|
|
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 2, No. 19, November 24, 2003
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
|
|
Assam: Death by Administrative
Failure
Guest Writer: Kishalay B.
Special Correspondent, NDTV in Guwahati
Some of
India's worst cases of ethnic and communal violence have
taken place in its Northeast. Many of these went unreported.
Others did not get the attention they deserved. But the
recent attack on passengers from the Northeast, in Munger
in Bihar, drew national attention, even edging out news
of imminent Legislative Assembly elections in four Indian
States.
On November 9, 2003, applicants from Bihar were violently
debarred from writing the Railway Recruitment Examination
in the Group C and D categories: an examination for posts
that requires only senior school academic qualification.
There were 2,720 posts and 600,000 applicants. The All Assam
Students Union (AASU), a student's body that once spearheaded
the Assam agitation in the 1980s, was leading from the front
in agitating against Biharis appearing at the examination.
In retaliation in Munger in Bihar, the Brahmaputra Mail,
travelling from Guwahati to New Delhi was attacked, detained,
people beaten up, women molested. It was a horrific tale
of mob violence. Though saner Bihari passengers tried saving
their co-passengers, the Railway Police stayed away. Apparently
local political heavyweights oversaw the humiliation.
It took a while for people in Assam to react. Only when
some of the passengers returned, the stories made the rounds
and there was anguish.
There was sufficient time for damage control, but the Government
was busy in local body elections in the State, scheduled
for December 1. For the student's body, AASU, the issue
had come alive, creating new opportunities of another round
of agitation, this time on their demand for a 100 per cent
reservation in the Group C and D categories in the Northeast
Frontier (NF) Railways. But it took on the character of
an agitation against the Biharis.
On November 17, the AASU called for a 24-hour general strike.
Violence spread, and the AASU lost control over events,
or so it seemed. Other organizations progressively established
control over the demonstrations and violence. The State
Government played it safe by blaming the 'anti-social elements',
without naming any group in particular. However, these anti-social
elements also included armed groups with automatic rifles,
and those capable of hacking people to death. In the next
36 hours, arson and killings stunned the State and made
the Centre sit up. The State Government today admits that
there had been serious administrative lapses, but denies
going soft on the rioters.
What followed were days of confusion, total administrative
mismanagement, blaming the media, and general panic, as
violence escalated - with the death toll crossing 50 by
Sunday, November 23.
But Assam is no more what it used to be in the 70s and 80s,
when the AASU agitation brought the State to a standstill.
It is, today, much more resilient and mature in its reactions.
For the average person on the road, the current wave of
violence has been embarrassing. They demanded peace. The
issue of reservations is on the backburner. Of more immediate
concern was the image of a State that has desperately been
trying to make up lost ground.
It is, however, important to go back and read the sequence
of events. A railway examination, which could have centres
for Biharis in Bihar and Assamese in Assam, ignored the
possibilities and potential for disturbance and political
disruption. A nightmare of a rail journey, but no official
words of assurance or apology, followed by AASU's mobilization
of voices of protest.
The violence started in Guwahati, striking right at the
capital. Then it spread to Upper Assam and, just as the
killings began to manifest characteristics of well-coordinated
attacks, Lower Assam started feeling the heat.
If areas where the fire could not be doused were to be identified,
these are seen to lie along the Assam Bengal border, Bongaigaon,
Nalbari, and areas bordering Bhutan that have been prone
to extreme militant activity. The action has been at its
worst in the Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts in Upper Assam,
where militancy has been the worst. There is clearly an
effort by extremist elements to establish themselves in
areas of their first choice, and suggest that the killings
and the arson are a well-orchestrated design between the
rioters and the militants, a fact that the Government has
not denied.
On the morning of November 22, just as the Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi was claiming that the situation had been brought
under control, suspected United Liberation Front of Asom
(ULFA)
militants gunned down another eight people in Tinsukia.
