| |
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 11, No. 39, April 1, 2013
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
|
FATA:
The Fall of Tirah
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP)
and its local ally Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) finally overran
Tirah Valley in the Khyber Agency on March 19, 2013, after
nearly two months of intermittent heavy clashes with Ansarul
Islam (AI) and the Kamarkhel militia, both pro-Government
militant outfits. The deadly turf war, which started on
January 23, 2013, ended with TTP and LI entering AI stronghold
areas on March 18-19 and AI 'chief' Qari Mehboobul Haq
and 'deputy chief' Maulana Izatullah Hamkhayal fleeing
the area with just 25 confidants. Nevertheless, two AI
supporters blew themselves up on March 19, killing 46
of the raiding TTP terrorists. The first suicide attacker
blew himself up when the TTP terrorists entered the main
office of the AI in the Bagh area. The other suicide attack
was carried when TTP cadres moved into the ammunition
depots inside the AI headquarters. Sources in the AI said
the two suicide attacks were carried out by ‘commander’
Abdul Ghafar and Kashmir Khan. As the clashes ended, Ehsanullah
Ehsan, main ‘spokesman’ for TTP, declared, on March 19,
that TTP controlled 95 per cent of the Tirah Valley. He
further claimed that no civilian was targeted during the
fighting, though those who had become ‘part of the war
against the Taliban’ would not be spared.
TTP had
been trying to re-establish its dominance over the Valley
for the past years. The recent turf war, however, commenced
on January 23, 2013, after cadres of TTP’s Tariq Afridi
faction, who operate in the Khyber Agency, captured a
building belonging to AI. AI re-captured their centre
after intense fighting. Around 50 TTP militants then attacked
the Narhao area of Bar Qamber Khel and torched 15 AI supporters’
houses. Around 18 fighters on both sides were killed in
this clash. Another 30 militants were reportedly killed
on January 24, when TTP cadres, after attacking the AI
in the Narhao area, advanced towards Maidan Bagh, torching
more houses and shops on their way.
Media reports
indicate that skirmishes between the four groups further
intensified on January 26, when hundreds of TTP militants
came to Tirah from Mamozai in Orakzai Agency, following
a Security Forces (SFs) operation, and tried to wrest
control from AI. At the same time, in Sipah, Malikdinkhel
and Akkakhel areas of Bara, LI militants moved towards
Zakhakhel and Takhtakai areas of the Valley and began
fighting with the pro-government Kamarkhel militia to
seize important check posts. In the subsequent fighting,
LI captured all the check posts earlier held by the pro-Government
militia, in Takhtakai, Naray Baba, Lakai Sar and Madai,
on February 1. Following this, pro-Government volunteers
moved towards the mountainous check posts of Tora Lagad
and joined AI to repulse LI militants from their areas.
On February 12, TTP forces attacked AI check posts in
Rocket Sanghar and Kajay areas. However, the AI fought
back and managed to retain control. On February 26, a
gunfight erupted between AI and TTP fighters for control
of the Adam Khel area. AI 'deputy chief' Islam Gul was
killed during these clashes. TTP militants then attacked
the AI stronghold at Narhao in Bar Qamber Khel on March
13, torched some 15 houses belonging to AI fighters, and
killed the ‘area chief’ Haji Samar Gul. On March 18, hundreds
of LI and TTP militants attacked AI positions in Malikdinkhel,
and the Muhammadi Compound in the Maidan Bagh and Kalavach
areas. The AI fighters put up some resistance, though
the TTP overcame them to establish their control in the
area.
After capturing
the entire Valley, TTP and LI militants destroyed its
communication systems. Residents hoisted white flags on
top of their houses in surrender to the TTP, while tribesmen
supporting AI started vacating their houses, moving to
the Orakzai Agency. Talking to reporters from an undisclosed
location, the ‘deputy head’ of AI, Ezatullah, had stated,
on January 25, that the group was still intact and its
fighters had dispersed under a strategy, and it would
retaliate and capture their stronghold in Tirah Maidan.
However, the Mehboobul Haq-led AI has so far failed to
expel the LI and TTP fighters from Tirah Maidan. Reports
indicate that loyal AI fighters have been confined to
a post on the mountaintop towards Orakzai Agency.
After much
of the Tirah Valley had fallen to the TTP-LI combine,
Sadat Afridi, spokesman of the AI, observed, “We have
resisted insurgents for over seven years, but this attack
was unusual... There were foreign fighters … Uzbeks, Chechens
… almost 3,000 of them... We ran out of ammunition and
other supplies.”
