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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 11, No. 43, April 29, 2013
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
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Targeting
Hazaras
Anurag Tripathi
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
At least
six people were killed and another 37 were wounded when
a suicide bomber detonated a truck carrying an estimated
80 kilograms of explosives, when he was stopped by Frontier
Corps (FC) personnel at a check post near Alamdar Road,
a Hazara Shia dominated area, in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan, on April 23, 2013. The bomber
was heading to the area with the intention of targeting
Abdul Khaliq Hazara, the chairman of the Hazara Democratic
Party (HDP).
Earlier,
on February 16, 2013, at least 84 Hazara Shias were killed
and 200 were injured in a remote controlled bomb blast
in Hazara Town, Quetta.
On January
10, 2013, at least 105 Hazara Shias were killed and 169
were injured in a suicide car bomb blast in the Alamdar
Road area.
Partial
data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal
(SATP) indicate that at least 191 Hazara Shias have been
killed so far in the current year (till April 28, 2013).
SATP recorded at least 396 Hazara Shia fatalities during
2001 and 2012. While 98 Hazara Shias were killed through
2012, the number stood at 95 in 2011, 70 in 2010, 13 in
2009, nine 2008, one 2007, and none in 2006 and 2005.
In 2004, however, 42 Hazara Shia were killed; another
60 were killed in 2003; none in 2002; and eight in 2001.
The Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP’s) annual report,
State
of the Human Rights in 2012, released
on April 4, 2013, suggests that the SATP numbers are a
significant underestimate. The report records 505 Hazara
Shias killed (all in Balochistan) between 2001 and 2012.
119 of them were killed in 2012; 106 in 2011; 105 in 2010;
41 in 2009; 36 in 2008; one in 2007; four in 2006; 16
in 2005; none in 2004; 64 in 2003; three in 2002; and
10 in 2001.
On either
dataset, there is a clearly rising trend since 2007.
Some of
the prominent major attacks (involving three or more fatalities)
targeting Hazara Shias since 2007 include the following:
February
16, 2013: At least 84 Hazara Shias were killed and 200
were injured in a remote controlled bomb blast in Hazara
town of Quetta.
January
10, 2013: At least 105 Hazara Shias were killed and 169
were injured in suicide car bomb blast in Quetta’s Alamdar
Road area.
June 28,
2012: At least 14 persons, including two Policemen and
a woman, were killed and another 30, including women and
children, sustained injuries in a suicide attack on a
bus of pilgrims coming from Iran, in the Hazar Ganji area
of Quetta. Sources indicated that the majority of the
passengers belonged to the Hazara community.
October
4, 2011: At least 14 Hazaras were killed and seven were
seriously injured after unknown extremists fired indiscriminately
at a bus in the Akhtarabad area of Quetta.
October
28, 2010: Four Hazaras were shot dead by unidentified
assailants in Quetta.
January
14, 2009: Unidentified assailants killed four Policemen,
including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, in a shootout
in Quetta. Motorcyclists ambushed a Police team on Sariab
Road at around 11am, killing the four Policemen. Three
of the murdered Policemen were Hazara Shias.
Hazara
Shias, a Dari-speaking ethnic tribe, believed to be of
Turk-Mongol descent, have an estimated population of over
800,000, settled mostly in and around Quetta.
In a media
interview, Abdul Khaliq Hazara, the HDP chairman, observed,
Hazara
community in Balochistan overwhelmingly belongs
to the Shia sect and they are also easily recognisable
because of their features… The LeJ
(Lashkar-e-Jhangvi), in fact, wants to provoke us,
so we start attacking our innocent Sunni Pushtun
and Baloch brothers in Quetta.
