South Asia Terrorism Portal
Karachi: Lawless Streets Tushar Ranjan Mohanty Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On April 9, 2024, the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) released a report on street crimes in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. The report revealed that as many as 22,627 crimes were reported in the city in the first three months (January-March) of 2024. During this period, 154 people lost their lives in various incidents, including 59 people who lost their lives while resisting robberies in the port city. 373 cars, 15,968 motorcycles and 6,102 mobile phones were snatched or stolen in Karachi during this period. The CPLC report further said that 25 incidents of extortion and five incidents of kidnapping for ransom were reported in Karachi.
On April 8, 2024, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) noted with concern that the state of law and order in Karachi has “deteriorated alarmingly”. Data presented before a high-level security meeting during the first week of April 2024 showed more than 250 persons in Karachi were shot dead and another 1,052 were wounded by street criminals between January 2022 and March 28, 2024. In a post on social media platform X, HRCP noted, ”Tens of thousands of street crimes were registered by the police in 2023, in which over a hundred people lost their lives. The first quarter of 2024 has followed the same pattern.” HRCP pointed out that retaliatory vigilantism and increased brutality by citizens in response to the crime wave was “not the answer”, and added that the government’s failure to address rising crime levels was “shocking”. “The underlying factors such as economic desperation and unemployment need to be addressed urgently as well,” HRCP stressed.
On April 7, 2024, Karachi Police chief Additional Inspector General (AIG) Imran Yaqoob disclosed that the crime rate in the city was recorded at 166 cases per day in 2024. Earlier, the single day highest crime rate was at 140 cases per day in 2023, as disclosed by the then AIG Karachi Javed Alam Odho on February 4.
On April 10, 2024, AIG Yaqoob stated that the majority of the persons committing crimes in the city were outsiders, including those from interior Sindh and Balochistan. He added that approximately 400,000 ‘professional’ beggars and criminal elements turn to Karachi during Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr, and that not only do these beggars pose a challenge, but criminal elements also take advantage of the festive atmosphere to commit crimes. Yaqoob highlighted, further, that the documented population in Karachi is relatively low compared to the actual population, estimated to be between 25 and 30 million people. “With such a staggering number, it becomes a challenge for law enforcement agencies to keep a close watch on all individuals,” he added.
Meanwhile, according to the performance report presented to the Sindh Police chief Rifat Mukhtar Raja on January 2, 2024, at least 21 Police personnel from the Sindh Police lost their lives in the line of duty in encounters during coordinated efforts against street crimes and terrorism across Sindh in 2023. The report highlighted the significant impact of Police action, resulting in the elimination of 1,726 criminal gangs through 3,158 Police encounters across various Police ranges in the Province. In Karachi range alone, 10,449 suspects, one terrorist, one target killer, one robber, 20 highway robbers, 23 kidnappers, along with 1,515 criminals and 9,090 fugitives, were arrested in 1,080 Police encounters.
However, on April 9, 2024, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Karachi In-charge Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Raja Umar Khattab accused the Sindh Home Ministry of ‘non-cooperation’ on weapons’ supply line data in Karachi. In an exclusive interview with ARY News, Raja Umar Khattab disclosed that Inspector General (IG) Sindh tasked CTD to disrupt the weapons’ supply line in the province, especially in Karachi, but “despite numerous attempts, the Sindh Home Ministry failed in sharing data.” The CTD head reportedly claimed that investigations revealed that weapons in Karachi were being provided by 17 weapons’ dealers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Illegal weapons were being trafficked to Karachi by crossing two provinces via transport, for deliveries on online orders. Khattab said street criminals in Karachi had the bulk of illegal weapons and they shared them with each other, for street crimes. Raja Umar Khattab further reveals that around 70 per cent of illegal weapons were smuggled Karachi with the mediation of online channels. He further claimed that the majority of ‘government employees’ were part of the arms supply fraud.
A spike in crime incidents in Karachi has stirred fears of insurgents regaining a foothold in Karachi. Indeed, CTD’s Raja Umar Khattab emphasised that the rise in extortion cases in Karachi was an indicator of Taliban’s (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, TTP) growing presence in Karachi.