During
the clashes, the Army did pitch in with aerial bombings
in favour of the pro-government AI and Kamarkhel militia,
though such support was, at best, sporadic. At least six
aerial bombing attacks were recorded in media sources,
in which 86 extremists were reportedly killed, out a total
of 297 extremists killed during the entire offensive.
Some of the major aerial attacks included:
January
29: At least 24 militants were killed when Army warplanes
bombed militant positions in Dwa Thoe, Bara Gatt, Wocha
Wona and Nakai areas of Tirah valley. Officials said the
planes attacked targets where TTP and LI had bases or
hideouts.
February:
20 Nine militants were killed and several others injured
in shelling and bombing by military jets in Tirah Valley.
Security sources said that three suspected militant hideouts
were bombarded. A cache of arms and ammunition was also
destroyed in the operation.
February
22: 15 militants and two security personnel were killed
in shelling by warplanes on TTP positions, and during
an encounter between the LI and SFs in Tirah Valley.
March 8:
At least 20 militants were killed when fighter jets bombed
TTP hideouts in various areas of the Tirah Valley. Three
hideouts of militants were destroyed in the military offensive.
The remote
Tirah Valley has key strategic significance for militant
groups. The Valley is a mountainous region of the Khyber
Agency, bordering the Orakzai and Kurram Agencies of the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and provides
easy access to Afghanistan. On the other side, it leads
to the plains of Bara, which connect the Agency to the
outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The Tirah Valley gives access to the
settled areas beyond FATA and even threatens Peshawar.
Khyber also links several Agencies to each other, serving
as a north-south route within FATA. It is also important
as a conduit linking Khyber Agency to the neighbouring
Orakzai Agency and Afghanistan. The region has long been
fought over by a mix of militant organisations, including
the TTP, LI, Tawheed-e-Islam (TI), AI, Haji Namdar group
and the Abdullah Azzam Brigade.
Tirah Valley
is inhabited by Malik Din Khel, Shalobar, Adam Khel, Qambarkhel
and Zakhakhel sub-tribes of the larger Afridi tribe. The
area where these tribes are settled is called Maidan,
which is surrounded by hills from all sides. In the north
of Maidan lies the area of the Kukikhel Afridi tribe,
which has been controlled by TTP for the past few years.
In the south it borders with the upper Orakzai Agency;
to its west is the Kurram Agency and to the east are the
Sipah and Kamarkhel Afridi tribes living under LI 'chief'
Mangal Bagh’s rule for the past six years.
Historically,
inhabitants of the Tirah Valley move to Bara in the Khyber
Agency during the winters, to escape harsh weather. Bara
tehsil (revenue unit) has been ruled by LI . LI
was founded in 2004 by Mufti Munir Shakir. As a reaction,
locals in the Tirah Valley formed AI to defend their area
against the LI. AI included volunteers from almost all
parts of the Tirah Valley and was organised as a defensive
tribal lashkar. It was also considered pro-Government
and did not bar Government employees, including the polio
teams, from functioning. AI has consistently resisted
the LI, which is considered to be close to the TTP.
Since the
beginning of clash in Tirah Valley on January 23, 297
militants, 24 civilians and two SF personnel have been
killed in the violence, according to partial data compiled
by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP)
database. Actual fatalities may be significantly higher,
as direct access of the media to the region is restricted.
With all the seven Agencies facing the brunt of militancy,
the Khyber Agency, for the second consecutive year, has
recorded the highest number of acts of violence. The Agency
recorded a total of 767 fatalities in the year 2012, and
the first three months of 2013 have already seen at least
367 killings.
Fatalities
in Khyber Agency: 2008-2013*
Years
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
Militants
|
Total
|
2008
|
34
|
5
|
122
|
161
|
2009
|
120
|
48
|
623
|
791
|
2010
|
180
|
56
|
331
|
567
|
2011
|
204
|
49
|
203
|
456
|
2012
|
257
|
46
|
464
|
767
|
2013
|
43
|
12
|
312
|
367
|
Total*
|
838
|
216
|
2055
|
3109
|
Source:
SATP, *Data till March 31, 2013
|
Clashes
between TTP and AI had already forced a large number of
civilians to leave the area for safer places in Orakzai
and Kurram Agencies (FATA), Peshawar, Hangu and Kohat
Districts (KP). The Government has made no arrangements
for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), and the people
of host areas have been providing assistance to the affected
families. The chief of the Khyber Agency ‘affectees’ (affected
persons) movement, Sobat Khan Afridi, noted, on March
21, that the ongoing crisis in Khyber Agency had affected
over 50,000 families and the Government was providing
no relief whatsoever.
