Detail Of Terrorism Update

At least 13 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants were killed and several others injured when helicopter gunships bombed their positions in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on June 20, reports Dawn. According to security sources, the helicopters destroyed five TTP hideouts in Dwa Thoe and a local militant ‘commander’ was among those killed.  

Meanwhile, more Kukikhel families moved out of Toor Darra after TTP-Tariq Afridi faction took control of the area. The families crossed over to Afghanistan and reached Jamrud through the Torkham border after walking for three days from Tirah via Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. All the routes to Jamrud from Tirah are either under the control of TTP or activists of the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI). 

Separately, an activist of the Tawheedul Islam (TI) was critically injured when explosives stored in the home of his ‘commander’ Mehmud in Bazaar Zakhakhel exploded.

Security Forces (SFs) in an encounter killed three Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT) militants at Tarapung village under Shantipur Police Station in eastern Bokajan subdivision of Karbi Anglong District, reports The Telegraph. The three have been identified as Pam Ranghang, Langki Rangpi and Hemptun Teron. Three AK-56 rifles and huge ammunition of AK-series rifles were recovered from the site. 

Meanwhile, both State and Central Government find them in a difficult position over the stand they will take on the bail plea of Ranjan Daimary, ‘chairman’ of Ranjan Daimari faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-RD), as and when it is moved, in the October 30, 2008, serial blasts case. The news report said that an NDFB-RD team had met Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) officials on June 18 to press for Daimari’s release in order to move forward the peace process. Ranjan Daimary is the main accused in the October 30 serial blasts case and there is considerable anger amongst the public regarding the blast incidence. 

Elsewhere, Samir Ahmed, who was charge sheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his alleged links with Jewel Garlosa faction of Dima Halim Daogah (DHD-J) / Black Widow (BW), on June 20, expressed his desire to become a Government approver.  Police arrested Ahmed, who worked as an executive of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) Bank, along with Garlosa from Bangalore on June 3, 2009, and since then he is lodged at Guwahati Central Jail. According to NIA, Ahmed is a close associate of Garlosa and he had facilitated his stay in Bangalore and helped him get fake identity documents.

Two persons were killed in separate acts of violence in different parts of Karachi on June 20, reported Daily Times. A truck driver, identified as Subhan (35), was shot dead in an act of target killing in Shirin Jinnah Colony within the limits of Jackson Police Station. Police officials said that the deceased hailed from Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  

Separately, unidentified armed assailants shot dead a bus conductor, identified as Anwar alias Pappu, in Malir No 4 within the limits of Khokhrapar Police Station.

Two people belonging to a pro-government peace force were injured on June 20 in a landmine blast in the Mondrani Pat area of Sui in Dera Bugti District, reports Daily Times. According to sources, unidentified armed militants had attacked a camp of the peace force with sophisticated weapons in the morning. However, no one was injured in the attack. The peace force men were chasing the attackers when they were hit by a landmine explosion in Mondrani Pat. As a result of the explosion, two of them following the assailants were injured. No outfit claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Separately, a Hindu trader, identified as Ganga Ram Sharma, who was abducted on an unspecified date two months ago, reached home in Uthal, Headquarters of the Lasbela District. According to the Bela Station House Officer (SHO), Attaullah, the Khuzdar Assistant Commissioner had informed him that the trader had been recovered from a local hotel in the Naal area of the Khuzdar District. It could not be immediately confirmed if the relatives had paid ransom for his recovery. Talking to reporters, Sharma said that two months back some unidentified people in Police uniforms came to his shop in Lasbela and told him the Uthal District Police Officer (DPO) had summoned him. “They blindfolded me, and drove me to some unknown location,” he said, adding that the abductors had been talking to him in Urdu and had not asked him about his family or any ransom.  

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ordered Intelligence Agencies and Police to recover and produce the missing persons before the court in next hearing on July 9, 2012. The Supreme Court also ordered the Federal Defence Secretary, the Balochistan Chief Secretary, the Balochistan Home Secretary, the Balochistan Inspector General (IG) and the Frontier Corps (FC) IG to take concrete measures for the recovery of missing persons. The court ordered the Balochistan Government to provide PKR 1 million compensation each to the heirs of 381 people found dead in the province. The court also ordered the Provincial Government to submit a compliance report on July 9, 2012.

At least two Policemen, including the Zaimdara Police Station House Officer (SHO), Hazrat Hussain, and constable Salim Khan were injured when a Police mobile van hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) along the road in Sor Kamar area of Nagotal in Lower Dir District on June 20, reports Dawn.

