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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 10, No. 4, August 1, 2011
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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Kurram:
Operation Eyewash
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
Koh-i-Sufaid
(White Mountain), the Pakistan Army’s first major
counter-terrorism operation since the May 2, 2011, killing
of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, was launched at midnight,
July 2-3, 2011. Over 4,000 troops were deployed for a
full-fledged air and ground offensive, purportedly to
secure the heights and plains of the Central Kurram Agency
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). By
July 5, 2011, Brigadier Basharat Ahmed, Sector Commander,
Central Kurram Agency, disclosed, some 40 militants had
been killed and several areas were ‘cleared’ of militants,
including Manato, Dombeki, Gawaki and Sungroba. The forces,
Basharat claimed, ‘continued to advance’. On July 25,
2011, Major General Athar Abbas, Director General of Inter-Services
Public Relations (ISPR), added that Operation Koh-e-Sufaid
was “continuing successfully”. He said the Army was trying
to flush out the militants from the Agency, and that tribal
lashkars (militia) were lending their support to
Security Forces (SFs).
According
to the partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism
Portal, at least 133 ‘militants’ [no independent verification
of this categorization is possible, as media access to
areas of conflict is severely restricted], nine SF personnel
and four lashkar members had been killed till July
31, 2011.
The strategically
located Kurram Agency, which projects into Afghanistan
on three sides, has always been of critical importance
for Pakistan. It shares the major portion of its borders
with the troubled Logar, Paktia, Khost and Nangarhar Provinces
of Afghanistan. The al Qaeda and Taliban infested Tora
Bora Mountain range in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan
shares its boundaries with the Kurram Agency. In the north-east,
it borders with the Khyber Agency; Orakzai Agency lies
to the east; the Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KP) lies south-east, and the North Waziristan Agency
lies south. The Kurram Agency connects the tribal areas
of Pakistan to Afghanistan through lower, central and
upper Kurram. Crucially, the Thal-Parachinar route is
the shortest route to Kabul.
Escalating
sectarian violence and growing terrorist activities have
devastated the region since 2007, though sectarian violence
is nothing new to the Kurram Agency, which is the only
tribal Agency with a significant Shia population. Kurram
comprises three sub-divisions: Upper, Central and Lower
Kurram. Some 58 per cent of its population is Sunni, and
42 per cent Shia (according to the 1998 Census). The majority
of the Shias live in Upper Kurram, while Sunnis dominate
Lower and Central Kurram. The present cycle of escalation
started when three people were killed and 13 were injured,
in and attack on a Shia Imambargah (Shia place
of worship) in the morning of April 6, 2007. The Thal-Parachinar
Road, the only artery linking Kurram with other parts
of the country, has remained closed to normal traffic
since November 2007, when clashes broke out in the area.
Three years of sectarian fighting has left over 2,000
dead and at least 3,500 injured.
A truce
was declared between Sunni and Shia tribes on February
3, 2011, to end bloodshed between the two sects. A grand
jirga (tribal council) composed of tribal elders
and parliamentarians from the FATA announced a peace
accord. Headed by Malik Waris Khan
Afridi, a former Federal Minister from the Khyber Agency,
the 225-member tribal jirga took two years to arrange
a negotiated settlement. Member of National Assembly (MNA)
Sajid Turi from NA-37 (Tribal Area III) and MNA Munir
Khan Orakzai from NA-38 (Tribal Area III) constituencies
in Kurram Agency played leading roles to bring the two
sides to the negotiation table. Federal Minister of the
Interior Rehman Malik attended the News Conference announcing
the accord, to demonstrate the Government’s support for
this ‘historic’ event.
The truce
did not last long. On March 25, 2011, at least 13 passengers
were killed and eight injured, while another 33 were abducted
by suspected Sunni militants in an attack on a convoy
of Shia passenger vehicles in the Kurram Agency. The Thal-Parachinar
route was shut down again after March 25. The issue of
the forced closure of the Thal-Parachinar road in the
Kurram Agency was raised in the National Assembly on April
13, 2011. Sajid Turi, the Shia legislator from Kurram
Agency, demanded that the Government take action against
the militant groups responsible for the attacks on this
route. A military operation had appeared imminent for
some time.