Meanwhile,
the misfortune continues to follow the IDPs wherever they
go. On March 21, a car bomb explosion killed at least
17 persons and injured another 34 in the Jalozai Camp
of IDPs in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The explosion, which occurred near a food distribution
centre, was "triggered by explosives loaded into
a vehicle," Nowshera Deputy Commissioner Ghulam Qadir
disclosed. The TTP disassociated itself from the attack,
but there is high likelihood of TTP-LI involvement, as
the IDPs in the camp are from the Tirah Valley, and are
thought to be supporters of AI.
The United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) postponed
the registration of IDPs at Jalozai camp on March 22.
UNHCR spokesperson in Pakistan, Dunya Aslam Khan, noted,
“After the blast in Jalozai camp, we have suspended the
registration of displaced persons and have decided not
to start it till a new security plan is chalked out”.
Arshad Khan, Director of the FATA Disaster Management
Authority (FDMA) stated, further, “The number of displaced
families was 4,290 – including 6,436 men, 10,872 women
and 15,608 children – who are being assisted by the FDMA
with its limited resources.”
While the
whole country readies itself for the forthcoming General
Election of May 11, 2013, the fall of Tirah Valley to
the TTP-LI extremists has created fear in the minds, not
only of the people of Khyber Agency, but much wider adjacent
areas. The return of the extremists has also put enormous
pressure on political candidates. Candidates for the National
Assembly seat in Bara tehsil have demanded the
postponement of General Elections in the NA-46 constituency
owing to threats from terrorist groups and the inability
of the political administration to devise a foolproof
security plan for electioneering. Although the election
campaign has not yet been launched in the Bara tehsil
of Khyber Agency, LI has threatened that it would target
all the people who try to take part in the elections.
The Awami
National Party candidate Imran Afridi has declared that
it was not possible to hold elections in Bara, as most
of its parts were still inaccessible. Besides, he argued,
fresh displacement of people from Tirah Valley made it
difficult for the candidates to run a smooth and peaceful
election campaign.
The fall
of Tirah Valley to the TTP, despite the Army’s aerial
support to AI, is an indication of the strategic failure
of the state. Pakistan has outsourced its war against
the extremists to the tribal militias who, despite all
efforts, are outclassed by TTP. With the fall of Tirah
Valley, the cross-border movement of extremists, which
is a major bone of contention between Pakistan and Afghanistan,
is likely to escalate. Tirah’s strategic location will
give more leverage to the terrorists in their campaigns
towards Peshawar as well. The fall of the Tirah Valley
bodes ill for other areas across FATA and KP.
|
Manipur:
PLA - Creating Subversive Synergy
Veronica Khangchian
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
In the
morning of March 22, 2013, a trooper of the Assam Rifles
(AR) was killed while another was injured in an Improvised
Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered along the road
side at Leirongthel Lamkhai under Yairipok Police Station
in the Thoubal District of Manipur.
A week
earlier on March 15, one AR trooper was killed and another
three personnel were injured when two powerful IEDs exploded
simultaneously near Kundong Leirembi under Moreh Police
Station in Chandel District.
Another
IED attack on February 26 in Churachandpur District killed
one Army trooper and a mine detector dog, and left three
persons injured. The IED had been planted on the roadside
at a place located between Khiang Zang and Tollen villages.
In all
the three attacks, the Revolutionary Peoples’ Front (RPF
– the political wing of Peoples’ Liberation Army – PLA)
claimed responsibility, claiming these were the handiwork
of the ‘Special Warfare Group’ of its armed wing, PLA.
Other incidents
carried out by PLA against the Central Security Forces
(SFs) in 2013 include:
February
22, 2013: An encounter took place between PLA cadres and
AR troops near Saibom village under Tengnoupal Police
Station in Chandel District. However, there was no report
of any casualty on either side.
February
15, 2013: PLA militants attacked AR personnel by exploding
a powerful IED near the main road along the Uripok Kangchup
Road, also known as Salam Pandol, at Heibongpokpi under
the Lamsang Police Station in Imphal West District. No
AR personnel sustained injuries as the IED exploded after
the AR transport had passed. Claiming responsibility,
the PLA declared in a Press Release that it would not
tire in its struggle to expel non-Manipuri soldiers from
Manipur.
Fatalities
involving PLA- 2003-2013*
Years
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
PLA
Militants
|
Total
|
2003
|
0
|
2
|
14
|
16
|
2004
|
0
|
6
|
15
|
21
|
2005
|
1
|
13
|
10
|
24
|
2006
|
7
|
12
|
34
|
53
|
2007
|
4
|
1
|
12
|
17
|
2008
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
6
|
2009
|
0
|
4
|
15
|
19
|
2010
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
2011
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
5
|
2012
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
2013
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
Total*
|
13
|
44
|
114
|
171
|
Source:
South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), *Data
till March 31, 2013
|
While the
SFs appeared to have established their dominance in operation
against the PLA in the past, incipient indications of
a reversal of this trend have appeared in the early part
of 2013. The PLA’s ‘successes’ commenced in September
2012, after a lull of two and a half years.