However, while street crime continues to stalk the province, terrorism-related incidents have declined. Terrorism-related incidents were at an all-time low in the first three and half months of 2024. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Karachi recorded nine fatalities [seven civilians, one Security Force (SF) trooper and one militant] in six terrorism related incidents in 2024, as compared to 18 fatalities (seven civilians, four SF personnel and seven militants) in eight terrorism related incidents during the corresponding period of 2023, a decline of 50 per cent.
On April 10, 2024, amid rising incidents of street crimes, extortion, and abductions in the province, particularly in Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah blamed the previous caretaker Government for the deteriorating law and order situation. Responding to a question, Shah claimed that the law-and-order situation worsened due to a major reshuffle in the Police department by the caretaker government ahead of the February 8, 2024, general elections. He claimed,
Not surprisingly, on April 9, 2014, a senior leader of the main opposition party in Sindh, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Mustafa Kamal demanded that Karachi be handed over to the Pakistan Army for three months. “Karachi should be handed over to the army for three months as the Sindh government is not serious in providing protection to the life and property of citizens,” Kamal stated. It is notable that the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh), a para-military force, had been deployed in Karachi since 1989. On April 5, 2024, Pakistan Rangers Director General (DG) sought special policing powers for the whole of Sindh, amid the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the province.
On April 6, 2024, as violent street crimes surged, the Sindh High Court (SHC) set a one-month deadline for the provincial authorities to restore law-and-order in the province. Justice Abbasi also directed authorities to take strict action against “influential persons” who were involved in sabotaging the law-and-order administration.
While the state authorities have been busy shifting responsibility, the criminals have been on a rampage on the streets of Karachi. This is a replay of the decade of 1990s, and it was only after the intervention of the Army and some heavy handed and indiscriminate operations that the rampant gangs of Karachi were brought under control. There is evident backsliding once again, and the costs of recovery will, once again, be heavy.
Kerala: Peripheral Risks Deepak Kumar Nayak Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On April 12, 2024, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court at Kochi in Ernakulam District sentenced four cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) to rigorous imprisonment (RI). The four were convicted on April 9, 2024, in connection with a 2014 case relating to assault, threat and arson, etc., against a senior officer of the Kerala Police. Accused Roopesh was sentenced to 10 years RI along with an INR 235,000 fine; Kanyakumari received six years RI with an INR 105,000 fine. Both of them were convicted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Anoop, who was convicted only under the UAPA, was sentenced to eight years RI with a fine of INR 60,000; while Ibrahim has also been punished for offences under the same law to six years RI and a fine of INR 40,000. The case against the accused is that on April 24, 2014, they barged into the house of A.B. Pramod, a civil Police officer, threatened him, and set ablaze his vehicle. The accused attacked Pramod for giving information about Maoists to high-ranking Police officials. The case was originally registered by the Vellamunda Police on April 24, 2014, and re-registered by the NIA on January 2, 2016.
Meanwhile, one Maoist-related incident has been recorded in the state since in the beginning of year 2024. On February 17, a 61-year-old wanted CPI-Maoist cadre, Suresh aka Pradeep, was arrested during a combing operation in the Kanjirakolli Forest area in Kannur District. Suresh was wanted in many cases, and the Police of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu had been searching for him for several years.
Security Forces (SFs) arrested 53 Maoists in the state since March 6, 2000, when the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) started compiling data on Naxalite [Left Wing Extremism, LWE] violence, including three in 2023 and the above mention one in 2024 (data till April 14).
No surrender of Maoists has been reported in 2024. The State recorded its first and only surrender on October 25, 2021, when P. Lijesh aka Ramu, a senior CPI-Maoist leader, surrendered without arms, before Superintendent of Police (SP) Aravind Sukumar in the Wayanad District. Ashok Yadav, Inspector General of Police (IGP), North Zone, had disclosed, “Lijesh is the first Maoist cadre to surrender in the State after the Surrender and Rehabilitation scheme announced by the State Government in 2018.” No surrender had been reported prior to the announcement of the Rehabilitation scheme in 2018.
