Carnage | Manipur: Excluded Others | Polarized Mandate | South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR), Vol. No. 12.12
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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 12, No. 12, September 24, 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


ASSESSMENT

PAKISTAN
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Carnage
Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management

In the deadliest attack ever on Christian minorities in Pakistan, at least 79 worshippers, including 34 women and seven children, were killed and another 130 were injured when two suicide bombers attacked a Christian congregation at the historic All Saints Church in the Kohati Gate area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, on September 22, 2013. Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mohammad Ali Babakhel disclosed that one of the suicide bombers opened fire at Police guards at the church gate, killing one of them. He subsequently lobbed a grenade and, prevented by the Police from entering the church, detonated his suicide vest. Thirty seconds later, the second attacker who had managed to enter the church, detonated his suicide jacket as well. According to varying media reports, some 600 to 700 people were inside the church at the time of the attack.

Ahmed Marwat, ‘a spokesman’ for the Jandullah group, a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, and declared, in a statement to the media, "Until and unless drone strikes are stopped, we will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land. They are the enemies of Islam, therefore we target them." Jandullah had also claimed responsibility for the killing of 10 foreign mountaineers and their Pakistani Guide at the Nanga Parbat base camp in the Bonar area of Diamer District of Gilgit Baltistan in the intervening night of June 22-23, 2013. The victims included an American with dual Chinese citizenship, three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two others from China, a Lithuanian and a climber from Nepal. One Chinese climber reportedly survived by fleeing the scene.

The worst ever terror attack on Christians prior to the September 22 incident had taken place on October 28, 2001, when 17 Christians – including five children – and a Policeman, were killed and nine persons were injured, when six gunmen opened fire on a church in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur District in Punjab Province.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal, at least 15 terrorist attacks targeting Christians, resulting in 30 fatalities, had taken place across Pakistan since 2001, prior to the September 22, 2013, incident. Some of the major attacks among these included:   

March 10, 2010: Six persons, including two women, were killed and seven persons were injured when over a dozen militants armed with Kalashnikov rifles, pistols and hand-grenades attacked the office of World Vision International, a US-based Christian aid agency, in the Oghi village of Mansehra District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

December 25, 2002: Three women were killed and 15 persons were injured in a grenade attack on the United Presbyterian Church near Sialkot in Punjab Province.

September 25, 2002: Seven persons were killed and another three were injured in a terrorist attack on a Christian welfare organisation's office, Idara Amn-o-Insaaf (Institute for Peace and Justice), in Karachi District, the Provincial capital of Sindh Province. Lashkar-e-Islami Mohammadi (LIM), a little-known terrorist group, was held responsible for the attack.

August 5, 2002: Six persons were killed and another four were injured in a terrorist attack on a Christian missionary school in the Jhika Gali Town of Murree tehsil (revenue unit) in Rawalpindi District of Punjab Province.

March 17, 2002: Five persons were killed and more than 40 others were injured, including the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Pakistan, in a grenade attack during the Sunday morning service at the Protestant International Church located between the American and Russian Embassies in the heavily protected area of the Diplomatic Enclave in Islamabad. Amongst those killed were Barbara Green, wife of an American diplomat and her daughter; two Pakistanis and an Afghan. The injured belonged to different countries including USA, Britain, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Iraq and Sri Lanka.

Apart from these terrorist atrocities, Islamist extremists have also intermittently attacked Christians in mass and targeted violence. The Christians constitute a meagre 1.6 percent of Pakistan’s population of 193 million. According to media reports, Islamist extremists have attacked Christians on at least 82 occasions since September 11, 2001, resulting in 147 fatalities and 355 persons injured. In the latest of series of such attacks, on March 9, 2013, hundreds of protesters turned into arsonists and attacked some 160 houses and 80 shops belonging to Christians in Joseph Colony, a predominantly Christian colony, of the Badami Bagh area of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab Province, just a day after allegations of blasphemy were levelled against a man in the region. Underlining out the complicity of the state in these incidents, the Supreme Court observed, on March 13, 2013, that the Punjab Police had failed to protect the lives and properties of the inhabitants of Joseph Colony in Lahore.