On May
19, 2011, Lieutenant-General Asif Yaseen Malik, XI Corps
Commander, while addressing a jirga on Parachinar,
disclosed that a strategy was being chalked out to empty
the area of ‘trouble-makers’. “Result-oriented action
will be taken very soon,” he declared. The tribal elders
assured the military officials of full support for restoration
of peace, and demanded that paramilitary forces be replaced
with the Army in the area.
The offensive
came days after senior Tehreek--e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
‘commander’ and its Kurram chapter ‘chief’ Fazal Saeed
Haqqani deserted the group on June 27, 2011. He claimed
that he had broken with the TTP, and would form his own
anti-American group Tehreek-e-Taliban Islami (TTI). Hours
after reports of the split emerged, unidentified assailants
in a car opened fire at Shakirullah Shakir, a senior ‘commander’
and ‘spokesman’ for the Fidayeen-e-Islam faction of the
TTP. It is believed that Fazal Haqqani’s defection was
a calculated move by the Government and SFs to engineer
a split in the TTP before the start of operation.
Despite
the ongoing operation, on July 16, 2011, unidentified
militants ambushed a bus carrying Sunni Muslims and killed
all 10 passengers near Parachinar town. In retaliation,
unidentified assailants attacked a convoy of trucks, abducted
10 Shia persons and set ablaze six vehicles near Charkhel
village on the Thal-Parachinar road.
These incidents
raise crucial questions about the proclaimed ‘success’
of Operation Koh-i-Sufaid. Further, doubts have
also been raised regarding the timing and the motive of
the military Operation. Specifically, there have been
sustained reports regarding a powerful extremist consolidation
in the neighbouring North Waziristan Agency. If Islamabad
was serious about fighting terror, it would have been
expected that this would be the first target of an urgent
military operation. Sources indicated that the Operations
in the Kurram Agency are, in fact, intended to prepare
a safe-haven for militants, especially of the Jalaluddin
Haqqani Network, who would need such a refuge when operations
are launched in NWA. Indeed, the Shiite News Monitoring
desk has described Operation Koh-i-Sufaid as
“a State sponsored drama to secure the Taliban terrorists
of Waziristan and Orakzai agency as they were facing the
US drones attack on their hideouts”.
The Haqqani
Network has used the Kurram Agency area as a transit point
to launch attacks against NATO Forces across the border
in Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network was also involved,
with implicit support from Islamabad, in the Kurram Peace
Accord of February 3, 2011. The Network’s
intervention in the Kurram peace process, in fact, dates
back to 2007. Moreover, the Network’s presence in the
Kurram Agency was demonstrated by US drone strikes on
June 20, 2011, in which 12 militants, nine of them from
the Haqqani network, were killed in a compound in the
Khardand area. Khardand is a stronghold of the TTP Kurram
Agency ‘chief’ Fazal Saeed Haqqani, who has a close association
with the Jalaluddin Haqqani network. Indeed, the disassociation
of Fazal Saeed Haqqani from the TTP on June 27, just before
the start of Operation Koh-i-Sufaid has been interpreted
as an effort to shield its ally, the Jalaluddin Haqqani
Network. Significantly, there is no report of any cadre
of the Jalaluddin Haqqani Network being killed or captured
by the Pakistan Army in Operation Koh-i-Sufaid.
There are
already allegations that representatives of the United
Nations and other international organizations have been
barred from visiting the internally displaced persons
(IDPs) camp in Upper Kurram, because it has become the
safe haven of militants. Significantly, by July 26, 2011,
the number of IDPs exodus from Kurram Agency had reached
100,000, according to Sahibzada Anis, the District coordination
officer for Peshawar.