On September
9, 2012, a powerful bomb planted by PLA cadres at Kangshoibi
Thong along the Moirang-Kumbi Road in Bishnupur District
exploded, killing one AR trooper and injuring another
10. The last incident in which an AR trooper had been
killed by the outfit prior to the September 2012 incident,
was on March 8, 2010. Through 2011, the SFs had killed
five PLA cadres in four incidents, while no SFs were killed
by the outfit during the year.
The PLA,
meanwhile, has been avoiding any direct confrontation
with local (Manipur State) Forces. However, in an ‘unintentional’
attack on September 12, 2009, four personnel of the 6th
India Reserve Battalion (IRB) – a State Paramilitary Force
– were killed and another four were wounded, in an ambush
carried out by the PLA at Ngakha Hill in Imphal East District.
The RPF however clarified that the ambush was intended
to target a Central SF team, which was expected there,
and not personnel of the 6th IRB. The outfit clarified
that its principle of not targeting State Forces had not
changed. Since its inception in 1978, the PLA, whose revolutionary
agenda is an ‘independent socialist state’ of Manipur,
has been waging a low-level guerrilla war against the
Indian military establishment, targeting the Indian Army,
Central paramilitary forces as well as Manipur's State
Police. However, in a policy shift in the late 1990s,
the PLA declared a unilateral decision not to target the
Manipur Police or other State Forces.
In September
1978, a few Manipuri youths led by N. Bisheshwar Singh
had travelled to China through Myanmar, been indoctrinated
into Chinese communism, and had returned to form the PLA,
a name directly borrowed from the Chinese Army. This narrative
has more recently been supplemented by the recorded confession
of a PLA militant ‘sergeant’ Ronny alias Robindo
alias Roger, who was arrested by the Manipur Police
and the Army in August 2009, and claimed to have close
relations with its (PLA’s) ‘president’, Irengbam Chaoren.
In his confession, he stated, "China’s PLA remains
in contact with Manipur’s PLA. 16 platoons of militants
have come back to India after getting trained in China…
The training of PLA militants also goes on continuously
in Burma (Myanmar). There are many temporary camps in
Manipur as well, such as Soibolkuki and Singhat. We train
with big guns."
The links
between militant groups in India’s Northeast, and China,
came to the fore yet again in February 2011, when Indian
security agencies came to know about a meeting between
leaders of various Northeastern insurgencies and officials
of the Government of China, in April, 2010. Sources in
the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) disclosed that
leaders of formations including the United Nation Liberation
Front (UNLF)
and PLA of Manipur; the ‘chairman’ of the National Socialist
Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K),
S. S. Khaplang; and the ‘commander in chief’ of the United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA),
Paresh Baruah, were among others who attended the meeting
held in Ruili in Yunan Province, China.
On its
‘independence demand day’ on February 25, 2013, Irengbam
Chaoren declared, "Our enemies which we must overcome,
are the vast multitude of the Indian military and the
highly sectarian policies and strategies of the Indian
political leaders”. To defeat the ‘colonial forces’, Chaoren
asserted, there was no ‘pragmatic option’ other than an
armed liberation movement. Earlier, on its 34th ‘foundation
day’ on September 25, 2012, Chaoren had also stated that
no negotiated agreement under the Indian Constitution
could settle the ‘sovereignty issues’ of the region. In
a message, he asked all groups involved in the present
peace process to return and once again join the struggle
against ‘colonial rule’.
In March
2010, while describing all those who entered Manipur after
1949 (when the erstwhile princely state was ‘forcibly’
merged with the Indian Union) as "non-Manipuris",
the PLA had also asked them to leave the State. In May
2010, rather interestingly, it also urged the ‘non-local
working class’ in Manipur to join the Communist Party
of India – Maoist (CPI-Maoist).
The PLA
is a member of the Manipur People’s Liberation Front (MPLF),
an umbrella organization of three Valley-based outfits,
also including UNLF and the People's Revolutionary Party
of Kangleipak (PREPAK).
Chaoren is also the ‘convenor’ of CorCom
[a Coordination Committee of seven – now six, after the
United People’s Party of Kangleipak (UPPK) was expelled
– Valley based militant Groups] which was formed in 2011
to bring unity among revolutionary groups in order to
free Manipur from India’s ‘colonial regime’.