Kanglaonline reports that unidentified person left a Chinese hand grenade along with a note in front of a shop at Khongjom Bazar under Kakching Police Station in Thoubal District around 6pm on June 20. The note says that in case the family informs the Police about the grenade, then the family should deliver INR 200,000, otherwise, they should bring the grenade to them. The note however did not mention the name of the perpetrators and where to deliver the goods. 

Meanwhile, Security Forces (SFs) arrested one United National Liberation Front (UNLF) cadre from L Slabjang village under Thinghat subdivision of Churachandpur District, reports The Sangai Express. He has been identified as Hari Das alias Manglemjao who reportedly deserted from Senam Camp in Myanmar on June 16. One 7.62mm pistol, three live rounds have been recovered from his possession. 

Separately, referring to the reported initiative of Chief Minister O Ibobi to incorporate Highway Patrolling Scheme in the 12th Plan and Home Minister Gaikhangam’s idea to raise some battalions of Highway Protection Force (HPF), the Progressive faction of People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK-Pro) has questioned the very idea of raising HPF and its practical utilities. In a statement issued by the outfit’s senior publicity officer, department of publicity and propaganda Boby Mangang, the outfit pre-cautioned the State Government about communal polarisation and ethnic conflicts that may arise from the activities of armed HPF personnel patrolling the highways.

In a broad daylight operation, suspected cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) on June 20 abducted 19 railway employees, including a station master, in Jamui District, reports The Indian Express. They later released all of them. The armed Maoists, numbering about 20, took the railway employees hostage when they were repairing railway tracks, three kilometres from Ghorparan station located between Jasidih and Simultala stations on Jhajha-Jasidih section, Simultala station master R N P Yadav said. The extremists took all the railway employees to a nearby forest where they released 16 of them, including section engineer Soren Manjhi and Permanent Way Inspector Bhuvaneshwar Manda, he said. Three other railway employees, Ghorparan station master Vijay Kumar and porters Munna Kumar and Dukhan Mahto, were released later by the Maoists, an Eastern Railway release said in Kolkata. 

Meanwhile, Police arrested a Maoist ‘sub-zonal commander’ from Ranjita hills area in Gaya District, reports PTI. Acting on a tip off, Police arrested Vinod Paswan alias Mukaddarji alias Baban Paswan from a hideout near Ranjita hills, Superintendent of Police (SP), City, Baburam said.

Two persons were arrested, for possessing Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) with a face value of INR 110,000, in Industrial Area of Jalandhar on June 20, reports Business Standard.  According to Police, arrested Mukesh Kumar and Ajay Maratha sourced FICN from one Vishnu in Khagaria District of Bihar. There are other cases pending against Mukesh for supplying FICN.

Police arrested the chief arms procurer of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), an official said on June 20, Nagaland Post reports. Jackuish A. Sangma was arrested in the night of June 19 from Tura, the District headquarters of West Garo Hills when he was handing out an extortion note to a businessman, the Police official said. A foreign-made revolver along with six rounds of live ammunition, four GNLA extortion notes and seals were seized from Jackuish’s possession.  

“He (Jackuish) has been under our (police) scanner for several months after being released on bail from Shillong district jail for his involvement in procurement of arms and ammunition for the GNLA,” Mukesh Kumar Singh, District Police chief of West Garo Hills said. Singh said Jackuish procured arms and ammunition from suppliers based in Dimapur, a town of Nagaland, bordering Assam. In recent months, Assam Police have seized huge consignment of arms and ammunition, including rocket launchers, shells and foreign-made pistols, which were brought from Dimapur via Assam to Garo Hills. Jackuish has been involved in the recent procurement of arms and ammunition which were seized by Assam Police. The Police have registered a case against him based on the confession of some arrested GNLA rebels, Singh said.

Police have booked Jackuish under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

A French-al Qaeda leader, Naamen Meziche, linked to the September 11, 2001 (also known as 9/11) attacks was arrested near the Pakistan-Iran border, reports Daily Times on June 20. A Western terror expert said Meziche was arrested in May in Quetta (Balochistan) as he was travelling to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Meziche was detained after disclosures by Younis al Mauritani, apparently tasked by Osama bin Laden to plot attacks on Australia, Europe and the United States (US) and captured in Pakistan in 2011, the Pakistani official said.

Seventy one elected representatives of civic bodies in Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra have resigned from their posts, apparently due to Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) threat, reports Indian Express. Talking to reporters in Gadchiroli on June 20 evening, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gadchiroli Zilla Parishad (ZP, district level local self-Government institution) Sumant Bhange said 71 elected representatives have resigned in the last one month. Of these representatives, one is ZP member, four Panchayat Samiti (block level local self-Government institution) members and 66 village Panchayat (village level local self government institution) members, he said.