The administration suspended police officers including the
Superintendent of Police (SP) of Tinsukia and transferred
the Deputy Commissioner of the district. But the damage
was done. ULFA's message to the three Union Ministers visiting
the State on that very day was loud and clear.
To understand the ULFA's motivation, it is useful to look
at events back in the year 2000. From Diwali (the Hindu
festival of lights) that year, the ULFA went on a killing
spree, gunning down more than a hundred people (all Hindi
speaking) in the course of four months. The result was widespread
fear and a dramatic increase in extortion.
Current developments suggest that, this time round, the
State Government was caught on the back foot. There are,
in fact, sufficient indications that its inaction was deliberate,
mostly the result of reasons political. The ULFA had earlier
issued a ban on all Hindi films in Assam from November 15,
and there were several signs that it was trying to whip
up sentiments similar to its campaign in 2000. Though people
defied their present ban, the signals were clear to see.
Surprisingly, the Administration failed to take heed. This
was either a simple intelligence failure, or else the Government
deliberately chose not to take action on time. It was against
this backdrop that the campaign against Biharis intensified,
with various unidentified groups involved. The ULFA just
joined the party, seeing here an opportunity to create circumstances
that will help step up extortion. In recent months, several
business houses, prominently including Hindustan Lever Limited,
refused to pay up against demand notes sent by the outfit.
Many other establishments followed suit, preferring to face
consequences rather than pay up. The ULFA has reportedly
set a goal of Rs. 40 million by December this year. Bihari
labourers in remote areas are soft targets and killing them
acts as a trigger to strike panic among people at large,
and particularly the business community.
Meanwhile, even as the violence continues, the blame game
goes on. Tarun Gogoi, the Chief Minister of Assam, has blamed
the Centre for the lack of adequate Central Forces, claiming
that is was the primary cause of the crisis, and claiming
that the Centre had no right to blame the State Government
for any administrative failure. On its part, the Centre
has sent in additional Forces, but most of the killings
have been the result of widely dispersed militant strikes
against soft targets, which cannot be contained by any number
of foot soldiers. The violence is yet to be contained and,
by the Chief Minister's own admission, it will take more
than a month to bring back normalcy. By that time, however,
a great deal of trust would have been lost. Perhaps a dramatic
army crackdown is now the only answer to the wave of violence
unleashed by the ULFA.
J&K: Breaking the Stalemate
Guest Writer: Praveen Swami
Special Correspondent, Frontline
FOR years,
efforts to bring about a negotiated end to carnage in Jammu
and Kashmir (J&K) have resembled what soldiers call the
Kadam Taal: the parade-ground art of marching briskly
on one spot without actually moving forward.
It is generally easy to be a pessimist on J&K, but even
hardened sceptics concede that, this time around, there
is at least the appearance of progress. Last week,
the secessionist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC)
announced it was willing to open dialogue with the Union
Government as soon as it receives a formal written invitation.
One of the key proponents of dialogue within the APHC, Srinagar-based
religious leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has been authorised
to conduct negotiations. Mirwaiz Farooq was, along with
the assassinated centrist APHC leader Abdul Gani Lone, a
key figure in covert and overt contacts with the Indian
state since 1999 - a process of engagement that has culminated
in the current dialogue offer.
The APHC's decision followed an October 22 announcement
that Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani was willing to hold
direct talks with the secessionist coalition. Officials
in New Delhi have already let it be known that they intend
to issue an invitation soon, perhaps after the end of the
month of Ramzan. For once, the APHC centrists have
shown considerable flexibility. They have not, notably,
demanded that they be allowed to travel to Pakistan to consult
armed groups there before dialogue commences - a precondition
that has, in the past, proved a spoiler. Lone had fallen
out with hardline Islamist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani
over this precondition in the months before his assassination
on May 21, 2002, following which terrorist groups intervened
to settle the dispute directly.
