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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 9, No. 5, August 9, 2010
 
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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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Collective
Suicide
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
In
a daring suicide attack barely a hundred yards from
the Frontier Constabulary (FC) Headquarters in Peshawar,
the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP, formerly
the North West Frontier Province), a 15-year-old boy
blew himself up, killing the FC chief, Sifwat Ghayoor,
along with three of his bodyguards on August 4, 2010.
Another eleven persons were injured in the attack. Police
said that about 10 kilogrammes of explosives were used
in the blast.
Though
this killing was itself a matter of grave concern, it
is the trend of suicide bombings across Pakistan that
is causing greater apprehension. The first suicide attack
in the country was recorded at capital Islamabad, on
November 19, 1995, when a bomber rammed his explosives-laden
truck into the Embassy of Egypt, killing 14 people.
The bomber, an Egyptian national, belonging to the Egyptian
Islamic Jihad, was believed to have acted in retaliation
against Egyptian diplomatic staffers who were accused
of gathering intelligence on Jihad factions inside
Pakistan.
It is,
however, only after Operation Sunrise, to throw
militants out of Lal
Masjid in July 2007, which killed
hundreds, including dozens of male and female students
of two religious seminaries – Jamia Fareedia for boys
and Jamia Hafsa for girls, run by the extremist Ghazi
brothers – that Pakistan has been engulfed in incessant
waves of suicide bombings. Figures compiled by the Federal
Ministry of Interior indicate that a total of 3,433
people were killed in 215 suicide attacks across Pakistan
during the three years since Operation Sunrise,
between July 2007 and July 2010. On average, 1,144 Pakistanis
were killed by human bombs in each of these years. 847
persons were killed in 50 suicide attacks in 2007. 965
persons lost their lives in 66 incidents in 2008, 1217
persons were killed in 80 incidents in 2009, while,
in 2010, till end July, 801people have been killed in
35 suicide attacks, according to the Federal Ministry
of the Interior. Meanwhile, the South Asia Terrorism
Portal (SATP) database suggests records a near eight-fold
increase in suicide bombings in 2007 as compared to
2006. According to SATP, 2007 witnessed 54 suicide
hits, killing 765 persons, mostly belonging to the law
enforcement agencies. There had been only seven such
attacks all over Pakistan in 2006, killing 161. Significantly,
as many as 748 persons have already been killed in 33
such attacks since January 1, 2010.
| Years |
No.
of Incidents
|
Balochistan
|
FATA
|
KP
|
Punjab
|
Sindh
|
| |
|
Killed
|
Injured
|
Killed
|
Injured
|
Killed
|
Injured
|
Killed
|
Injured
|
Killed
|
Injured
|
|
2002
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
15
|
34
|
|
2003
|
2
|
54
|
57
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
15
|
46
|
0
|
0
|
|
2004
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
46
|
85
|
41
|
234
|
|
2005
|
4
|
51
|
100
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
25
|
100
|
6
|
19
|
|
2006
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
0
|
92
|
98
|
0
|
0
|
62
|
254
|
|
2007
|
54
|
49
|
80
|
88
|
135
|
331
|
507
|
153
|
405
|
177
|
550
|
|
2008
|
59
|
2
|
22
|
223
|
444
|
337
|
670
|
286
|
710
|
5
|
0
|
|
2009
|
76
|
12
|
11
|
116
|
169
|
503
|
1221
|
284
|
889
|
31
|
63
|
|
2010*
|
33
|
12
|
35
|
192
|
248
|
323
|
579
|
221
|
457
|
0
|
0
|
|
Total
|
243
|
180
|
305
|
628
|
998
|
1588
|
3075
|
1030
|
2692
|
337
|
1154
|
*Data
till August 8, 2010
Source: SATP
Before
Operation Sunrise, the Islamist terrorist groupings
in Pakistan were tightly controlled by state agencies,
specifically the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI),
and were directed externally, pushing the country’s
strategic agenda against its neighbours, particularly
India and Afghanistan. The bloody siege of Lal Masjid
under President General Pervez Musharraf,, however,
turned Pakistani elements within the Taliban-allied
groupings against Islamabad, under the new banner of
the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The anger of home
grown terrorist groupings grew further after Pakistan
started operations against the TTP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KP) and tribal areas of the Federally Administered
Tribal Area (FATA).
