| |
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 11, No. 4, July 30, 2012
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:
A Method in the Madness
Guest Writer: Wasbir Hussain
Director, Centre for Development & Peace Studies,
Guwahati
A riot,
clearly a battle over living space, between ethnic Bodo
tribes-people and Muslim settlers, cohabiting for decades
in western Assam, has left 57 confirmed dead, six of them
in police firing, and more than 400,000 displaced from
their homes in a week-long rampage, beginning July 21,
2012. The clashes in the districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang
and Dhubri, the first two, strongholds of the Bodos, took
place in a near-systematic manner with reports of a section
of attackers using firearms to first force people to flee
and then set about torching their homes. Many, of course,
fled in the rising atmosphere of tension, fearing for
their lives. The final toll of people dead or injured
will emerge only after some time, once order has been
fully restored, though violence appears to have halted,
at present.
That there
has been a method in the madness is apparent. This is
the sixth major spell of rioting in the Bodo belt of western
Assam since 1993, and the fourth involving Bodos and Muslim
settlers whose origins can be traced to East Bengal (now
Bangladesh); the remaining two were between Bodos and
Adivasi (tribal) Santhals who also have a sizeable presence
in the area. The first clashes between the Bodos and the
Muslim settlers took place in October 1993, leaving some
50 dead. This happened a little over six months after
the failed Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) Accord of
February 20, 1993, between the Government and agitating
Bodo leaders. The Accord was a non-starter because it
stipulated that all villages with a 50 per cent Bodo population
would come under the jurisdiction of a newly created Bodo
Council. This flawed clause was enough to lead a section
of people in the area to target Muslim settlers and the
Adivasis, where their majorities were slim. After all,
Bodo minority villages could turn into Bodo majority villages
if the other communities could be ousted. The cause of
the clashes, then, was clear.
In the
four major riots between 1993 and 1998, an estimated 400
people have been killed, including Bodos, Muslim settlers
and Adivasis. Eventually, the BAC Accord had to be scrapped
because the boundary question of the newly created Bodo
Autonomous Council could never be resolved. In June 1996,
a new force emerged in Assam’s Bodo heartland. It was
a militant group called the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT),
and its objective was to achieve a separate Bodoland State
within the country, but outside Assam. The BLT, to get
noticed, stepped up its offensive, and became known across
India when it attacked the Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail
on December 30, 1996, killing 34 passengers. Several major
marauding attacks later, the Government opened channels
of communication with the BLT, and the two sides began
talking peace. The result was a new Bodo agreement in
2003, called the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Accord.
This time, a boundary was fixed, two new Districts, Chirang
and Baksa, were created and a 40-member elective Council
was granted to the region and its people. The BLT was
disbanded and its chief, Hagrama Mahilary, became the
Council’s interim head. Former Bodo militants formed a
political party, the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which
has since remained in power, having won two Council polls
already.
In nearly
a decade that the new Bodo Council has been in operation,
there have been complaints from non-Bodo groups about
insecurity and discrimination. The latest bout of violence
had its genesis in an incident on July 6, 2012, when three
motor-cycle borne miscreants killed two people, both Muslim
settlers, at Musalmanpara near Bhowraguri in Kokrajhar
District. Now, a letter written by a local Congress leader
Y.L. Karna to the Assam Pradesh Congress president, with
a copy to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, has surfaced where
Karna mentions the July 6 incident and cautions that communal
passions were running high in the area. This incident
activated several minority organizations, who renewed
their demand that the territorial demarcation of the BTC
be abolished. The Asom Mia Parishad, an organization of
Muslim settlers, called a 12-hour strike that included
a highway blockade, while the All Assam Minority Students’
Union (AAMSU) staged a demonstration in front of Raj Bhawan
in Guwahati. Another group, the Non-Bodo Suraksha Samity
(non-Bodo Protection Committee) also took up agitational
programmes. All these groups alleged that attacks on non-Bodos
had increased after the creation of the new Bodo Council
in 2003.
On July
20, 2012, bodies of four Bodo tribes-people were found
in the Joypur Namapara locality in Kokrajhar. The latest
round of riots had begun, and at a time when several Bodo
organizations, not content with the Autonomous Territorial
Council arrangement, had intensified or renewed their
demand for a separate Bodo State.
