South Asia Terrorism Portal

PAKISTAN

Balochistan: Exploding pipelines of exploitation
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On October 22, 2023, a gas pipeline was blown up in the Pir Koh Gas Field area of Dera Bugti District in Balochistan, resulting in a disruption of gas supplies. The Baloch Republican Guards (BRG) claimed responsibility for the attack and vowed to target Pakistani installations and Forces until the independence of Balochistan was achieved.

On October 16, 2023, terrorists blew up a 36-inch diameter gas pipeline in Khairpur District of Sindh, which was supplying gas from the Sui gas fields of Balochistan to Karachi, disrupting the gas supply to several parts of Karachi. BRG took responsibility for the attack and vowed to continue such attacks.  

On October 12, 2023, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)’s Special Tactical Operations Squad abducted two Army personnel posted at the Zarghoon Gas Field in Harnai District, from the Margat area of Bolan District. The whereabouts of the two personnel are still unknown.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Baloch insurgents have carried out at least five attacks targeting Gas/Oil installations and tankers in Balochistan in 2023 (data till October 29, 2023). However, no causalities were reported in these attacks as the aim of Baloch insurgents was to hurt the Pakistani state economically. A total of 254 such attacks have been recorded since March 2000, when SATP started compiling data on conflict in Pakistan. These attacks have    resulted in 36 fatalities and 39 persons injured.

  Attacks targeting Gas/Oil Installations and Tankers: 2005*-2023**

The worst such attack in terms of fatalities, was reported on October 15, 2020, when at least 14 persons, including seven Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and an equal number of private security guards, were killed when Baloch militants attacked an Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) convoy on the Coastal Highway near the Ormara area of Gwadar District in Balochistan. The OGDCL convoy, escorted by the SFs, was moving from Gwadar to Karachi, Sindh, when attacked. Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), in an email sent to media outlets, claimed that "BRAS fighters eliminated more than 15 enemy personnel and agents of exploitative company" in the attack. Baloch Khan, the BRAS 'spokesperson', issued a statement asserting,

Pakistan is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, with gas accounting for 42 per cent, oil 26 per cent and coal 17 per cent. Non-fossil-fuel sources like nuclear, hydro and renewables account for just 14 per cent. This makes the economy highly vulnerable to oil and gas prices. Till 1995, Balochistan produced almost 56 per cent of Pakistan's total output of natural gas. However, according to a September 24, 2022, report, Balochistan's contribution has dropped to 23 per cent. Though the report did not indicate how much of this is consumed in Balochistan, according to a March 2022 report, when Balochistan's contribution had dropped to 22.7 percent in 2017, it consumed only 5.81 percent of the country's total output.

Thus, attacks targeting this source of energy have a significant detrimental impact on Pakistan's economy, a reality the Baloch insurgents are well aware of, and seek to exploit. This also explains the disproportion in the number of incidents and causalities, as the main objective of Baloch insurgents is to inflict economic damage on the Pakistani establishment, and not to kill people. After the June 29, 2020, Pakistan Stock Exchange attack, the BLA 'spokesperson', Jeehand Baloch had declared,

Another reason for attacks on such installations is the sense of deprivement among the Baloch people. Despite being the owners of vast natural resources, Balochistan had been deprived of its own gas as well as other materials mined from its territories. Insurgency in Balochistan has principally been linked to a sense of deprivation and under-development in the region.

Natural gas was discovered at Sui in Balochistan as far back as in 1952, yet large regions of Balochistan have no natural gas supplies. The then Balochistan Assembly Opposition Leader Malik Sikandar on January 21, 2020, had said,

More recently, on February 13, 2023, Provincial Finance Minister Zmarak Achakzai threatened the Federal Government with suspension of gas supply to Pakistan if Islamabad failed to pay outstanding dues to Balochistan. The Minister warned that if the dues are not restored, he would request Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo to deploy 200 personnel from the paramilitary forces to stop the supply of gas to the rest of the country. Achakzai said: “We want our constitutional share in the National Finance Commission Award share.”