The Christians are mainly targeted for alleged acts of blasphemy. Significantly, then Federal Minister for Minorities’ Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was killed on March 2, 2011, by terrorists of Fidayeen-e-Muhammad, a TTP faction, and al Qaeda Punjab Chapter, for his opposition to the country’s blasphemy laws. The Christians are also attacked for opposing often forcible conversions to Islam. Asia Bibi, 46, who has been sentenced to death and has been in prison for the last four years following a conviction for blasphemy, in her memoir Blasphemy, describes how she had been asked to convert to Islam to ‘redeem herself’.

The terrorists/extremists have issued threats against the Christian community on several occasions in the past. On May 18, 2011, for instance, in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing, the TTP vowed to fight with “new zeal” against “Our enemies... NATO, Jews and Christians.” In another such threat, in June 2008, an extremist group, Jesh Ahle-i-Alqiblat al-Jihadi al-Sari al-Alami [Army for the Direction of the Movement of Global Jihad], distributed pamphlets demanding that Christian Pakistanis convert to Islam or face death. The group said “every Muslim had a duty to take such action against Christians”. It also called on Muslims to attack and kill Christian foreigners.

Seeds of religious intolerance have been systematically sown in Pakistan since its inception in 1947 – and, indeed, even earlier, during the struggle for independence. There was a further and escalating radicalization during and after the regime of military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq. Since then, Pakistan has witnessed rising attacks against all minorities, including the Christians. According to a detailed Fact Sheet issued by United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in July 2013, 203 incidents of sectarian violence targeting religious minorities had been recorded in Pakistan in the preceding 18 months, resulting in 1,800 casualties, including 717 deaths, of which 635 were Shias. The report stated, further, that 22 Ahmadis were killed in these attacks; followed by 11 Christians; two Hindus; one Sikh; and 16 others.

The September 22 attack has raised serious questions about the impact of the purported ‘peace initiatives’ by the Nawaz Sharif Government, which are largely premised on an effort to buy peace with the extremists. Conspicuously, Islamabad’s overtures to the Hakimullah Mehsud-led TTP have clearly brought no relief. The religious intolerance and cult of violence in the name of jihad has been embedded deep into the political culture and national psyche, producing armies of radicalized Islamists, and a wider context of the justification and acceptance of their murderous actions. The problem is infinitely compounded by state complicity and the failure of enforcement agencies and the justice system to act effectively against openly armed and violent Islamist extremist factions, many of which have been raised and continue to enjoy the patronage of state agencies, including the all-powerful Army and its intelligence wing, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Nevertheless, there are at least some indications that the terrorist attacks against the minorities have created some division between Islamist extremist and terrorist formations. Significantly, according to a report published by the SITE Intelligence Group on September 16, 2013, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri issued specific guidelines for jihad, including the directive that “they (militants) should also leave alone Christians, Hindus and Sikhs living in Muslim lands...” While al Qaeda remains an ‘inspiration’ to many Islamist terrorist formations in the region – and across the world – it is abundantly clear that not all of them feel constrained to accept the group’s diktats in matters of strategy and tactic.  Indeed, the Janduallh group has responded quite unambiguously to these exhortations through the carnage of September 22, 2013, demonstrating clearly that those who seek to provoke terrorism, and then circumscribe it within boundaries of their choosing – whether these puppeteers are al Qaeda or the ISI – are bound to fail. Savagery has its own escalating logic, a truth that is demonstrated almost every day in Pakistan.

INDIA
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Manipur: Excluded Others
Veronica Khangchian
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On September 13, 2013, in a second attack against non-locals in the state during the year, at least nine migrant labourers from Assam were killed and another 11 were injured in an explosion inside a working shed located on the slab cover put up over Naga Nullah (drain) at Nagamapal in Imphal West District. While five persobs died at the spot, four succumbed to their injuries later. All the labourers were engaged by Simplex Project Limited, Kolkata, which has been entrusted with the task of laying the slabs over Naga Nullah as well as of building the embankment.