A turf
war is evidently going on in western Assam between the
Bodos, the Muslim settlers and, in certain pockets, the
Adivasis. Matters have, of course, been made worse by
disturbing political voices that have emerged over the
past weeks. Bodo Council chief Hagrama Mahilary, whose
party, the BPF, is an ally of the ruling Congress in the
State, has claimed that armed Bangladeshis from across
the border had come in and incited the violence. His deputy
at the Council, Kampa Borgoyari, went a step further to
state, on television, that, “it is not a case of Bodos
killing Muslims, it is a case of Muslims killing the Bodos”,
a remark that made fellow panelists to shout him down,
asking him not to communalize the issue. Then, there is
Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, Lok Sabha Member of Parliament
(MP) and President of one of Assam’s major opposition
parties, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF),
who declared that armed men in olive green jungle fatigues
went about killing Muslim settlers. On his part, Congress
veteran and Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, asserted
that “politically motivated forces” behind the riots could
be trying to tarnish his image. Clearly, divergent political
formations in the State have sought to interpret the present
violence from narrow partisan perspectives.
Crucially,
this latest bout of violence has raised a question mark
on the preparedness of both the State and the Centre to
deal with such flare ups. Chief Minister Gogoi openly
blamed the Centre on two counts — for the long time taken
by Central Security Forces (SFs) to reach the affected
area and for the earlier withdrawal of Central Paramilitary
Forces (CPMFs) from Assam. “We had 140-150 companies (of
paramilitary forces) but they (Centre) reduced it to 96.
I was telling the Government of India don’t reduce, don’t
reduce. If we had adequate forces, we could have tackled
the situation faster,” Gogoi fumed at a News Conference
on July 27, 2012. According to assessments by the security
establishment in Assam, the State needs around 126 to
130 companies to maintain basic law and order but, on
July 21, when the riots began, Assam had only 96 companies.
Of these, ten companies were dedicated to duties along
the Assam-Nagaland border. State authorities insist that
this left them short of 40 paramilitary companies when
the riots began.
The response
of the Army has also been questioned. State authorities
requisitioned Army help to quell the riots on July 23,
2012, but troops were actually deployed on the ground
a long two days later, though there were two Army units
nearby. Army authorities had apparently sought a formal
letter from the State Government, indicating they were
not ready to act simply on the request from the local
District Magistrates. The State Government eventually
had Chief Secretary N. K. Das write to the Union Home
and Defence Secretaries. The matter reached Defence Minister
A. K. Antony, and only after his clearance did the Army
deploy in the riot-torn area.
None of
this, however, explains the Assam Administration’s own
failure to respond in time – and, indeed, preemptively,
given significant warnings and antecedent events that
local authorities could not have been unaware of. Gogoi’s
harping on the Centre’s tardiness sits ill within both
the country’s federal structure, and the broad insistence
of the States that law and order remain firmly in the
State list. After decades of dealing with insurgency and
ethnic-communal strife, moreover, Assam cannot pretend
that it lacks the capacities to deal with a local conflagration;
and if it does so, this can only be a further measure
of the failure of governance and dereliction on the part
of successive regimes in the State.
These questions
aside, the aftermath of the rioting in Assam has led to
one of India’s largest humanitarian crises. Reaching relief
to more than 400,000 men, women and children living in
nearly 300 ill-equipped relief camps is a task of gigantic
proportions, compounded further by the fact that the operation
is not being carried out in a systematic manner. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, who visited the area on July
28, 2012, was quick to announce an aid package of INR
3.0 billion, including provisions for the rebuilding of
housing under the Indira Awas Yojana. While the gesture
is positive, implementation holds the key. It remains
to be seen whether the Assam Government can ensure that
the aid is disbursed to the victims of all affected communities
in an impartial manner. If local politicians come to call
the shots, aid distribution would most certainly be influenced
by ethnic-communal faultlines.
The present
crisis and the task of rebuilding the affected areas are
among Chief Minister Gogoi’s biggest challenges in the
12 continuous years that he has been in power in Assam.
The people of Assam will also wait for Prime Minister
Singh to fulfill his promise of getting to the truth about
the cause of the riots through an enquiry.