The Army
had crushed the PLA in the 1980s, with the death of some
of its top leaders in combat, including its ‘president’
Thoudam Kunjabehari in 1982, and the arrest of others,
such as its founder N. Bisheshwar Singh, arrested in 1981.
Three decades later, the PLA has not only regrouped but
has emerged as a key player in training and supplying
weapons to the CPI-Maoist, creating a complex threat to
the tentative stability of India’s troubled northeast.
It was
in October 2008 that some of the top echelons of the CPI-Maoist
met PLA leaders in Myanmar and signed a Joint
Declaration for unified actions for
waging war against India. The meeting was presided over
by Irengbam Chaoren. In July 2010, the PLA emphasized
the necessity of creating an effective nexus with the
CPI-Maoist, and various insurgent groups of Jammu and
Kashmir (J&K) and the Northeast, unveiling their vision
of establishing a joint militant group, to be evolved
as 'United Front'. Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports had
also revealed that China had been encouraging the Maoists
and militant groups from J&K and the Northeast region
to unite to form a single war-fighting machine against
the Indian State.
The National
Investigation Agency’s (NIA) 2011
investigation of the PLA-Maoist link
established that, around June 2006, the PLA leadership
met top CPI-Maoist leaders, with several other meetings
between the two during the years 2006 to 2008, resulting
in the establishment of a PLA office in Kolkata (West
Bengal) towards the end of 2006. The Kolkata office started
coordinating the activities of these outfits for the procurement
of arms, ammunition and communication devices. However,
in a setback to these operations, on April 2, 2012, NIA
arrested a PLA 'captain', identified as Arnold Singh aka
Beckon, the key man running the Kolkata office, from Siliguri
in West Bengal. Arnold Singh was also a member of PLA's
'external affairs' wing and was the leader of a four-member
team that had provided arms training to CPI-Maoist cadres
in the Saranda Forest in Jharkhand between September 11
and November 20, 2010.
Other significant
arrests that hobbled the growing nexus between the two
outfits through 2012, included:
June 3,
2012: The ‘chief coordinator’ for the Maoists in Assam,
Pallab Borbora alias Profull, was arrested by the
NIA from Golaghat District in connection with its probe
into the nexus between the Naxals (Maoists) and PLA. Borbora
allegedly played a vital role in establishing contact
with the PLA in 2006, and opened talks for providing training
and supply of arms and explosives.
May 28,
2012: Asem Ibotombi Singh alias Angou, ‘secretary’
of PLA's ‘external affairs wing’ was arrested from Gopalpur
in the Maoist afflicted Ganjam District of Odisha.
April 21,
2012: Ajay Chanda alias Indranil Chanda alias
Raj, in charge of expanding the Maoist base in Assam,
was arrested in Kolkata. An official source said Chanda
had connections with senior PLA leaders and was instrumental
in the transshipment of arms from PLA hideouts in Manipur
to the Maoist strongholds in West Bengal, Jharkhand and
Odisha.
According
to a December 18, 2012, report, a supplementary charge
sheet filed by the NIA in the CPI-Maoist-PLA nexus case
against the two arrested Maoist leaders and PLA’s Angou
revealed that the CPI-Maoist had been procuring Chinese
arms and communication equipment from PLA via Myanmar,
and routing these to Kolkata (West Bengal) through Guwahati
(Assam) between 2006 and 2011.
The major
setback to the PLA, which first exposed its nexus with
the Maoists, occurred on October 1, 2011, when two of
its top leaders, identified as N. Dilip Singh aka Wangba,
a ‘lieutenant’ in the PLA, and his associate Arun Kumar,
who worked in the outfit's ‘external affairs wing’, were
arrested from a hotel at Paharganj in New Delhi. The two
had been instrumental in the PLA’s training of Maoist
cadres in the jungles of Odisha and Jharkhand in 2009
and 2010. Arun was also reportedly running a travel and
tour office in Pune (Maharashtra) since 2008, and was
trying to set up a safe hideout for Maoists. Their interrogation
also revealed that the PLA leader, Irengbam Chaoren, was
hiding in China.
In a significant
development, a meeting of the heads of the Police Forces
of the States of India’s Northeast, convened by the MHA,
which concluded in Gangtok (Sikkim) on February 20, 2013,
decided to launch coordinated efforts to check the Maoist
rebels from establishing their roots in the region. The
meeting observed that, though regional militant groups
had weakened through 2011 and 2012, the level of violence
had gone up, raising serious concerns.
Another
problem remains the funding of the PLA by Pakistan’s Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI). In 2011, officials had claimed that
ISI was funding the group for supplying arms and ammunition
to the Maoists, and a "Strategic United Front"
was being created to carry out attacks in India, particularly
on SFs in the Naxal-affected areas. An official source
claimed, "ISI and PLA are in touch and supplying
Maoists with arms. They are supposedly using China as
the alternative route." Much earlier in October 2007,
Intelligence agencies had reportedly confirmed a nexus
between the PLA and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT),
as part of a wider ISI plot to create trouble across India.
