| |
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 14, No. 9, August 31, 2015
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
|
Enduring
Vulnerabilities
Ajit
Kumar Singh
Research
Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
August
24, 2015, turned out to be the bloodiest day in Nepal
since the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA) of November
21, 2006, when the then Nepal Prime Minister (PM) Girija
Prasad Koirala and Chairman of the Communist Party of
Nepal-Maoist [CPN-M, now known as Unified Communist Party
of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M)]
Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda, agreed on the
terms to bring the Maoist insurgency to an end. On August
24, 2015, at least 20 people – 17 policemen, including
the Superintendent of Police of the Seti Zone, Laxman
Neupane, and three protesters – were killed and over 100
others were injured in clashes between Tharuhat activists
and the Police at Shankarpur area of Tikapur Municipality
in Kailali District. The protestors were demanding a Tharuhat
Autonomous Province.
The worst
insurgency related incident, after November 21, 2006,
had taken place on May 29, 2007, when nine persons, including
a child, were killed as three bombs exploded in a house
at Bhutuke village in the Gothadi Village Development
Committee (VDC) area of Palpa District. According to partial
data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP),
Nepal recorded nine major insurgency-related incidents
(each involving three or more fatalities) after the CPA,
the last of these was on April 30, 2012, when at least
five people died and two dozen were injured in a bomb
explosion at Ramanand Chowk in Dhanusa District. Though
Nepal has recorded 298 insurgency-related fatalities,
including 178 civilians, five Security Force (SF) personnel
and 115 insurgents, since the CPA, the last of such fatalities
occurred on August 24, 2012, when unidentified assailants
had killed the general secretary of the Madhesi Janadhikar
Forum (MJF)-affiliated Factory Workers Union (FWU), Rama
Shankar Mandal, in the Birgunj area of Parsa District.
Though
the insurgency has subsided, Nepal disturbingly continues
to witness significant ‘political violence’. According
to the Global Terrorism Database, the number of
fatalities due to political violence, between November
22, 2006, and December 31, 2014, stood at 48. According
to SATP data, Nepal has already recorded 25 fatalities,
including 17 policemen and eight civilians, due to political
violence in 2015 (data till August 27, 2015). Of these,
24 were recorded in August alone.
According
to a Nepal Police data, Nepal recorded a total of 1,047
strikes between April 2010 and April 2015. The number
of strikes stood at 221 between April 2010-March 2011;
257 between April 2011-March 2012; 183 between April 2012-March
2013; 201 between April 2013-March 2014; and 185 between
April 2014-March 2015. Though no further data for the
current year is available, reports quoting Nepal Ministry
of Home Affairs indicated that, on August 17, 2015, alone,
more than 51 Districts across the country witnessed strikes,
including transport halts, school and college closures
and business and industrial shutdowns.
The recent
round of violent protests which had engulfed the Himalayan
nation commenced on July 9, 2015, when the four major
parties – Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal-Unified
Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), UCPN-M, and Madhesi Janadhikar
Forum-Loktantrik (MJF-L) – decided to collect public opinion
on the provisions of the draft Constitution. Groups in
opposition to the decision had threatened severe protests
if the major political parties did not pay heed to their
principal demand, the inclusion of provisions in the Draft
Constitution for Nepal to be federated into 11 provinces
as recommended by the State
Restructuring Commission formed in
2011, and not into eight as agreed in the 16-point
Agreement between the four principal
parties.
The Government,
however, not only completed the process of collecting
public opinion on the provisions of the draft Constitution
on July 27, 2015, but on August 8, 2015, decided to divide
the country into six provinces, even less than the eight
province model which had become the bone of contention.
Though the names of the Provinces were not declared the
boundaries were demarcated: Province 1 [Taplejung, Panchthar,
Ilam, Sankhusabha, Terhathum, Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Khotang,
Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Udaypur, Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari],
Province 2 [Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi,
Rautahat, Bara and Parsa], Province 3 [Dolakha, Ramechhap,
Sindhuli, Kavrepalanchowk, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Nuwakot,
Dhading, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kathmandu],
Province 4 [Gorkha, Lamjung, Tanahun, Kaski, Manang, Mustang,
Parbat, Syangja, Myagdi, Baglung (eastern part) and Nawalparasi
(east of Daunne)], Province 5 [Nawalparasi (west of Daunne),
Rupandehi, Kapilvastu. Palpa, Arghkhanchi, Gulmi, Baglung
(western part), Rukum (east of Rukumkot), Rolpa, Pyuthan,
Dang, Banke and Bardiya], and Province 6 [Dolpa, Jumla,
Mugu, Humla, Kalikot, Jajarkot, Dailekh, Surkhet, Bajura,
Bajhang, Doti, Achham, Darchula, Baitadi, Dadeldhura,
Kanchanpur,Salyan, Rukum (west of Rukumkot) and Kailali].