With the
insurgencies in Assam largely on the downswing, and peace
talks with most militant groups – including a major faction
of the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)
– a measure of peace had been restored in the State after
decades of persistent strife. Unfortunately, it appears
that this relative peace has contributed to a degree of
complacency, both in the State and among Central authorities
and Forces, and this has been reflected in the failure
to act effectively, both preventively and in response,
to the widespread rioting in the Bodo areas. The regions
of Western Assam are an ethnic minefield, and such failures
of governance can only drive a deeper wedge between the
communities in the State, further polarizing politics,
with untold future costs.
|
Balochistan:
Deepening Crisis
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
(There
is) …no difference between a human being and animals
in Balochistan where mutilated bodies were found
on a daily basis.
Supreme Court of Pakistan, April 6, 2012.
|
Expressing
deep concern over the role of the Frontier Corps (FC)
in the deteriorating situation in Balochistan, Pakistan’s
Supreme Court, on July 26, 2012, directed the Force to
produce 30 missing persons, or face criminal action against
its personnel, who had been named in FIRs for their alleged
involvement in their abductions. Heading a three-judge
Bench of the Apex Court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice
Jawwad S. Khawaja, the Chief Justice (CJ) warned the FC
that a failure to produce the missing persons would force
the Court to order the arrest of the concerned FC officers
and personnel.
Observing
that Balochistan was burning, but that the executive was
showing little interest in controlling the situation,
the CJ added that the Court had reached a stage where
“everything has been identified”, but was now giving an
opportunity to the Federal and Provincial Governments
to act. The CJ noted that, for the preceding three days,
they had been asking the authorities concerned to enforce
the Constitution in Balochistan but no one was ready to
take responsibility.
On July
24, 2012, the SC had made known its disappointment over
the Federal and Provincial Governments’ failure to control
the worsening law and order situation in Balochistan,
observing that the Province had undergone a “constitutional
breakdown”. The Court had noted that no one wanted to
improve the situation in the Province and that the same
response was being received by the Court in every hearing
of the case, with none of the Court’s orders being implemented.
Meanwhile,
on July 25, 2012, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA)
President Yasin Azad complained before the Court that
the situation in Balochistan had reached a point of no
return, similar to 1971 – when the country’s Eastern wing
broke away to form Bangladesh – and consequently needed
an urgent political solution. “Believe me, Balochistan
is slipping away,” he told the three-judge Bench.
Nevertheless,
Raja Irshad, Counsel for FC, during the hearing on July
24, 2012, submitting a report on behalf of FC on the Province’s
law and order situation, in a written statement declared
that the FC had conducted internal inquiries and found
that not a single missing persons was in its custody.
The Supreme
Court, on April 6, 2012, had started hearings on the petition
filed by the Balochistan Bar Association regarding seven
missing persons of the Marri tribe. Following the Chief
Justice’s directive, Quetta Police, who had earlier claimed
they had no information in this regard, produced four
of the seven ‘missing’ people in the Court on the same
day. Justice Chaudhry suspended New Sariab Station House
Officer (SHO) Noor Baksh Mengal for his false statement
about the missing persons and directed Police to arrest
him. The remaining three ‘missing persons’ were produced
on April 12, 2012. All the seven people had been picked
up during a raid in Quetta’s Sariab Mill area on March
1, 2012, and had been listed as ‘missing’ since then.
Meanwhile,
on July 13, 2012, the CJ ordered Balochistan FC commander
Major General Obaidullah Khattak to produce 30 people
in Court, noting that there was evidence that troops were
involved in their disappearance. The Court had fixed July
24, 2012, as the date for the production of the missing
persons. The latest observations of July 26, 2012, were
related to this order.
This is
not the first time that the Supreme Court has taken the
FC to task for its involvement in the disappearance of
Baloch people. Hearing petitions on a disappearance case,
the SC on May 14, 2012, had observed that there existed
evidence that the FC were involved in abducting people
in Balochistan. The Court had told the FC Inspector General
Major General Khattak that respect for the Force was waning
gradually, as 95 per cent of the people in Balochistan
had alleged that FC was involved in the ‘disappearance’
of civilians in the Province.
Abduction
and extrajudicial killing has become order of the day
in the Province. The disappearances and killings are widely
believed to be orchestrated by Pakistan’s security and
intelligence agencies, particularly including the FC and
the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), or by their proxies,
particularly including the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Aman Balochistan
(TNAB, Movement for the Restoration of Peace, Balochistan).
Indeed, CJ Choudhary, on July 9, 2012, had noted that
every third missing person in Balochistan had been picked
up by the FC. The head of the rights group, Voice for
Baloch Missing Persons (VFBMP), Nasrullah Baloch, stated,
on July 11, 2012, that “every day Frontier Corps and secret
agencies kidnap political workers in broad daylight and
keep them in their illegal torture cells, and then we
receive their bullet-riddled, mutilated dead bodies.”