Indeed, on December 9, 2019, the convener of the Subcommittee of the Senate Standing Committee on Planning Development and Reforms, Mir Kabeer had disclosed that 93 per cent of the people of Balochistan lacked gas supply whereas 88 percent were still without electricity.

Similarly, on August 28, 2017, the then Balochistan Minister for Education Abdul Rahim Khan Ziaratwal had informed the Balochistan Assembly that, of the 33 Districts in the Province, 23 had no natural gas.

More recently, an article published in Daily Times on February 28, 2023, noted,

Significantly, in view of the growing threat from Baloch insurgents, Mian Asad Hayauddin, the then Additional Secretary in-charge of the Petroleum Division, testified  before a Senate panel on January 28, 2019, that the Government planned to raise a Special Force of about 50,000 personnel to ensure unhindered exploration and exploitation of oil and gas reserves in the country’s troubled areas, particularly Balochistan, where zones with very high potential have remained inaccessible for almost three decades. However, no further report in this regard has been made available in the open source. Currently, the Frontier Corps manages the security of oil and gas installations.

While the exploitation of Balochistan’s natural resources, including gas, continue unabated, Baloch insurgent attacks will remain unavoidable.  

INDIA

Chhattisgarh: Kanker: A Receding Red
Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On October 20, 2023, two Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres were killed in an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) in a forest located under Koyalibeda Police Station limits in the Kanker District of Chhattisgarh. The bodies of the two slain Maoists, along with an INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle, one 12-bore rifle, and other arms and ammunition, were recovered from the encounter site. The identities of the slain Maoists are yet to be confirmed.

On June 11, 2023, a woman CPI-Maoist cadre, Sunita, a member of the ‘Rajnandgaon-Kanker Border (RKB) Division, who carried a reward of INR 500,000, was killed in a gun battle with SFs in the forest near Binagunda village under Chhotebethiya Police Station limits in Kanker District. The body of the slain woman Maoist clad in uniform, was recovered, along with a .303 rifle.

In between, on June 21, 2023, SFs recovered the dead body of a Maoist, Maanu Dugga, from Kesokodi village under Koyalibeda Police Station limits in Kanker District. Dugga was an active member in the Koskode area and was allegedly killed by fellow cadres because of his objectionable behaviour with women in the organization, according to a purported Maoist pamphlet found near the body of the deceased.

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least four Maoists have been killed in Kanker District since the beginning of 2023 (data till October 29). During the corresponding period of 2022, no Maoist was killed. However, two Maoists were killed during the remaining days of 2022. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started documenting Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-related violence across the country, Kanker District has recorded a total of 58 Naxalite (Left Wing Extremist) fatalities (data till October 29, 2023).

Significantly, one trooper lost his life fighting the Maoists, in the current year, so far (data till October 29, 2023), the same number as in the corresponding period of 2022. No further SF fatality was recorded in the remaining period of 2022. Since March 6, 2000, 64 SF personnel have been killed in such violence. 

Search operations and combing raids have resulted in the arrest of seven Maoists in the District in the current year (data till October 29, 2023). The last arrest was reported on October 29, 2020, when a woman CPI-Maoist cadre, Dashri Korsa alias Samita, carrying a reward of INR 500,000 on her head, was arrested from her native village, Gattakal, under Koyalibeda Police Station limits in Kanker District, when she had arrived there to visit her family. Korsa was allegedly involved in attacks on Police teams, setting fire to vehicles and machines in mining areas, and torturing villagers. Since March 6, 2000, 479 Naxalites have been arrested in the district. 

SF pressure has led to the surrender of two Maoists in the current year (data till October 29, 2023), in addition to three in the corresponding period of 2022, and no further surrender in the remaining period of 2022. Since March 6, 105 Naxalites have surrendered in the district. 

