South Asia Terrorism Portal

PAKISTAN

Balochistan: 'Death Squads' Unleashed
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On April 28, 2021, one Policeman was killed and eight others, including three Policemen, were injured in a bomb blast in the main market of Qila Abdullah town in Qila Abdullah District.

On April 27, 2021, four Frontier Crops (FC) personnel were injured when Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) militants lobbed a grenade on the FC checkpoint located at Cinema Chowk in Turbat town, Kech District. Gohram Baloch, BLF ‘spokesperson’, declared that BLF cadres attacked the checkpoint and warned the general public not to venture too close to FC posts, as BLF cadres could attack these at any time.

On April 25, 2021, unidentified assailants shot dead two death squad members in the Aabsar area of Turbat town in Kech District. Though, no group claimed responsibility, generally, Baloch insurgents have targeted the pro-Government ‘support groups’ that form death squads.

On April 21, 2021, at least five persons, including a Police official, were killed and another 12 sustained injuries, when a bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel located on the Shahrah-e-Zarghun Road in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove disclosed that the Chinese ambassador Nong Rong was the apparent target of the attack. Serena Hotel was hosting the ambassador, but he was not present at the hotel at the time of the attack. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the blast, but subsequently claimed that the Chinese ambassador was not its target.

On March 28, 2021, one Army trooper and a passer-by were killed when BLF militants targeted an Army check-post in Salala Bazar in Turbat city, Kech District. BLF ‘spokesperson’ Gorham Baloch appealed to the civilians to keep distance from convoys, check-posts and camps of the Pakistani Army.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), during the first four months and two days of 2021, Balochistan has recorded 68 fatalities – 42 civilians, 20 Security Force (SF) personnel and six militants – in 26 incidents of killing. During the corresponding period of 2020, 60 fatalities – 24 civilians, 27 SF personnel and nine militants – were recorded. Through 2020, there were 215 fatalities, up from 180 fatalities recorded in 2019.

Baloch militants have intensified their ‘operations’ in reaction to the Pakistan Army’s increased cruelty in the region, as Pakistan's ‘kill and dump’ policy in the Province has intensified. More and more mutilated dead bodies, in different stages of decomposition, are being recovered in different parts of Balochistan. Most recently, the mutilated bodies of four persons were found in the Aas Rayli area of Sui Tehsil (revenue unit) in Dera Bugti District on March 31, 2021. In a communication sent to the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary and Arbitrary Executions, Morris Tidball-Linz, on April 2, 2021, the Baloch American Congress (BAC) president Tara Chand Baloch, disclosed that the “place where the mass grave was found was used as an army camp of Pakistan, making it clear the soldiers were responsible for carrying out the heinous crime.”

At least seven bullet-riddled and mutilated bodies have been already been recovered in 2021. A systematic campaign of extermination of ethnic Baloch people through enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the South of the Province remains unabated. According to partial data compiled by SATP, of the 4,574 civilian fatalities recorded in Balochistan since March 6, 2000 (data till May 2, 2021), at least 1,435 have been attributable to one or another terrorist/insurgent outfit. Of these, 457 civilian killings (284 in the South and 173 in the North) have been claimed by Baloch separatist formations, while Islamist and sectarian extremist formations – primarily Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), TTP and Ahrar-ul-Hind (Liberators of India) – claimed responsibility for another 978 civilian killings, 895 in the North (mostly in and around Quetta) and 83 in the South. The remaining 3,139 civilian fatalities – 1,737 in the South and 1,402 in the North – remain 'unattributed'. It is widely believed that these are principally victims of the security agencies’ “kill and dump” operations, particularly in the Southern region, targeting local Baloch dissidents, a reality that Pakistan’s Supreme Court has clearly recognized.

According to the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), which completed its 4297th day of protest on April 27, 2021, more than 45 thousand people have been forcibly disappeared by the Pakistan Army and five thousand missing persons have been killed and dumped over the last decade. VBMP vice chairman, Mama Qadeer Baloch, asserted, on April 27, 2021,

Earlier, on June 4, 2020, the Baloch National Movement (BNM) had urged the international community, especially neighbouring countries including India, to protect the Baloch people from the Army's death squads.

While, the world has turned a deaf ear to the enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings of Baloch nationalists, the Pakistan Army has outsourced the targeting and killing of Baloch activists, pro-independence leaders and workers to private ‘death squads’ – militia of local goons and convicted criminals who allegedly operate at the behest of the Army, to counter the ongoing Baloch insurgency. These groups often accompany the Army in raids on the houses of political activists, dissidents and pro-independence leaders.