The most
significant suicide bombings in Pakistan include:
July
9, 2010: At least 106 persons were killed and 69 others
injured, as two suicide bombers blew themselves up,
just seconds apart, at the office of Rasool Khan, the
Mohmand assistant political agent in the Yakka Ghund
tehsil (revenue unit) of Mohmand Agency. [The
head of each tribal agency is the political agent who
represents the President of Pakistan as the tribal agencies
were autonomous].
September
20, 2008: A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed
with explosives at the Marriott Hotel in capital Islamabad,
killing at least 60 people, and injuring at least 200.
The explosion ruptured a gas pipeline and triggered
a huge blaze, gutting the entire Hotel complex. A US
national was killed and several foreigners were injured.
27 December,
2007: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated
in a shooting and suicide bombing in Liaquat Bagh of
Rawalpindi, in which at least 20 others were also killed.
October
18, 2007: A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed 143 persons and
injured approximately 550 in Karachi. Two explosions
struck near a truck carrying Bhutto, but she was not
injured.
July
30, 2004: A suicide bomber attempted to assassinate
the Prime Minister-elect Shaukat Aziz, while he was
campaigning for a by-election in Fateh Jang, Attock
District, Punjab. Aziiz survived unscathed, but nine
others were killed.
December
25, 2003: 14 persons were killed and 46 were injured
during a second assassination attempt on President Pervez
Musharraf in the Jhanda Chichi area of Rawalpindi. The
President narrowly escaped the suicide assassination
attempt when his motorcade was hit by two explosive
laden vehicles. Musharraf had escaped an earlier attempt,
when an explosive device went off at the Chaklala Bridge
near Jhanda Chichi in Rawalpindi on December 14.
Meanwhile,
intelligence agencies believe that Ghazi Force, a little
known militant group out to avenge Operation Sunrise,
has carried out several major bombings in the capital
previously attributed to the TTP. Islamabad’s Inspector
General of Police, Kalim Imam, thus stated, "The
Ghazi Force was behind most of the deadliest attacks
in the capital during the last three years, targeting
the military, the Inter Services Intelligence, and a
hotel frequented by foreigners and the country’s elite."
Many of those attacks had earlier been attributed to
TTP. The Ghazi Force is believed to be headquartered
in Orakzai Agency. The group, named after Lal Masjid
leader, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed during
Operation Silence, principally comprises former
Lal Masjid students and relatives of those who died
in the Lal Masjid siege.
There
is little to suggest that there will be any respite
from the surge of suicide bombings in Pakistan. Usman
Ghani, a 14-year-old schoolboy and would-be suicide
bomber who managed to escape captivity from the TTP
disclosed, in a report published on December 28, 2009,
the processes through which the ‘jihad factories’
in Pakistan are producing a steady stream of suicide
bombers. Ghani revealed that he was forcibly removed
from his family and was subjected to months of indoctrination
along with two other teenage boys, during his training
as a suicide bomber. "They told us that a suicide
attack is the direct path to paradise, where beautiful
women and all the happiness of life are waiting for
you. They said we were lucky to have been chosen by
God for this noble purpose," he said. When Ghani
showed the slightest sign of reluctance, his captors
switched tactics. "They came and forced me to eat
a tablet. After taking the pill I couldn’t understand
what was right or wrong. Whatever they said to me I
would answer yes to everything and seemed justified
to me. The pills made me forgetful and I stopped caring
about my brothers, sisters or parents. The only thing
before me was paradise and I agreed to carry out an
attack for the sake of Islam." Significantly, TTP
spokesman Azam Tariq, while claiming responsibility
for the March 8, 2010, attack on the Special Intelligence
Agency’s office in Model Town in Lahore, further asserted,
"We have 2,800 to 3,000 more suicide bombers ...
We will target all Government places, buildings and
offices."
While
the TTP and Ghazi Force are now being vigorously targeted
by the Pakistani state, each of them has deeply entrenched
connections with various state backed terrorist groups,
particularly the Taliban factions operating in Afghanistan,
and the anti-India terrorist formations. Boundaries
between these various groupings remain blurred, and,
as long as some of these continue to flourish under
state patronage, it will remain impossible to root out
the others. As long as the entire enterprise of state-backed
terrorism is not abandoned, Pakistan’s destructive dynamic,
which continues to export terrorism into the country’s
neighbourhood, will, consequently, continue to generate
terrorism – including suicide bombers – within the country
as well.