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The anti-Shia,
Sunni extremist formation, LeJ, is the principal perpetrator
of the massacres of Hazara Shias in Pakistan. Significantly,
in a June 2011 letter to the Shia Hazaras, the LeJ openly
declared:
…our
mission [in Pakistan] is the abolition of this impure
sect and people, the Shias and the Shia Hazaras,
from every city, every village, every nook and corner
of Pakistan. Like in the past, [our] successful
Jihad against the Hazaras in Pakistan and, in particular,
in Quetta is ongoing and will continue. We will
make Pakistan their graveyard — their houses will
be destroyed by bombs and suicide bombers… Jihad
against the Shia Hazaras has now become our duty…
We will rest only after hoisting the flag of true
Islam on the land of the pure – Pakistan…
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Reiterating
the threat, LeJ spokesman Abu Bakar Siddiq, on February
16, 2013 (immediately after the February 16 attack), warned,
“Let me inform the Shia Hazaras that we have 20 more such
vehicles which are packed with lethal explosives and ready
to hit the enemy. We are only waiting for next orders
from our leadership to hit our targets in Alamdar Road,
Mehrabad and Hazara Town. We will continue to kill Shia
Hazaras in their homes”.
Earlier,
following the January 10 attack, reminding the Hazaras
that they had been warned to leave Balochistan by the
end of 2012 or face severe consequences, Siddiq had threatened,
“Many of the Hazara enemies had fled but there were those
who decided to stay back as they loved their jobs and
properties. God willing, the Lashkar will not allow any
of these Hazaras to leave Balochistan alive.”
Despite
these often repeated and brazen threats, Governments,
both at the centre and in the Province, have initiated
no corrective measures. Instead, soon after the June 2011
LeJ threat, on July 14, 2011, Pakistan’s Supreme Court
ordered the release of Malik Ishaq – the former operational
chief of LeJ, who was involved in 44 cases involving the
killing of at least 70 people, mostly belonging to the
Shia sect – on bail from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail, because
of the prosecution’s failure to produce sufficient evidence
to support its charges. On February 10, 2012, Ghulam Rasool
Shah, another co-accused in various cases of sectarian
strife and terrorism, was released. According to media
reports, an official of the Interior Ministry disclosed,
on condition of anonymity, that the Ministry had received
some intelligence reports that the LeJ had stepped up
its anti-Shia campaign after Ishaq’s release.
These developments
give credence to allegations that the Hazara Shias in
particular and Shias at large, like other minorities across
Pakistan, are persecuted with connivance of the state.
According to the SATP data, a total of 1,921 Shias have
been killed across Pakistan since 2001. Unsurprisingly,
in a direct indictment
of the authorities at the helm, Ali Dayan Hasan, the head
of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Pakistan, on January 11,
2013, observed,
As
Shia community members continue to be slaughtered
in cold blood, the callousness and indifference
of authorities offers a damning indictment of the
state, its military and security agencies. Pakistan’s
tolerance for religious extremists is not just destroying
lives and alienating entire communities, it is destroying
Pakistani society across the board.
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HDP chairman
Abdul Khaliq Hazara also noted:
Extremism,
sectarianism, and terrorism are being promoted in
Balochistan with the help of elements in our state
institutions… In several incidents of targeted killings
of Hazara community, motorbikes of local police
were used, while many of the attackers were in FC
uniforms. They attacked people close to FC check
posts but were never apprehended. I strongly believe
that some elements in our security agencies help
terrorists to identify the targets and then also
support them to reach their targets with ease.
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There is
little relief or refuge for the Hazara Shias in Balochistan,
as state inaction sends out an unambiguous and alarming
message that Federal and Provincial authorities will not
act to protect religious and sectarian minorities, leaving
them at the mercy of Sunni extremist and terrorist formations.
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J&K:
Orchestrated Disorders
Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
Unsettled
by the Deepening
Peace in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K),
as well as the continuous and cumulative failures of the
separatists to orchestrate disorders within J&K over
the past two years and to revive a 2010 type ‘uprising’,
Pakistan-backed separatists have been in search of an
‘event’ that could be exploited to create an environment
of unrest and provoke intifada-like situation.
After the February 9, 2013, hanging of December 13, 2001,
Parliament Attack case convict Mohamad Afzal Guru in New
Delhi’s Tihar Jail, Lieutenant General Baljit Singh Jaswal,
former General Officer Commanding (GoC), Northern Command,
who commanded the Army during the stone
pelting campaigns of 2010, noted,
“Pakistan always tries to exploit an event and they got
an event”. The Guru hanging created a space for Pakistani
proxies in J&K to engineer disruptive protest campaigns.