There is
much to suggest that military operations in the Kurram
Agency are part of Pakistan’s ongoing and duplicitous
campaigns against a small minority of sectarian and anti-Islamabad
terrorist formations, even as the state seeks to protect
and provide spaces to other groupings that are seen to
be instrumental in securing Pakistan’s supposed strategic
interests. Indeed, voices of dissent are now rising in
the Kurram Agency, questioning the motives and purpose
of Operation Koh-e-Sufaid and concern over the
increasing displacement of civilian populations is mounting.
The ‘success’ of the operation has also been called into
question as a result of continuing terrorist and sectarian
attacks in the Agency, as well as the continuing disruption
of normal life and the principal transportation routes
in the region.
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HuJI-B:
Potent Threat
Sanchita Bhattacharya
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
The July 13, 2011 Mumbai
blasts (13/7) which killed 26 people
has once again brought the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
Bangladesh (HuJI-B)
into the radar of a frantic international security search.
Indian agencies believe that the suspected mastermind
of the blasts, Abdullah Khan of the Indian Mujahideen
(IM), was hiding in Bangladesh, under protection of HuJI-B.
Khan’s movements had been tracked over the past months
by the National Investigation Agency, and he was known
to have been operating the IM module which was assigned
to maintain liaison with the HuJI-B. His module was known
to have recruited some new jihadists in what may
have been a joint venture with the HuJI-B. Another key
link between the HuJI-B and IM was identified as Jalaluddin
Mullah alias Babu Bhai, a resident of South-24
Parganas District of the Indian State of West Bengal,
currently lodged in a prison in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh
(India), who has also been questioned by 13/7 investigators.
A July 12, 2011, media report had noted that a dossier
prepared by the Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) indicated
an increase in HuJI activities in the recent past, after
a significant decline since 2008. There had been a spurt
in recruitment, with at least 150 youths from West Bengal
going ‘missing’. Investigations suggest that these youths
were picked up by HuJI-B cadres and recruiters and were
presently being trained to launch operations against India.
These recruits are meant to set up sleeper cells, with each of the recruits offered
INR 10,000 per month. This intelligence was developed
principally on communications intercepts by the IB, and
which also indicated that these sleeper cells would first
be set up in North India, and later would expand into
the South.
Against
this backdrop, Indian Minister of External Affairs, S.
M. Krishna’s statement, on July 9, 2011, asserting that
it was imperative for India and Bangladesh to combat terror
together, gains particular significance. Krishna declared,
“We face new challenges and non-traditional security threats.
The rise of religious fundamentalism, extremism and terrorism
are not unfamiliar to our region. Such forces sap away
the strength of our societies, threaten our state systems
and are an impediment to our advancement.” Though Krishna
did not name specific terrorist organisation, HuJI-B is
certainly a concern for both the Indian and Bangladeshi
security establishment.
Amidst
these rising concerns, a Bangladesh Court, on July 3,
2011, issued arrest warrants against, Tarique Rahman (46),
the fugitive eldest son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister
Khaleda Zia and the Senior Vice President of Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP), and 17 others, over the August
21, 2004, grenade attack on an Awami League (AL) rally
that killed 24 people and injured another 300, including
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed. The Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) formally charged Rahman and 29 others
for the attack after an "extended investigation"
into the case. The Special Superintendent, CID, Abdul
Kahhar Akhand, disclosed that their re-investigations
indicated that operatives of HuJI-B had carried out the
attack, backed by former State Minister for Home Lutfuzzaman
Babar, Khaleda Zia's Political Secretary Harish Chowdhury,
former minister and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leader Ali Ahsan
Mujaheed, and incumbent BNP lawmaker, the fugitive Mofazzal
Hossain Kaikobad.
Accordingly,
the charge-sheet included names of HuJI-B leaders and
operatives – Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, who later floated
a new outfit, the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP); Maulana
Abdul Malek; Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh
Farid; Mufti Shafiqur Rahman; Ratul Babu; and Indian national
Abdul Majed Bhat associated with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT).