An investigative report by exiled Baloch journalist Taha Siddiqui published in South Asia Press on April 27, 2021, claimed that, since 2010, the practice of using ‘death squads’ had been intensified and institutionalized, especially in the south-western parts of Balochistan where a full-fledged insurgency has been going on since the killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti on August 26, 2006.

Shafiq-ur-Rehman Mengal formed the first ‘death squad’ in Balochistan in 2008 – the Musallah Defah Tanzeem (MDT) – with the mission of ‘defending’ the public from pro-independence groups. Mengal had the support of the Pakistan Army, and his powerful connections helped him raise his militia. Mengal initiated a reign of terror in Balochistan, killing not only suspected nationalists but also political, non-political and tribal rivals. Mengal is also ‘credited’ with the mass graves discovered in 2014 in Tootak, a rural area 55 kilometres to the north of Khuzdar, where 169 dead bodies were recovered.

At a young age, Mengal became associated with the extortion mafias of Karachi in the Sindh Province. Hyderabad was his centre of activities. When General (Retd.) Pervez Musharaf came to power in October 1999, state security agencies selected Shafiq Mengal and his brother Atta-ur-Rehman as state ‘agents of death’ in Balochistan.

Several other local militia groups in Balochistan were raised as death squads. Shafiq Mengal and the Zakaria M. Hasni-led ‘death squad’ in Khuzdar; Deen Muhammad Deenu’s group in Awaran; squads led by Samir Sabzal, Rashid Pathan and Sardar Aziz in Kech; and units led by Maqbool Shambezi in Panjgur and Siraj Raisani in Mastung. Siraj Raisani was killed on July 13, 2018, when a suicide bomber targeted a political rally of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), killing at least 128 people and injuring more than 200 others at Dringarh village in Mastung District.

Not surprisingly, Baloch groups have also targeted death squad members as well. At least seven of these have been killed in 2021, thus far (data till May 2, 2021). Most recently, on March 10, 2021, BLF militants shot dead a prominent death squad member, Haider Siah-Pad, near the Levies Police Station in Kharan town (Kharan District). BLF ‘spokesman’ Gwahram Baloch subsequently stated that Haider was a key figure in a death squad and was at the forefront of targeted killings.

While the Military Establishment has always sought to distance itself from enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings and of Baloch activists, there is not an iota of doubt that the deep state is using death squads to supress the Baloch nationalist movement. The Pakistan Supreme Court has sought, but has failed comprehensively, to impose some measure of accountability. The rampage of death squads in Balochistan, consequently, shows no signs of waning.

BANGLADESH

Crackdown
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On April 28, 2021, Mufti Habibullah Mahmud Kashemi, a Central Committee member of Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI, 'Protectorate of Islam') was arrested from the Vatara area of Dhaka city for his alleged involvement in violence during street protests in March 2021.

On April 23, 2021, Nur Hossain Noorani, a central leader of HeI and president of the anti-Ahmadiyya group Khatme Nabuwat Andolon Bangladesh, was arrested from the Munshirhat area of Munshiganj District for his alleged involvement in attacks on Police personnel on March 28, 2021.

On April 22, 2021, three HeI leaders were arrested from three different places for their alleged involvement in violence in March 2021. Khaled Saifullah Ayubi, Joint Secretary General of HeI, was arrested from his village home in Manikganj District. Maulana Sanaullah, Executive Member of Dhaka city HeI, was arrested from a madrasa (seminary) in the New Market area of Dhaka city. HeI's Joint Office Secretary, Maulana Ihteshamul Haque Sakhi, was arrested from the Bangshal area of Dhaka city.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 25 HeI leaders and 881 activists have been arrested from across the country over acts of violence in March 2021, since April 1, 2021 (data till May 2, 2021). At least 17 people were killed as HeI men clashed with Security Forces (SFs) in different parts of the country, especially in Brahmanbaria District, between March 26-28, 2021. The HeI men were on the streets protesting against the two-day visit (March 26-27) of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh. Modi was visiting Bangladesh to participate in the celebrations of Bangladesh's Golden Jubilee of independence.

Some of the arrestees since April 1, 2021 were also involved in violence in May 2013. For instance, Mufti Habibullah Mahmud Kashemi (arrested on April 28, 2021) was accused of leading violence at Shapla Chattar, Dhaka city, in May 2013. He, however, had not been arrested for that crime.

On May 5, 2013, HeI enforced their 'Dhaka Siege' programme to mount pressure on the Awami League (AL)-led Government to implement their 13-point demands, including the demand to “pass a law providing for capital punishment for maligning Allah, Islam and the Prophet Muhammad… and smear campaigns against Muslims.” Four civilians were killed and several others injured as cadres of HeI fought running battles with Police across Dhaka, spreading panic across the capital city. 70,000 Islamists marched down at least six highways and took positions at the entry points of the city, stopping road transport and cutting off Dhaka's road links with the rest of the country. More than 10,000 personnel drawn from the Police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) jointly launched a drive late on May 5, 2013, to clear demonstrators from Dhaka. As violence moved beyond the capital on May 6, 2013, at least 27 persons, including three SF personnel and a HeI cadre, were killed and several other injured in Narayanganj, Chittagong and Bagerhat Districts.

