INDIA
PAKISTAN
NEPAL
BHUTAN
BANGLADESH
SRI LANKA
Terrorism Update
Latest
S.A.Overview
Publication
Show/Hide Search
HomePrint
 
  Click to Enlarge
   

SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 13, No. 12, September 22, 2014

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


ASSESSMENT

INDIA
Click for PrintPrint

SIMI - Hidden Terror
Sanchita Bhattacharya
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On September 12, 2014, a low-intensity blast occurred inside a house in the Jalan locality under the Kotwali Police Station area of Bijnor District in Uttar Pradesh. Though no casualty was reported, Police recovered some explosives, remains of a half-assembled bomb, seven kilograms of matchsticks kept in cartons, another four large packs of matchboxes, one .32 bore pistol and a laptop. On the same day, Union Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh stated that Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) sleeper cells might be involved in the blast.

Confirming the Home Minister’s assertion, an unnamed senior Bijnor District Police officer stated, on September 13, that scanning of footage from closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, retrieved from cameras installed near the clinic of a local doctor, showed five men taking their badly burnt aide to a doctor. These five men, now on the run, appeared to be five SIMI cadres who had escaped from Tantya Bheel Jail in Khandwa District (Madhya Pradesh, MP) on October 1, 2013. They were identified as Abu Fazal alias Doctor, Zakir Hussain alias Sadiq, Mehboob alias Guddu, Mohammad Aslam, Amjad Ramzan and Ejazuddin. The SIMI cadres had escaped from jail along with another inmate, Abid Mirza Beg (all housed in barrack No. 2 of the jail from August 2013). Abu Fazal was, however, arrested from Barwani District in MP on December 23, 2013.  

The six escapees were among the eight SIMI/ IM (Indian Mujahideen) suspects arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of MP Police from Jabalpur and Bhopal on June 5, 2011, in connection with the November 29, 2009, triple murder of MP ATS Trooper Sitaram Yadav, lawyer Sanjay Pal and bank officer Ravi Shankar Pare in Khandwa. They were also reportedly involved in the June 2011 killing of another ATS trooper, Bharat Singh Raghuvanshi, in Ratlam District in MP, as well as the August 23, 2010, INR 25 million gold robbery in Bhopal, MP. Other banks in Itarsi city, Hoshangabad District, and Dewas District of MP were also looted by them.

On August 23, 2014, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge sheet against 10 people, including SIMI activist, Haider Ali aka Black Beauty, for their involvement in serial bomb blasts that took place during Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's rally at Patna (Bihar) on October 27, 2013, in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) elections. [Modi subsequently became Prime Minister on May 26, 2014]. At least seven persons were killed and another 66 were injured in six serial bomb blasts. According to the charge sheet, "After realising that it was not possible to reach Modi during such rallies due to stringent security arrangements, the accused Ali and other co-conspirators decided to trigger bomb blasts at one such public rally which would result in a stampede and in the ensuing melee and chaos, they could reach Modi." Security agencies had earlier suspected that IM - a SIMI offshoot - was responsible for the attack. However, after Haider Ali's arrest on May 20, 2014, near Ranchi in Jharkhand, investigators discovered SIMI’s role. According to a May 30, 2014, report, Haider Ali told investigators that he used to receive money from Abu Fazal alias Doctor, the self-styled head of the Madhya Pradesh unit of SIMI, to carry out terror attacks and that Fazal had funded the Bodh Gaya and Patna blasts. On July 7, 2013, at least two monks, a Burmese and a Tibetan, were injured in a coordinated terror attack, in and around the Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya in the Gaya District of Bihar.

Meanwhile, SIMI has also been acting covertly to create communal tension. An August 24, 2014, report indicated that, in the wake of increasing incidents of communal tension in the Meera Ki Paith area of Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), the Administration suspects that sleeper modules of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and SIMI were being activated, and had decided to track the neo-rich in the city with no established sources of income, to unearth such activities. The Administration also decided to track down Pakistani nationals who came to Bareilly and then went underground. Significantly, Uttar Pradesh has recorded 732 incidents of communal violence since 2009, in which 200 people have been killed and another 2,111 have been injured.

