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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
|
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.
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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.
|
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)
|
|
|
|
|
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.
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