Earlier, on June 27, 2013, two non-local migrant workers, both masons by profession, were killed while another four were injured, including a local man, when unidentified miscreants lobbed a hand grenade at a rented room at Uripok Tourangbam Leikai in Imphal. Sources said that the incident occurred while the six persons were sitting together in the rented room. The deceased were all from Begu Sarai in Bihar.

The September 13 attack against ‘outsiders’ was the first major attack (resulting in three or more fatalities) since May 2009. On May 11, 2009, unidentified militants killed nine non-locals inside the Keibul Lamjao National Park at Khordak Awang Leikai area in Bishnupur District. The killing was a ‘revenge attack’ for the reverses suffered by the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) militants in the counter-insurgency campaign codenamed Operation Summer Storm conducted jointly by the Army and Manipur Police in April 2009. Altogether 11 PREPAK militants were killed in the April 2009 Operation.

According to South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a total of 90 ‘outsiders’ have been killed since 2001 (data till September 21, 2013). Most of the killings were carried out by unspecified militant groups, though, where the identity of the organisation was established, CorCom or its elements were found to be responsible. Earlier, Corcom had set December 31, 2012, as the deadline for all the non-Manipuris to leave Manipur. CorCom now includes the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), PREPAK, its Progressive faction (PREPAK-Pro), Revolutionary People's Front (RPF – the political wing of the People’s Liberation Army – PLA) and United National Liberation Front (UNLF). The United Peoples Party of Kangleipak (UPPK) was expelled from the Committee after meetings with leaders of UPPK on January 28 and 31, 2013. In August 2012, CorCom, had also declared that the people of Manipur “were/are never Indians and nor will ever be”. The CorCom, however, has denied its role in the latest attack.

On September 5, 2012, issuing its ultimatum to all outsiders to leave Manipur as well as to check any further influx of migrants, CorCom, had warned that no one should rent out dwelling places to ‘outsiders’, hire the service of migrant workers, or engage with them in business transactions.

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 these ‘outsiders’ to leave the State. In May 2010, rather interestingly, after inking a Memorandum of Understanding with the Communist Party of India–Maoist (CPI-Maoist), PLA had also urged the ‘non-local working class’ in Manipur to join the CPI-Maoist.

CorCom elements have also intensified their propaganda and drive against ‘outsiders’. The United Revolutionary Front (URF, set up on January 7, 2012, which collaborates with CorCom in their attacks against non-locals, but is not a member of CorCom), a conglomerate of five splintered factions of the KCP, in a statement issued by A.K. Pibarel, its ‘secretary, information and publicity’, on April 9, 2012, declared that it was not right to let ‘outsiders’ claim ownership of all professional works in the State and that the indigenous people should be the right owners of Manipur and its markets, including all kinds of occupations or professions. Thereafter, on April 14, 2012, URF announced an ‘ordinance’ against all non-locals living in Manipur as part of its economic policy for indigenous people. The 15-point ordinance, among other provisions, imposes a monthly ‘tax’ on all non-indigenous people, without any consideration of the period of their settlement in Manipur.

An August 28, 2012, report also stated that the URF had called on Manipuri students to look towards the fast-developing regions of China and Southeast Asia to pursue higher studies and employment, arguing that ‘mainland India’ has repeatedly disowned them. The URF cited the incidence of threat and intimidation against the people of the Northeast, in apparent retaliation to the Kokrajhar (Assam) riots, as evidence of the ‘perverse attitude’ of ‘mainstream India’.

Significantly, in August 2012, there was a crackdown on illegal migrants close on the heels of a fresh campaign by civil society groups for the implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in Manipur. The ILP is an official travel document required for both Indian and foreign citizens to travel into restricted areas. The Manipur Assembly passed a resolution in July 2012 to urge the Centre to introduce ILP in the State, to regulate the influx of migrants and foreigners. The Centre, however, is said to have no plans to extend the ILP system, which exists only in Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, to include Manipur.

