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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 10, No. 45, May 14, 2012
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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Maoists:
Southern Forays
Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
On May
9, 2012, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitendra
Singh told the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament),
that the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
was seeking to ‘revive’ activities deep in India’s South,
in the States of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu:
The
CPI-Maoist is making forays into Karnataka, Kerala
and Tamil Nadu under the supervision of its South
West Regional Bureau and is planning to link the
Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghats through these
states. Their (Maoists’) plan includes creating
a base on the border of Kerala and Karnataka and
establishing a forest route from Wayanad District
in Kerala to Mysore District in Karnataka.
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Singh also
states that, “The CPI-Maoist are (sic) gradually
expanding their activities in these States.”
There appears
to be a degree of inconsistency between these claims and
the Union Ministry of Home Affair’s (UMHA) own recent
claims that Left Wing Extremist (LWE) activities in these
States had been on a continuous decline. Interestingly,
the MHA, in its reply
to a query by the Institute for Conflict Management,
under the Right to Information Act, disclosed, on January
20, 2012, that the number of Districts afflicted by LWE
violence or activities in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu, had declined from 14, 9 and 9, respectively, in
2008 to 8, 8 and 4, respectively, in 2011.
The Maoists’
‘southern forays’ are nothing new. In their August 3,
2002, Draft Report on
Social Conditions and Tactics,
the Karnataka State Committee of the then Communist Party
of India – Marxist Leninist – Peoples’ War (also known
as the People’s War Group, PWG, which merged into the
CPI-Maoist in September 2004) under the head The Perspective
Area observed:
The
Western Ghats, with an average width of about 100
kilometres, runs from North to South for about 2,200
kms… It passes through Kerala, TN, Karnataka, Goa,
Maharashtra and Gujarat...The longest part, the
widest and deepest forests of the Western Ghats
are located in Karnataka… The Western Ghats that
runs through Karnataka is called as the Malnad (sic).
The Western Ghats has its strategic significance
for peoples’ war in India owing to the forest and
mountainous terrain... It would not be an exaggeration,
owing to all these factors, to call the Malnad as
the strategic midrib of peoples’ war in Karnataka...
The Perspective Area falls in the central part of
Malnad... Today we have initiated our work in one
part of the Perspective Area.
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Further,
at the time of its formation in 2004, the CPI-Maoist had
announced five ‘regional bureaus’, including the South
Western Regional Bureau which was to oversee activities
in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.
Karnataka
was seen as the gateway for the Naxalites (LWEs) to move
deeper South, and a beginning was made in the Tumkur District
as far back as in the late 1970s, gradually spreading
into the Malnad region, gaining prominence when Kudremukh
was declared a National Park in 2001. Reports indicated
that the Naxalite presence was noticed in Kudremukh National
Park in 1998, while evidence of LWE violence made its
first appearance in the region on November 6, 2002, when
an elderly woman, Cheeramma, suffered injuries when a
bullet hit her accidently during an LWE training exercise
at Menasinahadya in Koppa taluk (revenue unit)
of the Chikmagalur District. On August 6, 2003, the first
encounter took place between the Police and an LWE team
spotted near the house of one Ramachandra Gowdlu in Singsar
village of Kudremukh in the same District.
These incipient
forays, however, suffered a major setback on February
6, 2005, when the Police killed Saketh
Rajan aka Prem, 'secretary'
of the Karnataka State Committee of the erstwhile People's
War Group (PWG), and his aide, Shivalingu, at Baligegudda
in Menasinahadya in Chikmagalur District. In retaliation,
seven Police personnel and a civilian were killed, and
another five sustained injuries, when approximately 300
suspected CPI-Maoist cadres attacked a Karnataka State
Reserve Police camp with hand grenades, bombs and small
arms at Venkammanahalli in the Tumkur District on February
11, 2005.
On February
28, 2005, the CPI-Maoist formed a new 'State Committee',
with C.M. Noor Zulfikar aka Sridhar as 'state secretary'.