Unsurprisingly,
violent protests intensified, and a day later, on August
10, 2015, two persons, identified as Tikaram Gautam and
Yam Bahadur B.C., were killed and another 50 were injured
as protests against the proposed provincial demarcations
turned violent in Surkhet District. With pressure building,
the Government revisited its decision on August 21, 2015,
and decided to split the sixth province, which was the
biggest in size in the earlier model, into two: Province
6 and Province 7. According to reports, Province 6 which
earlier had 19 Districts, will now contain 10 Districts,
while the remaining nine will go to Province 7. Province
6 will include Surkhet, Salyan, Dailekh, Jajarkot, Rukum
(split), Kalikot, Jumla, Dolpa, Mugu and Humla; while
Province 7 will include Kailali, Kanchanpur, Doti, Dadeldhura,
Achham, Baitadi, Bajura, Bajhang and Darchula Districts.
Reports also added that, though the boundary demarcation
of the first five provinces that were agreed upon earlier
more or less remained unchanged, the Thori VDC of Parsa
District was brought under Province 3.
With this
decision, the demand for a single province comprising
of all mid-western Districts was addressed. However, the
Tharu community, which was demanding a Tharuhat Autonomous
Province, remained unsatisfied and consequently intensified
their protest. Dhaniram Chaudhari, coordinator of the
ongoing Tharuhat movement stated, "We are discussing
new strategies to make our voice heard. Tharus are prepared
to go to any extent to get their demands fulfilled."
Violence
then intensified further, culminating in the August 24
incident at Kailali. Since then, most of Nepal, though
primarily the Terai region, has seen violent protests.
At the time of writing, much of the Terai remains under
curfew. The Nepal Army (NA) has been deployed to bring
the volatile situation under control.
These violent
political protests, which are the product of the prevailing
environment of acute political confrontations, are obstructing
the finalization of the draft of the new constitution.
A time bound agreement has long been sought, but in the
absence of a consensus, the principal political formations
had sought to push through the formula arrived at in the
16-point Agreement, which has been rejected by some of
the smaller parties, and particularly by all Madhesi groups.
The primary reason for their opposition was the apparent
attempt by the four major parties to further delay final
decision on the most contentious issue of federalism.
The major demand of these parties, mainly the Madhes groups,
was to carve out provinces based on ethnic identity. However,
the 16-point agreement sought to put off the issue of
federalism for some time, as Point 3 of the agreement
read, "The Nepal Government will form a federal commission
to recommend on demarcation of federal provinces. The
commission will have a tenure of six months. The Legislature-Parliament
will take a final decision on the demarcation with a two-thirds
majority after the recommendation of the commission."
Nevertheless,
on August 27, 2015, President Ram Baran Yadav told PM
Sushil Koirala that a new Constitution should be framed
without any further delay, but that the major parties
should try to take all stakeholders on board in the process.
According to President's Press Advisor Rajendra Dahal
the President told the PM, “You have tried to win the
confidence of all the stakeholders until now and you still
need to try to do so till the final hours of the constitution
making process.”
Evidently,
a Constitution that is as inclusive as possible is the
desirable objective. The present formulations have a measure
of arbitrariness, and need to be smoothed out in consultation
with the Madhesi groups. As commentator Prashant Jha noted,
the political leaders in Nepal should be advised "to
resolve core outstanding issues and promulgate a constitution
that all Nepalis can own". India’s Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who was brought into the controversy, also
advised Prime Minister Koirala to seek the fullest participation
of all stakeholders, declaring, "Five to ten people
cannot sit in a room and write the constitution. All parties
and forces should sit together. There must be greater
dialogue." Earlier, while addressing Nepal’s Constituent
Assembly (CA) on August 3, 2014, Modi had made a similar
observation, reportedly advising CA members to write the
Constitution based on consensus: "Let the Nepali
Constitution be one in which all sections of Nepali society
feel that it is a bouquet where one flower represents
them and their aspirations."