Meanwhile, civilian fatalities in Kanker have followed a cyclical trend over the years. One such fatality has been recorded in the current year (data till October 29, 2023). During the corresponding period of 2022, three civilians were killed. Another civilian was killed during the remaining period of 2022. At peak, a total of 14 fatalities in this category were recorded in 2009, while a low of one fatality was recorded in the district on four occasions in 2003, 2013, 2021, and 2023.

Other parameters of violence suggest a weakening Maoist influence.

Total Maoist-linked incidents in the district stand at 19 in the current year, as against 19 in the corresponding period of 2022 as well. Another four incidents were recorded in the remaining period of 2022.  A total of 478 Maoist-linked incidents have been recorded in the district since 2000. A high of 78 Maoist-related incidents were recorded in 2014.

Meanwhile, since March 6, 2000, Kanker has recorded 17 major incidents (each resulting in three or more fatalities), with none of these recorded in the current year (data till October 29, 2023). The last major incident was recorded on November 23, 2020, when three CPI-Maoist cadres, including a woman, were killed, while a trooper of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) was injured in an exchange of fire at Tadoki village in Kanker District.

The Maoists have triggered at least 42 blasts, in which 52 persons were killed and another 52 sustained injuries in the district since March 6, 2000. A high of nine such incidents was recorded in 2007, followed by five in 2016, and four in 2006. The current year has already recorded four explosions so far, with one person killed and another six sustaining injuries.

Maoists have executed 35 incidents of arson since March 6, 2000, in the district, of which a maximum of six incidents was recorded in 2022 and a low of one such incident in 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2019, and 2020. Two such incidents have taken place in the current year, so far.

Despite the very significant decline in Maoist activities, concerns persist. According to a June 2023 report, there is credible information about the presence of Maoist leaders belonging to the ‘RKB division’, a Medki Local Operation Squad (LOS) ‘commander’, and 20 to 25 Maoists in the eastern region of the Kotri River, near Amatola village, in the Binagunda, and Kalpar areas of the district. Indeed, on June 11, 2023, a combing operation was launched, and a woman Maoist was neutralised (mentioned above).

According to an August 21, 2023, reports, to garner public support and sympathy, and to woo the villagers, the Maoists have accused Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat political manipulation and making tribals fight among themselves in the name of religion. They have also accused former Kanker Member of Parliament (MP) Vikram Usendi of practicing vote bank politics with the tribals.

Kanker district is spread over a geographical area of 5,285.01 square kilometres, of which around 705.28 square kilometres (13.34 per cent of its total area) is under dense forest cover. The uncongenial terrain – dense forests interspersed with swift flowing rivers and streams and hilly features – provide significant strategic advantage to the Maoists, and are a challenge for the SFs while in hot pursuit of the rebels. The district falls under the daunting Abujhmadh Forest region (which spreads over 3,900 square kilometres), and is part of the perilous ‘Bastar Division’ (comprising Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Dantewada and Sukma), still considered a major challenge for the state, and ranked as the worst LWE-affected region in the country. The geographical proximity with the other LWE-afflicted districts – Balod (Chhattisgarh) to the North; Rajnandgaon and Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki (Chhattisgarh) to the North-west; Dhamtari (Chhattisgarh) to the east; Bastar (Chhattisgarh) to the South-east; Narayanpur (Chhattisgarh) to the south; and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra to the West, makes it a significant tactical location for the rebels to carry on their activities.

Not surprisingly, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) has included Kanker, in its list, issued on June 19, 2021, of ‘25 Most Affected Districts’  from eight States across the country. Additionally, Kanker, along with six other Districts of Chhattisgarh (Bastar, Bijapur, Sukma, Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Rajnandgaon), is also included among the 70 Naxal-affected Districts in 10 States across India, covered under the Centre’s Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme, which funds focused operations against the extremists.

The Maoists reverses are quite visible in their erstwhile areas of dominance. However, in view of their continuous efforts to reclaim their areas of earlier dominance, though with little current success, it remains necessary for the security establishment to consolidate SF gains and to check the Maoists’ ongoing activities in Kanker, as well as in the state at large.