Deccan Herald reports that Intelligence agencies have warned Karnataka that the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres are attempting to regroup in Malnad area benefiting from Police's reluctance to initiate action against them and growing discontent among the villagers living close to the thick jungles of the Western Ghat over their land ownership. The Maoists are giving high priority to increasing their footfalls in the about 100-kilometre stretch of Malnad area - comprising seven Districts of Chikmagalur, Shimoga, parts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan and Kodagu – and have deputed central committee member Kuppu Swami to establish a base and recruit cadres.  

Swami, who hails from Bangalore, has been tasked with supervising the expansion plan as he is familiar with the territory and knows the local dialect. Masquerading under assumed identities such as Kuppu Devaraj, Ramesh, Rayanna, Balaji, Jogesh and Yogesh, Kuppu Swami carries a reward of INR 700,000 and INR 1 million announced by Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh Governments respectively.  Intelligence inputs with the Security Forces (SF’s) suggest that the cadres from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Kerala are camping in the Western Ghats along with local Maoists belonging to groups led by Vikram Gowda, Latha, Mahesh and Sundari.

The Shillong Times reports that a new outfit, Hynniewtrep People’s Liberation Front (HPLF), has reportedly been floated in Khasi-Jaintia Hills Districts. Sources informed that the HPLF has been formed by certain surrendered Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) members. Sources also informed that the outfit is being led by Joplang Lyngdoh as the ‘chairman’, Thrang Marwein as ‘general secretary’ and DL Sawkmie as ‘information secretary’. Sources also alleged that the group is recruiting new members from all over Khasi and Jaintia Hills Districts. Presently, the group boasts of strength of about 25 to 30 members.  According to sources, the group is in possession of various weapons including one AK-56 rifle, over ten .9mm pistols, five revolvers (.38 caliber), hand grenades and others. 

“The chairman, secretary and information secretary have recently met GNLA area commander, West Khasi Hills, Savio Marak with a request for support for their group,” sources further informed. “The HLPF is seeking help from Savio Marak to assist them in organising arms and also training for the newly recruited members of the outfit,” a source said, adding that in return, the HPLF would assist GNLA in its operations and also share 50 per cent of its ‘earnings’. Sources also informed that the organisation originated in Mawsynram area of West Khasi Hills and is operating all over Khasi and Jaintia Hills Districts. Sources also alleged that to strengthen the outfit, extortion drives are being carried out in Khliehriat and Dawki in Jaintia Hills and Borsora and Shallang in West Khasi Hills.

Myanmar Government is yet to take any action against militant groups based on its soil and operating in India’s Northeast, despite giving assurance to take action against such groups during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to that country, reports The Assam Tribune. The Myanmar Government had given June 10 as the deadline to militants to leave their camps or face Security Forces action.

The Federal Government on June 20 asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Syed Masood Kausar to try to enter into dialogue with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in North Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to pave the way for vaccination of children, reports Dawn. A letter sent to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Syed Masood Kausar by Shahnaz Wazir Ali, focal person for polio at the Prime Minister’s Polio Eradication Cell Secretariat requested the Governor to start talks with the TTP through the political agent of North Waziristan.  

A militant outfit headed by Hafiz Gul Bahadar had announced ban on polio vaccination on June 16, 2012, in reaction to the drone attacks. The letter titled “Ban on polio campaign in North Waziristan” expressed serious concern over reports regarding TTP’s ban on polio campaign in North Waziristan and asked the Governor to hold dialogue with militant leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar to save children from becoming handicapped. “All the available means must be utilised to ensure that the polio campaigns in the area are not disrupted for the sake of the future of 161,000 children there,” a one-page letter said. It said that the Government was extremely concerned about eradicating polio from the country in general and FATA in particular.

The Ministry of Defence through an affidavit submitted in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) claimed on June 20 that neither the Federal Government nor the top brass of the Armed Forces had inked any secret agreement with the United States (US) to allow drones attacks in the tribal areas, reports The News. Deputy Attorney General (DAG), Muhammad Iqbal Mohmand submitted the written reply of the Ministry of Defence in the division bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth. During the previous hearing the bench had directed the DAG to explain whether they had allowed the US to carry out drone attacks in the country’s tribal areas.  