The VFBMP on January 16, 2012, claimed that 14,385 persons
have gone ‘missing’ since 2005, while more than 400 bullet
riddled and tortured bodies had been dumped just since
July 2010. Earlier, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
(HRCP), on December 10, 2011, reported that as many as
225 bullet-riddled bodies of missing persons had been
recovered between July 2010 and November 2011. The Asian
Human Rights Commission (AHRC), on January 31, 2012, estimated
the number of executions of ‘disappeared’ persons at 271
in just six months, between July and December 2010. Similarly,
the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported,
in April 2012, that at least 300 people had been abducted
and killed, and their bodies abandoned, across Baluchistan
since January of 2011.
Even on
the Government’s own admission, the Country is facing
a major problem of ‘disappearances’, though the numbers
conceded are a fraction of the reality. Justice (Retired)
Javed Iqbal, head of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced
Disappearances (CIED), on June 9, 2012, put the number
of missing persons in the entire country at 560. This
included 57 from Balochistan, 117 from Punjab, 174 from
Sindh, 170 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 18 from Islamabad
and 12 each from Azad Kashmir and Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA). He recorded that 42 bodies of missing
persons had been recovered in Balochistan.
Meanwhile,
in another sign of the Government’s total disregard for
the Baloch people, the killers of Nawab Akbar Bugti remain
at large. On July 18, 2012, the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC)
once again issued arrest warrants for seven high-profile
accused, including Former President General Pervez Musharraf,
in the Bugti murder case. This was the second time that
the ATC issued the arrest warrants, the first being on
July 11, 2012. Nawab Akbar Bugti, the chief of the Jamhoori
Wattan Party (JWP), was killed on August 26, 2006, during
a ‘military operation’ in the Kohlu District of Balochistan.
Since then, violence in the Province has escalated dramatically.
The state’s repressive machinery is working on overdrive,
and there is a total collapse of civil governance in the
Province, creating an environment for militant formations
to thrive. According to the data compiled by the Institute
for Conflict Management (ICM), the Province has already
witnessed 620 fatalities, including 408 civilians, 135
SF personnel and 77 militants, in 2012 (till July 29);
as against 363 fatalities, including 278 civilians, 65
SF personnel and 20 militants during the corresponding
period of the preceding year.
On April
6, 2012, the Chief Justice voiced his regret over the
fact that even in the presence of 26,000 Police and 50,000
FC personnel had proven insufficient to bring the law
and order situation in the province under control. If
the Police performed their duty, he added, the situation
could improve.
Regrettably,
however, the authorities at the helm, remain in denial
and refuse to accept that the situation is worsening.
Chief Minister (CM) Nawab Aslam Raisani declared,
on July 16, 2012, that the situation is not as bad as
is portrayed by the media, adding “it appears some lobby
is trying to pave the way for some unconstitutional step
in Balochistan”. He blamed the same ‘lobby’ for ‘spreading
negativity’ about Balochistan through the print and electronic
media. An international conspiracy is at play in Balochistan,
the CM claimed. Though corroborating the same theory of
a ‘foreign hand’, Prime Minister (PM) Raja Parvez Ashraf,
on July 17, 2012, noted that the turbulence in Balochistan,
though foreign abetted, was an internal issue for the
State and people of Pakistan to resolve.
Such an
internal ‘resolution’ remains far out of sight, even as
the involvement of Government agencies in the case of
missing persons, described as “the key issue of the province”
by the Chief Justice, is documented in increasing detail.
The unrelenting bloodletting in Balochistan that has continued
without interruption – in its present cycle – since 2005,
shows no signs of abating.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
July 23-29,
2012
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Manipur
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
Meghalaya
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Nagaland
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Tripura
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Karnataka
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
4
|
Odisha
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Total (INDIA)
|
3
|
4
|
4
|
11
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
8
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
FATA
|
17
|
2
|
68
|
87
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
6
|
0
|
1
|
7
|
Sindh
|
13
|
2
|
2
|
17
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
44
|
4
|
73
|
121
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
61
persons
killed
in
Bodo-Muslim
clashes
in
Assam:
At
least
61
persons
have
been
killed
in
clashes
between
Bodos
and
Muslims
in
Assam
till
July
29.