But murky
political allegations have muddied the waters further.
On August 24, 2015, Bamdev Gautam, Deputy Prime Minister
and Home Minister of Nepal, referring to the sequence
of events leading to violence on that day, alleged in
Parliament that “he had heard that a large number of intruders
from the south” had entered Gaur in Rautahat District.
He was obviously referring to India, as Nepal shares its
Southern borders with the country.
While the
imperatives of a consensual process cannot be overemphasised,
no party or political cabal can secure a veto on the entire
process by resorting to violence. While a show of strength
and determination will be necessary on the part of the
Government, the space for political accommodation will
also have to be fully explored.
|
Odisha:
Shrinking Battlefront
Mrinal
Kanta Das
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
Three Border
Security Force (BSF) personnel and a civilian were killed
and six BSF personnel, including an Assistant Commandant,
were seriously injured in a Communist Party of India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
ambush at Palangarai ghat (ferry point) on Gurupriya
River under the Chitrakonda Police Station limits in the
Malkangiri District of Odisha early in the morning on
August 26, 2015. According to reports, the BSF patrol
party was returning to its base camp at Janbai, where
a bridge is being built over Gurupriya River to provide
connectivity to the cut-off area, when the Maoists first
triggered a landmine blast and then opened indiscriminate
fire.
Before
this incident, the last major incident (involving three
or more casualties) in Odisha in which Security Forces
(SFs) were at the receiving end, took place on August
27, 2013, in Koraput District, where four BSF personnel
were killed in a landmine blast on a busy National Highway.
In the two years between these two major incidents, Odisha
witnessed only four SF fatalities, including a village
guard and a Special Police Officer (SPO, a member of an
auxiliary force raised to aid the Police).
According
to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database,
till August 30, 2015, 20 persons including 10 civilians,
four SF personnel and six Maoists have been killed in
Odisha in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-related incidents,
in comparison to 33 persons, including 24 civilians, one
SF trooper and eight Maoists, killed over the same period
in 2014. Though four months remain in 2015, the decline
in fatalities conforms to the broader declining trend
in LWE-related violence in Odisha since 2010.
Fatalities
in Left-Wing Extremist Violence in Odisha: 2010-2015
Years
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
Terrorists
|
Total
|
2010
|
62
|
21
|
25
|
108
|
2011
|
36
|
16
|
23
|
75
|
2012
|
27
|
19
|
14
|
60
|
2013
|
22
|
7
|
25
|
54
|
2014
|
31
|
1
|
9
|
41
|
2015
|
10
|
4
|
6
|
20
|
Total*
|
188
|
68
|
102
|
358
|
*Data updated till August 30, 2015
|
What is
significant, however, is that more than half of the fatalities
in 2015 have occurred in Malkangiri District while, so
far, there is just one fatality in Koraput. This is crucial,
since Malkangiri
and Koraput
were long in a vice-like Maoist grip.
District
wise fatalities in Left-wing Extremism in Odisha : 2015
Districts
|
Civilians
|
SF
|
Terrorists
|
Total
|
Angul
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Kalahandi
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
Kandhamal
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
Koraput
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Malkangiri
|
7
|
3
|
3
|
13
|
Total*
|
10
|
4
|
6
|
20
|
*Data updated till August 30, 2015
|
The most
significant factor in these trends was Sabyasachi Panda’s
expulsion by the Maoists in August 2012 and his subsequent
arrest on July 17, 2014. Panda had long dominated Maoist
activities in Odisha, and his neutralization considerably
weakened the rebel group’s activities in Kandhamal, Ganjam
Gajapati and Rayagada Districts. The Maoists did retain
their strength in Koraput and Malkangiri, and continued
unsuccessfully to try to build up a new ‘corridor’ from
Chhattisgarh to Jharkhand through Nuapada, Balangir, Sambalpur
and Deogarh, but were left with a residual ‘core area’
that covered just Koraput and Malkangiri. Data on various
parameters linked to Maoist activities now suggests that
their operations have diminished drastically in Koraput,
especially after large-scale desertion of cadres of the
Narayanpatna-based Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS),
a Maoist front organisation in Koraput, in 2013, capped
by the surrender of CMAS ‘president’ Nachika Linga on
October 28, 2014. This has left the Maoists clinging on
in Malkangiri, while they direct some distracting efforts
towards a few other locations in the State. Among the
most significant incidents in the State in 2015 were:
August
17, 2015: Maoists killed a tribal, identified as Gurumurthy
Madhi, suspecting him to be police informer, and left
his body with some posters near Telarai under Motu Police
Station limits in Malkangiri District.