The Maoist expansion in Karnataka, as well as their efforts
further south were however, thwarted for some time. Nevertheless,
on September 5, 2006, then Karnataka Chief Minister H.D.
Kumaraswamy disclosed that 13 Districts in the State were
affected by LWE activities, and roughly 200 Maoist cadres
were operating in the State, of which 60 had formed ‘two
or three armed groups’ in the Malnad region.
With many
ups and downs, the Naxalites had strengthened their position
by 2009. Gopal B. Hosur, then Inspector-General of Police
(Western Range), Karnataka, on June 30, 2010, had claimed
that the Western Range, consisting of Udupi, Mangalore
and Chikmagalur Districts, was ‘worst hit’ by Naxalite
violence. According to Hosur, moreover, at least 25 front
organizations of the Maoists were operating in the State.
Significantly, the Shimoga Superintendent of Police, S.
Murugan, was provided Z category security following threats
from the Maoists on September 2, 2009. The rising Maoist
threat in Karnataka resulted in massive combing operations
by the Police towards the end of 2009, which appear to
have decimated the Maoist ranks in the State.
On June
13, 2010, the Andhra Pradesh Police arrested Karnataka
‘state committee chief’, Chandrashekhar Gorebal, in the
Mahabubnagar District of Andhra Pradesh. During interrogation,
Gorebal acknowledged that the Maoists were facing a crisis
of both recruitment and resources in the Western Ghats
of Karnataka. Gorebal stated, “I’m not sure of the exact
numbers. The working cadres will know better. Maybe 20-
25 are full time. The problem is, not all are permanent
members… We might not have the capacity to provide weapons
to all members.”
Thereafter,
the State Government continued to claim that Maoist activity
in Karnataka was on the decline. On February 1, 2011,
then Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa stated
that Karnataka had “almost eliminated” the CPI-Maoist
menace, though “a handful of Maoists” remained active.
Similarly, on December 30, 2011, the then State Home Minister
R. Ashoka claimed, "Naxalism in Karnataka is on the
decline”. More recently, on May 2, 2012, the Director
General of Police (DGP) A. R. Infant, disclosed that no
more than some 40 CPI-Maoist cadres were estimated to
be active in the State.
Nor have
the Maoist efforts in the other southern States met with
any exemplary success. After their ‘social investigation’
of Kerala in 2004, the Maoists established an ‘urban area’
of activity in Kochi, and a unit each in South and North
Wayanad. On October 23, 2007, the then State Home Minister
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan observed that some Naxalite activities
had been noticed in the State: “There are reports that
Naxal leaders frequent and stay in the State to hold meetings,
and Police have been asked to be vigilant.” On December
17, 2007, the Central Committee member of the CPI-Maoist,
Malla Raji Reddy aka Sattenna, was arrested from
Angamaly town in the Ernakulam District, Kerala. Further,
a November 14, 2011, report suggested that at least half
a dozen Maoist cadres from Kerala had been sent to Jharkhand
for military training. Nevertheless, the Maoists failed
to establish a significant presence in Kerala. On May
2, 2012, Director General of Police, Jacob Punnose, claimed,
"It is suspected that extremist elements are present
in the forests in Kerala. There could be groups having
links with Maoists from states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand
and Odisha in state's forests". However, he stressed
that there was no evidence to show that they were directly
engaged in any ‘extremist activity’ within the State.
As in the
cases of Karnataka and Kerala, the Naxalites have had
some presence in Tamil Nadu since the 1970s. The Naxalites
established contact with the Tamil Nadu Communist Party-Marxist
Leninist (TNCP-ML), which was formed in 1984-85 after
a split between the Communist Party of India–Marxist Leninist
(CPI-ML) and its Tamil Nadu unit. On November 16, 2006,
then Director General of Police, D. Mukherjee, stated
in Chennai that the Tamil Nadu Police had increased surveillance
in four Districts of the State bordering Andhra Pradesh,
where Maoists were believed to have established a presence
– Vellore, Thiruvallore, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri –
to prevent the infiltration of Maoists. However, the rebels’
efforts have borne little fruit and, on November 29, 2011,
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General K.