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Red Rot
Sandipani Dash
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
India’s
‘gravest internal security threat’ is methodically expanding
its spheres of influence into the traditionally unstable
regions of the country’s troubled Northeast. The Communist
Party of India – Maoist (CPI-Maoist),
under a strategy to rope in sub-national armed groupings
in the country’s ‘periphery’, is widening its campaign
for a pan-Indian consolidation of violent anti-state movements.
As the locus of India’s earliest and multiple insurrections,
most of which are now degraded, the Northeast frontier
constitutes a strategic space for Left Wing Extremist
(LWE) expansion.
At the
first ‘Unity Congress’ after its formation in September
2004, the CPI-Maoist declared its sympathy and support
to insurgencies by ‘various nationalities’, including
those in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) , Assam, Manipur
and Nagaland, declaring: "This Congress reaffirms its
whole-hearted support to all these nationality movements
and their right to self-determination, including the right
to secession." The Unity Congress "unequivocally"
supported the "right of self-determination of all the
oppressed nationalities, including their right to secede
from the autocratic Indian State." Indicating an intention
to form closer alliances with various insurgent groups,
the Congress noted, further, "it may be necessary to form
a separate organization to take up the nationality issue,
and we should form such organizations in accordance with
the concrete situation."
In a circular
issued in May 2010, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) confirmed
the LWE’s unfolding plans to reach out to other terrorist
and separatist groups in the country, including the United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)
in Assam and the Hurriyat Conference in J&K. An unnamed
official clarified, "Though the intelligence inputs
don’t suggest any strategic alliance, but Maoists have
started corresponding with them."
The CPI-Maoist’s
Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB) has been entrusted with
the task of establishing a foothold in the Northeast.
The ERB had initially been entrusted with the responsibility
of launching operations in the States of Bihar, Jharkhand,
West Bengal and parts of Orissa. However, security sources
indicated in June 2010, that the ERB had been given the
additional responsibility of the Northeast region. The
Bureau is headed by Prashanta Bose alias Kishan
da, originally from West Bengal, but currently
and principally operating out of Jharkhand. While sources
refused to identify him, the ERB also has one known member
from Assam, drawn from an area bordering West Bengal.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, on April 12, 2010, admitted
that there were linkages between insurgent groups like
ULFA and the CPI-Maoist, stating:
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There
are reports about links between our insurgent outfits
and Maoists. There is a probable link. I don't find
much of a difference between them if you look at
their respective ideologies and styles of functioning.
Both start off by exploiting sentiments of the masses
in underdeveloped areas and try to solve problems
through armed struggle. The whole idea is to destabilise
the Government.
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Sources
in the Defence establishment disclosed that "over-ground
Maoist activists" have already set up base in three Districts
in Assam: Goalpara in the West and Dibrugarh and Tinsukia
in the East.
The Maoists
had already inked a three-point pact with the Manipur-based
Meitei armed group, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA),
on October 21, 2008, and issued a joint declaration after
a two day meeting between the Revolutionary People’s Front
(RPF, the political wing of the PLA) and the CPI-Maoist,
at the ‘Council Headquarters’ of the former at an unspecified
location in Manipur, on October 21 & 22, 2008. According
to the three point pact, both the groups had declared
they would:
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Honour
and support the sovereignty of the two ‘countries’
(the sovereignty of India and the sovereignty of Manipur);
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Extend
full moral and political support to each other in
the liberation struggles to overthrow the common enemy,
‘the Indian reactionary and oppressive regime’
-
Recognise
and honour the historically endorsed territorial integrity
of the two ‘countries’, namely Manipur and India.
The pact
has given the Maoists the initial logistics support it
needed in the Northeast, and subsequent indications suggest
that this has been well exploited to secure wider alliance
and a deeper presence in the region.
The National
Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM),
the principal militant formation in Nagaland, is also
reported to have linked up with the Maoists, despite the
Naga group’s entry into an extended cease-fire agreement
with the Union Government since July 1997. The NSCN-IM
is believed to be facilitating Maoist movement, recruitment
and training in the region and, while these linkages do
not appear to have been formalized, the NSCN-IM’s ‘moral
support’ for the Maoists has been clearly articulated.
NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, after holding
two rounds of negotiation with the Government’s Chief
Interlocutor R. S. Pandey in March-April 2010, accused
the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram of being ‘arrogant’
and said the CPI-Maoist’s violence was a natural reaction
to an ‘exploitative’ State. He criticised Chidambaram’s
policy of ‘suppression’ against the Maoists and other
dissenting groups.