According
to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict
Management (ICM), as many as five protestors have
been killed in Security Forces’ (SFs) action since February
9, 2013 (data till April 28, 2013). At least 400 SF personnel
also got injured during this period. Large parts of the
Valley, including Srinagar, witnessed intermittent curfews
even as terrorists executed a suicide attack on a Central
Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Bemina in Srinagar
on March 13, 2013, killing five troopers and injuring
another seven. The two terrorists who carried out the
attack were also killed. The last suicide attack in J&K
was on January 6, 2010, when terrorists had hit a CRPF
camp at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, killing a Policeman and
injuring nine persons, including one CRPF trooper.
The present
disorders were initiated soon after the news of Guru’s
hanging was made public on February 9, 2013. The separatists
called for protests and, as in the past, violent protesters
clashed with the SFs. 40 persons, including 23 SF personnel,
were injured on the very first day of protests. On February
10, three protesters jumped into a river when they were
allegedly chased by the SFs. Two of them, Tariq Ahmad
Bhat and Zameer Ahmad Dar, drowned, while the third one
managed to swim ashore. While Bhat’s body was recovered
the same day, Police fished out Dar’s body in the morning
of February 11. Police, meanwhile, maintained that the
duo drowned when their boat capsized in the river while
they were crossing. In another incident on the same day,
a 16-year-old boy, Ubaid Mushtaq, wounded in alleged SF
firing in the Watergam area of Baramulla District, later
succumbed to his injuries. The death of the three youth
led to a fresh cycle of protests, and large parts of the
Valley remained under curfew till February 22. Normalcy
was fast returning thereafter.
However,
the separatists were in search of another ‘event’ and
this came about when a Kashmiri student committed suicide
in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) on March 2, 2013. Protesters
quickly returned to the streets and one of them, Tahir
Latief Sofi, was killed, and another two were injured
in Baramulla town (Baramulla District) on March 5, in
alleged SF firing on violent protesters. The Army,
however, denied involvement in these deaths, claiming
that troops had fired in the air when they were trapped
by violent demonstrators in the township. Sofi, the Army
claimed, was shot dead by someone else, with a view to
trigger large-scale violence. On March 13, another protester,
Altaf Ahmad Wani, was killed when SFs allegedly opened
fire after protesters pelted stones on a vehicle carrying
CRPF troopers, who were rushing to donate blood to the
victims of the suicide attack that morning. These
incidents led to the imposition of curfew in some areas
of the State between March 5 and March 17.
Such orchestrated
unrest is not something new for J&K. Since 2008, a
succession of protest
movements, styled on the intifada,
have been organized, peaking in 2010, when at least 112
lives were lost to street violence. This strategy has,
however, produced diminishing returns thereafter. In 2011
and 2012, none of the incidents
succeeded in sparking the wider troubles they were intended
to provoke.
A cursory
look into the background of the present, as well as past
disorders reinforces the widely-held belief, backed by
intelligence inputs, that these have been the handiwork
of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and its
proxies. Indeed, seven separatist leaders, led by the
chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference-Mirwaiz
(APHC-M),
Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, met with ISI chief Lieutenant General
Zaheer ul Islam as well chiefs of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM),
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and Mohammad Yusuf Shah aka
Syed Salahuddin, respectively, in Pakistan, in December
2012. Similar visits had also been organized for the separatist
leadership in 2008, and quickly resulted in an escalation
of street protests over the Amarnath Land Allocation controversy,
and recurrent street mobilization over a range of ‘issues’
and ‘codes of conduct’, thereafter.
In the
meantime, separatist and religious organizations in J&K
formed a coordination committee, Muttahida Majlis-e-Mushawarat
(MMM, Joint Consultative Council), after two meetings
at an undisclosed location in Srinagar town. The committee
includes both factions of APHC, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani
(APHC-G) and Mirwaiz Omar Farooq (APHC-M), the Jammu and
Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF),
Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI) and Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM).