The nexus was revealed by a LeT militant identified as
Mohammed Sadeeq, from Manipur, who had initially worked
for the PLA, during sustained interrogation by Police
from Dudu in the Udhampur District of J&K. This was
independently confirmed by the two PLA leaders arrested
in October 2011, who disclosed that PLA was planning to
liaise with terrorist outfits based in Pakistan occupied
Kashmir (PoK), including LeT and with separatist groups
of J&K and the Northeast.
The PLA’s
activities in neighboring countries are another source
of concern. A November 2012 report suggested that PLA
was still operating from seven camps in Bangladesh, out
of the 51 surviving camps of nine Northeast militant groups.
The PLA along with other regional outfits, also had a
‘unified
camp’ in Myanmar.
Another
report, on November 6, 2012, indicated that the PLA/RPF
enjoyed considerable political patronage, and this had
forced inhibited security agencies from acting effectively
against it. Bangladesh's Directorate General of Forces
Intelligence (DGFI) and the ISI had both kept an eye on
this group to further their agenda on Indian soil. According
to sources in the NIA, the outfit earlier received financial
support from both the ISI and the DGFI, and such support
still continued from the ISI. An NIA official was reported
to state, "We need to break the political links of
the group and block their finances. We also have to look
into the diplomatic issues involved in this case. The
job will require at least a year since we need to first
draw out a map of their operations and then get cracking
on the case."
The PLA
has registered significant ‘successes’ against Central
SFs in early 2013. With its hardening stance and efforts
to create a unity of extremist formations within the region
and beyond, particularly the growing nexus with the CPI-Maoist,
as well as its linkages abroad, the PLA constitutes a
major potential threat to the security and stability of
Manipur and the wider Northeastern region. The security
scenario in Manipur had been registering gradual improvements,
but the abrupt deterioration in 2012, with fatalities
rising to 110, from 65 in 2011, particularly after the
formation of CorCom of which PLA is an active member,
are a warning sign against any proclivities to complacence
that may afflict the state’s responses.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
March 25-31,
2013
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
|
Islamist Extremism
|
4
|
0
|
4
|
8
|
INDIA
|
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Jharkhand
|
1
|
0
|
10
|
11
|
Maharashtra
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Total (INDIA)
|
2
|
0
|
12
|
14
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
FATA
|
1
|
4
|
16
|
21
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
19
|
0
|
1
|
20
|
Punjab
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Sindh
|
17
|
3
|
4
|
24
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
NIA
lists
top
Maoist
leader
Ganapati
as
'most
wanted'
criminal:
The
National
Investigation
Agency
(NIA)
uploaded
the
photograph
of
top
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
leader
Ganapati
alias
Muppala
Lakshmana
Rao
on
its
official
website
as
one
of
the
most
wanted
criminals.
According
to
NIA,
Police
registered
an
FIR
No.
138/2012
dated
March
1,
2012
at
Jorasanko
Police
Station
in
Kolkata
in
West
Bengal.
Later,
the
case
was
transferred
to
NIA
for
further
investigation.
Accordingly,
the
case
was
re-registered
at
the
NIA
Police
Station
in
New
Delhi
as
RC
No.01/2012
on
April
12,
2012.
New
Indian
Express,
March
30,
2013.
Maharashtra
announces
sop
for
Police
personnel
working
in
LWE-affected
areas:
Maharashtra
Government
adopted
a
government
resolution,
on
March
20,
to
hike
salary
and
dearness
allowance
of
Police
personnel
serving
in
the
Naxal
[Left-Wing
Extremism
LWE)]
affected
areas
by
50
per
cent.
The
increase,
however,
is
only
for
a
year
-
from
January
1
to
December
31.
Officers
and
constables
posted
at
Police
Stations,
Police
Sub-Stations
and
Armed
Outposts
in
Gadchiroli,
Aheri
and
"very
sensitive"
outposts
in
Gondia
District
as
well
as
State
Reserve
Police
personnel
will
benefit
of
the
decision.
Indian
Express,
March
29,
2013.
Spurt
in
infiltration
in
Jammu
and
Kashmir
likely
in
summer,
say
Defence
sources:
Defence
establishment
is
apprehending
a
spurt
in
militant
violence
as
Pakistan
has
increased
its
activity
of
pushing
infiltrators
into
the
State.