Vijay Kumar asserted that Tamil Nadu was free of the Maoist
menace, and there was no need to carry out any search
operations against them in the State. On April 24, 2012,
Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa stated that there was no
Maoist or Naxalite activity in Tamil Nadu.
The Security
Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme, under which the Centre
compensates the States for expenditure on certain categories
of internal security activities, has been expanded
to cover 103 Districts across the country, with effect
from April 1, 2012, up from the earlier 83 Districts.
Significantly, not a single District under the SRE Scheme
falls under any of these three States. Districts ‘worst
affected’ by Maoist activity are included in the SRE scheme.
The Maoists’
‘southern foray’, consequently, is old hat, and has been
visibly unsuccessful. There is, however, little space
for complacency, and the Maoists have certainly not given
up on the possibility of reviving their activities in
this region. Indeed, the success of the mobilization in
Karnataka under Saketh Rajan in the early 2000s should
be warning enough of the potential of Maoist mobilization
under sustained efforts and propitious leadership.
Moreover,
despite significant
reverses, decline in violence, some
shrinkage in operational areas, and a dramatic attrition
at top leadership levels, the Maoist threat across India
remains grave, and the rebels’ capacities for a strategic
resurgence have been repeatedly demonstrated in the past.
Evidence of a determined
push to establish capabilities in
India’s chronically troubled Northeast is very real and
disturbing. On May 9, 2012, four Maoists, including top
‘commander’ Siddhartha Buragohain, were killed in Assam,
and three AK-47s, and quantities of grenades and ammunition
were recovered, dramatically underlining a strengthening
Maoist presence in the State. The data made available
to ICM under the RTI query to the UMHA indicates that
Maoist-affected Districts in Assam have risen from just
four in 2008, to 10 in 2011. Significantly, UMHA data
indicates that even the national capital, Delhi, has seen
an increase in the Maoist presence, with the number of
affected Districts increasing from three in 2008, to seven
in 2011. On May 8, 2012, UMHA also disclosed that the
Maoists command a 46,600 strong ‘army’ across the country
– including 8,600 ‘hard core’ armed cadres, and 38,000
jan (people’s) militia.
Tremendous
caution is, consequently, necessary, and the UMHA’s effort
to “sensitize” the “state Governments of Kerala, Karnataka
and Tamil Nadu” and to advise them “to take preventive
and pre-emptive measures to foil the efforts of the CPI-Maoist
aimed at revival of its movement in these States”, are
not misplaced, despite the reverses the rebels have suffered
in these States. Incoherence and a continuous falsification
of assessments have undermined the responses of State
Governments in many of the Maoist-afflicted or targeted
States, and India has already paid a terrible price for
such distortions. Constant vigilance is, consequently,
an imperative, even where the dangers appear, on visible
indices, to be receding.
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Indian
Mujahideen: Mutating Threat
Sanchita Bhattacharya
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
Disclosures
by Indian Mujahideen (IM)
cadres arrested since November 2011, and subsequent
investigations have brought to light the consolidation
of new leadership of the group in India, as well as
the emergence of new bases of operation. The IM is a
faction within the Students’ Islamic Movement of India
(SIMI),
and has been responsible for a series of terrorist attacks
across the country.
Recent
reports indicate that Yasin Bhatkal alias Mohammed
Ahmed Sidibapa alias Imran alias Shahrukh
had emerged as IM’s ‘operational chief’ on Indian soil,
and was the link between the Bhatkal brothers- Riyaz
Ismile Shahbandri alias Riyaz Bhatkal alias
Roshan Khan alias Aziz Bhai alias Mohmad
Bhai, and Iqbal Ismail Shahbandri alias Iqbal
Bhatkal alias Mohammed Bhai, who escaped to Pakistan
during the 2008 Security Forces (SF) onslaught on the
group, and are now in Karachi, on the one hand; and
the IM cadres in India, on the other. Recent disclosures
also indicate the emergence of new modules based in
Bihar, specifically in the Samastipur, Darbhanga and
Madhubani Districts, which have become increasingly
active in the recent past.