Moreover, media reports indicate that, between his escape from Khandwa and re-arrest, Abu Fazal travelled to various States, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, to collect funds and recruit people to join SIMI's ‘cause’. The money collected was to be spent by Fazal to rebuild defunct modules and to procure materials needed for explosives and to develop Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). He allegedly hand-picked 15 to 20 youth from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Abu Fazal also motivated his group members to establish a separate fund called Maal-e-Ganeemat (war booty) within SIMI, with the aim of looting 'non-believers' to fund their activities. Fazal had reportedly revealed, during his custody, that gold worth INR 25 million looted from Bhopal (MP) in August 23, 2010, and five bank robberies across MP, were planned to collect funds for terror attacks. Further, Fazal had also admitted to having handed over INR 400,000 to a lawyer to defend former SIMI ‘chief’ Safdar Nagori, who is in jail.

Interestingly, in the month of December 2013, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had warned that substantial sums of money were flowing into terrorists’ coffers from Karachi (Pakistan) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) to revive SIMI. The IB note, forwarded to States, mentioned SIMI cadres’ interrogation in which operatives admitted to receiving money through hawala (illegal money transfer) and other money transfer schemes, to revive the outfit. The intelligence agency claimed SIMI was running its terror activities through at least four front organizations: Tahreek-e-Ehyaa-e-Ummat, Wahdat-e-Islami, Tehreek-Talaba-e-Arabia and Tahrik Tahaffuz-e-Shaair-e-Islam. An April 29, 2014, report said that IB had warned that more than 30 SIMI sleeper cells had become active across the country.

Indeed, media reports and incidents suggest that, after the arrest of top leaders of IM, the more radical SIMI off-shoot, the parent organization had become more active over the past year. Security Forces (SFs) had arrested Yasin Bhatkal alias Mohammad Ahmed Siddibappa Zarrar alias Imran alias Asif alias Shahrukh, the IM 'operational chief' on Indian soil, on August 28, 2013, from the India-Nepal border; Tehsin Akthar alias Monu on March 25, 2014, from Samastipur, near the India-Nepal border in Bihar; and Waqas alias Javed Mohammmad alias Zia-ur-Rehman, a Pakistani national on March 22, 2014, from outside Ajmer railway station in Rajasthan. It is widely believed that these arrests weakened IM considerably and SIMI had consequently heightened its activity to ‘fill the vacuum’.

Significantly, SIMI was first banned on September 27, 2001, by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government at the Centre under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, for its "anti-national and destabilising activities", for "making controversial remarks questioning the country's sovereignty and integrity" and for its "links with militant outfits like the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen". The immediate provocation for the ban was the pro-al Qaeda/ Taliban stance SIMI took in the wake of the September 11, 2001 (9/11), terrorist attacks in the United States. Since then, the ban has been renewed seven times, and was most recently upheld by the UAPA Tribunal on July 30, 2014. Accepting the Government's arguments, the Tribunal held that there were 'valid reasons' to ratify the ban, which was, for the first time, imposed for five years.

SIMI was formed at Aligarh in the State of Uttar Pradesh on April 25, 1977. Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi, Professor of Journalism and Public Relations at the Western Illinois University Macomb, Illinois, was the founding President of the outfit. The group became progressively involved with terrorism through the 1990s, initially assisting a range of Pakistan-backed terrorist formations with logistics, but eventually was found to be directly involved in several terrorist attacks, including the serial blasts that targeted the railway networks of Mumbai on July 11, 2006, in which at least 200 people were killed; and the July 26, 2006, serial blasts in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) in which at least 55 persons were killed. Though these incidents led SFs’ to launch a major onslaught against the outfit, it was in the aftermath of the September 13, 2008, serial attacks at crowded market locations in Delhi, in which 24 people were killed, that the intelligence and security establishment across the country unraveled the SIMI network, killing two SIMI-IM cadres in Delhi during an encounter at Batla House on September 18, 2008. The arrest of several others in Delhi, Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh followed, building on significant detentions in Gujarat. At least 26 SIMI cadres were arrested between July 26, 2008, and September 28, 2008, the latter date marking the terrorists strike at the national capital, Delhi, which killed one and injured over 20. The intensity of the explosion on September 28 was lower, and the ‘tiffin bomb’ – packed in a plastic bag – was simply tossed off a motorcycle in the Phool Walon ki Sair flower market at Mehrauli in South Delhi. According to partial data compiled by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), since March 11, 2000, 684 SIMI cadres have been arrested in 111 incidents across India.