Disclosing its aim, an MMM Press statement of February
25, 2013, declared, "To seek return of Afzal Guru's
body and mortal remains of Maqbool Bhat [co-founder of
JKLF who was hanged to death in Tihar jail on February
11, 1984], we have decided to launch a coordinated protest
programme. People should observe shutdown on Friday and
keep shops open on Sunday. On Saturday, they should tie
red ribbons on their vehicles and houses.” This is the
first time since 2008 Amarnath land row agitation, that
the separatists have formed a coordination committee with
all major separatist organizations coming together on
a single platform.
While SF
responses to the recent campaigns have been far better
calibrated than they were in the past, the State Government
and various parties have chosen to engage in dangerous
and petty politicking. In order to score some brownie
points over political adversaries, the Omar Abdullah Government
has made the CRPF, the main force involved in maintaining
law and order in the State, a sitting duck, issuing various
and conflicting directives. In one such directive on February
11, 2013, it asked CRPF personnel not to carry weapons
while on law and order duty. The controversial directive
resulted in injuries to over 350 CRPF personnel, including
officers, and damage to 150 SF vehicles damaged in stone
pelting and violence after February 9. Media reports,
quoted an unnamed senior CRPF official as stating, "It
is not possible to undertake such responsibilities without
arms, especially when the Islamists are known to attack
people and the security forces in the garb of a crowd
or taking cover behind women and children. It is increasingly
becoming difficult to handle our men." The State
Government has also forced the removal of 46 bunkers from
Srinagar, over the past two-and-a-half years, while parroting
the demand for the removal of the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act (AFSPA) from Srinagar in particular and the
rest of the State at large, in a ‘phased manner’. The
State Government’s assessment is in complete contrast
to that of the SFs. Indeed, the Army has been forced to
extend operations in the recent past. In the night of
April 24, 2013, an Army camp was set up in village Hergam
Wuyan on the outskirts of Srinagar city, to put pressures
on militants in the area, where they had been re-grouping
over the past year. In October 2012, the Army had set
up a camp at village Chattergam in Budgam District, on
the outskirts of Srinagar District. The camp had been
closed three years earlier, but had to be re-established
as increasing terrorist movement was noticed.
Worse,
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, added to tensions in the
aftermath of Guru’s hanging, with the observation, on
February 11, 2013, that “Afzal Guru's execution may fuel
a feeling of alienation among the Kashmiri youth… The
onus rests on the judiciary and the political leadership
to show that this wasn't a selective execution."
Abdullah has, indeed, often adopted the language of the
‘soft separatist’ constituency in J&K, despite visible
and overwhelming evidence of declining public alienation
in the State.
The Chief
Minister’s remarks were compounded by a six-point resolution
passed by the Working Committee of his party, the ruling
National Conference (NC), on April 7, 2013. The resolution
noted, inter alia, that “the restoration of Autonomy
continues to be the bedrock of the National Conference’s
policy and agenda and the party shall continue to strive
for the honour, dignity and self respect of the people
of the State.” Going a step further, NC President and
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah,
observed, in the party's online newsletter, “If there
existed solution better than autonomy, which is acceptable
to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, his party, the National
Conference would have no problem in accepting it. But
there is no viable solution (other) than autonomy.”
The Congress
Party which is in alliance with the NC in the State Government,
added to the confusion with conflicting statements on
AFSPA. The Centre, led by the Congress, has repeatedly
spoken out in support of the continued application of
AFSPA. However, senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz,
on March 6, 2013, joined the chorus for revocation of
AFSPA from J&K, arguing, “Omar Abdullah has been asking
for the repeal of AFSPA for a long time. Today I want
Omar and Union Home Minister to sit and come forward for
a decisive proposition… The Act is a temporary law. It
has to go. I want to know when.”
Not to
be left behind, the President of the main opposition People’s
Democratic Party (PDP), which still stands by its “self
rule” resolution, passed in 2008, has been quite provocative
whenever tensions have risen in the Valley. On March 23,
2013, Mehbooba Mufti, President, PDP, declard, “Kashmiri
youth have become fodder for Indian politicians and security
agencies for rewards and medals. Kashmiris are the fodder
for these security agencies and it seems only Kashmiri
blood can satisfy their thirst. They are pushing the youth
to (the) wall. They are leaving them with no option, but
to resort to violence and take to (the) gun. They have
shut all the means of dissent and some kids may say, we
had enough of it and resort to violence.”