But is this a new dawn? Not quite yet. The APHC has demanded
that the coming talks be "unconditional and focussed on
the resolution of the Kashmir issue." These are objectives
Advani has, at least in public, already rejected. On October
24, he insisted that, "the unity, integrity and sovereignty
of the country cannot be compromised, adding, "We don't
want that all the powers remain confined to Delhi or for
that matter to the State capitals alone… we favour decentralisation
and are prepared to take steps for that." Quite clearly,
the Deputy Prime Minister's stated position falls well short
of even the demands for federal autonomy made by mainstream
regional parties like the National Conference - secession,
he seemed to make clear, is simply not on the agenda.
What purpose, then, might the talks serve? Most in the APHC,
notably its chairman Abbas Ansari, believe Advani's posture
was election-eve polemic, and that the Union Government
will prove considerably more flexible behind closed doors
than it is prepared to appear in front of television cameras.
It is also possible that Advani's formulation was addressed
as much to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as to the
APHC. On May 8, Vajpayee had, in Parliament, raised the
prospect of an "alternate arrangement" in J&K, a term that
some read to mean one that in some fashion diluted India's
current structure of sovereignty. Vajpayee's perhaps casual
use of the term provoked considerable ire within and outside
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and has never been used
in public discourse since.
As things stand, those in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs
charged with drafting the letter of invitation are grappling
with a nightmarish exercise in semantics. Their letter must
use terms that allow the APHC to claim all options, including
independence, are open for discussion, and that New Delhi
acknowledges it to be a legitimate arbiter of the fate of
the people of J&K. At once, the Union Government must be
able to claim that secession is not on the agenda, and that
the APHC are not representative of 'a nation'. Past experiences
in letter writing have not been heartening. A 2001 letter
issued to the APHC by the then-Union Government mediator
on J&K, K.C. Pant, received no response. Another, to non-APHC
secessionist leader Shabbir Shah, led first to a desultory
correspondence and then an equally desultory dialogue. The
current mediator, N.N. Vohra, perhaps wisely, chose not
to write letters to anyone at all.
The biggest problem, however, will be off the dialogue table.
The moderate APHC faction New Delhi is engaging is not a
principal to the conflict, and has no influence over armed
groups. Indeed, even some centrist groups like the Jammu
and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF),
chose not to participate in the APHC meeting which authorised
dialogue. The Islamists, led by Geelani, have such influence,
but will not use it since they have not been invited to
feast at the peace table. Geelani has, in no uncertain terms,
said that the centrist APHC has "betrayed the trust of the
people of Jammu and Kashmir", and described its leaders
as traitors. His sentiments have been mirrored by the spokespersons
of a wide range of terrorist groups, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad
(JeM),
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
and Jamait-ul-Mujaheddin (JuM).
Without a de-escalation of violence, the Union Government
will obviously find it very hard to sell even the smallest
concession to a public increasingly bewildered by the startling
lurches in official policy. Behind the scenes, it is possible
the United States is doing what it can to push the process
along, though not necessarily to a particularly clever plan.
Pakistan has been pressured into imposing a ban on some
terrorist groups. As several Pakistani commentators have
pointed out, however, the ban is as half-hearted as the
now-forgotten one imposed in 2001. Major terrorist leaders
have not been arrested, nor training camps dismantled or
military assets seized. Despite President Pervez Musharraf's
expression of concern about the bad press Pakistan is getting,
this is one jihad he seems unwilling to wind down
just yet.
Unless, by some miracle, violence does deescalate significantly,
it will sooner or later drown out voices committed to dialogue.