SFs had already arrested SIMI’s then chief Safdar Nagori and his brother Kamruddin Nagori, from Indore in MP on March 27, 2008. Later, on August 16, 2008, Police arrested SIMI leader Abul Bashar Qasmi, who had taken over charge of the SIMI national network after Safdar Nagori's arrest.

Shocked by these developments, SIMI went into hibernation and IM came to occupy the space of the ‘Indian face’ of Islamist terror, working in tandem with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and ISI. There is mounting evidence that elements within SIMI have now recovered, and are making a push to re-possess the spaces they had vacated in the wake of the massive leadership losses they had suffered. The consequent dangers are compounded by the risk of combined action, in tandem with IM, whose leadership is now safely ensconced in Pakistan, under the active protection of the ISI.

INDIA
Click for PrintPrint

Meghalaya: Storming the Hills
Veronica Khangchian
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
M.A. Athul
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

On September 14, 2014, East Garo Hills Police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos killed a Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) militant, identified as Rikman Ch Marak near Rambugre Songgital village in East Garo Hills District. Marak was a part of group of militants under the command of senior GNLA ‘commander’ Jackfruit Momin, who was earlier overseeing the outfit’s operations in Dadenggre region of West Garo Hills District. Two militants were also injured in the encounter. With this incident, the total number of militant fatalities reached ten in the ongoing Operation Hill Storm launched by the Meghalaya Police, which believes it is winning the war against the insurgents in the troubled Garo Hills region of the State.

Meghalaya Police, along with Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), and with occasional support from the Goalpara (Assam) District-based Dogra Regiment of the Indian Army, launched Operation Hill Storm in the Durama Hills of Garo Hills region, on July 11, 2014, to flush out cadres of GNLA, the Assam based United Liberation Front of Asom - Independent (ULFA-I), and other militant outfits, from their strongholds in the area. One of the objectives of the Operation is also to establish a permanent Police presence in the interior areas, to deny any ‘comfort zone’ to GNLA and ULFA-I militants in the Durama Hills. In a Press Statement, Police declared, "It is a well known fact that since Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) days, the interior jungle areas of Durama in Garo Hills remained a safe haven for all militant groups for many reasons, such as difficult terrain, thick jungle, scant police presence and plenty of water sources... The Durama Hills area has become the main training ground for many militant groups including GNLA, ULFA-I and other militant groups.”

Operation Hill Storm was initially launched for three months. According to a September 13 report, however, it will now continue for another 'month or two'. Meghalaya Inspector General of Police (IG) Raju stated that the ongoing Counter insurgency Operation Hill Storm was yielding results with at least 11 or 12 GNLA camps being neutralized. At least 25 militants belonging to GNLA, ULFA-I, GNLA’s breakaway faction A'chik Songna An'pachakgipa Kotok (ASAK, "vanguards of Garoland”), and other militant groups have been arrested from various hideouts and several sophisticated arms recovered.

Significant incidents during the Operation include:

August 21, 2014: SFs raided a makeshift joint camp of GNLA and ULFA-I at Songma Enggok area in East Garo Hills District and killed three (two GNLA and one ULFA-I) militants. An SLR with 5 magazines, a 7.65 pistol with three magazines, a 9 mm pistol along with a magazine, two detonators, two wireless handsets, camouflage sets, and incriminating documents were recovered from the camp.

July 11, 2014: The 'personal security officer' (PSO) of Sohan D Shira, the 'commander in chief' of GNLA was killed in a raid by a combined team of SWAT and CoBRA at Adugre village in East Garo Hills District. Some improvised explosive devices (IED)  a rocket, grenades, pistols, ammunition, GNLA flags as well as GNLA pads were recovered from the camp. A search operation has been launched to trace the escaped militants.