Recently, on July 5, 2013, announcing the formation of its Women’s Wing, with Lourembam Nganbi and Akoijam Memcha Leima as Convenor and Co-convenor respectively, the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) appealed to the people to engage in a joint effort to implement the ILP System in the State. A statement issued by JCILPS declared that the movement demanding the implementation of ILP system had completed one year, and two resolutions had been taken in the Manipur Assembly as a result. Despite many movements by the people, however, the State Government and the Centre had failed to give any assurance that the people's demand would be met. The JCILPS had spearheaded the year-long stir for implementation of the ILP system in the State. On July 29, 2013, the group had urged the Chief Minister, among others, to verify driving licenses, domicile certificates and electoral rolls of all constituencies, before the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) elections of 2014; to identify illegal migrants and foreigners who settled in various districts of the State after 1980 and delete them from the electoral rolls of Manipur; and to set up check posts for illegal immigrants at the principles points of influx into the State. The unchecked rise in the population of non-locals has altered demographic patterns in the State, ‘threatening the existence of indigenous people’, according to the JCILPS. In July, 1980, the All Manipur Students Union (AMSU) and All Manipur Students Co-ordinating Committee (AMSCOC) had signed an agreement with the Government of Manipur to initiate identification and detection of all outsiders from 1st August, 1980, and to send them ‘back home’.

Interestingly, on September 21, 2012, 22 illegal Bangladeshi migrants who entered Manipur for low-wage manual jobs were sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Imphal East District (CJM-IED). The order of the CJM-IED was passed after hearing the case filed by the Porompat Police Station (Imphal East District) against the illegal migrants, who were charge-sheeted under provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946.

The issue of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ has been a cause of major conflict in Manipur – and, indeed, across much of India’s Northeast – and has also provoked tensions between various ethnic communities, catalyzing the growing unity of militant formations in the State in recent years. The Centre’s proclivity to brushing the issue under the carpet, even as the continued and substantial influx of foreigners is tolerated, has made locals hostile even to migrants from other parts of India. These problems are enormously compounded by endemic and chronic misgovernance in the State, giving little hope of any constructive solution in the foreseeable future.

SRI LANKA
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Polarized Mandate
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On September 21, 2013, amid heavy security voting was conducted in the Tamil dominated Northern Province of Sri Lanka – the former stronghold of the separatist-terrorist formation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest Tamil party in the country, which is considered the political inheritor of the now defeated LTTE, secured a landslide victory, winning in all five Districts in the Province, with a clear majority in 28 of 36 seats. These included 14 seats in Jaffna District; four seats each in Mullaitivu and Vavuniya; and three each in Mannar and Kilinochchi. The TNA also secured two bonus seats on the basis of its percentage of votes in each District.

The President Mahinda Rajapaksa-led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) secured seven seats and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) won one seat out of the total of 38 seats in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).

A total of 68 per cent of the 719,477 registered voters in the five Districts – Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Mannar – of the Province voted for 906 candidates from 57 political parties and 28 independent groups at 850 polling stations. The main contest was between the TNA which had fielded retired Supreme Court Judge C.V. Wigneswaran as its Chief Ministerial candidate; and the UPFA, represented by its two key candidates – S. Thavarajah of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and Angajan Ramanathan of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP). The TNA secured 78.48 per cent of total votes, while the UPFA managed 18.38 per cent of votes, followed by the SLMC with 1.5 per cent.