Currently,
Kokrajhar,
Chirang
and
Baksa
Districts
under
Bodoland
Territorial
Autonomous
District
Council
(BTC)
and
parts
of
Dhubri
and
Bongaigaon
District
are
affected.
The
number
of
people
killed
in
various
Districts
is:
Kokrajhar-28,
Chirang-32
and
Dhubri-1.
About
four-lakh
violence-hit
people
are
presently
taking
shelters
in
about
278
relief
camps.
Seven
people
are
still
reported
missing
since
the
start
of
the
violence.
The
clashes
started
when
founder
president
of
All
Bodoland
Minority
Students'
Union
(ABMSU)
,
Mohibul
Islam
and
former
leader
of
All
Assam
Minority
Students'
Union
(AAMSU),
Abdul
Siddique
Sheikh
were
seriously
injured
in
the
attack
on
July
19.
In
a
retaliatory
attack,
a
mob
of
people
at
Joypur
under
Kokrajhar
Police
Station
lynched
to
death
four
former
militants
of
disbanded
Bodoland
Liberation
Tiger
(BLT)
-
Pradip
Bodo
(32),
Jonson
Bodo
(36),
Nip
Goyari
(25)
and
Jamin
Goyari
(24)
in
the
night
of
July
20.
The
Sentinel;
IBN
Live;
Telegraph;
Shilong
Times;
The
Hindu;
Hindustan
Times;
Times
of
India;
Bhaskar,
July
24-30,
2012.
West
Bengal
Police
warn
CM
Mamata
Banerjee
of
Maoist
attack:
Based
on
intelligence
inputs,
the
West
Bengal
Police
have
warned
Chief
Minister
(CM)
Mamata
Banerjee
and
some
of
her
party
colleagues
against
moving
in
the
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
areas,
particularly
at
night,
anticipating
that
they
might
become
soft
targets
for
Maoists.
"In
the
last
few
days
we
have
seen,
whether
it
be
Odisha
or
Chhattisgarh,
the
Maoists
have
changed
their
style
of
operation.
They
are
kidnapping
some
important
persons
and
holding
them
to
ransom.
In
this
way
they
have
freed
some
of
their
senior
members
from
the
jail,"
an
unnamed
senior
intelligence
officer
said.
Deccan
Herald,
July
29,
2012.
PFI
is
the
new
face
of
SIMI,
says
Kerala
Police's
Intelligence
Wing
Chief
Siddique
Rawther:
Popular
Front
of
India
(PFI)
is
the
new
face
of
Students
Islamic
Movement
of
India
(SIMI)
and
is
engaged
in
anti-national
activities,
Kerala
Police's
Intelligence
Wing
Chief,
Siddique
Rawther,
told
the
Kerala
High
Court
on
July
26.
Ideas
spread
by
the
organization
that
began
operations
in
the
name
of
National
Development
Front
(NDF)
are
same
as
that
disseminated
by
SIMI
before
its
ban,
said
Siddique
Rawther,
additional
Director
General
of
Police
(DGP,
Intelligence),
in
an
affidavit.
Times
of
India,
July
27,
2012.
"Voice
on
26/11
tapes
is
mine",
confirms
Jundal:
One
of
the
handlers
of
the
November
26,
2008
(26/11)
Mumbai
terrorist
attacks
and
Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT)
operative,
Abu
Jundal,
has
confirmed
that
the
voice
in
the
terror
tapes
is
his,
sources
in
the
Ministry
of
Home
Affairs
(MHA)
said.
Jundal
identified
the
voice
when
the
tapes
were
played
out
to
him.
Hindustan
Times,
July
26,
2012.
FICN
of
INR
100
notes
back
in
circulation,
says
report:
Fake
Indian
Currency
Notes
(FICNs)
of
INR
100
are
back
in
circulation
in
the
market,
which
is
already
inundated
with
FICNs
of
INR
500
and
INR
1000
denomination.
The
latest
FICNs
of
100
denominations
are
so
good
that
it
is
not
possible
to
identify
them.
IBN
Live,
July
24,
2012.
Centre
to
spend
INR
94
billion
on
highway
upgrade
in
Naxal
areas:
India
plans
to
spend
INR
94
billion
on
converting
more
roads
into
highways
in
parts
of
the
country
affected
by
Left
Wing
Extremism
[LWE],
continuing
with
its
plan
to
link
these
regions
to
the
mainstream
Indian
economy,
although
the
first
phase
of
the
project
hasn't
gone
according
to
script.