The exposure
of these linkages between HuJI-B and other terror based
Islamist factions with the BNP have created a new dynamic
in Bangladesh politics of, particularly at a time of present
crisis for radical Islamist forces in the country. The
ongoing War
Crime trials have put these forces
under tremendous pressure, in turn provoking a concerted
bid on their part to enlarge their own spaces for maneuver.
HuJI-B
has been implicated in a number of terrorist attacks in
Bangladesh and abroad, particularly India, and had been
named among 12 militant outfits in a report by the Awami
League (AL) Government placed before Parliament on March
16, 2009. HuJI-B cadres had gone deep underground after
this report, and none of its senior cadres have been killed
since then, though at least 39 members of the outfit have
been arrested. Prominent among these arrests are:
May 25,
2011: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested two HuJI-B
militants, identified as Mohammad Abdus Salam (39), 'secretary'
of the Sylhet District unit and Mohammad Ashraful Islam
(30), 'secretary' of the Ishwardi sub-district unit of
Pabna District, from Savar sub-district in Dhaka District.
April 26,
2011: RAB arrested acting chief of HuJI-B, Rahmatullah
alias Sheikh Farid alias Shawkat Osman (47),
from the Tongi Railway Station area of Gazipur District.
April 25,
2011: RAB arrested two HuJI-B militants, including its
acting ‘Chief’ Abdul Hannan Sabbir and Ainul Haq, the
recruitment and secret training coordinator, from a hideout
at Keraniganj in Dhaka District.
April 15,
2010: The Detective Branch of the Police arrested the
alleged UK unit ‘chief’ of HuJI-B, Golam Mostofa (55),
from Osmaninagar in Sylhet District.
November
2, 2009: Police arrested Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, founder
of the HuJI-B, for suspected links with the August 21,
2004, grenade attack on an AL rally.
These arrests
have had significant impact on the organization, and there
have been no attacks recorded by HuJI-B in Bangladesh
since April 2009. At least 65 civilians had been killed
by the outfit between March 11, 2000, and March 15, 2009.
No act of violence involving the group has since been
recorded within the country.
In neighboring
India, however, HuJI-B continues to pose a significant
threat. Apart from its suspected involvement in the 13/7
attacks, the outfit is also believed to have been behind
the February 13, 2010, Pune (Maharashtra) blast, in which
17 persons were killed – the first major attack in the
Indian heartland since the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Significantly,
two days after the blast, Ilyas Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade,
which controls HuJI-B, claimed responsibility for the
attack. Subsequently, on July 9, 2010, intelligence agencies
issued an alert about the possible penetration of 31 operatives
of Bangladesh-based outfits — HuJI-B and JeI — into India,
with the intention of carrying out terror strikes. Prior
to the 26/11 attacks, HuJI-B had been involved in a large
number of joint and independent strikes,
including at least one suicide bombing, in India.
Nevertheless,
the surviving leadership at large still possesses the
capacity to create trouble. HuJI-B was angered following
the arrest of its top leaders, including Sheikh Farid.
Intelligence sources indicate that Maulana Yeahia has
now taken charge of the outfit. Yeahia received training
in Pakistan in 1998 and, on his return to Bangladesh,
joined HuJI-B. He is known to have been involved in the
fighting in Afghanistan. Despite the increasing pressure
on the organization, finances do not present any significant
problem. The arrested HuJI-B leader Rahmatullah alias
Sheikh Farid alias Shawkat Osman, disclosed, on
April 26, 2011, that the organization received financial
aid from some 3,000-4,000 associates working in different
countries of the Middle East.
Bangladesh
has taken firm steps to quell violent Islamist extremist
groupings operating on and from its soil, but it is clear
that these groups have not abandoned their ideology or
their objectives, and that they retain significant capacities,
though pressure by intelligence and enforcement agencies
has pushed them underground. Recent evidence, however,
indicates some increased activity, including joint efforts
with other Islamist formations such as IM, to expand capacities.