Maharashtra
Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) Chief Rakesh Maria, according
to January 25, 2012, news report, stated that
the IM had first recruited youth from the Cheetah Camp
in Trombay (Maharashtra), then from Kondwa in Pune (Maharashtra),
later from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh (UP), but had now
established a significant presence in Darbhanga, Bihar.
Another ATS officer, who preferred anonymity, explained,
further,
…
[Yasin] Bhatkal also made Bihar a base at which
he could receive hawala money through Pakistan
via Dubai. He also helped Pakistan's ISI circulate
counterfeit notes in India by first landing them
in Bihar… In 2008, when the Mumbai crime branch
arrested 21 IM members for 11 blasts, including
the Ahmedabad and Jaipur blasts, IM founding member
Riyaz Bhatkal and his associates went underground.
At the same time, the Delhi police carried out
the Batla House operation in which IM man Atif
and a Police Inspector were killed. IM's key members,
like Riyaz Bhatkal, Mohsin Choudhary, Iqbal Bhatkal,
Abu Rashid, Dr Shanuwaz, Bada Sajid and Salman,
fled to Pakistan. Yasin Bhatkal sheltered with
his friend Gayoor Jamali at Darbhanga..”
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Police
sources indicated, further, that Yasin Bhatkal had indoctrinated
and trained an estimated three dozen youth in Darbhanga
District.
It was
the investigations based on revelations made by cadres
arrested since the end of 2011 that underlined the surviving
potential of the IM. Unsettled by two high profile attacks
– the serial blasts at Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and
Kabutarkhana in Mumbai on July 13, 2011, which claimed
26 lives; and the Delhi High Court blast on September
7, 2011, which claimed 15 lives – intelligence and enforcement
agencies intensified their search for the responsible
terrorist modules.
Between
November 22 and November 27, 2011, the agencies arrested
seven IM cadres, including six from the Bihar module,
and one Pakistani national. Mohammed Qateel Siddiqui
originally from Darbhanga, was arrested from Delhi on
November 22; Gauhar Aziz Khomani also from Darbhanga,
was arrested in Delhi on November 23; Gayur Ahmad Jamali
originally from Madhubani (Bihar), was arrested from
Darbhanga on November 24; Mohammad Adil alias
Ajmal of Karachi, trained by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)
as a shooter, and sent by the Bhatkal brothers first
to Nepal and then to India to recruit local Muslims
for terror attacks, was arrested from Madhubani on November
25; Abdur Rehman of Darbhanga, was arrested in Chennai
(Tamil Nadu) on November 27; and Mohammad Irshad Khan
from Samastipur (Bihar), was arrested in Chennai on
November 27.
Several
other cadres of the Bihar module have since been arrested
from across the country, prominently including:
May 7,
2012: IM operative Kafeel Akhtar, co-conspirator of
the Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore, was arrested
from Keoti in Darbhanga.
March
27, 2012: Assadullah Rehman alias Dilkash, originally
from Darbhanga and an aide of Yasin Bhatkal, was arrested
in Delhi.
February
21, 2012: IM ideologue and main recruiter, Mohammad
Kafeel Ahmed, was arrested from Darbhanga in Bihar.
February
5, 2012: IM ideologue Talha Abdali alias Bashir
Hasan alias Israr alias Masterji, was
arrested from Barabanki in UP.
February
3, 2012: An alleged founding member of IM, Mohammad
Tariq Anjuman Ehsan, was arrested at Nalanda in Bihar.
January
12, 2012: Naqi Ahmed Wasi and Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaq,
who reportedly executed the July 13, 2007, Mumbai attacks
(also known as 13/7), were arrested from Mumbai (Maharashtra).
Significantly,
reports indicate that the Bihar module was behind the
April 17, 2010, Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore
(Karnataka); the February 13, 2010, German Bakery blast
in Pune (Maharashtra); and the September 19, 2010, Jama
Masjid shooting in Delhi. A December 4, 2011,
report citing Intelligence Bureau (IB) and State security
agency sources, claimed that IM had established at least
seven sleeper cells in North Bihar.