The relative
peace in J&K remains fragile, and the politics of
the State has displayed little sensibility to the need
of a deepening stabilization. Politics has remained opportunistic
and completely unprincipled – though this is hardly a
problem unique to this State – with little appreciation
of the enormous sacrifices that have been necessary even
to secure the presently incomplete victory over terrorism.
The separatist constituency, its handlers in the ISI,
and its terrorist associates principally located across
the border, continue to look for an opportunity for escalation.
Under the circumstances, circumspection is the most urgent
need in politics. Regrettably, competitive communal manipulation
remains the sheet-anchor of politics in the State, undermining
the restoration of a democratic discourse that could provide
the basis of an enduring peace.
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Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
April 22-28,
2013
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
|
Islamist Extremism
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
INDIA
|
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
4
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Bihar
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Chhattisgarh
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
Jharkhand
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Odisha
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
Total (INDIA)
|
4
|
7
|
0
|
11
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
8
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
FATA
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
11
|
3
|
4
|
18
|
Sindh
|
36
|
7
|
1
|
44
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
Four
Policemen
killed
in
an
ambush
in
Jammu
and
Kashmir:
Militants
in
the
evening
of
April
26
laid
an
ambush
and
killed
four
Policemen
personnel
near
Haigam
locality
along
the
Sopore-Kupwara
road
in
Baramulla
District.
Inspector
General
of
Police
(IGP)
A
G
Mir
said
that
four
Policemen
were
on
their
way
to
Haigam
to
probe
a
complaint
of
robbery
when
they
were
ambushed
by
militants
in
a
lane
of
the
village.
Baleeg-ud-Din,
'spokesperson'
of
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
(HM),
through
a
phone
call
to
a
local
new
agency
claimed
responsibility
of
the
attack.
The
militants
took
away
three
AK-47
rifles
from
the
slain
troopers.
Daily
Excelsior;
Kashmir
Times;
Times
of
India,
April
27,
2013.
Splinter
groups
spreading
LWE
violence
in
Jharkhand,
says
DGP
Rajeev
Kumar:
Jharkhand
Director
General
of
Police
(DGP)
has
blamed
the
presence
of
a
number
of
Naxal
[Left
Wing
Extremist
(LWE)]-splinter
groups
for
the
increasing
number
of
Naxal
incidents
in
the
first
quarter
of
2013.
DGP
Rajeev
Kumar
said,
"As
these
splinter
groups
have
no
ideology
and
resort
to
killing
on
trivial
issues,
the
Naxal
violence
has
gone
up
in
the
state.
On
the
other
hand,
other
Left
Wing
Extremism
affected
States
do
not
have
such
splinter
groups."
According
to
a
report
by
the
Ministry
of
Home
Affairs
(MHA),
Jharkhand
recorded
the
highest
incidents
of
LWE
violence
in
the
first
quarter
of
2013.
Pioneer,
April
22,
2013.
Agents
of
terrorists
in
Kerala
sourcing
out
two-wheelers
to
plant
bombs
and
trigger
blasts
in
various
parts
of
India,
says
Intelligence
report:
Terrorist
organisations
like
Students
Islamic
Movement
of
India
(SIMI)
have
agents
in
Kerala
to
source
two-wheelers
which
are
used
to
plant
bombs
and
trigger
blasts
in
various
parts
of
India.
Whether
it
is
scooter
or
bike,
according
to
state
intelligence
officials,
large
number
of
two-wheelers
are
stolen
or
sourced
by
the
agents
of
terrorist
organisations
from
various
parts
of
Kerala
and
smuggled
out
to
Tamil
Nadu,
Karnataka
and
Andhra
Pradesh.
As
per
the
latest
data
of
Police,
409
two-wheelers
were
reported
missing
from
Kerala
in
2012
while
it
was
559
motorcycles
in
2011.
"We
will
be
tracking
the
activities
of
regular
bike
lifters
in
the
state.