Police later filed cases and investigations began. However, the Sheikh Hasina Government allegedly slowed down the proceedings because the then leader of HeI, Shah Ahmad Shafi, decided to change the organisation’s stance and strengthened his ties with the Hasina Government. Shah died of sudden illness on September 18, 2020. On November 15, 2020, Junaid Babunagri was appointed as the new Amir (Chief) of HeI. Since his appointment, he started asserting radical views and engaging in violent protests. On November 27, 2020, Babunagri put forth four demands before the Hasina Government: stop International Society for Krishna Consciousness’ (ISKCON’s) activities in Bangladesh; officially declare the Ahmadiyas ‘non-Muslim’; close the Embassy of France and expel the French Ambassador; and pass a resolution condemning France in Parliament. HeI is protesting against French President Emmanuel Macron because he has held his ground against attacks by Islamist forces extremists and terrorists on his country’s values and the freedom of belief. Babunagri also threatened to pull down and destroy all sculptures, no matter which party put those up. The outfit led violent protests across the country against installation of sculptures of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for his birth centenary celebrations in 2020. Unsurprisingly, the Government has decided to reactivate the cases for the May 2013 violence.

Meanwhile, on April 24, 2021, Mahbub Alam, Joint Commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police asserted,

Indeed, in a confessional statement before the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court on April 20, 2021, HeI Assistant Finance Secretary Muhammad Ilias Hamidi admitted that the Islamist outfit's recent violent activities were aimed at toppling the Government.

Moreover, HeI’s direct links with terrorist groups have also come to the fore. On April 28, 2021, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal disclosed, “Hefajat sometimes gets stuck in political entanglements and gets involved with identified militants and criminals who always act against the state."

On April 25, 2021, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP)’s Deputy Commissioner (DC) Harunor Rashid said that HeI Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque had links with the militants who carried out the grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004, which resulted in the death of 24 people and injured over 400. He also disclosed that Mamunul had gone to Pakistan with one of the militants to contact the extremist groups there. “He had political ambitions. He had been thinking about grabbing power with the help of Jamaat-e-Islami,” the official added. All these revelations have come to the fore after Mamunul Haque’s arrest from Dhaka city's Mohammadpur area on April 18, 2021, for his involvement in street violence in March 2021.

Further, on April 26, 2021, Mahbub Alam, Joint Commissioner of DB asserted, "we have got evidence on Hefajat's links with militant outfits.” Similarly, Tohidul Islam, Additional Deputy Commissioner of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, noted,

According to an intelligence report, the 249-member HeI central committee, which was dissolved on April 25, 2021, had at least eight leaders who were either former operatives of HuJI-B or had connections with the militant group.

HeI was under tremendous pressure from the Government to restructure its central committee by removing from it, those leaders who were involved in the March 2021 violence. As a result, the central committee of HeI was dissolved on April 25, 2021. HeI Amir Junaid Babunagari announced, "The committee has been dissolved on advice of some important members of the central committee." The HeI Amir also declared that the organisation would run its activities through a convening committee in the interim. HeI is now trying to negotiate with the Government, which continues its crackdown on the outfit's top leaders. In a bid to convince the Government, an HeI delegation met the Home Minister at his residence on April 19, 2021, and assured him that students of the Qawmi madrasas will not get involved in any anti-Government or anti-state activities.

In another development on April 25, 2021, the highest policy-making body of Bangladesh’s Qawmi madrasas, Al-Hayatul Ulaya Lil Jamiatil Qawmia Bangladesh, decided that the teachers and students of Qawmi madrasas will stay away from all sorts of political activities. HeI is a Qawmi madrasa-based organisation. There are approximately 15,000 registered Qawmi madrasahs in Bangladesh, with 200,000 teachers educating four million students.

On the other hand, on April 26, 2021, Ahlea Sunnah Wal Jama’at Bangladesh Secretary General A.N.M. Masoud Hussein Al-Qadiri demanded a ban on HeI. Ahlea Sunnah Wal Jama’at Bangladesh is an Islamist group based on Sunni edicts.

The Shiekh Hasina-led AL Government has intensified its crackdown on HeI in the aftermath of the violence in March 2021, as intelligence agencies have found numerous connections of the leaders of the HeI with other anti-Government entities. It will be interesting to see how long this crackdown continues, given the past record of the Government’s dealings with HeI.