The consolidation
in Bihar has not been at the expense of other areas
where the IM has had a history of activity. Its presence
remains strong in UP, particularly in the Azamgarh District;
as well as in Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West
Bengal and Maharashtra, with significant recruitment
continuing in each of these areas. Further, IM has been
able to establish safe havens in other countries as
well. Pakistan, of course, continues to host the top
IM leadership, including the Bhatkal brothers. Recent
reports also indicate that nearly 50 IM cadres are stationed
in Sharjah, under the protection of Riyaz Bhatkal and
Amir Reza Khan.
IM is
the first India-based terrorist group to be designated
as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the US,
according to a September 19, 2011, notification, and
has demonstrated its lethality as a terrorist outfit.
Significantly, SIMI, the IM’s parent group, has not
been banned by the US, though the Indian Government
has proscribed both the IM, on June 4, 2010, and SIMI,
since on September 27, 2001. Meanwhile, the Indian Union
Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) on April 30, 2012, named
the Maharashtra-based Khair-e-Ummat Trust as one of
SIMI’s fronts/ pseudonymous organisations. The UMHA’s
“background note on the Student Islamic Movement of
India (SIMI),” mentions another four organisations as
SIMI ‘fronts' at the national level – Tahreek-e-Ahyaa-e-Ummat
(TEU), Tehreek-Talaba-e-Arabia (TTA), Tahrik Tahaffuz-e-Sha’air-e-Islam
(TTSI) and Wahdat-e-Islami. The MHA, however, has not
banned these groups.
Announcing
its ‘arrival’ on India’s terrorist terrain, the IM had
claimed responsibility for the serial blasts in court
compounds in Faizabad, Lucknow and Varanasi, in UP,
on November 23, 2007. Reports indicate that Mujahedeen-e-Islam
Hind was the precursor to the IM. Since its consolidation
under this identity, the IM has been involved in over
a dozen high profile attacks, including the May 13,
2008, Jaipur (Rajasthan) bombings; the July 25, 2008,
Bangalore (Karnataka) serial blasts; the July 26, 2008,
Ahmadabad (Gujarat) serial blasts; the September 13,
2008, Delhi serial blasts; the Pune German Bakery blasts
of February 13, 2010; and the Mumbai serial blasts of
July 13, 2011.
Apart
from Riaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, Yasin Bhatkal, Amir
Reza Khan and Abdul Subhan Qureshi, are listed among
IM’s top leaders. While, Yasin heads “operations in
India”, Reza Khan is now a wealthy businessman in Pakistan
and coordinates the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI)
chapters in India, according to intelligence sources.
Reports also indicate that Qureshi was the author of
several IM emails, signed off as al-Arabi, and is believed
to operate under the direct patronage of Pakistan’s
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), like the Bhatkal
brothers.
SIMI
had progressively become enmeshed in terrorist activities,
initially providing support to other terrorist formation,
including the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, LeT, HuJI and JeM,
but gradually partnering these outfits in multi-group
operations. Eventually, the most radical elements within
SIMI went on to form IM, with SIMI continuing as the
‘feeder agency’ for IM recruits. IM leaders like Mohammad
Sadique Issar Sheikh, Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal,
Amir Reza Khan and Tariq Ismail, have all graduated
from SIMI. On February 23, 2012, IM ideologue and principal
recruiter, Mohammad Kafeel Ahmed, confirmed that SIMI’s
vast networks were now being used by IM.
The ties
of the IM-SIMI complex with global Islamist organizations,
including LeT, HuJI, the Pakistani intelligence agencies,
as well as mafia elements have been well established.
These linkages enhance the group’s capabilities, and
also create the potential for the expansion of the wider
Islamist terrorist networks across India. Indeed, LeT
initially extended its activities outside Jammu &
Kashmir (J&K) through criminal networks accessed
through the connections of IM core members – Riyaz Bhatkal
and Amir Reza Khan. The June 2010 testimony of LeT operative
David Coleman Headley, to the National Investigation
Agency (NIA), confirmed information regarding the “Karachi
Project” – the ISI-LeT brainchild, under which IM recruits
were trained to engage in subversive and terrorist activities
in India. Headley had confessed to involvement in the
26/11 Mumbai attacks, part of the same “Karachi Project”.