June 3,
2015: Fearing the Maoists, around 60 tribal families of
the cut off region of the Balimela
Reservoir in Malkangiri District left
their village and sought security from the District administration.
The panic-stricken villagers said the Maoists had killed
two villagers a few days previously, suspecting them to
be Police informers, set several homes on fire, and threatened
to kill them.
April 14,
2015: The Maoists abducted 11 persons, including a former
‘chairman’ of a panchayat samiti [elected village
self-government committee] in Malkangiri District and
released them on April 16 after holding a ‘people’s court’
where they thrashed three of the abductees, including
the local sarpanch (elected village head) for 'helping
the Police'.
Malkangiri,
located on the troubled tri-junction of Odisha, Chhattisgarh
and Andhra Pradesh, has always been a tough challenge
and recorded several major attacks on SFs in the past.
Though the Maoists dominate virtually the entire District,
the ‘cut off area’ – 150-odd villages of the Kudumulu
Gumma Block separated from the rest of the Block by the
Balimela Reservoir – have been particularly problematic.
This area, sandwiched between the Reservoir on one side
and a hill tract on the other, is highly inaccessible.
An approach from the Reservoir is possible only by motorised
boats, and is highly exposed (as evidenced by the June
29, 2008, attack that killed 38 SF personnel). The circuitous
route from the other side is made even difficult by the
absence of a bridge over the Gurupriya River at Janbai;
and the Maoists have thwarted every attempt to construct
a bridge at this location. In the latest round, construction
work has finally started with high security cover, and
the BSF has set up a base camp at Janbai. This has brought
the SFs much too close for comfort for the Maoists, who
fear that, if the bridge is completed, the cut-off area
may no longer remain a safe haven.
It is useful
to recall that on February 10, 2012, within 20 days of
establishment of a base camp at Janbai, four BSF personnel,
including commandant Jeevan Ram Khaswan, were killed in
an ambush by the Maoists, when the BSF personnel were
on their way to Chitrakonda from their camp at Balimela.
BSF has, however, managed to avoid any such attack in
Malkangiri since. In fact, BSF has suffered just three
major attacks in Odisha since its deployment in anti-Maoist
operations in April 2010: the February 10, 2012, incident;
the August 27, 2013, attack in which four BSF personnel
were killed and another three were injured in a landmine
blast in the Sunki Ghat area under the Pottangi Police
Station of Koraput District; and the latest ambush on
August 26 at Janbai. Significantly, in all three incidents
over three and a half years, the Maoists used landmines
to throw the SF units off guard.
As the
battlefront moves closer to the last remaining Maoist
comfort zone in Odisha, SFs have slowly started denting
the Maoist network in Malkangiri. Thus, on July 31, 2015,
three Maoists, including two females, were killed in an
encounter with the Special Operations Group (SOG) and
District Voluntary Force (DVF) of the Odisha Police in
Burudi Forest near Tandki village in Malkangiri. Acting
on intelligence inputs that around 20 Maoists were holding
a meeting at the remote spot as part of their ‘Martyrs’
week’ commemoration SFs raided the area. As the SFs approached
the spot the Maoists opened fire. The three Maoists were
killed in retaliatory fire and the camp was dismantled.
Three country-made guns, one INSAS rifle, a Self-Loading
Rifle (SLR), live ammunition, grenades, as well as materials
including kitbags and Maoist literature, were seized from
the spot. The slain Maoists are yet to be identified.
As the
Maoists come under sustained pressure in the Andhra-Odisha
Border (AOB) region, their leadership has reportedly formed
a new committee, the ‘Malkangiri-Visakha-Koraput Divisional
Committee’, with an experienced leader at the helm, in
an attempt to strengthen the rank and file and restore
organisational capacities. According to sources, the new
committee was formed after the visit of Maoist central
committee (CC) leaders to the Visakha Agency in Andhra
Pradesh in May-June 2015. Around 14 leaders from the Dandakaranya
Zonal Committee of Chhattisgarh, including the head of
the Maoist Central Military Commission, Namballa Kesava
Rao alias Ganganna, and Central Regional Bureau
(CRB) chief Katakam Sudarsan alias Anand, are learned
to have visited the District. A few days after their visit,
another team of nine members interacted with squads and
area committees in the AOB region.