It is not without reason, after all, that pessimists on
J&K turn out to be right with depressing regularity.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts
in South Asia
November 17-23,
2003
  |
Civilian
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorist
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
8
|
0
|
1
|
9
|
INDIA
|
Assam
|
31*
|
0
|
3
|
34
|
Jammu
&
Kashmir
|
6
|
6
|
20
|
32
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
8
|
0
|
12
|
20
|
Manipur
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
12
|
Meghalaya
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Tripura
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
6
|
Total (INDIA)
|
46
|
6
|
53
|
105
|
NEPAL
|
10
|
5
|
32
|
47
|
PAKISTAN
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
* Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
BHUTAN
Government
holds
talks
with
ULFA
on
removal
of
terrorist
camps:
The
Bhutanese
Government
has
reportedly
held
discussions
with
leaders
of
the
United
Liberation
Front
of
Asom
(ULFA),
a
terrorist
group
active
in
the
Indian
State
of
Assam,
and
is
scheduled
to
hold
another
round
of
talks
in
the
near
future.
However,
the
venue
and
dates
of
both
rounds
of
talks
have
not
been
disclosed.
Bhutanese
Premier
Lyonpo
Jigmi
Thinley
was
quoted
as
saying
that
the
Government
had
asked
the
ULFA
leadership
to
close
down
their
camps
and
remove
their
cadres
from
Bhutanese
soil.
"I
sincerely
hope
that
their
top
leadership
will
come
for
the
next
round
of
talks
as
assured
by
their
representatives,"
said
Thinley.
He
added
that
leaders
of
the
Bodo
terrorist
group,
the
National
Democratic
Front
of
Bodoland
(NDFB),
were
also
expected
to
meet
with
the
Government.
Kuensel
Online,
November
22,
2003.
INDIA
At
least
50
persons
killed
in
violence
against
Hindi-speaking
people
in
Assam:
At
least
50
civilians
were
reportedly
killed
in
separate
incidents
of
violence
against
the
Hindi-speaking
people
in
the
State
of
Assam.
The
United
Liberation
Front
of
Asom
(ULFA)
has
reportedly
killed
31
civilians
in
different
incidents
primarily
in
the
Tinsukia
and
Dibrugarh
districts
of
Upper
Assam.
The
rest
of
the
killings
are
attributed
to
mob
violence.
Hindustan
Times,
November
24,
2003.
Hurriyat
accepts
offer
to
talk
with
Union
Government
on
Kashmir
issue:
Addressing
a
religious
gathering
at
the
Jama
Masjid
in
capital
Srinagar
on
the
last
Friday
of
the
holy
month
of
Ramzan
on
November
21,
2003,
Mirwaiz
Umer
Farooq,
leader
of
the
secessionist
front,
All
Parties
Hurriyat
Conference
(APHC),
said,
"we
have
accepted
the
offer
to
talk
with
the
Central
[Union]
Government
unconditionally
as
the
conglomerate
always
stood
for
dialogue
and
a
peaceful
resolution
of
the
Kashmir
issue.
Let
the
invitation
come
from
the
Indian
Government
and
we
are
prepared
to
talk."
Meanwhile,
Syed
Ali
Shah
Geelani,
leader
of
the
breakaway
Hurriyat
faction,
said,
"The
people
who
are
accepting
the
offer
to
hold
talks
cannot
be
described
as
the
representatives
of
the
people
of
Jammu
and
Kashmir.
They
are
betraying
the
trust
of
the
people
as
by
holding
talks
they
have
in
a
way
transformed
an
international
problem
to
a
domestic
Indian
problem.
The
issue
can
only
be
settled
through
tripartite
talks."
Daily
Excelsior;
The
Hindu,
November
22,
2003.
Ranvir
Sena
warns
ULFA
and
Assam
Government
regarding
protection
of
Biharis:
On
November
17,
2003,
the
Ranvir
Sena,
an
outlawed
'army'
of
upper
caste
landlords
in
the
State
of
Bihar,
threatened
the
United
Liberation
Front
of
Asom
(ULFA)
with
dire
consequences
if
it
instigates
violence
against
Biharis
in
Assam.
In
its
statement,
the
Sena
also
warned
that
if
the
Assam
Government
fails
to
protect
the
lives
and
property
of
Biharis,
it
would
send
its
cadres
to
Assam
to
'take
on'
the
ULFA.