The mafia and criminal nexus of Islamists have also
helped in intensifying IM activities. Notably, Mohammad
Sadique Issar Sheikh, a conspirator of February 23,
2005, Varanasi blast, worked with Aftab Ansari and Dubai
based criminal Asif Raza Khan. Moreover, two IM suspects
were arrested from their hideout in Buldhana District
of Maharashtra on March 27, 2012. The arrested persons,
according to Police, had carried out a spate of bank
robberies in Madhya Pradesh and used the money for terror
funding. "The gang had also spent the money on
legal expenses of their aides who are behind the bars
now," an unnamed Police officer disclosed.
Significantly,
both the 13/7 Mumbai attacks and Delhi High Court Blast
of September 7, 2011, reportedly carried out by IM,
were funded by hawala money transferred from
Pakistan through the terrorist-mafia networks backed
by Pakistan. The money had been laundered through an
old LeT conduit, identified as Wali Aziz alias
Rehan, who operated out of Dubai. Naqi Ahmed Wasi, one
of the accused, arrested on January 12, 2012, confessed
that he was given INR 150,000 by Yasin Bhatkal as commission
for the 13/7 blasts. At least INR 1 million, received
through hawala channels, was provided for this
plot.
According
to Institute for Conflict Management data, a
total of 132 IM/SIMI cadres have been arrested, in 59
incidents, from across the country, since the Batla
House encounter of September 19, 2008. Nevertheless,
the IM continues to retain significant capacities for
terrorism and, more significantly, given sustained Pakistani
support and the widespread SIMI networks, tremendous
potential for renewal, revival, and a continuous reinvention
of its destructive enterprise. The 2011 attacks in Mumbai
and Delhi are a warning to India’s security agencies,
not only that India remains tremendously vulnerable
to terrorist violence, but also to the dynamic capacity
of even small terrorist formations to transform and
revitalize themselves, despite devastating losses.
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Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
May 7-13,
2012
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
1
|
0
|
6
|
7
|
Manipur
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
Chhattisgarh
|
1
|
6
|
0
|
7
|
Maharashtra
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Odisha
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
Total
(INDIA)
|
4
|
7
|
16
|
27
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
7
|
FATA
|
16
|
26
|
41
|
83
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Punjab
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
Sindh
|
18
|
0
|
1
|
19
|
Total
(PAKISTAN)
|
42
|
33
|
42
|
117
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
BANGLADESH
JeI
founder indicted
for war crimes:
The war crimes tribunal
of Bangladesh has
indicted Ghulam
Azam, founder of
Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI) in former
East Pakistan, on
charges of incitement,
conspiracy, planning,
murder, abetment
and failure to prevent
crimes against humanity
during the country's
liberation war in
1971. The International
Crimes Tribunal-1
framed the charges
on May 13 and fixed
June 5 for starting
the trial of Azam,
who is considered
the mentor of JeI
that took up arms
to defend Pakistan
alongside the Pakistani
Army in the Bangladesh
war in 1971. The
Hindu,
May 13, 2012.
Bangladeshi
Navy adds special
war unit to fight
terror: Bangladesh
Navy has commissioned
a Special Warfare
Diving and Salvage
unit to strengthen
anti-terrorism and
anti-piracy drive
in the Bay of Bengal
during peacetime
and to go for sweeping
measures during
crisis. The unit
will have around
strength of around
900. Daily
Star,
May 10, 2012.
INDIA
Six
CISF troopers among
seven persons killed
in a CPI-Maoist ambush
in Chhattisgarh:
Seven persons, including
six troopers of the
Central Industrial
Security Force (CISF)
and the civilian driver,
were killed in an
ambush by the Communist
Party of India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist) cadres
in Dantewada District
on May 13. The troopers,
including a head constable
and five constables,
were on patrol duty
guarding the National
Mineral Development
Corporation (NMDC)
facility in Kirandul
when armed Maoists
ambushed them with
heavy gunfire at around
9:30pm. Times
of India,
May 14, 2012.