Subsequent
to the Maoist massacre at Chintalnar in the Dantewada
District of Chhattisgarh on April 6, 2010, security sources
revealed that if the guns used in this incident were not
all snatched from local Security Forces (SFs), and that
it was likely that some of these came from the Northeast,
ferried in oil tankers. The poorly guarded borders with
Bangladesh and Myanmar, they indicated, were now the gunrunners'
gateway to India. The region's assortment of active, ‘surrendered’
or ‘ceasefire-bound’ militants keep the clandestine trade
flowing, with a little help from SFs and private business.
"Don't think (that arms smuggling takes place through)
Kashmir and the western frontier. Those areas are well
guarded," a defence source said in Guwahati. "Whatever
goes to the rest of India, including the Maoists, comes
from areas such as Myanmar, China and Bangladesh and passes
through the Northeast." An unnamed Army officer added,
"The Maoists may snatch some weapons from the security
forces and single-barrelled and double-barrelled guns
from other people, but please understand that all their
sophisticated arms go from here."
A China
factor is also visible in the growing Maoist linkage to
the insurgencies in the Northeast. After the elimination
of senior Maoist leader Cherikuri Rajkumar alias
Azad in the Jogapur forests on the Andhra-Maharashtra
border on July 2, 2010, investigations have discovered
a Chinese connection to the Maoists. Sources indicate
that some Maoists have visited the Yunnan province in
southwest China, bordering Myanmar, and may have received
some training there as well, though there is no clear
evidence suggesting the involvement of the Chinese establishment.
Meanwhile, there has been a steady procurement of arms
by Northeast militants from China over the years, especially
from its Yunan Province, through the India-Myanmar border.
This arms supply is propelled by a major modernization
drive in the Chinese Army, resulting in the release of
vast quantities of old weapons, some of which are being
offloaded to arms dealers in the grey market. Weapons,
including AK series and M-15 rifles, LMGs, and ammunition,
discarded by the Chinese Army, are good enough for militant
groups. The managers of Chinese State-owned weapons’ establishments
are reportedly involved in this clandestine arms supply.
The United
Wa State Army (UWSA), a Chinese speaking, warring ethnic
group in north Myanmar, has acted as a broker for Chinese-produced
arms, as well as to sell weapons from their own arms factory
near Panghsang bordering China. A Jane's Intelligence
Review report in 2008 detailed UWSA’s involvement
in trafficking weapons to Myanmar and Indian insurgent
groups. Similarly, while the Kachin Independence Army
(KIA), based in the same northern regions of Myanmar,
claims to have severed ties to insurgents in India, it
is still believed to have retained such linkages, and
could be another possible conduit for weapons. Confirming
KIA’s persisting alliance with the NSCN-IM’s bete noire
National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K),
an unnamed senior Police official, in December 2009, disclosed
that newly recruited NSCN-K cadres had undergone training
under the guidance of the KIA in the Sagaing region of
Myanmar: "NSCN-K has turned to the Kachin Independent
Army for logistical help to build up bases in the twin
Districts of Arunachal Pradesh — Tirap and Changlang —
and heavily armed KIA fighters have already entered these
two Districts along the Indo-Myanmar border." Armed KIA
cadres also venture into the Northeast region.
There is
official confirmation of frequent visits by Northeast
Indian militant leaders to China, to strike arms deals,
mostly at Ruili in the Yunan Province, where ULFA ‘commander
in chief’ Paresh Baruah had already been traced. The Chinese
weapons are infact finding their way in significant numbers
into the Northeastern States through five major
routes, most of them passing through
Myanmar territory. Chinese nationals, in turn, also visit
Northeast militant camps located on the both sides of
the India-Myanmar border. NSCN-K’s ‘emissary to the collective
leadership’ Kughalu Mulatonu at a camp near Dimapur in
Nagaland on July 26, 2010, stated: "Chinese people"
often come and visit NSCN-K camps in Myanmar to hold meetings
with their leaders… They (Chinese people) openly come
to India via Delhi carrying passport and meet Mr. Khaplang."
Intelligence sources in Nagaland confirm, "In all
probability, the Chinese people visit the rebel camps
to strike deals for small arms."