The DAG told the bench there was no secret deal between the Federal Government and US and this was the reason it had opposed the drone strikes, taken up the matter with the US Government and passed resolution in the National Assembly against these attacks.  He argued that the drone strikes in the tribal areas were in violation of the country’s sovereignty and international conventions and the Government was even ready to pursue the case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).  

To a query, he said the US started the drone strikes during former president Pervez Musharraf’s rule and the court should summon him and ask about any verbal or written deal on drone strikes with the US. The court had already made Musharraf a party in the petitions filed against the drone strikes and given 15 days to his lawyer Mauzzam Butt to get power of attorney from him to submit his written reply about the drone strikes.

An official for the holding facility where neuroscientist Doctor Aafia Siddiqui is serving her prison sentence denied rumours of her death on June 20, reports The Express Tribune. Speaking to the media, Doctor Maria Douglas, a spokesperson for Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where Doctor Siddiqui is imprisoned, vehemently denied rumours and said that it was absolutely false that Doctor Siddiqui had passed away, adding that no medical emergency has arisen. Earlier, text messages were circulating in Pakistan claiming that Doctor Siddiqui had passed away at the prison facility. 

Doctor Siddiqui, a neuroscientist by profession and a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), allegedly went missing for five years before she was discovered in Afghanistan. The prosecution says that she tried to fire on a United States (US) soldier during her interrogation. She has also been accused of working for al Qaeda. She was sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 by a New York court. 

A statement issued by the Embassy of Pakistan also confirmed that Doctor Siddiqui was alive and quite well.

Two former top United States (US) officials Stephen Hadley and John D Podesta said this policy of “stick” should accompany “carrot” too, arguing that Washington can't afford to do away with Islamabad at this point of time, reports The Indian Express. “Given the distrust in the relationship, the US may be tempted to escalate its indirect conflict with Pakistan over Afghanistan, break any pretence of cooperation, and instead seek to contain the Pakistan-based insurgency to prevent it from operating in Afghanistan, India, or elsewhere,” said Stephen Hadley and John D Podesta in an article in July-August 2011 issue of the Foreign Affairs magazine.

“Proposals for ramping up pressure on Pakistan include increasing the drone strikes, conducting US Special Forces operations in the country, cutting Islamabad off from international financial resources, labelling Pakistan a state sponsor of terror, and imposing sanctions,” they wrote. “But ending cooperation with Islamabad would considerably undermine US interests in the country. And given the resiliency of the Taliban insurgency and the inability of the Afghan Government to support itself, such a break is unlikely to achieve US goals in Afghanistan, either,” wrote Hadley and Podesta.  

Hadley was the National Security Advisor under the US President George W. Bush Podesta was the White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton, from 1998 until 2001.

President Asif Ali Zardari on June 20 nominated Makhdoom Shahbuddin as the next Prime Minister to fill the office that felt vacant after the Supreme Court disqualified Yousuf Raza Gilani on June 19, 2012, reports Daily Times. Shahbuddin will file his nomination papers on June 21, 2012 (today), while Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Raja Pervez Ashraf will be his covering candidate.  Shahbuddin’s nomination came after a meeting of PPP leadership chaired by President Zardari.

Sri Lanka's Representative at the 20^th session of the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Manisha Gunasekera, said on June 18 that Sri Lanka remains committed to implement the recommendations of its Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation committee (LLRC), reports Colombo Page. Highlighting the developments in the reconciliation process, Gunasekera said there are only 6,022 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remaining to be resettled from a 290,000 displaced by the war at the end in May 2009. 10,949 former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants have been rehabilitated and reintegrated, from approximately 12,000, while 629 are undergoing rehabilitation, and 403 are under legal procedure or remand. Among the reintegrated were 594 LTTE child soldiers, who were rehabilitated and returned to their families within one year. Among other measures implemented by the Government were the recruitment of 1,133 officials of Tamil ethnicity in the Sri Lanka Police Department and 436 of them in the North, and 377 in the East, and establishment of a database containing details of arrested suspects including detainees in order to facilitate their next of kin to obtain details. 

Meanwhile, Mavai Senathirajah, Secretary General of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), on June 20 said that Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has decided to bring to the notice of the United Nations (UN) against the illegal acquisition and forceful occupation of lands in the Jaffna Peninsula. He said, “The Sri Lankan Army which forcefully occupies the lands of the Tamils of this region should leave forthwith. Our non-violent struggle will continue until they vacate from our lands.” Earlier in the day, people from Valikamam North agitated in front of the Thurkkai Amman Temple urging that they may be allowed to occupy their lands however, riot Police prevented peaceful agitation and forcefully dispersed them.