ISI
trying to revive Babbar
Khalsa International,
says Union Minister
of State for Home
Affairs Jitendra Singh:
Union Minister of
State for Home Affairs
Jitendra Singh on
May 9 informed Rajya
Sabha (Upper House
of Parliament) that
Pakistani intelligence
agency, Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI),
was trying to revive
Babbar Khalsa International
(BKI, a banned terror
outfit) in order to
resurrect terrorism
in Punjab. He said,
"Government is committed
to combat terrorism,
extremism and separatism
in all its forms and
manifestations as
no cause, genuine
or imaginary can justify
terrorism or violence."
Times
of India,
May 10, 2012.
Maoists
expanding into southern
States, says MHA:
Union Minister of
State for Home Affairs
Jitendra Singh on
May 9 said in Rajya
Sabha (Upper House
of the Parliament),
"The CPI (Maoist)
is making forays into
Karnataka, Kerala
and Tamil Nadu under
the supervision of
its South West Regional
Bureau and is planning
to link the Western
Ghats to the Eastern
Ghats through these
states". Government
agencies have recently
found that CPI Maoist
cadres are engaged
in efforts to establish
a forest route from
Wayanad District in
Kerala to Mysore District
of Karnataka, he added.
Times
of India,
May 10, 2012.
"Around
150 people in State
having links with
the Maoists", says
Assam DGP Jayanta
Narayan Choudhury:
Director General of
Police (DGP) Jayanta
Narayan Choudhury
said that there around
150 people in the
State having links
with the Maoists and
that the Police have
identified 21 Police
Stations in Maoist-prone
areas. Stating that
nobody from the State
joined the Maoist
movement for its ideology,
the DGP said most
of the new cadres
previously used to
be linkmen with the
banned United Liberation
Front of Asom (ULFA).
Sentinelassam,
May 11, 2012.
Naxals
have now virtually
gained control over
illicit mining of
not just coal but
also minerals, says
report: Naxals
(Left-Wing Extremists)
have now virtually
gained control over
illicit mining of
not just coal but
also minerals, including
the cash-rich iron
ore, across States
of their dominance.
The annual turnover
from this illegal
trade that runs into
hundreds of crores
is being pumped into
financing the armed
operations of the
Communist Party of
India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist).
Deccan
Chronicle,
May 2, 2012.
IM
head Yasin Bhatkal
invested money in
Housing Project in
Maharashtra, says
report: Maharashtra
Anti-Terrorist Squad
(ATS) officers found
out that Yasin Bhatkal,
who heads terror group
Indian Mujahideen
(IM), invested INR
1.4 million in the
under-construction
Poonam Paradise in
Nalla Sopara (east)
of Thane District
in Maharashtra in
2010. The investment
was made through one
Naquee, who is now
in ATS custody for
stealing the bikes
used to plant the
bombs at Zaveri Bazaar,
Dadar Kabutarkhana
and Opera House (Mumbai)
on July 13, 2011.
Mumbai
Mirror,
May 11, 2012.
There
are 8,600 hard-core
Maoists and 38,000
jan militia
members, says Union
Home Ministry: Union
Minister of State
for Home Affairs Jitendra
Singh in a written
reply to the Lok Sabha
(Lower House of the
Parliament), said
on May 8, "According
to current estimates,
the strength of the
hard-core Naxals in
the country is around
8,600. In addition,
there are around 38,000
'jan militia', who
carry rudimentary
arms and also provide
logistic support to
the core group of
the People Liberation
Guerilla Army (PLGA)
of the CPI (Maoist)
[Communist Party of
India-Maoist". India
Today,
May 9, 2012.
Pakistan
has not taken enough
action against Hafiz
Muhammad Saeed, says
US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton: US
Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton on
May 7 said that Pakistan
has not taken enough
action against Hafiz
Muhammad Saeed, the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
chief blamed for masterminding
the November 26, 2008
(also known as 26/11)
attack on Mumbai.