New
Indian
Express,
November
18,
2003.
11
PREPAK
terrorists
killed
in
Manipur:
Eleven
terrorists
of
the
proscribed
People's
Revolutionary
Party
of
Kangleipak
(PREPAK)
were
reportedly
killed
during
a
clash
with
cadres
of
an
unnamed
terrorist
outfit
in
the
Setpur
hills
area
of
Bishenpur
district
in
Manipur
on
November
17,
2003.
Official
sources
said
that
the
PREPAK
cadres
were
traveling
in
two
vehicles
when
they
were
attacked
by
members
of
another
group.
Several
weapons
of
the
PREPAK
terrorists,
including
six
AK-47
rifles,
a
rocket
launcher
and
a
self-loading
rifle,
were
also
reportedly
taken
away
by
the
rival
group.
Rediff,
November
18,
2003.
PAKISTAN
Prime
Minister
Jamali
announces
cease-fire
on
the
Line
of
Control:
Prime
Minister
Mir
Zafarullah
Khan
Jamali
on
November
23,
2003,
announced
a
complete
cease-fire
on
the
Line
of
Control
(LoC)
to
be
effective
from
the
last
day
of
the
holy
month
of
Ramzan
(expected
to
be
on
November
26).
"Our
armed
forces
deployed
on
the
Line
of
Control
have
been
ordered
to
observe
a
complete
ceasefire
with
effect
from
Eid
day,"
said
Jamali
during
a
televised
address
to
the
nation
to
mark
the
completion
of
one
year
of
his
Government.
He
also
said
that
India
should
give
a
positive
response
to
Pakistan's
announcement.
Jamali
also
enlisted
a
10-point
set
of
confidence-building
measures
to
improve
relations
with
India.
Among
others,
it
stated
that
Pakistan
is
ready
for
talks
on
reopening
the
Khokhrapar-Munabao
route
and
that
it
is
ready
to
start
a
bus
service
between
Muzaffarabad
and
Srinagar.
However,
the
proposals
also
pointed
out
that
Pakistan
considers
Jammu
and
Kashmir
as
a
disputed
territory
in
accordance
with
the
resolutions
of
the
United
Nations
and
also
that
the
LoC
in
Kashmir
is
a
temporary
line.
Jang,
November
24,
2003.
Three
more
terrorist
groups
proscribed:
The
Federal
Government
proscribed
three
more
terrorist
groups
under
the
Anti-Terrorism
Act
1997
on
November
20,
2003.
"Three
more
extremist
organisations
have
been
banned
by
the
Ministry
of
Interior
namely
Jamiat-ul-Ansar,
Hizb-ut-Tehreer
and
Jamaat-ul-Furqan,"
said
an
Interior
Ministry
statement.
Interior
Minister
Faisal
Saleh
Hayat
said
these
groups
face
the
same
charges
on
which
three
other
organisations
were
banned
previously.
On
November
15,
the
Government
had
proscribed
Islami
Tehreek-e-Pakistan
(formerly
known
as
Tehreek-e-Jaferia
Pakistan
[TJP]),
Millat-e-Islamia
Pakistan
(formerly
known
as
Sipah-e-Sahaba
Pakistan
[SSP])
and
Khuddam-ul-Islam
(formerly
known
as
Jaish-e-Mohammed
[JeM]).
These
six
groups
had
reportedly
flouted
the
law
by
changing
their
names,
as
under
the
Act
an
organization
banned
once
for
extremism
cannot
function
under
another
name.
Jamaat-ul-Furqan
is
a
breakaway
faction
of
the
JeM,
which
is
led
by
Maulana
Masood
Azhar.
Jamiat-ul-Ansar
is
the
renamed
outfit
of
the
outlawed
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
(HuM),
which
is
led
by
Fazlur
Rehman
Khaleel.
Hizb-ut-Tehreer
is
a
London-based
Islamist
outfit,
which
advocates
the
establishment
of
Islamic
law
worldwide.