The
plan
involves
converting
5,624
kilometres
of
roads
in
eight
states
into
two-lane
highways
as
part
of
the
government's
attempt
to
tackle
the
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist).
Livemint,
July
24,
2012.
Our
movement
has
weakened,
say
Maoist
leaders:
In
a
statement
issued
by
the
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist's
(CPI-Maoist)
central
committee
dated
July
5,
2012,
the
Maoists
acknowledged
that
the
killing
of
leaders
like
Azad,
Kishenji
had
considerably
weakened
the
party
and
this
should
be
resisted
by
intensifying
armed
struggle.
"Our
failures
and
shortcomings
in
studying
the
deceptive
strategy
of
the
enemy
and
taking
up
counter
tactics...
are
reasons
behind
the
serious
losses
we
are
facing.
A
change
must
occur
in
our
work
methods...
Our
methods
must
be
improved
such
that
the
three
magic
weapons
for
victory
of
revolution
-
party,
people's
army
and
united
front
-
get
consolidated
and
strengthened,"
the
statement
said.
The
Maoists,
however,
was
bullish
about
the
future.
"Material
conditions
in
our
country
are
increasingly
turning
favorable
to
the
revolution,"
the
statement
said.
The
CPI-Maoist
has
asked
its
cadres
to
guard
against
losing
manpower
by
amending
flaws
that
have
crept
into
the
outfit.
Times
of
India,
July
30,
2012.
NEPAL
"China
concerned
over
foreign
interference
in
Nepal",
says
Mohan
Vaidya:
Mohan
Vaidya,
'chairman'
of
the
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Maoist
(CPN-Maoist),
a
breakaway
faction
of
Unified
Communist
Party
of
Nepal
-Maoist
(UCPN-Maoist),
who
has
just
returned
from
a
'goodwill
visit'
to
China,
said
that
China
is
concerned
over
the
growing
"foreign
interference"
in
Nepal
in
the
pretext
of
adopting
federalism
in
the
country.
He
said,
"The
Chinese
leaders
have
expressed
concern
over
the
increasing
foreign
interference
in
Nepal
in
the
pretext
of
federating
the
states."
PTI,
July
28,
2012.
UCPN-M
seeks
consent
of
opposition
parties
for
fixing
a
new
poll
date
in
2013:
Admitting
that
holding
fresh
polls
for
the
Constituent
Assembly
(CA)
in
November
was
not
possible
under
the
present
circumstances,
ruling
Unified
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M)
leaders,
including
Prime
Minister
Baburam
Bhattarai,
have
sought
the
consent
of
opposition
parties
for
fixing
a
new
poll
date
in
the
coming
year.
But
leaders
from
main
opposition
parties
Nepali
Congress
(NC)
and
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-
Unified
Marxist
Leninist
(CPN-UML),
at
a
three-party
meeting
on
July
25,
turned
down
the
UCPN-M
proposal
outright.
Myrepublica,
July
26,
2012.
PAKISTAN
68
militants
and
17
civilians
among
87
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
Seven
Uzbek
militants
were
killed
when
US
drones
attacked
a
residential
compound
in
Khushali
Turikhel
area,
about
five
kilometres
south
of
Miramshah,
in
North
Waziristan
Agency
of
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
on
July
29.
Seven
militants
were
killed
by
Security
Forces
(SFs)
in
Janduli
and
Bootakhel
villages
of
Dabori
area
in
Orakzai
Agency
on
July
27.
Also,
at
least
four
Lashkar-e-Islam
(LI)
militants
were
killed
and
four
others
critically
injured
when
a
blast
ripped
through
an
LI
hideout
in
the
Akkakhel
area
of
Bara
tehsil
(revenue
unit)
in
Khyber
Agency.
In
addition,
11
persons
were
killed
and
23
others
injured
when
an
explosive-laden
pick-up
went
off
in
a
market
in
Salarzai
tehsil
of
Bajaur
Agency.
Further,
the
SFs
claimed
to
have
killed
eight
militants,
including
three
commanders,
and
secured
strategically
important
positions
in
Bootakhel
area
of
Mamozai
in
Orakzai
Agency.