"We're well aware
that there have not
yet been the steps
taken by the Pakistani
Government to do what
both India and the
US have repeatedly
requested them they
do," Clinton said,
adding, "And we're
going to keep pushing
that point." Daily
Times,
May 8, 2012.
NEPAL
CPN-UML
refuses to be a part
of the National Unity
Government: The
third largest party
in the Constituent
Assembly, Communist
Party of Nepal-Unified
Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML),
said it would support
Baburam Bhattarai
led Government from
outside, rebuking
repeated calls from
Unified Communist
Party of Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M) and the Nepali
Congress (NC) to be
part of the coalition.
A national consensus
Government was formed
on May 5. Myrepublica,
May 8, 2012.
PAKISTAN
41
militants and 26 SF
among 83 persons killed
during the week in
FATA: Four persons
were killed and three
received injuries
in clashes between
rival militant groups
in Tirah valley of
Khyber Agency in Federally
Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA) on May
13.
Four
children - one girl
and three boys - were
killed and two women
got injured on May
11 when a mortar slammed
into their pick-up
truck in the Qamberabad
area of Bara tehsil
(revenue unit) in
Khyber Agency.
At
least 10 Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) militants
were killed and several
others injured when
Army helicopter gunships
heavily pounded suspected
hideouts in Tirah
Valley of Khyber Agency
near Afghan border
on May 9.
Six
militants were killed
during a clash between
the Lashkar-e-Islam
(LI) and Ansarul Islam
(AI) in Toorikhel
area of Tirah Valley.
39
persons were killed
in two days of clashes
between Security Forces
and militants in Miranshah
area of North Waziristan
Agency (NWA).
The
TTP killed 14 soldiers
in Miranshah, the
main town in the NWA
along the Afghan border
on May 7.
Dawn;
Daily
Times;
The
News;
Tribune,
May 8-14, 2012.
Number
of 'missing persons'
rising in Punjab and
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
reveals the Commission
of Enquiry on Enforced
Disappearances:
The Senate was informed
that the number of
'missing persons'
has surged in Punjab
to 246 and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa to 169
in the past 16 months.
Federal Minister for
Interior Rehman Malik
said that 467 people
went missing across
the country till May
2, 2021 as compared
to 138 in 2010. He
quoted the figures
from the findings
of the Commission
of Enquiry on Enforced
Disappearances. Dawn,
May 12, 2012.
Military
operation in North
Waziristan imminent,
says Peshawar corps
commander Lieutenant
General Khalid Rabbani:
Repeating assurances
by other top Army
officers, the Peshawar
corps commander Lieutenant
General Khalid Rabbani
said the Pakistan
Army would launch
operations in North
Waziristan Agency
(NWA) of Federally
Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA). He however
didn't say when this
would happen, or whether
it would target all
factions there. Rabbani
told The Associated
Press, "Something
has to be done, and
it's in the offing.
North Waziristan is
the only region we
haven't cleared. It
should be done as
early as possible",
he added further.
Meanwhile,
the militants in NWA
distributed pamphlets
pledging holy war
to mark the first
anniversary of the
killing of slain al
Qaeda chief Osama
bin Laden, albeit
a week late. Masked
militants armed with
assault rifles handed
out copies of the
pamphlet from pick-up
vehicles in Miranshah,
the main town of the
NWA that has become
known as a premier
al Qaeda and Taliban
hub. Daily
Times,
April 9, 2012.
US
bill seeks ban on
trade and reducing
aid to just 10 per
cent unless Islamabad
reopens NATO supply
routes: The United
States (US) Congress
on May 10 proposed
stopping preferential
trade with Pakistan
and reducing aid to
just 10 per cent of
available funds unless
Islamabad reopens
NATO supply routes.
It also approved a
proposal to stop all
reimbursements to
the country if Pakistan
continued to ignore
US demands. "The bill
places appropriate
conditions on aid
to Pakistan," said
Congressman Adam Smith."
Dawn,
May 11, 2012.
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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