As Maoists
struggle to retain their traditional strongholds in Odisha,
they appear to be adopting a range of diversionary tactics,
with a civilian killing in Angul District, just the second
incident in the District, where the first incident was
recorded in 2008); and two civilians killed in Kalahandi
District, where the last such killing was recorded in
2011. The Maoists have also been involved in 13 exchange
of fire incidents in Odisha in 2015 (data till August
30) – one in Deogarh, two in Koraput, three each in Malkangiri
and Kandhamal, and four in Kalahandi. The Maoists also
engineered one explosion each in Rayagada, Balangir and
Koraput Districts, and two explosions in Malkangiri District
in 2015.
As the
Odisha State Police and Government progressively come
to accept ownership of the problem of the Maoist insurgency
and actively cooperate and coordinate their operations
with the available Central Forces deployed in the State,
there has been a dramatic consolidation. Enormous and
coordinated pressure is now being exerted against the
residual Maoist strength, particularly in Malkangiri and
the cut-off areas within the District, even as the Maoist
networks unravel in other afflicted Districts of the State.
If operations are sustained, and progressively backed
by an outreach of civil governance in long-neglected regions,
a Maoist comeback will become progressively more difficult.
The Maoists have been beaten back virtually across their
imagined ‘Red Corridor’. This, their leadership concedes,
is a critical moment for their movement. Nevertheless,
the Maoists have demonstrated enormous resilience in the
past and there is, consequently, no space for complacence
on the part of the state.
|
Weekly Fatalities:
Major Conflicts in South Asia
August 24-30, 2015
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
5
|
Manipur
|
.
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
Nagaland
|
2
|
0
|
6
|
8
|
Left-Wing
Extremism
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Jharkhand
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
Odisha
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
4
|
Total (INDIA)
|
6
|
3
|
17
|
26
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
8
|
2
|
16
|
26
|
FATA
|
4
|
9
|
26
|
39
|
KP
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
Punjab
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
Sindh
|
16
|
3
|
2
|
21
|
PAKISTAN
(Total)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
BANGLADESH
Government
has
planned
to
flush
out
directors,
officers
and
employees
with
links
to
JeI
from
IBBL,
say
officials:
Officials
of
Foreign
and
Finance
Ministries
said
that
the
Government
has
planned
to
flush
out
directors,
officers
and
employees
with
links
to
Jamaat-e
Islami
(JeI)
from
the
Islami
Bank
Bangladesh
Limited
(IBBL).
The
officials
said
that
the
plan
gained
momentum
after
the
Government
obtained
a
'green
signal'
from
Yousif
Abdullah
Al-Rajhi,
vice
chairman
and
a
foreign
director
of
IBBL.
New
Age,
August
26,
2015.
INDIA
17
'missing'
Indians
are
believed
to
have
joined
IS,
according
to
report:
According
to
a
list
prepared
by
Union
Ministry
of
Home
Affairs
(UMHA),
17
Indians
are
now
'missing'.
As
reported
by
Indian
and
foreign
intelligence
services,
they
are
active
with
the
Islamic
State
(IS)
or
rival
organisations
like
Jabhat
al-Nusra.
In
addition,
up
to
a
dozen
Indian
Mujahideen
(IM)
cadres
are
also
believed
to
have
joined
the
Islamic
State,
while
Police
have
stopped
at
least
22
volunteers
from
travelling.
According
to
The
Indian
Express'
exclusive
report,
the
17
Indians
-
all
young
men,
barring
a
woman
who
has
returned
home
-
were
educated,
most
hailing
from
middle-class
or
affluent
families
with
conventional
aspirations.
New
Indian
Express,
August
26,
2015.
Technical
analysis
of
GPS
device
used
by
Gurdaspur
attacker's
shows
coordinates
in
Pakistan:
A
technical
analysis
of
GPS
[Global
Positioning
System]
device
used
by
the
Gurdaspur
attackers
has
thrown
up
coordinates
in
Sargodha,
Pakistan,
on
July
21,
with
the
same
location
also
appearing
as
an
undated
entry.
Experts
have
stumbled
upon
origins
of
the
GPS
sets
in
Taiwan
or
US,
indicating
that
this
is
where
they
may
have
been
picked
up,
and
found
that
they
were
possibly
located
in
the
UK
at
some
point
of
time.
Times
of
India,
August
28,
2015.