The network of supporting establishments in Bangladesh,
including a large number of sympathetic mosques and madrassas,
as well as training establishments, has not been dismantled.
Some of the Government’s recent measures, including the
introduction of the 15th Amendment Bill of
the Constitution on June 30,2011, which gives Islam the
status of the ‘State Religion’, may well expand the spaces
for radical Islamist politics in the country, legitimizing
extremist formations and radical political parties such
as the JeI. These are the very forces that have repeatedly
jeopardized stability and development in Bangladesh in
the past, and the state will have to remain extraordinarily
vigilant if they are not to return to prominence in the
proximate future.
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Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in
South Asia
July 25-31, 2011
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Jammu &
Kashmir
|
1
|
4
|
2
|
7
|
Maharastra
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
6
|
Manipur
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Bihar
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
Chhattisgarh
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Odisha
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
Total (INDIA)
|
16
|
4
|
3
|
23
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
24
|
0
|
0
|
24
|
FATA
|
7
|
2
|
48
|
57
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Sindh
|
75
|
0
|
0
|
75
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
107
|
2
|
48
|
157
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Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
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INDIA
Union
Home Minister P. Chidambaram warns
about threat from home-grown terror
outfits: Union Home Minister P.
Chidambaram on July 26 described home-grown
terror groups as experts in destruction,
and said the threat from such outfits
was pretty high. "They (indigenous
terror groups) are no longer fledgling
outfits. They have established several
modules and they have gained expertise
in assembling bombs and transporting
bombs," Chidambaram observed. PTI,
July 27, 2011.
Kashmiri
separatist leader Gulam Nabi Fai admits
taking money from ISI: Kashmiri
separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai,
accused of being an Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI) agent and funneling
its money into the US to influence
American lawmakers on Kashmir, has
admitted to taking money from ISI.
During his detention hearing on July
26, the prosecution said that Fai,
the head of Kashmiri American Council,
had admitted to receiving funds from
the ISI. His attorneys, Nina Ginsberg
and Khurram Wahid, claimed that though
Fai took money from ISI, he never
toed their line. Indian
Express, July
28, 2011.
India
to approach global body over Pakistan's
'terror funding': India plans
to approach a global inter-governmental
body - Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) - asking it to treat the issue
of 'fake currency notes' as an instrument
of 'terror funding'. New Delhi will
back its demand by presenting an exhaustive
paper to the global forum. Times
of India,
July 30, 2011.
Maoists
set for urban outreach, says report:
The Communist Party of India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist) is planning to spread
their tentacles in urban areas after
consolidating their position in rural
pockets. At a high-level meeting of
senior Maoist leaders held recently,
a plan has been chalked out to re-organise
the organisational set-up of the CPI-Maoist.
Meanwhile,
the Police of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh will now
focus on identifying and cracking
down on persons and organisations
providing financial and other support
to the CPI-Maoist, said Inspector
General (range) R. P. Singh. He said
the senior Police officers from Maoist-affected
Jharkhand, Bihar and other neighbouring
States discussed the strategies to
combat the Maoist-menace during the
meeting. Telegraph;
Times
of India,
July 26-27, 2011.
Collaboration
between Maoists and northeast militants'
is active and growing, claims intelligence
official: There is increasing
evidence of very active and growing
collaboration between the Communist
Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
and militant groups of northeast India,
an unnamed intelligence agency official
said. "Since 2009, insurgents from
India's northeast have been visiting
Jharkhand and imparting training to
Maoist cadres who are very keen on
acquiring training on IEDs and battle
tactics like how to conduct an ambush.
The number of such exchanges is growing,"
the source said alluding to the involvement
of Manipuri and Naga groups. Hindustan
Times, July
26, 2011.
West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
gives "go-ahead" to talks with Maoists:
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee on July 29 gave the "go-ahead"
for talks with the Communist Party
of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) after
receiving a "positive response" from
the Maoist leadership.