Daily
Times,
November
21,
2003.
MQM-A
terms
Jamaat-e-Islami's
Jihad
Fund
collection
as
extortion:
While
terming
the
Jihad
Fund
collection
campaign
of
the
Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI)
as
extortion,
Members
of
the
National
Assembly
belonging
to
the
Muttahida
Qaumi
Movement-Altaf
Hussain
(MQM-A)
have
appealed
to
President
Pervez
Musharraf
and
Premier
Jamali
to
stop
the
practice.
The
legislators
have
alleged
that
JeI
activists
had
established
camps
in
Karachi
and
other
parts
of
the
country
and
were
forcibly
collecting
money
from
traders
and
other
citizens.
They
also
stated
that
JeI
cadres
were
forcibly
stopping
vehicles
and
threatening
the
occupants
to
contribute
to
the
Jihad
Fund.
Jang,
November
20,
2003.
Government
seeks
cash
bonds
from
cadres
of
proscribed
terrorist
groups:
The
Federal
Government
has
reportedly
sought
cash
pledges
from
over
1,000
activists
of
three
terrorist
groups
proscribed
on
November
15
in
an
attempt
to
prevent
banned
groups
emerging
under
new
names.
"The
government
has
asked
around
1,000
activists
of
the
proscribed
organizations
to
submit
bonds
worth
Rs.
100,000
each
that
they
will
not
indulge
in
terrorist
activities,"
Brigadier
Javed
Iqbal
Cheema,
Director
General
of
the
National
Crisis
Management
Cell
at
the
Interior
Ministry,
told
Daily
Times
on
November
19.
Cheema
said
that
the
demand
for
the
bonds
was
made
in
the
context
of
Schedule
IV
of
the
Anti-Terrorist
Act.
Meanwhile,
Interior
Minister
Faisal
Saleh
Hayat
said
that
the
Government
had
decided
to
seek
"guarantees"
from
the
terrorists
instead
of
arresting
them
as
"a
new
strategy".
"We
are
not
going
for
the
arrest
of
members
of
these
banned
groups…
We
are
closing
down
their
offices
to
deny
them
a
forum.
We
are
seeking
guarantees
from
them
that
they
do
not
indulge
in
such
activities
in
the
future.
This
is
providing
them
an
avenue
to
correct
their
behaviour.
If
they
disobey
the
government
ban
again
they
will
be
punished,"
said
Hayat.
Daily
Times,
November
20,
2003.
November
15-Turkish
suicide
bombers
had
trained
in
Pakistan:
According
to
The
Turkish
Daily
News,
Turkish
police
have
indicated
that
three
of
the
four
suicide
bombers
who
carried
out
the
November
15,
2003,
blasts
at
two
synagogues
had
received
training
in
Pakistan
during
the
nineteen
nineties.
The
report
said
that
the
police
found
pieces
of
a
Pakistani
passport
suspected
to
belong
to
one
of
the
attackers.
At
least
23
persons
were
killed
in
the
attacks.
Rediff,
November
20,
2003.
SRI
LANKA
President
Kumaratunga
sets
December
15
deadline
to
resolve
political
crisis:
President
Chandrika
Kumaratunga
has
set
a
December
15,
2003,
deadline
to
resolve
the
ongoing
political
standoff
with
Prime
Minister
Ranil
Wickremesinghe
and
for
the
two
sides
to
decide
on
a
Government
of
reconstruction
and
reconciliation.
People's
Alliance
spokesperson
Sarath
Amunugama
announced
on
November
21
at
a
press
briefing
in
Colombo
that
the
committee
set
up
by
the
President
and
the
Premier
should
conclude
deliberations
by
December
15.
Daily
News,
November
22,
2003.
|
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.
|
|
|
To receive FREE advance copies of SAIR by email
Subscribe.
Recommend
South Asia Intelligence
Review (SAIR) to a friend.
|
|