In the
last week of June 2010, two Chinese nationals were arrested
by troops at Mon in Nagaland while returning from the
NSCN-K camp at Dzukou Valley in Kohima District. They
confessed that leaderships of the United National Liberation
Front (UNLF),
PLA, Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL),
People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK),
NSCN-K and ULFA had held a meeting in Bangladesh in the
recent past. These groups discussed the prevailing situation
in Manipur and Nagaland and decided in putting up a joint
front against the NSCN-IM in Manipur.
The PLA,
at that gathering, harped on the need to have a ‘good’
nexus with the CPI-Maoist, and insurgent groups of J&K
and the Northeast. The PLA declared its vision of establishing
a joint militant front, to be evolved as 'United Front',
by stating that the Maoist parties of foreign countries
are keen to forge relations with them, declaring further
that the ‘United Front’ so formed would be able to get
Chinese support, since the Chinese have promised to extend
assistance only to the militant groups when their cadre
strength reaches 30,000. The PLA on its part, claimed
the outfit would extend support to Burmese (Myanmar’s)
people for their rights in days to come.
The Maoist
insurgents are now active in nearly a third of India’s
territory and have unleashed violence on an alarming scale
in their areas of disruptive dominance. Their expansion
into the country’s Northeast, and their potential to reorganize
and revitalize the degraded and fractious insurgencies
of this region, would result in an exponential increase
in New Delhi’s troubles. Given the quality of governance
and widespread disaffection across this unstable region,
Maoist consolidation may well progress rapidly once the
group has secured initial traction. There is little evidence,
however, that this emerging threat has triggered the necessary
and appropriate responses from the national and regional
security establishment.
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Weekly
Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
August 2-8, 2010
|
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
|
BANGLADESH
|
|
|
Left Wing
Extremism
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
INDIA
|
|
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
Manipur
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
Tripura
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
|
Jharkhand
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
|
Maharashtra
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
Total
(INDIA)
|
9
|
4
|
2
|
15
|
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
|
Balochistan
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
|
FATA
|
0
|
0
|
16
|
16
|
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
7
|
|
Punjab
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
Sindh
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
4
|
|
Total
(PAKISTAN)
|
7
|
6
|
17
|
30
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
36
civilians killed in last three months in Jammu and Kashmir,
says Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken:
Union
Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken on August
4 informed the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament)
that a total of 36 civilians were killed and 1,266 Security
Force personnel injured in different violent incidents
in the Valley in the last three months. "Between June
11 and August 2, 36 civilian deaths were reported.
Total 1,266 were injured among Security Forces," Union
Minister said.
Meanwhile,
curfew was lifted from the entire Kashmir valley on
August 8.19 protesters were killed during the week in
Kashmir valley.
Times
of India, August 3-9, 2010.
JMB
and HuJI-B plotting to disrupt Independence Day celebrations:
Security
agencies have alerted the north-eastern States and Delhi
of threats from the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh
(JMB) and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B)
saying that cadres of theses outfits may have infiltrated
into India through the north-eastern states, particularly
Assam. According to intelligence intercepts, the aim
of many of these terrorists is to sabotage Independence
Day celebrations in New Delhi on August 15.
Times
of India, August 9, 2010.
No
specific threat from militants to Commonwealth Games,
says Government: The
Government on August 3 said that while there was
no specific threat for the Commonwealth Games (October
3-14), there is a "general threat'' from militant outfits who
want to strike at high profile events.
Times
of India, August 4, 2010.
No
let up in infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir, says BSF
Director General Raman Srivastava: The
Border Security Force (BSF) on August 4 said there is
no let up in infiltration attempts from across the Line
of Control (LoC) in Jammu region with militants waiting
desperately to sneak in. The BSF Director General Raman Srivastava said
the troops of the force, deployed along the LoC and
the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir,
are regularly thwarting such attempts.
Daily Excelsior, August 5, 2010.
Northeast
militant groups have links with ISI, says Minister of
State for Home Affairs M. Ramachandran: In
a reply to reports of Pakistan’s Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) establishing links with insurgent
outfits in Northeast, the Minister of State for Home
Affairs, M. Ramachandran said there are inputs of some
of the militant groups operating in the Northeast have
developed links with ISI.
Assam
Tribune, August 5, 2010.
Pakistan’s
Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani wants India out of Kabul,
says former Canadian Envoy Chris Alexander: The
Pakistan Army under General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is
pursuing a three-pronged policy, including keeping India
out of Afghan affairs, to control Kabul, a former top
Canadian envoy to Kabul and also the Deputy Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan
from 2005 until 2009, Chris Alexander, said.