August 4, 2014: A GNLA militant was killed and another militant managed to escape in an encounter with a joint team of the Army and Meghalaya Police at Kodomsali in West Garo Hills District. Two 7.65mm pistols along with fired cases and live rounds, two magazines, and two hand grenades were recovered from him.

September 10, 2014: A suspected GNLA cadre was killed in an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) at Pakregre village near Rongjeng in East Garo Hills District. A pistol, a high-frequency wireless set, three mobile handsets and incriminating documents were recovered from the encounter site. East Garo Hills Police Chief Davies Nestell Marak stated that there were around 22 GNLA militants led by ‘commander’ Chekam Marak alias Dawang in the area. Police official stated that the encounter site was a GNLA camp situated in the middle of the village.

July 20, 2014: An ASAK militant, identified as Goera D. Sangma, was killed after he challenged Police at Watregittim in the Rimthangpara area of Purakasua, one kilometer from Ritekpara in West Garo Hills District. Sangma came face to face with Police, and attacked them with a grenade of Chinese make.

July 17, 2014: Two GNLA militants were injured when Meghalaya Police raided a GNLA hideout at Warima Songmagre, near Chokpot in South Garo Hills District. Two senior militants, Jangjang and Kongsil, along with some 15 other cadres were reported to have been camping in the hide out. Two pistols, one shotgun, one Chinese grenade, 90 rounds of AK rifle ammunition, several empty cases and four mobile handsets were recovered from the hideout.

The growing nexus between GNLA, one of the biggest arms' procurers in Meghalaya, and ULFA-I, remains a concern. In an incident which once again demonstrated these links, on June 26, 2014, a militant, identified as Dharma Kanta Rai, who was on ‘deputation’ from the ULFA-I to GNLA, was killed during a rescue operation mounted by West Garo Hills Police at Darekgre near Rongmasugre village in West Garo Hills District, to free four abducted persons from the GNLA and ULFA-I. The abductions had been carried out on June 25 from Kantanagre village in West Garo Hills District. The deceased ULFA-I cadre was reportedly an IED expert, used by GNLA to target Police movements.

During 2014, there have been four incidents of arrest, in which seven individuals, including link men and militants of ULFA-I, were arrested in Meghalaya. One significant arrest includes the arrest of Babul Raba alias Kancha and his associate Trenning M. Sangma on August 19. After his arrest the Police stated that Babul Raba alias Kancha had trained GNLA militants in creating IED and described him as the master IED trainer of ULFA-I. He in turn had been trained by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Bangladesh.

While there have been many successes for the SFs during Operation Hill Storm, in one major setback, on July 25, 2014, two Police personnel - Constables Khymdiet and Lembartu Suchiang - were killed and another three Constables - Lembartu Suchiang, Arphius Khymdiet and Rahul Marak -  were injured in an IED attack by suspected GNLA militants on Rongram-Dadenggre Road near Tebronggre village in Tura West Garo Hills District. It has been reported that a combined ULFA-I and GNLA group conducted the IED attack. GNLA 'area commander' for Tura region, Baichung Momin, was the main suspect behind the attack. On July  26, Constable Rahul Marak, who was injured in the explosion, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in Guwahati (Assam).

Besides recent ‘focused’ operations, however, operations against GNLA have been on since its formation towards the end of 2009.

GNLA has emerged as the most lethal outfit in Meghalaya at present, and has been involved in numerous acts of violence. It has, thus far, killed three SF personnel and seven civilians in the State in 2014.  According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database, Meghalaya has recorded a total of 65 fatalities, including three SF personnel, 45 militants [including 12 GNLA and three ULFA-I] and 17 civilians. A total of 10 GNLA cadres have also been killed in Assam this year.

In an incident which attracted condemnation from all quarters, on June 4, 2014, a 35-year-old woman was killed by GNLA cadres when she resisted their rape attempt. GNLA left a note at the site of the incident, claiming that the woman was killed for being a 'Police informer'. Meghalaya Police confirmed that GNLA militant Tengton led the group that murdered the woman, after attempting to molest, branding her a Police informer. Police sources disclosed, “Tengton was dispatched by Chokpot 'area commander' of GNLA Kiljang R. Sangma alias Jangjang to murder the woman. Tengton was also the same militant who executed another innocent villager, Sengran R. Marak at Daji Badimagre village of Chokpot.” The militants had branded Sengran Marak as a Police informer and killed him on May 27.