AFGHANISTAN

US formally begins withdrawing from its longest war: The United States (US) formally begins withdrawing its last troops from Afghanistan May 1, bringing its longest war nearer to an end but also heralding an uncertain future for a country in the tightening grip of an emboldened Taliban. US officials on the ground say the withdrawal is already a work in progress -- and May 1 is just a continuation, but Washington has made an issue of the date because it is a deadline agreed with the Taliban in 2020 to complete the pull-out. Tribune, May 2, 2021.

226 persons killed in Taliban attacks after withdrawal announcement by the US: At least 226 Afghan civilians and military personnel have been killed in Taliban attacks in 24 provinces since April 15. Of the figure, 69 are civilians and 157 are Security Forces. Under the Doha agreement, the United States will officially start withdrawing their troops from Afghanistan on May 1. The process will be completed until September 11. Tolo News, May 1, 2021.

Foreign Envoys from US, Russia and China along with Taliban discuss the peace process and the release of Taliban prisoners: On April 30, Envoys from the United States, Russia, China, and Pakistan as well as Taliban negotiators held a meeting in Doha on Friday with the main focus on the Afghan peace process. The discussions focused on the peace process, Afghanistan's situation, the release of Taliban prisoners and the removal of their leaders' names from the blacklist, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said. The Khaama Press, May 1, 2021.

118 Taliban militants killed across the country, says MoD: According to the Afghan Ministry of Defence (MoD) statement 118 Taliban were killed and further 30 others were reportedly wounded,during the Afghan National Defense and Security Force operations, in Afghanistan. MoD stated that the operations were conducted in Laghman, Ghazni, Kandahar, Zabul, Herat, Ghor, Balkh, Helmand, and Takhar Provinces. The Khaama Press, April 29, 2021.

407 Foreign Islamic State militants arrested by SFs, says NDS chief: National Directorate of Security Chief, Ahmad Zia Saraj on April 27 said that 407 Foreign Islamic State militants are lodged n different Afghan jails. 299 belong to Pakistan, 37 to Uzbekistan, 13 to Tajikistan, 12 to Kyrgyzstan, 5 to Russia, 16 to China, 5 to Jordan, 4 to Iran, 3 to Turkey, 5 to Indonesia, 2 to Bangladesh, 4 to India and 2 from the Maldives. Tolo News, April 29, 2021.

Taliban sent letter to Afghan leaders calling for direct talks: The Taliban has sent letters to a number of Afghan political leaders, calling on them to enter into direct talks with the group. The office of Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council of National Reconciliation (HCNR), confirmed that it had received a letter from the Taliban, however Abdullah's office said that the letter is aimed to create discord on the republic side. Tolo News, April 28, 2021

7,000 prisoners will soon be released from the Afghan government's prisons, claims Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai: Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, deputy head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar says 7,000 prisoners will soon be released from the Afghan government's prisons. Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai tweeted on April 25 that in addition to the release of 7,000 Taliban detainees, Taliban leaders will also be removed from the UN's blacklist. The Khaama Press, April 28, 2021. .

BANGLADESH

HeI has done enough vandalism across the country, says Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal: Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal while addressing reporters at his Dhanmondi residence on April 28 said Hefajat-e-Islam (HeI) has done enough vandalism across the country. "Land office, district commissioner's bungalows, police bungalows, police outposts have come under attack. They even vandalised Ustad Alauddin Khan Institute. After evaluating all these, we will reveal their true purpose. But we see that Hefajat sometimes gets stuck in political entanglements and gets involved with identified militants and criminals who always act against the state," the Minister said. The Daily Star, April 29, 2021.

HuJI-B is back in garb of HeI, say intelligence reports: According to intelligence reports of multiple agencies, including the Police, the banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) is back, this time in the garb of Hefajat-e-Islam (HeI). HuJI-B was found to be involved in the three-day HeI mayhem that was carried out across the country from March 26 to March 28 in protest against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Daily Star, May 03, 2021.

SRI LANKA

Cabinet grants approval to introduce bill banning burqa and other full-face coverings: Cabinet on April 27 granted approval to produce a draft bill banning burqa and other full-face coverings that conceals the identity of the person in public places. Cabinet Spokesman, Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella said the Cabinet has approved the ban on wearing full face masks in public places. Colombo Page, April 28, 2021.

Former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and his brother detained for 90-days: Police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana on April 27 (today) said a detention order has been obtained for 90 days against former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and his brother Riyaj Bathiudeen to conduct further investigations. He said earlier a 72-hour detention order was obtained by the CID Director as per the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and which was terminated by the morning of April 27. Therefore, another detention order was obtained to conduct further investigations. Bathiudeen and his brother were arrested on April 24 under the PTA. Daily Mirror, April 27, 2021.