SFs have eliminated at least 10 Naxalites [Left Wing Extremists] since March 6, 2000, including one in 2023. On December 29, 2023, a woman CPI-Maoist leader, Lakshmi aka Kavitha, succumbed to her injuries at Aralam in the forest area in Kannur District. A set of posters in the name of Maoists claimed that she was seriously injured during the encounter that took place on November 13 at Ayyankunnu in Kannur District. The posters also declared that the Maoist group would avenge her death.
According to partial data collated by SATP, the State has not recorded any fatality in the civilian and SF categories in LWE-linked violence since March 6, 2000, (data till April 14, 2024).
The Naxalites have only been able to orchestrate 19 violent incidents in the state since March 6, 2000, including one explosion. On March 5, 2017, a high-intensity blast damaged property and blew up a mud house on the fringe of a forest in Chappamala in Kottiyoor, a Naxalite-affected area in Kannur District. No casualty was reported in the blast. Four incidents of arson have been reported since March 6, 2000: one each in 2020 and 2015, and two in 2014. The Maoists abducted six persons in two sperate incidents: three in 2015 and another three in 2018. Further, 12 acts of vandalization by Maoists have been reported: one in 2003, five in 2014, four in 2015, one in 2020 and one in 2023.
Meanwhile, SFs foiled Maoist designs and recovered arms and ammunition on one occasion in 2023, in addition to another such incident in 2020. Since March 6, 2000, at least six such incidents have been recorded in the State.
SFs also recovered Posters/Pamphlets/Literature on three occasions in 2023, in addition to one such incident in 2022. Since March 6, 2000, at least 32 such incidents have been recorded in the State.
According to the SATP database, based on underground and over-ground activities of the Maoists in 2023, one District (Kannur) in the state was categorised as moderately affected; while two (Kozhikode and Wayanad), were marginally affected. In 2022, just two Districts (Kozhikode and Wayanad) were marginally affected.
Meanwhile, the NIA which in January 2024 took over the case involving Sanjay Deepak Rao aka Vijay Rao (60), the 'central committee member', who was arrested in Hyderabad on September 13, 2023, found during investigations that Rao, in charge of the 'Western Ghats Special Zone Committee (WGSZC)', was actively working for the CPI-Maoist in the tri-junction area of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. The NIA thus alleged,
Under his direction, other frontline members of CPI (Maoist) were operating in the urban areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala to promote the activities of the outfit.
Sanjay Deepak Rao had taken over the leadership of the Maoists in Kerala, heading the outfit's Western Ghats operations, after the death of senior leader Manivasagam in an encounter in 2020.
Moreover, on March 25, 2024, the NIA took over the probe from the Police, into the shootout that took place between four CPI-Maoist cadres and the Kerala Police at the Chapparam Colony near Periya in Wayanad District of Kerala on November 7, 2023, following the directives of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA), to uncover Maoist activities in the forest areas of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Though no casualty was reported in the incident, two Maoists were arrested: Chandru of Tamil Nadu and Unnimaya of Karnataka. The other two managed to escape. An unnamed NIA source disclosed,
Meanwhile, according to a March 21, 2024, report, the Karnataka Police said that Maoist leader Vikram Gowda was spotted in a village in Kodagu, which borders Kerala. Gowda is a native of Hebri in Udupi, Karnataka, but is known to operate from Kerala. However, the Karnataka Police said that they had initiated investigations and deployed personnel after evidence emerged of Maoist activity in forests in the districts of Kodagu and Hassan. Further, the Police stated that vigilance in the areas close to the tri-junction forests of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala have been heightened since the twin encounters between suspected Maoist groups and the Kerala Police Thunderbolts special forces team. The first encounter was in Thalappuzha in Wayanad District of Kerala on November 7, 2023, followed by one at Karikkottakary in the Kannur District of Kerala, on November 13, 2023. No casualty was reported in either incident.
The State Police forces have been successful in containing the Maoist threat in Kerala, but existing critical gaps in capacities and deployment of the Kerala Police indicate potential future susceptibilities. According to the latest Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) data, as on January 1, 2022, Kerala had 149.60 Police personnel per 100,000 population, which is below the inadequate national average of 152.80. Further, with a sanctioned strength of 61,474, the State Police has just 53,216 personnel in position, a deficit of 13.43 per cent. The sanctioned strength of the apex Indian Police Service (IPS) Officers in the State was 172, but just 116 officers were in position, a deficit of 32.55 per cent.