Further, in an eight-minute video recorded on September 4, 2014, GNLA militants were seen brutally caning some alleged ‘Police informers’. The matter came to light after the Police recovered a mobile phone from the possession of GNLA cadre Chekan N. Marak alias Bestfield N. Marak, who was gunned down by the Police in an encounter on September 10.

Meanwhile, East Garo Hills Superintendent of Police (SP), Davis Nestell R. Marak stated, on September 14, that GNLA ‘commander in chief’ Sohan D. Shira had fled his hideout in the remote forests of Garo Hills and had crossed over into Bangladesh to escape the ongoing Operation Hill Storm. The SP disclosed, “We have credible info that Sohan has escaped to Bangladesh after all his established camps were destroyed by our Forces in the jungles of Durama Hills." GNLA cadres are now in disarray and most of them have been split up into small groups of 15 to 20 members. However, on September 15, GNLA ‘chief’ Sohan D. Shira vowed to return to give a ‘befitting’ reply, after Meghalaya Police accused him of abandoning his group and seeking shelter in Bangladesh. In a communiqué, Shira declared, “Bangladesh is merely a route to various other countries that we use frequently for our business. Our business is our fight for Garoland and the fight requires better arms and technologies for the future, which those countries provide.” He added that ‘commitment to Garoland' was the biggest and only driving force for his movement and vowed to return to give a ‘befitting’ reply to the Meghalaya Police.

Earlier, on September 5, 2014, Shira had threatened a wave of serial blasts in Garo Hills, targeting Government institutions and Congress party offices in retaliation against Chief Minister Mukul Sangma's alleged move to 'sideline' Garo outfits in talks while preparing the groundwork for peace negotiations with the Khasi group, Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC). A communiqué circulated to media houses in Garo Hills through senior GNLA cadre and former cop Savio Marak declared, “In an emergency meeting called by the C-in-C Sohan D. Shira, the GNLA has vowed to execute serial blast in Garo Hills. This decision came after Police has continued operations in the jungles of Garo Hills. Mukul Sangma and all the Garo MLA(s) of each District must take the responsibility for the cause.”

In July 2014, the Government of India (GoI) directed the Meghalaya Government not to hold talks with GNLA. Chief Minister Mukul Sangma then stated, “We have received a formal intimation from the Centre which directed us not to pursue talks with the GNLA since they are continuing with their criminal activities”. In the meantime, after a decade-old ceasefire, ANVC, GNLA's parent outfit, and its break- away faction, ANVC-B, will ink the final tripartite peace pact with the Central and the State Governments in New Delhi on September 24, 2014. On September 17, after a meeting with ANVC, Chief Minister Sangma stated that the details of the peace package would be made known after the signing of the pact.

Meghalaya has experienced a militant outbreak in the recent past, and continues to be in turmoil. In September, the Garo Hills recorded the formation of new Garo outfit, the A’chik Matgrik Elite Force (AMEF), a breakaway faction of ASAK. The persistence of violence and proliferation of militant factions threaten the possibilities of an enduring peace, despite the significant gains of Operation Hill Storm.


NEWS BRIEFS

Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
September 15-21, 2014

 

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

INDIA

 

Jammu and Kashmir

1
1
6
8

Manipur

4
0
0
4

Meghalaya

0
0
1
1

Left-wing Extremism

 

Chhattisgarh

0
1
2
3

Jharkhand

0
1
0
1

Maharashtra

0
1
0
1

Odisha

0
0
1
1

Total (INDIA)

5
4
10
19

PAKISTAN

 

Balochistan

0
2
0
2

FATA

0
4
124
128

KP

6
1
3
10

Punjab

2
0
0
2

Sindh

15
1
11
27

Total (PAKISTAN)

23
8
138
169
Provisional data compiled from English language media sources.