Two
troopers
were
killed
in
landmine
blast
and
at
least
13
militants
were
killed
in
helicopters'
shelling
on
militants'
hideout
that
followed
the
landmine
blast
in
Badami
Kali
and
Gall
villages
of
Dabori
area
in
Orakzai
Agency
on
July
25.
Separately,
at
least
seven
militants
were
killed
and
several
others
injured
when
SFs
pounded
militants'
hideouts
in
Mamozai
and
Kotakhel
areas
of
Orakzai
Agency
in
FATA.
Further,
seven
militants
were
killed
and
many
others
received
severe
injuries
when
the
fighter
planes
hit
their
hideouts
in
Tirah
Valley
of
Jamrud
tehsil
in
Khyber
Agency.
A
US
drone
attack
on
July
23
killed
at
least
12
suspected
militants
in
Dray
Nashtar
village
of
Shawal
area
in
North
Waziristan
Agency.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
July
24-30,
2012.
Militants
bombed
203
schools
in
Bajaur
and
Mohmand
Agencies
in
the
last
four
years,
says
report:
In
the
past
four
years,
the
militants
have
damaged
or
destroyed
203
schools
in
the
Bajaur
and
Mohmand
Agencies
of
the
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA).
106
schools
in
Bajaur
and
97
schools
in
Mohmand
Agencies
have
been
bombed.
The
majority
of
the
schools
belong
to
girls.
Central
Asia
Online;
Express,
July
26,
2012.
Produce
missing
persons
or
face
jail,
Supreme
Court
warns
Frontier
Corps:
Expressing
concern
over
the
role
of
the
Frontier
Corps
(FC)
in
Balochistan,
the
Supreme
Court
on
July
26
warned
the
force
to
produce
missing
persons
or
face
criminal
action
against
its
personnel
that
have
been
nominated
in
the
FIRs
for
their
alleged
involvement
in
the
abductions.
Chief
Justice
Iftikhar
Muhammad
Chaudhry
asked
the
FC
to
produce
the
missing
persons,
adding
that
if
they
fail,
the
court
would
order
for
their
arrest.
Daily
Times,
July
27,
2012.
TTP's
de-facto
chief
warns
Islamabad
against
NWA
operation:
Maulana
Waliur
Rehman,
de-facto
chief
of
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP),
on
July
24
warned
Islamabad
that
if
it
launches
operation
in
North
Waziristan
Agency
(NWA)
in
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Area
(FATA),
it
will
face
only
failure.
"As
far
as
operations
in
North
Waziristan
are
concerned,
the
Government
will
face
only
failure
as
they
have
been
facing
for
the
last
10
years
in
different
parts
of
the
tribal
regions",
Rehman
said.
Nation,
July
25,
2012.
Mullah
Fazlullah-led
TTP
warns
of
fresh
attacks:
The
Mullah
Fazlullah-led
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
on
July
23
warned
of
attacks
during
the
holy
month
of
Ramadan,
saying
their
jihad
is
continuing.
The
group's
spokesman
Sirajuddin
said
the
group
plans
to
attack
Pakistan
from
its
hideouts
in
Kunar
and
Nuristan
provinces
of
Afghanistan.
The
TTP
fled
to
those
provinces
after
Pakistani
troops
drove
it
out
of
Swat
in
2009.
Central
Asia
Online,
July
24,
2012.
SRI
LANKA
Sri
Lanka
sets
up
National
Action
Plan
to
implement
LLRC
recommendations:
The
Sri
Lankan
Government
has
prepared
a
National
Action
Plan
to
implement
the
recommendations
of
the
Lessons
Learnt
and
Reconciliation
Commission
(LLRC).
Sri
Lanka's
cabinet
of
ministers
on
July
25
approved
the
National
Action
Plan
submitted
by
the
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
and
appointed
a
Task
Force
headed
by
the
Secretary
to
the
President
Lalith
Weeratunga
to
monitor
the
implementation
of
the
recommendations
of
the
LLRC.
Colombo
Page,
July
27,
2012.
TNA
seeks
international
monitors
for
the
Eastern
Provincial
Council
elections:
The
Tamil
National
Alliance
(TNA)
requested
from
the
Election
Commissioner
to
deploy
international
monitors
to
monitor
the
polls
of
the
Eastern
Provincial
Council.
TNA
sources
said
that
the
Election
Commissioner
has
agreed
to
discuss
the
matter
with
the
political
party
secretaries
that
contest
the
election.
Colombo
Page,
July
24,
2012.
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.
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