Earlier,
the Centre had warned the State that
Maoists continue to regroup and train
cadre in Jungle Mahal (West Midnapore,
Purulia and Bankura Districts) area.
Economic
Times; Telegraph,
July 26-30, 2011.
NEPAL
UCPN-M warns to withdraw support:
The Unified Communist Party of
Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) has warned to
withdraw its support to the Government
if Prime Minister (PM) Jhala Nath
Khanal fails to reshuffle the Maoist
ministers as per the decision of its
Central Committee meeting. A meeting
of Maoist office bearers on July 29
also decided to call the party's Standing
Committee meeting to discuss the issue.
ekantipur,
July 30, 2011.
PAKISTAN
75
persons killed in Sindh during the
week: A total of 75 persons were
killed in Sindh. Six persons were
killed in Karachi on July 18; another
12 on July 26; 11 on July 27; four
on July 28; 11 on July 29: 16 on July
30 and 15 on July 31.
Dawn;
Daily
Times; The
News; Tribune,
July 26-August 1, 2011.
48
militants and seven civilians among
57 persons killed during the week
in FATA: At least 12 militants
were killed in the ongoing Army operation
Brekhna (lightning) in Mohammad
Agency of Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA) on July 31.
Nine
militants were killed and six volunteers
of a tribal lashkar (militia)
were injured in a clash in Masozai
area of Kurram Agency on July 28.
Two
volunteers of a tribal lashkar
and a trooper were killed as the ongoing
military operation Brekhna
in Mohmand Agency entered its third
phase on July 27.
At
least 27 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) militants and four tribesmen
of peace lashkar were killed
in gunfight in Masozai area of Kurram
Agency on July 25.
Dawn; Daily
Times; The
News; Tribune,
July 26-August 1, 2011.
24
persons killed during the week in
Balochistan: Unidentified militants
opened fire on people at a bus stop
on Spiny road in Quetta killing 11
people and injuring several others
on July 30.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
(LeJ) militants killed at least seven
people, including four Shias, waiting
to travel to Mashhad in Iran, at Taftan
bus terminal on Saryab Road on July
29.
Dawn; Daily
Times; The
News; Tribune,
July 26-August 1, 2011.
Security
Forces behind enforced disappearances
in Balochistan, reveals HRW Report:
The Pakistan Government should immediately
end widespread disappearances of suspected
militants and activists by the military,
intelligence agencies, and the Frontier
Corps in Balochistan, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said in a report released
on July 29. Several of those "disappeared"
were among the dozens of people extra-judicially
executed in recent months in the resource-rich
and violence-wracked province.
Meanwhile,
the provincial Government on July
27 sought more time from the Balochistan
High Court to contact the centre for
former President General Pervez Musharraf's
extradition and others accused of
being involved in the August 26, 2006
murder of former Balochistan Chief
Minister Nawab Akbar Bugti. Tribune;
Daily
Times, July
28-29, 2011.
JuD
Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed vows to
enter India: Jama'at-ud-Dawa (JuD)
chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed addressing
a meeting in Pakistan's Punjab Province
on July 25 vowed to enter India through
Jammu and Kashmir. Saeed, the mastermind
of the 26/11 attacks, said, "From
the door of Kashmir we will launch
Gazwah-e-Hind (battle for Hindustan)."
Indian
Express, July
26, 2011.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir
planned 'Arab spring' in Pakistan,
warns intelligence agencies: Intelligence
agencies warned that the Hizb-ut-Tahrir
(HuT) was planning an Egypt style
uprising in Pakistan by seeking support
from 'like-minded' elements within
the Armed Forces. In a correspondence
among the Punjab Police, the Directorate
of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI),
and the Government in April 2011,
made available to Express Tribune,
there was a clear warning of the outfit
attempting a 'deep infiltration' of
the military and academia. Tribune,
July 26, 2011.