Defence
sources
said
that
three
high-powered
communication
centres
to
facilitate
a
communication
network
between
militants
and
their
handlers
have
been
activated
inside
Pakistan
occupied
Kashmir
(PoK).
Sources
said
there
was
a
possibility
of
increase
in
violence
levels
in
and
around
Srinagar
city
(Srinagar
District)
in
the
next
couple
of
months.
Rising
Kashmir,
March
29,
2013.
Panel
for
changed
Northeastern
peace
strategy:
A
parliamentary
standing
committee
on
Home
Affairs
has
recommended
increased
pressure
on
countries
bordering
the
Northeastern
region
during
trade
discussions
to
close
down
Indian
rebel
training
camps
operating
on
their
soil.
The
Venkaiah
Naidu-led
department-related
parliamentary
standing
committee
on
Home
Affairs
stated
in
its
report
submitted
on
March
that
all
trade
discussions
with
the
countries
bordering
states
of
the
Northeast
should
include
a
clause
demanding
closure
of
rebel
training
camps
being
run
on
their
soil.
Telegraph,
March
29,
2013.
Multi-state
communication
grid
to
tackle
Maoists:
The
Uttar
Pradesh
Police
in
coordination
with
the
Police
of
Bihar,
Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh
and
Madhya
Pradesh
will
create
a
common
communication
grid
to
share
information
and
inputs
for
tackling
the
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)-posed
problems
effectively.
The
decision
was
taken
during
the
recent
inter-state
meeting
of
the
Police
officials
of
all
these
states
in
Sonebhadra
District
(Uttar
Pradesh).
Times
of
India,
March
24,
2013.
Tri-junction
meeting
on
LWE
issue
held
in
Karnataka:
An
inter-State
meeting
of
senior
Police
officers
from
Karnataka,
Tamil
Nadu
and
Kerala,
along
with
forest
officials,
was
held
in
Mysore,
to
chalk
out
strategies
to
combat
the
menace
of
Naxalites
[Left-Wing
Extremists
(LWEs)],
who
are
reportedly
active
in
the
border
areas
of
the
three
States,
with
focus
on
their
sightings
in
Kodagu
District
and
Sakleshpur
(Hassan
District)
regions
in
the
Karnataka
in
the
recent
times.
The
Hindu,
March
26,
2013.
Six
insurgent
groups
active
in
Assam,
says
State
Panchayat
and
Rural
Development
Minister
Rokybul
Hussain:Six
insurgent
groups
are
currently
active
in
Assam
while
12
others
in
talks
with
the
Central
and
State
Government,
Panchayat
and
Rural
Development
Minister
Rockybul
Hussain
said
on
March
25.
Six
groups
-
anti-talk
faction
of
United
Liberation
Front
of
Asom
(ULFA-ATF),
Anti-Talks
faction
of
National
Democratic
Front
of
Bodoland
(NDFB-ATF)/
(NDFB-IKS),
Karbi
Peoples'
Liberation
Tigers
(KPLT),
Kamtapur
Liberation
Organisation
(KLO),
Muslim
United
Liberation
Tigers
of
Assam
(MULTA)
and
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
(HuM)-are
active
in
the
State
Hussain
said
replying
to
a
question
in
the
House.
Shilong
Times,
March
26,
2013.
NEPAL
President
Yadav
appoints
EC
office-bearers:
President
Ram
Baran
Yadav,
on
March
24,
has
appointed
Chief
Election
Commissioner
(CEC)
and
four
commissioners
to
the
Election
Commission
(EC).
President
Yadav
has
appointed
Nil
Kantha
Upreti
as
CEC
and
Dolakh
Bahadur
Gurung
and
Ayodi
Prasad
Yadav
as
Commissioners.
Along
with
them,
Ila
Sharma
and
Ram
Bhakta
Thakur
have
been
appointed
commissioners.
All
the
five
names
were
selected
by
the
high-level
mechanism
of
four
parties,
which
is
headed
by
Unified
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M)
chairman
Pushpa
Kamal
Dahal.
Nepal
News,
March
25,
2013.
PAKISTAN
Sixteen
militants
and
four
SF
Personnel
among
21
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
At
least
twelve
militants
were
killed
during
operation
by
the
Security
Forces
(SFs)
in
Mamoonzai
area
of
Orakzai
Agency
in
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA),
on
March
29.
Security
Forces
(SFs)
on
March
26
killed
four
Afghan-based
militants
as
the
troops
repulsed
a
cross
border
attack
on
a
security
check-point
in
Nawagal
tehsil
(revenue
unit)
of
Bajaur
Agency.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
March
26-April
1,
2013.