Times
of India, August 3, 2010.
No
foreign money coming to Maoists, says Union Home Minister
P. Chidambaram: Denying
reports of Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
getting foreign funds, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram
on August 4 said the Maoists are getting the bulk of
their money from extortion.
Economic
Times, August 5, 2010.
Talks
with all sections in Jammu and Kashmir, says Union Home
Minster P. Chidambaram: Stressing
that the Government's priority was to win "hearts
and minds" in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister
P. Chidambaram on August 6 told the Rajya Sabha
(Upper House of Parliament) that New Delhi was reactivating
the proces s of consulting political parties. "The
answer to the problem of Jammu and Kashmir lies only
through the political process and only through dialogue
with all sections," he said replying to clarifications.
The
Hindu, August 7, 2010.
Union
Government extends cease-fire with UPDS in Assam: The
Union Government extended cease-fire with the United
People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) for six months
till December 31, an official spokesman of the Ministry
of Home Affairs (MHA) announced in New Delhi on August
3. Assam
Tribune, August 4, 2010.
Orissa
faces force shortage to fight Maoists, says Chief Minister
Naveen Patnaik: Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik on August 2 said that the State
Government has requested the Centre to send extra forces
to help tackle the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
as it lacks adequate number of forces to deal with them.
"It is a fact that adequate police force is not available
in the state," Patnaik said in the assembly while replying
to a written question.
PTI
News, August 3, 2010.
NEPAL PLA
announces fresh vacancies: The
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the Unified Communist
Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) called for applications
to fill the vacant posts in the PLA on August 3. PLA
spokesperson Chandra Prakash Khanal alias Baldev said
the PLA decided to fill the vacant posts as the National
Army carried on with the recruitment drive by breaching
the peace agreement.
Kantipur
online, August 4, 2010.
Third
round of election fails to elect a new Prime Minister:
The
third round of the Prime Ministerial election ended
inconclusively on August 2 despite some lawmakers from
the Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) crossing the floor
and voting for Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda.
Kantipur
online ;
Nepal
News, August 3, 2010.
PAKISTAN
MQM
senator and his guard shot dead in Karachi: A
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader and a member of
the Sindh Assembly, Raza Haider, and his security guard,
Khalid Khan, were shot dead by unidentified assailants
inside a mosque in the Nazimabad area of Karachi in
Sindh on August 2. Interior Minister Rehman Malik, however,
accused Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) for the assassination
of Haider.
Meanwhile,
the Karachi Police and the Intelligence Bureau is investigating
the role of a top leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Qari Muhammad Zafar alias Ustad-e-Fidayeen,
in the assassination of Raza Haider.
Daily Times, August 3-5, 2010.
Frontier
Constabulary (FC) chief killed in Peshawar: The
Frontier Constabulary (FC) chief Sifwat Ghayoor was
killed along with his three bodyguards in a suicide
attack at FC Headquarters in Peshawar, the provincial
capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on August 4.
Daily Times, August 5, 2010.
US
and UN declare HuJI a terrorist group: The
United States (US) and the United Nations (UN) on August
6 designated Pakistan based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
(HuJI) as a "Foreign Terrorist Organisation"
and targeted its ‘commander’ for supporting acts of
terrorism. Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri,
who the US labelled a "Specially Designated
Global Terrorist," will have all of his assets
frozen in US jurisdiction, and the move will
also "prohibit US persons from engaging in any
transactions with him."
The
News, August 7, 2010.
Al
Qaeda in Pakistan gravest threat to US, says US State
Department report: The United
States (US) said on August 5 that despite major setbacks,
al Qaeda’s core in Pakistan is the "most
formidable" terrorist group threatening the US,
along with affiliates in Yemen and Africa.
In an annual report, the State Department said it also
learned that Americans were not immune to the spell
of militancy, with some of them hooking up 2009 with
radicals in Pakistan and Somalia.
Daily Times, August 6, 2010.
Pakistan
vulnerable to Iranian style Islamic revolution, warns
US Congressional panel: Expressing
serious concern over increasing Islamic fundamentalism
in Pakistan that has its support in its Army
and the intelligence, a bipartisan US Congressional
independent panel has warned that the South Asian country
is "vulnerable" to an Iranian style revolution. Daily
Times, August 4, 2010.