Certainly, the Kerala Police has done extremely well in containing the Maoist menace. The Maoist influence, moreover, has been shrinking in neighbouring states as well. Nevertheless, given the Maoists past capacities to engineer a revival, there is no scope for complacence, particularly in view of intensive effort by the Maoists in the KKT tri-junction region.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia April 8-14, 2024
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
NS
Total
AFGHANISTAN
INDIA
Chhattisgarh
Jammu & Kashmir
Manipur
INDIA (Total)
PAKISTAN
Balochistan
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Punjab
PAKISTAN (Total)
Total (South Asia)
HRW submits documentation of violence against Afghan female athletes to UN: On April 11, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its report documenting violence against Afghan women in sports. The organisation provided the documented report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, who is expected to present a report to the UN General Assembly. HRW's report focuses on the deprivation of women's access to sports. Afghanistan International, April 13, 2024.
40 foreign nationals detained in Afghan prisons, states Taliban's Deputy Director of Military Affairs: Habibullah Badr, the Deputy Director of Military Affairs for the Taliban's Prison Authority, revealed that the group currently has detained approximately 40 foreign prisoners. Badr specified that these detainees are citizens from a variety of countries, notably those neighbouring Afghanistan, and have been incarcerated on allegations of serious criminal activities, including murder. Afghanistan International, April 8, 2024.
India and Kazakhstan discuss cross-border terrorism and security challenges in South Asia: On April 8, the India-Kazakhstan Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism held its fifth meeting in Astana in Kazakhstan, during which the two nations discussed key issues such as cross-border terrorism and security challenges in South Asia. The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary - Counter Terrorism (CT), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), KD Dewal; while the Kazakh delegation was represented by Talgat Kaliyev, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. India.com, April 10, 2024.
INR 1,000 million sanctioned for surrendered NLFT militants in Tripura: On April 8, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha stated that the central government has sanctioned INR 1000 million rehabilitation package for the surrendered militants of the Nationalist Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT). The CM said that the central government has approved this allocation under the Special Economic Development Package for Indigenous People of Tripura, aimed at facilitating the integration of former NLFT members into society and away from violence. Northeast Now, April 9, 2024.
11 persons including nine Punjabi bus passengers shot dead by BLA in Balochistan: The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) cadres on April 12 shot dead 11 persons including nine Punjabi bus passengers on N-40 Regional Corporations Development (RCD) highway after checking their identification in the Nushki District of Balochistan. The gunmen blocked the N-40 highway that connects Pakistan and Iran and taken the nine Punjabi passengers, after checking their identification, to nearby mountain region where they were gun down. Two other persons, said to be local, were killed during the gunman's raid when their car tried to force its way through the gunmen's cordon, was fired upon. BLA on April 13 claimed responsibility of the killing, alleging that they were Government employees. The Khorasan Diary, The Nation, April 13, 2024. .
At least 88 terrorists killed in various anti-terror operations since January 2024, says Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Chief IGP Akhtar Hayat Khan: The Police Chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Inspector General of Police (IGP) Akhtar Hayat Khan on April 11 said that 88 terrorists have been killed in various anti-terror operations since January 1, 2024. The KP IGP Akhtar Hayat Khan, in an interview to Geo News, said several among those neutralised in the operations included high-value targets, while numerous militants have also been apprehended. Geo News, April 12, 2024.
CPLC report highlights surge in Karachi street crimes: The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) on April 9 released a report on Karachi street crimes in the first three months of 2024. The report revealed that as many as 22,627 crimes were reported in the first three months (January-March) of 2024. During the 91 days, 59 people lost their lives while resisting robberies in the port city, while over 700 people sustained injuries. 373 cars, 15,968 motorbikes and 6,102 mobile phones were snatched or stolen in Karachi during the first three months of 2024. Ary News, April 10, 2024. .
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.
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