FICN
circulation
on
rise,
says
RBI's
annual
report:
Fake
notes
are
on
the
rise
in
India,
In
fiscal
year
2014-15,
Fake
Indian
Currency
Note
(FICN)
in
circulation
rose
22
per
cent
to
5,94,446
pieces,
according
to
the
Reserve
Bank
of
India's
(RBI's)
annual
report.
These
are
counterfeit
notes
that
were
detected
in
the
banking
system.
While
95.6
per
cent
of
these
notes
were
detected
by
commercial
banks,
4.4
per
cent
were
detected
at
RBI
offices.
The
number
of
counterfeit
notes
detected
increased
for
all
denominations,
except
for
INR
2
and
INR
5,
which
are
almost
out
of
circulation,
being
replaced
by
metal
coins.
DNA
India,
August
28,
2015
Maoist
movement
won't
last
more
than
7-8
years,
says
CRPF
Southern
Sector,
IG
M.
Vishnuvardhana
Rao:
The
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
movement
will
not
survive
beyond
seven
to
eight
years
due
to
various
reasons
such
as
an
ageing
leadership,
lack
of
second-rung
leaders
and
the
emergence
of
lumpen
elements
in
the
movement,
said
Central
Reserve
Police
Force
(CRPF)
Southern
Sector
Inspector
General
(IG),
M.
Vishnuvardhana
Rao
in
Visakhapatnam
in
Andhra
Pradesh
on
August
26.
Rao
said
the
present
condition
is
different
from
the
conditions
prevailing
in
the
1980s
and
the
leaders
of
the
previous
generation
were
also
more
ideologically
sound
and
committed.
Times
of
India,
August
28,
2015.
More
than
180
NDFB-IKS
militants
arrested,
states
a
report:
Highly
placed
security
sources
stated
that
more
than
180
militants
of
IK
Songbijit
faction
of
National
Democratic
Front
of
Bodoland
(NDFB-IKS)
have
been
arrested
since
the
crackdown
on
the
organisation
was
launched
after
December
23
massacre.
Also
280
couriers
and
sympathisers
of
the
militant
group
have
also
been
arrested.
Sources
said
that
25
militants
headed
by
Bidai
are
still
inside
Assam
and
they
are
hiding
in
thick
jungles
near
the
Manas
National
Park.
Assam
Tribune,
August
24,
2015.
NEPAL
17
Policemen
among
20
killed
in
Nepal
violence,
stated
CDO
Rajkumar
Shrestha:
Rajkumar
Shrestha,
Chief
District
Officer
(CDO)
of
Kailali
District,
said
17
Police
personnel
including
a
Senior
Superintendent
of
Police
(SSP)
were
killed
in
the
clash
between
Tharuhat
activists
and
Police
in
Tikapur
in
the
District
on
August
24.
At
least
20
persons
-
17
Policemen
including
a
senior
officer
and
three
protesters
-
were
killed
and
more
than
100
injured
in
the
violent
clash
in
Kailali
District
on
August
24,
between
Security
Force
(SF)
personnel
and
protesters
demanding
a
separate
Tharuhat
province.
Firstpost,
August
29,
2015.
Rush
for
statute,
but
bring
all
stakeholders
on
board,
President
Ram
Baran
Yadav
tells
Prime
Minister
Sushil
Koirala:
President
Ram
Baran
Yadav
told
Prime
Minister
(PM)
Sushil
Koirala
on
August
27,
that
a
new
Constitution
should
be
framed
without
any
further
delay,
but
the
major
parties
should
try
to
take
all
stakeholders
on
board
the
Constitution
making
process.
According
to
the
President's
Press
Advisor
Rajendra
Dahal
the
President
told
the
PM
that
parties
should
seek
resolution
of
constitutional
issues
through
dialogues.
"You
have
tried
to
win
the
confidence
of
all
the
stakeholders
until
now
and
you
still
need
to
try
to
do
so
till
the
final
hours
of
the
constitution
making
process,"
Dahal
quoted
the
President
as
telling
the
PM.
The Himalayan
Times,
August
28,
2015.
PAKISTAN
26
militants
and
nine
SFs
among
39
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
At
least
14
suspected
militants
were
killed
and
their
sanctuaries
destroyed
as
military
planes
bombed
the
Shawal
area
of
North
Waziristan
Agency
(NWA)
in
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
on
August
29.