INDIA

'IM operatives killed in Batla House encounter are martyrs', states terror group AuT: On September 19, terror group Ansar-ul-Tawhid Fi Bilad Al Hind (AuT) which recently uploaded a video of Islamic State (IS) 'chief' Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi with Hindi, Urdu and Tamil subtitles hailed Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives who died in the Batla House Encounter of 2008 as its "martyrs". In a series of messages titled "Batla House - inshallah we will revenge" (sic) that began flowing on AuT's Twitter handle @isabahmedia2 since late on September 18 night, the outfit claimed that IM operatives Atif Ameen and Mohammed Sajid were martyrs and that AuT mujahideen would avenge their death and imprisonment of other IM members. Times of India, September 20, 2014.

Terrorists regrouping in Districts of Western Uttar Pradesh, say intelligence agencies: Intelligence agencies have reportedly found that terrorists are active again in the west Uttar Pradesh (UP) Districts of Rampur, Moradabad, Sambhal and Bijnor. These Districts are considered the hotbed of terrorist activity, and are gaining renown as regions that provide easy asylum, intelligence sources have said. Sources in the local intelligence unit have said that there is cause to suspect that there are 20 sleeping modules in the Moradabad region alone. Times of India, September 20, 2014.

ANVC-B confirms it will sign peace agreement: The Breakaway faction of Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC-B), on September 19, confirmed that it would sign the final settlement in New Delhi on September 24 led by its 'chairman' Rimpu Marak and its 'commander' Mukosh Ch Marak accompanied by 'general secretary' Jakrik, 'political secretary' Dogamdot, 'organising secretary' Akimbri and other top officials. In a statement issued, the outfit said that each officer represents the Garo cadres of Khasi Hills, Garo Hills and Assam, which were the original areas of the proposed Garoland. The Shillong Times, September 20, 2014.

Ahead of global meet in Italy, CPI-Maoist admits to 'setbacks': As Maoist organisations from across the world prepare for a meeting in Milan, Italy, on September 27-28, the 'central committee' of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) admitted that it faced several setbacks ever since the Indian Security Forces (SFs) launched 'Operation Green Hunt'. Ahead of the meeting, it called for support to counter the operation which they term as a "counter-revolutionary multi-pronged countrywide offensive of the enemy". Indian Express, September 20, 2014.

BKI 'chief' arrested in Uttar Pradesh: Lahore-based Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist outfit's de facto chief Ratandeep Singh, who had only last year replaced ailing Wadhawa Singh as the BKI head and was sent by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was arrested by Punjab Police on September 17. He was sent to India as Hussain Sheikh Zahid (son of Sheikh Nasiruddin) and was arrested by the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) team of Punjab Police near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. He was sent to 10-day Police remand by an Amritsar court. Times of India, September 19, 2014.

Union Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh raises the issue of growing radicalisation in Muslims settled along the Indo-Nepal Border: Union Minister of Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh on September 18 raised the issue of growing radicalization among Muslims in Nepal settled near Indo-Nepal border with Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam. Certain pockets in these areas are learnt to have become fishing pools for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and is suspected of being used against India. Times of India, September 18, 2014.

'20 insurgent camps exist in Bangladesh', states Tripura Chief Minsiter Manik Sarkar: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, on September 12, stated at Tripura State Rifles (TSR) 1st Battalion Headquarters at Gokul Nagar (West Tripura District) that despite Bangladeshi Security Forces' crackdown on separatist outfits, about 20 camps belonging to Tripura militants still exist in various parts of Bangladesh. Tripura Info, September 16, 2014.

GNLA 'chief' vows to take on Meghalaya Police: On September 15 the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) 'chief' Sohan D Shira vowed to return to give a 'befitting' reply after Meghalaya Police accused him of abandoning his group and seeking shelter in Bangladesh to escape the ongoing 'Hill Storm' operations by Security Forces against the outfit. Shira in a communiqué stated, "Bangladesh is merely a route to various other countries that we use frequently for our business. Our business is our fight for Garoland and the fight requires better arms and technologies for the future which those countries provide." Shilong Times, September 16, 2014.