Though
the
terrorists
largely
depend
on
their
trustworthy
agents
to
source
bikes,
there
is
a
possibility
of
terrorists
themselves
lifting
bikes
to
avoid
any
possible
detection
through
the
agents,"
Intelligence
officials
said.
"We
are
tracking
the
agents
who
have
been
in
touch
with
SIMI
activists
identified
as
Abu
Faizal,
Mohammed
Abrar
Babu
Khan
and
Akhil
Khilji
who
have
been
to
Kochi
many
a
times,"
the
officials
said.
Times
of
India,
April
26,
2013.
262
ex-militants
returned
to
India
via
Nepal
border
since
2010,
says
Government:
262
ex-militants
have
returned
to
India
via
the
Nepal
border
since
2010,
the
Lok
Sabha
(Lower
House
of
Parliament)
was
informed
on
April
23.
"As
per
report
of
J
and
K
police,
in
the
past
three
years,
from
2010
to
2012
and
the
current
year
up
to
April
10,
262
ex-militants
have
returned
via
Nepal,"
Union
Minister
of
State
for
Home
Affairs
R
P
N
Singh
said
in
a
written
reply.
Daily
Excelsior,
April
24,
2013.
Ceasefire
with
NSCN-K
and
NSCN-KK
extended:
The
ceasefire
agreement
signed
between
Central
Government
and
National
Socialist
Council
of
Nagaland-Khaplang
((NSCN-K)
was
reviewed
and
extended
for
another
one
year
with
effect
from
April
28,
2013.
In
addition,
ceasefire
agreement
between
Government
of
India
and
NSCN-Khole-Kitovi
(NSCN-KK)
has
also
been
reviewed
and
extended
for
one
more
year
with
effect
from
April
28,
2013.
Sangai
Express,
April
25,
2013.
NEPAL
Government
and
EC
agree
to
elect
601
CA
members:
The
Government
and
the
Election
Commission
(EC)
on
April
26
agreed
to
hold
fresh
polls
to
elect
a
new
Constituent
Assembly
(CA)
with
601
members.
The
Government
reached
a
conclusion
to
retain
the
old
strength
of
601
when
the
big
four
parties
decided
to
reduce
the
CA's
strength
from
601
to
491.
Himalayan
Times,
April
26,
2013.
85
percent
of
political
parties
ready
for
polls,
says
President
Ram
Baran
Yadav:
President
Ram
Baran
Yadav
on
April
26
expressing
hope
that
the
election
to
Constituent
Assembly
(CA)
would
be
held
on
time,
said
85
percent
of
all
the
active
political
forces
have
already
ready
for
elections.
He
further
said
as
head
of
the
state
he
was
taking
initiatives
to
persuade
some
dissident
political
parties,
including
Mohan
Baidya-led
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Maoist-Baidya
(CPN-Maoist-Baidya),
to
come
on
board
the
election
process.
Meanwhile,
CPN-Maoist-Baidya
on
April
25
reiterated
that
it
would
not
participate
in
the
election
to
the
CA
but
disrupt
the
electoral
process.
Republica,
April
26-27,
2013.
PAKISTAN
36
civilians
and
7
SFs
among
44
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
Sindh:
At
least
six
people,
including
an
Assistant
Sub-Inspector
(ASI),
were
killed
while
a
religious
cleric
was
injured
in
separate
acts
of
violence
across
the
Karachi
(Karachi
District),
the
provincial
capital
of
Sindh,
on
April
27.
At
least
11
persons,
including
a
minor,
were
killed
and
45
others
were
injured
in
a
bomb
blast
at
an
election
gathering
of
the
Awami
National
Party
(ANP)
in
Orangi
town
of
Karachi
on
April
26.Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
spokesman
Ehsanullah
Ehsan
claimed
responsibility
for
the
blast.
At
least
six
persons
were
killed
while
around
13
persons
were
injured
when
a
high
intensity
bomb
shattered
the
election
office
of
Muttahida
Qaumi
Movement
(MQM)
located
in
Nusrat
Bhutto
Colony
of
North
Nazimabad
area
of
Karachi
on
April
25.