Separated
terrorist outfits reunite and head for Punjab, indicates
report: Over
10 terrorist outfits that were earlier divided and were
carrying out their activities separately reunited on
the intervention of certain high-profile jihadis (holy
warriors) belonging to various countries, a report
said. This was decided in a high-profile meeting comprising
prominent jihadis and leaders of small
terrorist outfits in July in an area near Balochistan.
Daily Times, August 3, 2010.
Militants
pose as victims to fish in Pakistan flood waters: Taking
advantage of the internal mass migration of people in Pakistan's
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province due to heavy flooding,
militants are reportedly trying to enter Peshawar and
other Districts of the province.
Times
of India, August 4, 2010.
Islamabad
willing to consider talks with TTP, says Zardari: Pakistan President
Asif Ali Zardari on August 6 said that he’s willing
to consider negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban
(TTP) in his country. Zardari said his country had never
closed the door to talks with the Taliban. "We
never closed the dialogue," Zardari said, skirting
the question of when talks could actually resume.
Reacting
to the statement of President Asif Ali Zardari that
they had never closed the door to talks with the TTP,
the TTP militants on August 7 said that their leadership
would hold negotiations on one point i.e. complete withdrawal
of troops from all parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal
areas. .
Daily Times, August 7-8, 2010.
Can't
stop JuD 'relief work’, says Punjab Law Minister Rana
Sanaullah: Punjab
Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on August
4 said that they wouldn’t prevent Jama’at-ud-Da’awa
(JuD)’s relief work as it may end up creating goodwill
for it. "It would be impossible to stop anybody, even
if he was associated with a banned organisation in the
past from humanitarian work," he said and added that JuD chief
Hafiz Saeed was under surveillance.
Times
of india, August 5, 2010.
Islamabad
delaying execution of terrorists:
Dozens of convicted and condemned terrorists who should
have been hanged are alive and well because the Federal
Government and the Presidency are sitting over their
mercy petitions, in some cases for over five years.
The
News,August 7, 2010.
35
al Qaeda and 10 Taliban members removed from UN terror
list: 35
al Qaeda members and 10 Taliban members and affiliates
were removed from a UN sanctions terror list after an
exhaustive review of 488 names, Austria’s UN ambassador
announced on August 2. "As a result of the review of
488 names, 45 were de-listed," chairman of the UN Security
Council panel Thomas Mayr-Harting told the reporters.
Daily Times, August 3, 2010.
SRI LANKA LTTE's
international network of financial support survives
intact, says US report: Quoting
a report issued by the United States on August
5 said that although the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) lost the war on the ground in 2009, its
international financial network survived largely intact.
Colombo
Page, August 6, 2010.
Government
confiscating LTTE assets, says Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne:
Prime
Minister D.M. Jayaratne on August 3 stated that the
Government is in the process of confiscating the assets
including houses, plots of land and business establishments
that were run by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) in Colombo and the suburbs.
Daily
News, August 4, 2010.
U.S.
Homeland Security monitoring LTTE cadres aboard ship
heading to Canada: U.S.
Homeland Security is monitoring the Sri Lankan Tamil
migrant ship heading to Canada. According to reports
of Sri Lankan media there are many cadres of Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) aboard the Thai ship MV
Sun Sea.
Colombo
Page, August 5, 2010.
Major
high security zone removed in Jaffna: Sri
Lanka Security Forces announced on August 3 that a key
High Security Zone (HSZ) in the Tamil dominated Jaffna peninsula
has been removed. This HSZ was in effect for around
15 years since the Army liberated the Jaffna peninsula
from the LTTE in 1995.
Colombo
Page, August 4, 2010.
TNA
accuses Government of militarising some of the areas
in the Northern Province: The
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) accused the Government
of militarising some of the areas in the Northern Province
earlier occupied by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE). At a news conference in Colombo on August 2,
the TNA Parliamentarian Suresh Prem Chandran charged
the Government with not allowing the war-displaced civilians
to settle in their places of original habitation and
militarising vast chunks of land in the Northern Province.
The
Hindu, August 3, 2010.
War
against LTTE not a criminal act, says European Union:
Guy
Platton, Charge d’affaires of the Delegation of the
European Union (EU) said the EU never felt that it was
a criminal act on the part of the Sri Lankan Government
to wage war on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), though the EU always wanted to end the fighting
to pave the way for a negotiated settlement to avoid
massive loss of life in contravention of the Geneva
Conventions.
The
Island, August 3, 2010.
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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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