NEPAL

All-party national political conference called off: Citing non-compliance of their agenda by major parties, the Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) and 33-party alliance led by them decided not to attend the previously agreed all-party national political conference on September 16. Soon after, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala announced its "postponement". "When the party that had proposed the conference fails to turn up, there is no point in going ahead," the PM said. "I am saddened by their decision," added the PM'. The Hindu, September 17, 2014.


PAKISTAN

124 militants and four SFs among 128 persons killed during the week in FATA: At least three Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants were killed on September 19 in a remote-controlled blast in the Sipah area of Bara tehsil (revenue unit) in Khyber Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

At least 23 militants were killed in fresh airstrikes on militant hideouts in Ismail Khel and Zerom areas of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on September 18.

Pakistan Air Force (PAF) airstrikes on September 17 destroyed five militant hideouts and killed at least 40 suspected militants as part of the on-going Operation Zarb-e-Azb in the Kiza Madakhel, Datta Khel and Ezark areas of Datta Khel tehsil.

At least 20 militants and four Security Force (SF) personnel of the Tochi Scouts Wing of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) were killed and another sustained injuries when Afghanistan-based militants attacked the Dandi Kach checkpost in Spinwam tehsil on September 16.

SFs claimed to have killed 23 militants in air strikes by the PAF jet fighters in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency on September 16.

Military air strikes on September 15 killed at least 15 suspected militants in the Tabai area of NWA. Daily Times; Dawn; The News; Tribune; Central Asia Online; The Nation; The Frontier Post; Pakistan Today; Pakistan Observer, September 16-22, 2014.

JuD opens websites from US server: Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the frontal organisation of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) resurfaced in the World Wide Web and launched its websites www.jamatdawa.org and www.jamatdawa.net hosted from a server in the United States of America (USA). However, this is not the first time when JuD has managed a return to the World Wide Web as in the past the banned outfit has changed its identity, floated various charity organisations and tweaked names to launch websites. Hindustan Times, September 20, 2014.

TTP Sindh Chapter involved in dockyard attack in Karachi, reveals report: A preliminary report on the naval dockyard attack in Karachi on September 6, 2014, revealed on September 16 that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) Sindh Chapter was involved in the attack. The report said that TTP's Sindh Chapter had penetrated into various departments of the Provincial Government. It further stated that at least 21 suspects, including 14 servicemen, were also taken into custody. Three Government employees were arrested from Larkana District and two from Jamshoro District of Sindh. Dawn, September 17, 2014.

Punjabi Taliban leader Asmatullah Muawiya gives call to cease militant activities in Pakistan: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Punjab Chapter (also known as Punjabi Taliban) leader Asmatullah Muawiya on September 13 announced that it will be ceasing its militant activity in Pakistan and would limit its militant activity to Afghanistan. According to Muawiya the decision was taken after consultations. He also urged other groups of TTP to stop their militant activity in Pakistan. PTV, September 17, 2014.

Pakistan rejects Afghan terrorism accusations: Pakistan on September 16 rejected Afghanistan's accusations regarding involvement of Pakistani intelligence agencies in terrorism across the border. "We express our dismay at the latest allegations levelled in the statements issued by Afghanistan's National Security Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Repeated attempts by the Afghan side to implicate Pakistan's intelligence institutions in terrorist activities are both unfounded and counter-productive," Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement. Daily Times, September 17, 2014.

'Hafiz Saeed is a Pakistan national and he is free to roam around, states, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit: Pakistan on September 15 made it clear that there was no case against designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of 26/11 (November 26, 2008) Mumbai (Maharashtra) terror attack, and he is free to roam in the country. "Hafiz Saeed is a Pakistani national so he is free to roam around. So what is the problem ... he is a free citizen so there is no issue as far as Pakistan is concerned," Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said when asked why Saeed was working alongside Pakistan Army very close to Line of Control (LoC). "Courts have already exonerated him. There is no case pending against him," he added. Times of India, September 16, 2014.


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.

South Asia Intelligence Review [SAIR]

Publisher
K. P. S. Gill

Editor
Dr. Ajai Sahni


A Project of the
Institute For Conflict Management



To receive FREE advance copies of SAIR by email Subscribe.

Recommend South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) to a friend.

 

 

 

 

 
Copyright © 2001 SATP. All rights reserved.