bhagat, who was working with the Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Majdoor Sangh (DAKMS), a Maoist front organization; Masa Podivami alias Badru a DVC member of the Darbha area, and Hinge – who ‘wanted to surrender’. Ayatu, the ‘secretary’ of the Malangir Area Committee, has reportedly been ‘detained’ by his comrades in the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh.

The Maoists also killed a former intelligence unit 'chief' of the West Bastar Division, identified as Korsa Jagaram alias Shivaji, at Kottapal village in Bijapur District on January 1, 2015, three years after his surrender to the Police in 2012. Jagaram had been recruited as a Gopniya Sainik (secret informer) by the Bijapur Police after his surrender. Due to his involvement in several prominent attacks on the Security Forces and proximity to top Maoists, he had been a major intelligence source for the Police. “His death is a major loss for us,” an unnamed officer conceded.

According to partial data collected by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), since 2005, 70 surrendered cadres have been killed by the CPI-Maoist, till August 2, 2015. These included 14 in  2005, six in 2006, two in 2007, five in 2008, eight in 2009, 12 in 2010, four in 2011, seven in 2012, four in 2013, six in 2014, and two in 2015. The data for 2015 does not include the four Maoist cadres killed in the Bastar region, as they had not yet surrendered.

The current killings are to be seen against the backdrop of the recent surge in surrenders in the Bastar area of Chhattisgarh, considered to be the strongest Maoist base. According to partial data collected by SATP, 251 Maoists have surrendered across India, thus far in 2015. At least 4,245 Left Wing Extremists (LWEs) have surrendered across India since 2005 (data till August 2, 2015).

Crucially, in 2015, eight ‘deputy commanders’ surrendered in Andhra Pradesh; one ‘section commander’ in Maharashtra and one ‘commander’, one Local Guerrilla Squad (LGS) ‘commander’ and one Local Operation Squad (LOS) ‘commander’ in Telangana. However the majority of ‘commander’ rank surrenders have been from Chhattisgarh, with one ‘divisional commander’, three ‘deputy commanders’, five ‘commanders’, one Jan Militia ‘commander’, one LGS ‘commander’, one LOS ‘commander’, one ‘section commander’ and two ‘platoon commanders’. In Jharkhand, there was no commander rank surrender in 2015.

Rattled by the spurt of surrenders in Chhattisgarh, the Maoist leadership, on November 1, 2014, warned journalists working in Chhattisgarh against helping the Police in securing the surrender of Maoist cadres. “We appeal to the journalist brothers to condemn the fake surrenders and stop encouraging those who have deceived the people’s movement. The journalists who support the surrendered Maoists will be termed as ‘anti-people’ by the party,” declared Ganesh Uike, ‘secretary’ of the CPI-Maoist South Regional Committee (SRC), in a press statement.

The Maoist leadership has always despised cadres who surrendered ‘without discussion’, or who plan to ‘run away’, though there is a standing policy of permitting some categories of their cadres to surrender after they have sought the permission of the leadership. Indeed, there have been phases when the surrender policy has been exploited to ‘retire’ aging or ailing cadres, at least some of whom are subsequently found to engage in overground activities in support of the Maoists. In one recent case, where details of some such arrangement emerged after the arrest of a CPI-Maoist cadre, identified as Maansingh alias Arjun (45) from the Pakhanjore area in Kanker District on July 23, 2015. Kanker Superintendent of Police (SP) Jitendra Singh Meena disclosed that Arjun had been associated with the Maoists since 2000 and initially worked as a ‘temporary member’, but was later assigned the task of assembling crude firearms and repairing guns and rifles. Maansingh surrendered on the direction of Maoist leaders, was sent to jail. He was subsequently released on bail, and again joined the underground movement. He was elevated to the rank of ‘commander’ of the Kuli janmilitia (people’s militia) after rejoining the outfit, but due to prolonged illness, was demoted from the position and again tasked with making and repairing weapons till his arrest. The reasons for his earlier surrender are not clear, but this may have been the result of ill health, or an attempt by the Maoist leadership to learn more about the surrender cycle.

Where surrenders are unauthorized, the individuals are initially monitored and subsequently warned, and are also strongly criticized through the media. Maoists eventually eliminate their former comrades especially where they are deemed to have engaged in ‘anti-Party activities’.

While ‘elimination’ is the final solution, a number of prominent surrendered leaders remain under current and significant threat. Thus on June 20, 2007, the Maoists in the Guntur District of then undivided Andhra Pradesh warned five surrendered Maoists to stop hobnobbing with the Police or face ‘dire consequences’. Similarly, on January 30, 2013, the CPI-Maoist Southern Gadchiroli ‘divisional committee’ criticized its former ‘secretary’ Shekhar alias Mallaya and his wife Vijaya, who had surrendered before the Andhra Pradesh Government in 2012. On June 9, 2013, an "internal inquiry commission" of the CPI-Maoist blamed Suchitra Mahato, the surrendered Maoist leader, for the death of ‘politburo member’ Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji in an encounter in Junglemahal area of West Bengal in November 2011. Branding her as a "traitor", the CPI-Maoist central committee approved "retaliation" against those involved in the "conspiracy". On January 13, 2014, the CPI-Maoist condemned the surrender of the ‘state committee’ member of ‘Dandakaranya special zonal committee’ (DKSZC) GVK Prasad alias Gudsa Usendi alias Sukhdev. Similarly a statement issued by the succeeding spokesperson of the DKSZC, who was also given the nom de guerre Gudsa Usendi, condemned the surrender of DKSZC member Arjun and his wife Ranita before the Police in Telangana on August 1, 2014. The party said the couple could not withstand the "difficult time" faced by the movement.

The pressure of ‘difficult times’ has enormously been compounded by the Central Government’s enticing surrender policy, with generous financial rewards and rehabilitation schemes, which have forced many Maoists to rethink their future. The LWE-affected State Governments have also increased the amount for surrendered cadres. Maharashtra’s “Kaun Banega Lakhpati” scheme, along with a propaganda campaign, peace rallies, dialogue with the locals; Andhra Pradesh Government’s grant of ‘white cards’ [a kind of ration card], housing, LPG subsidy and admission to skill development courses; the Jharkhand Cabinet’s decision to give CPI-Maoist politburo, special area committee and regional bureau members a whopping INR 2.5 million; the Odisha Government’s decision to provide enhanced financial assistance and house building grants at the rate of the Indira Awas Yojna; have all proved crucial for the success of the surrender policy.

On November 29, 2014, the CPI-Maoist admitted that its cadres were deserting the party and "It is true that some of our 'weak' cadres are getting attracted towards the bankrupt and corrupt surrender policy of the Government and laying down their arms," Gudsa Usendi conceded in a Press statement.

The killing of surrendered cadres, especially where the Maoists suspect collusion with the Police, is obviously intended to discourage the wave of surrenders and defections that is worrying the rebel leadership. Crucially, however, it also underlines the failure of the Government to provide a secure environment to those who are deserting the Maoists. While financial rewards and other elements of ‘rehabilitation’ have played a crucial role in encouraging the rising tide of surrenders, if the Maoists succeed in inflicting frequent reprisals on such cadres, the policy will eventually fail.

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

INDIA

Assam

Nagaland

Left-Wing Extremism

Chhattisgarh

Maharashtra

Odisha

Total (INDIA)

PAKISTAN

Balochistan

KP

Punjab

Sindh

PAKISTAN (Total)