At
least
five
soldiers
and
six
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
militants
were
killed
during
raids
on
Pakistan
Army
checkpoints
in
Shawal
area
of
NWA
on
August
25.
Six
militants
and
two
security
personnel,
one
of
them
an
officer,
Lieutenant
Colonel
Faisal
Malik,
were
killed
during
a
clash
with
the
militants
in
Shawal
Valley
of
NWA
on
August
24.
A
pro-Government
armed
group
of
the
Zakhakhel
tribe,
Tauheedul
Islam
(TI),
beheaded
three
men
from
a
rival
group
for
allegedly
planting
a
bomb
outside
a
mosque
in
Zakhakhel
Bazaar
in
Khyber
Agency
on
August
24.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
August
25-31,
2015.
16
militants
and
eight
civilians
among
26
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
Balochistan:
Three
militants
who
were
strapping
an
Improvised
Explosive
Device
(IED)
to
a
rail
track
died
when
they
accidently
detonated
a
hand
grenade
in
the
Bala
Nari
area
of
Bolan
District
in
Balochistan
on
August
27
At
least
eight
Balochistan
Republican
Army
(BRA)
militants,
including
'commander'
Chella
Reesh,
were
killed
during
an
operation
launched
by
the
Frontier
Corps
(FC)
in
Sui
area
of
Dera
Bugti
District
on
August
26.
At
least
four
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
(LeJ)
militants,
including
one
of
its
'commanders',
were
shot
dead
and
a
FC
official
was
injured
in
a
clash
in
Mian
Gundi
area
of
Quetta
on
August
25.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
August
25-31,
2015.
Jundullah
'chief'
Abu
Huzaifa
killed
in
airstrike
in
Afghanistan:
The
'chief'
of
Jundullah,
an
anti-Shia
splinter
group
of
TehreekTaliban
Pakistan
(TTP),
Qari
Ghulam
Hazrat
alias
Abu
Huzaifa,
was
killed
along
with
his
three
'commanders'
in
an
airstrike
on
August
24
in
Chardara
District
of
Kunduz
Province.
The
National
Directorate
of
Security
(NDS)
confirmed
the
killing
of
Huzaifa
and
three
of
his
accomplices.
The
NDS
said
that
the
group
was
also
involved
in
violence
in
Afghanistan.
The News,
August
25,
2015.
Islamabad
officially
bans
Islamic
State:
Pakistan
on
August
27
formally
banned
the
Islamic
State
(IS)
or
Daesh.
According
to
a
notification
issued
by
the
Federal
Ministry
for
Interior,
Daesh
would
not
be
allowed
to
operate
in
Pakistan
while
any
other
outfit
formed
in
the
similar
names
would
also
be
banned.
The News,
August
28,
2015.
BRP
leader
Brahamdagh
Bugti
willing
to
negotiate
with
Government
on
Balochistan
issue:
Brahamdagh
Bugti,
the
separatist
leader
of
the
Baloch
Republican
Party
(BRP),
on
August
26
said
that
he
is
willing
to
negotiate
with
the
Government
over
the
Balochistan
issue,
according
to
an
interview
given
to
British
Broadcasting
Corporation
(BBC)
Urdu.
"If
our
friends,
companions,
political
allies
and
finally
the
people
are
in
favour
of
this,
then
we
are
definitely
ready
to
live
with
Pakistan,"
said
Bugti.
"We
want
to
resolve
all
issues
politically
and
peacefully,"
added
Bugti.
Dawn,
August
27,
2015.
SRI
LANKA
Tamils
firm
on
demand
for
international
inquiry,
says
TNA
leader
C
V
K
Sivagnanam:
Senior
leader
of
the
Tamil
National
Alliance
(TNA)
and
Chairman
of
the
Northern
Provincial
Council
(NPC),
C
V
K
Sivagnanam
said
that
the
Tamils
will
keep
pressing
for
an
international
probe
into
charges
of
war
crimes
against
the
Sri
Lankan
Government
even
though
the
United
States
(US)
Assistant
Secretary
of
State
for
South
Asia,
Nisha
Biswal,
has
made
it
clear
that
the
US
will
only
seek
an
independent
and
credible
Lankan
domestic
probe.
He
said,
"Just
as
the
Sri
Lankan
Government
has
an
agenda
which
it
will
press,
we
Tamils
also
have
an
agenda,
which
we
will
press.
New Indian
Express,
August
29,
2015.
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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