TTP
claims to have Swiss hostages:
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
on July 29 said they were holding
Swiss couple, Olivier David Och (31)
and Daniela Widmar (28), abducted
on July 1 while on holiday in the
province of Balochistan. TTP 'deputy
chief' Waliur Rehman demanded they
be exchanged for Pakistani scientist,
Aafia Siddiqui, jailed in the US.
He said, "If America does not agree
to her release then our shura (council)
will take a decision about the Swiss
hostages." Daily
Times, July
30, 2011.
TTP
added to UN terrorist sanctions list:
The United Nations (UN) Security Council
on July 29 put the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) on its international
anti-terrorism sanctions list in a
move highlighting the growing threat
from the outfit. The TTP have been
blamed for attacks in Pakistan as
well as is linked to an attempted
bombing in Times Square of New York
May 1, 2010. Daily
Times, July
30, 2011.
Al
Qaeda on the brink of collapse, reveal
US report: America's counterterrorism
officials believe that al Qaeda is
on the brink of collapse. "United
States (US) counterterrorism officials
are increasingly convinced that the
killing of Osama bin Laden on May1
and the toll of seven years of Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) drone strikes
have pushed al Qaeda to the brink
of collapse," said US officials. Indian
Express, July
28, 2011.
Interior
Minister Rehman Malik pledges to prosecute
''nine non-state actors'' in 26/11
case: Pakistan Interior Minister
Rehman Malik on July 28 reiterated
that "nine non-state actors" facing
trial in a Rawalpindi court for their
involvement in the November 26, 2008
Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known
as 26/11), would be convicted. "I'm
hopeful, with the credible evidence
which we have brought on record with
the court we know that they will be
inshallah convicted." Malik said.
PTI,
July 29, 2011.
ISI
chief Lieutenant-General Shuja Pasha
asks US to stop drone strikes:
Pakistan on July 30 asked the United
States to stop the CIA-run unmanned
air strikes into its tribal areas.
According to diplomatic sources, Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant-General
Shuja Pasha told acting CIA Director
Michael J. Morell that the raids had
become a major source of embarrassment
for the Pakistani Government. Daily
Times, July
31, 2011.
US
money funding Afghan Taliban, reveals
report:A year-long military-led
investigation has concluded that United
States (US) taxpayer money has been
indirectly funnelled to the Afghan
Taliban under a USD 2.16 billion transportation
contract that the US has funded in
part to promote Afghan businesses,
Washington Post reported. Citing
an unreleased investigation, the report
said the findings provide seemingly
definitive evidence that corruption
puts US transportation money into
Taliban hands. Daily
Times, July
26, 2011.
SRI LANKA
Rehabilitated
LTTE cadres ready to fight again if
life doesn't improve, claims Radio
Netherlands report: Radio Netherlands
Worldwide (RNW) claimed on July
27 that rehabilitated Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres are ready
to fight again if life doesn't improve.
The RNW team, who visited Sri Lanka
recently interviewed a group of nine
rehabilitated combatants, six men
and three women, said the group complained
to the RNW team about lack of freedom
referring to many military checkpoints
they have to go through in the North.
The ex-fighters told that they have
to sign a monthly 'good behavior report'
and the Police are suspicious of them.
Colombo
Page, July
28, 2011.
Decision
to reduce the parliamentary seats
from ten to six for Jaffna not fair,
says TNA: The Tamil National Alliance
(TNA) on July 28 said the decision
of the Elections Department to reduce
the number of parliamentary seats
allocated to the Jaffna District,
from ten to six, was unfair. TNA parliamentarian
Suresh Premachandran told the media
that the decision to reduce the parliamentary
seats was not a fair decision. Colombo
Page, July
29, 2011.
Government
resettles over 11,000 families in
the North: The Sri Lankan Government
has resettled over 11,000 families
in Thelippalai just outside the Palali
High Security Zone (HSZ) in the North.
The Attorney General's Department
has informed the Supreme Court that
11,879 families consisting of 38,637
members have been re-settled in ValiKamam
North, when only 6,928 families consisting
of 25,114 members were to be re-settled
there. Colombo
Page, July
30, 2011.
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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