TTP
'spokesman'
Ehsanullah
Ehsan
has
reportedly
claimed
the
responsibility
for
the
blast.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
April
23-29,
2013.
Pakistan-trained
three
British
nationals
jailed
in
Britain:
Three
British
nationals,
including
the
ringleader
of
a
terror
cell
trained
in
Pakistan,
have
been
jailed
for
masterminding
a
plot
to
set
off
up
to
eight
bombs
in
the
United
Kingdom
(UK)
that
could
have
been
more
devastating
than
the
9/11
in
the
US
and
the
July
7
attacks.
Irfan
Naseer
(31)
will
have
to
serve
a
minimum
of
18
years
behind
bars,
while
his
accomplice
Irfan
Khalid
(28)
was
jailed
for
18
years
and
Ashik
Ali
was
sentenced
to
15
years.
The
three
men
had
raised
an
estimated
39,000
pounds
for
terror
training
and
to
fund
the
UK
attacks.
Zee
News,
April
26,
2013.
TTP
plans
to
abduct
former
President
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf,
warns
intelligence
agencies:
The
intelligence
agencies
have
warned
that
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
have
made
plans
to
abduct
former
President
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf,
who
is
currently
being
held
at
his
private
residence,
on
the
outskirts
of
Islamabad,
after
being
arrested
in
several
criminal
cases.
The
intelligence
agencies
have
issued
an
advisory
that
the
TTP
might
attempt
to
abduct
Musharraf
while
he
is
being
taken
from
his
farmhouse
to
court.
Times
of
India,
April
27,
2013.
Stay
away
from
polls,
warns
TTP:
The
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
has
distributed
pamphlets
in
several
Pakistani
cities,
including
Peshawar
(Peshawar
District),
the
provincial
capital
of
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
and
Karachi
(Karachi
District),
the
provincial
capital
of
Sindh,
warning
people
not
to
participate
in
next
month's
general
election.
Meanwhile,
religious
scholars
and
the
members
of
the
All
Pakistan
Ulema
Council
have
issued
a
40-page
edict,
which
declares
the
non-casting
of
vote
a
sin,
saying
that
casting
vote
is
compulsory
under
Islamic
injunctions.
Times
of
India;
Daily
Times,
April
25,
2013.
TTP
joins
Afghan
Taliban
to
wage
spring
offensive:
As
the
Afghan
Taliban
announced
on
April
27
the
launching
of
annual
spring
offensive
against
the
US-led
Allied
Forces
in
Afghanistan,
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
has
also
joined
them.
The
TTP
has
released
a
video
which
shows
the
TTP
fighters
belonging
to
the
"Saad
bin
Abi
Waqas
Front"
[which
is
named
after
a
TTP
commander]
already
carrying
out
military
and
suicide
operations
against
the
ISAF
Forces
in
Logar
Province
of
Afghanistan.
The
News,
April
29,
2013.
Former
President
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf
arrested
in
Benazir
murder
case:
Former
President
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf
was
on
April
26
formally
arrested
over
the
murder
case
of
former
Prime
Minister
Benazir
Bhutto.
Musharraf
will
remain
in
his
villa
on
the
edge
of
Islamabad
(Federal
Capital)
where
he
is
already
under
a
two-week
house
arrest
over
his
decision
to
sack
judges
when
he
imposed
emergency
rule
in
November
2007.
"Today
FIA
(Federal
Investigative
Agency)
formally
arrested
General
Musharraf
in
the
Benazir
Bhutto
case,"
said
prosecution
lawyer
Chaudhry
Azhar.
Daily
Times,
April
27,
2013.
SRI
LANKA
TNA
threatens
continuous
protest
against
military's
acquisition
of
private
lands
in
the
North:
The
Tamil
National
Alliance
(TNA)
on
April
25
threatened
a
continuous
protest
campaign
against
the
military's
acquisition
of
private
lands
in
the
North.
TNA
will
commence
a
protest
campaign
in
Jaffna
from
April
29
against
the
military
acquisition
of
lands.
The
TNA
claimed
that
the
military
has
acquired
over
6,400
acres
of
private
lands
in
the
North.
ColomboPage,
April
26,
2013.
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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