I
am
proud
of
Kargil
operation,
says
former
President
of
Pakistan
General
Musharraf:
Former
President
of
Pakistan,
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf
on
March
27
said
that
he
was
proud
of
the
Kargil
(Kargil
District
of
Jammu
and
Kashmir)
operation
and
blamed
political
class
for
squandering
away
a
military
victory.
At
a
press
conference
in
Karachi
(provincial
capital
of
Sindh),
after
his
return,
he
asserted,
"A
military
victory
was
turned
into
a
political
defeat."
The
Hindu,
March
29,
2013.
Terrorism
death
toll
in
Pakistan
reaches
49,000:
Militants
have
killed
more
than
49,000
of
their
countrymen
since
9/11,
the
Supreme
Court
(SC)
of
Pakistan
learned
on
March
26.
Militants
at
one
point
held
24%
of
the
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
and
37%
of
Swat
(Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa),
but
effective
military
operations
restored
the
Government's
writ,
Raja
Irshad,
a
lawyer
for
the
Security
Forces,
told
a
three-member
SC
bench.
The
bench
was
hearing
a
petition
challenging
the
Actions
(in
Aid
of
Civil
Power)
Regulation,
2011.
Central
Asia
Online,
March
28,
2013.
Militants
determined
to
sabotage
elections,
says
Federal
Ministry
of
Interior
report:
The
Federal
Ministry
of
Interior,
on
March
27,
warned
of
a
massive
terrorist
threat
in
the
coming
elections.
A
presentation
made
during
a
meeting
between
officials
of
the
Ministry
and
Election
Commission
of
Pakistan
(ECP)
to
discuss
security
issues
revealed
that
the
Jundallah,
in
coordination
with
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
(LeJ)
and
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP),
was
planning
to
carry
out
large-scale
terrorist
attacks
in
Balochistan,
with
Nushki
and
Quetta
as
their
particular
targets.
Dawn,
March
28,
2013.
No
one
held
responsible
for
Lal
Masjid
operation,
says
commission
report:
Nobody
was
held
responsible
for
the
operation
of
Lal
Masjid
as
the
commission
submitted
its
report
to
the
Supreme
Court
on
March
27.
Over
200
people
recorded
their
statements
before
the
Lal
Masjid
Commission.
The
report
recommended
paying
compensation
to
the
heirs
of
martyrs.
However,
no
statement
was
recorded
on
behalf
of
any
Army
officer
regarding
the
operation.
The
commission
did
not
hold
anybody
responsible
for
the
Lal
Masjid
operation.
The
News,
March
28,
2013.
Pakistan
remains
a
threat
to
UK's
national
security,
says
the
head
of
Britain's
counter-terrorism
strategy
Charles
Farr:
Terror
threat
emanating
from
Pakistan
remains
a
danger
to
Britain's
national
security,
the
head
of
Britain's
counter-terrorism
strategy
Charles
Farr
said
in
an
interview
to
The
News
on
March
27.
In
an
exclusive
interview,
Charles
Farr,
Director
General
of
the
Office
of
Security
and
Counter-Terrorism,
said
that
the
threat
from
Pakistan
mainly
comes
from
the
tribal
areas
along
the
Afghan
border.
He
said
that
although
al
Qaida
is
weakened
and
depleted
in
numbers
and
capability,
it
continues
to
operate
from
this
region
and
still
has
the
capability
to
conduct
terrorist
attacks
in
the
UK
and
other
countries.
The
News,
March
28,
2013.
633
missing
persons
yet
to
be
traced,
says
report
submitted
in
the
Supreme
Court:
As
many
as
633
missing
persons,
including
279
from
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa,
remain
to
be
traced,
according
to
a
report
submitted
in
the
Supreme
Court.
Of
the
remaining
missing
persons,
148
are
from
Punjab,
while
100
are
from
Sindh,
48
from
Balochistan,
26
from
FATA,
20
from
Islamabad
Capital
Territory,
11
from
Azad
Kashmir
and
one
from
Gilgit
Baltistan.
Tribune,
March
28,
2013.
SRI
LANKA
Probe
into
LTTE
crimes
should
start
with
Colonel
Karuna,
says
HRW:
Human
Rights
Watch
(HRW)
on
March
28
said
that
Sri
Lanka
should
act
on
the
call
by
the
Deputy
Minister
V
Muralitharan,
known
as
Colonel
Karuna,
to
investigate
war
crimes
by
examining
his
own
role
in
serious
abuses.
Karuna
was
effectively
the
second-in-command
of
the
Liberation
Tigers
of
Tamil
Eelam
(LTTE)
and
the
head
of
its
eastern
province
forces
until
he
split
from
its
leader
V
Prabhakaran
in
March
2004.
Daily
Mirror,
March
29,
2013.
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.
|
|
|