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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
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Political Pilgrimage
in Search of Security
On leaving
Kathmandu for New Delhi, Deuba described his journey as
a 'goodwill visit'. He brought along a large entourage of
66 members drawn from various walks of life, including business
and tourism. The most thinly (or even non-) represented
sections in his delegation were the home and defence ministries
as well as the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA), though his core
concern was the Maoist insurgency. Other issues in his agenda
included discussion on projects to harness water resources,
the problem of Bhutanese refugees, and visits to temples
and holy places in India. There was strong criticism of
his visit not only from customary political baiters like
the Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala, but
also from members of his coalition Government and civil
society representatives. He was warned against signing any
major Agreement with India and was even asked to raise some
of the major irritants in relations between Kathmandu and
New Delhi, including the revision of the 1950 Treaty that
define the basis of Indo-Nepal relations, and the question
of alleged border encroachments by India.
Manipur: Mismanaged
Crisis
Patil, it
appears, is simply wishing that the problem will go away
with the passage of time. Earlier, the July 20 visit of
his junior colleague, Minister of State Sriprakash Jaiswal,
had also proven a failed venture, as the Minister remained
non-committal on the withdrawal of the controversial Armed
Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA),
1958, and offered little else by way of 'resolution'. It
appears, in fact, that the Central political leadership's
approach to the situation has been uniformly unproductive,
not because they have refused to concede to the protestors'
demands, but rather because they have failed miserably to
articulate any alternate plans of action that could help
diffuse the situation.
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Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia September 6-12, 2004
 BANGLADESH World
Bank Country
Director leaves
Dhaka after
receiving
death threat:
The World
Bank Country
Director,
Christine
I. Wallich,
has reportedly
left Bangladesh
after receiving
a death threat
on September
7, 2004, an
official with
the multilateral
lending agency
said on September
10. A letter
was sent to
her residence
in the Gulshan
area of the
capital Dhaka,
marking her
as the next
target of
bomb attacks.
Wallich, an
American citizen,
is the first
foreigner
known to have
received a
death threat
since the
August 21
grenade attack
on an Awami
League rally
in Dhaka in
which at least
20 people
died. Meanwhile,
the Prime
Minister's
Political
Secretary
Harris Chowdhury
told BBC
Radio
on September
10 that, "We
have no idea
if she (Wallich)
has received
a bomb threat.
The threat
could be for
fun or real."
The
Daily Star,
September
11, 2004.
 INDIA Tamil
Nadu
imposes
ban
on
People's
War
Group:
The
Tamil
Nadu
Government
has
banned
the
left-wing
extremist
outfit,
the
People's
War
Group
(PWG),
to
protect
the
State
from
possible
infiltration
by
its
cadres
from
neighboring
States
like
Andhra
Pradesh
and
Karnataka.
The
State
Government,
on
September
10,
2004,
invoked
provisions
of
the
Criminal
Law
Amendment
Act,
1908,
to
declare
the
PWG
an
unlawful
organisation
in
Tamil
Nadu,
and
justified
the
action
by
stating
that
the
outfit's
cadres
and
sympathisers
were
likely
to
sneak
into
the
State
to
indulge
in
acts
prejudicial
to
public
peace,
and
then
slip
back
into
Andhra
Pradesh.
An
official
release
stated
that
the
PWG
was
distributing
seditious
literature
and
inciting
violence
against
the
Government
machinery
by
its
wall
writings,
posters
and
pamphlets
"to
achieve
its
objective
of
establishment
of
the
dictatorship
of
the
proletariat."
The
Hindu,
September
11,
2004.
 NEPAL India and Nepal to jointly combat terrorism: On September 12, 2004, India and Nepal expressed their determination to jointly combat terrorism. The Indian assurance was contained in a joint statement issued at the end of the five-day visit of the Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. "The Prime Ministers reiterated the determination of the two countries in combating the scourge of terrorism. They agreed to further intensify cooperation in curbing the activities of the extremists. "In this context they expressed satisfaction at the ongoing cooperation under the existing mechanism in the areas of equipment, training and exchange of information," the statement said. The two Prime Ministers also emphasized the need for an early conclusion to the Extradition Treaty and Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters and directed the Home Secretaries to take up the matter in the next meeting to finalise the documents. The Hindu, September 12, 2004.  PAKISTAN New
police
recruits
in
NWFP
being
scrutinized
for
extremist
links:
Federal
and
Provincial
security
agencies
are
reportedly
scrutinising
records
of
new
lower
cadre
recruits
in
the
North
West
Frontier
Province
(NWFP)
police
to
ascertain
if
they
have
any
links
with
Islamist
extremist
groups.
The
decision
to
purge
the
police
of
extremists
was
taken
during
an
August
2004-meeting
in
Islamabad
in
the
wake
of
the
Moharram
killings
in
Quetta
[March
2,
2004],
the
Hyderi
Mosque
bomb
explosion
in
Karachi
[May
7,
2004]
and
the
arrest
of
a
constable
from
Lahore
who
was
deputed
at
the
official
residence
of
Punjab
Chief
Minister
Choudhury
Pervez
Elahi.
"It
is
very
important
to
conduct
verifications
of
the
new
lot
in
the
police
department
in
the
wake
of
the
current
spate
of
terrorism
in
the
country
and
the
alleged
involvement
of
low-ranking
policemen
in
terrorist
incidents
occurring
this
year,"
said
Senior
Superintendent
of
Police
(Operations)
Abid
Ali.
Dawn,
September
13,
2004.
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