Despite international apprehensions and some foreign organizations crying wolf, the elections were more or less violence free. However, in one incident, Ananthy Sasitharan, a female TNA candidate’s residence in the Valakamparai area of Jaffna District was attacked on September 19, 2013. About 10 of her supporters and a lawyer attached to the local election monitoring group, People's Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), were assaulted. Separately, the local election monitoring group, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) stated that its observer, Gunarasa, had been attacked in Kilinochchi District on Election Day (September 21). CaFFE accused supporters of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), who were distributing food among voters, for engineering the attack. In another incident, the Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), another local poll monitor, reported that the bodyguards of Minister Rishad Bathiyutheen allegedly assaulted Mannar District candidate of Our Nation Party, Abdul Salam Mohomad Hilmy, near the entrance of a polling station at the Kokkupaddayam Roman Catholic Tamil Mixed School in Mannar District, on September 21, 2013.

Commonwealth Mission head and Kenya's former Vice President, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, on September 22, 2013, observed, "Generally the voting day went very, very smoothly. President Rajapaksa wants to demonstrate greater political tolerance and the fact that he allows the voters in the north to vote the way they wish will certainly be a positive thing."

Though this was the first ever Provincial Council Election in the North since the creation of Councils as a result of the 13th Amendment in Sri Lanka’s Constitution, the outcome of the Indo-Lanka Accord, 1987, the Northern Province had already witnessed Presidential Elections in January 2010, Parliamentary Elections in April 2010 and elections for local bodies, which were held across the country in 2011. While only 28 per cent of registered voters turned up during the Parliamentary Elections in 2010, 32 per cent voted in the 2011 local Government elections.

Along with the NPC elections, polls were also conducted for the North Western Provincial Council and Central Provincial Council on September 21, 2013. Unsurprisingly, the UPFA secured a convincing victory in both the Council elections, obtaining 34 of 52 seats in the North Western Provincial Council, and 36 of 58 seats in the Central Provincial Council. 

The TNA had contested the polls with an election manifesto presented on September 3, 2013, in which it called for self-determination in the Tamil-dominated North under a federal structure, and the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces. Criticizing the TNA manifesto, Gunadasa Amarasekera, General Secretary of Patriotic National Movement, filed a petition in the Supreme Court on September 16, 2013, appealing that the TNA election manifesto be declared violative of the Constitution. The petitioner asserted that the TNA manifesto was in line with the ‘hidden agenda’ of the LTTE. On September 18, 2013, the Supreme Court issued notice on the leaders of the TNA to appear before the court on October 2, 2013, to show cause regarding the constitutionality of the TNA election manifesto.

Significantly, eight persons were arrested on September 13, 2013, in the Kodikarmam area of Jaffna District, on charges of possession of posters with pictures of former LTTE leader Vellupillai Parabhakaran. Police said this was the first time such posters had been found in the Northern Province since the war ended in 2009. Meanwhile, the Commander of the Army in the Jaffna peninsula, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe on September 17, 2013, claimed that there was a possibility of about 4,000 former LTTE combatants, who were still at large, regrouping, with the TNA glorifying the slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in its campaign for the NPC elections.

Nevertheless, addressing a media briefing in Jaffna District on September 22, 2013, following the party's landslide victory, TNA leader R. Sampanthan declared that his party was ready to assist the Government in fully implementing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, and was ready to participate in the Parliament Select Committee (PSC) appointed to resolve the ‘national issue’, if the Government agreed to a meaningful measure of devolution of powers.

The Sri Lanka Government has taken great pride in the progress it has made in the rehabilitation, developmental and democratic process in the war-torn North over the past years, and the Provincial elections underline its continuing success. However, voters in the Northern Province have clearly demonstrated, once again, their overriding loyalty to their regional party. Colombo will have to find ways of working with the TNA, if a lasting solution to the political and constitutional crisis is to be found.


NEWS BRIEFS

Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
September 16-22, 2013

 

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

BANGLADESH

 

Islamist Terrorism

2
0
1
3

Left-wing Extremism

0
0
1
1

Total (BANGLADESH)

2
0
2
4

INDIA

 

Jammu and Kashmir

0
0
2
2

Left-wing Extremism

 

Bihar

0
1
0
1

Chhattisgarh

0
1
1
2

Jharkhand

1
0
0
1

Total (INDIA)

1
2
3
6

PAKISTAN

 

Balochistan

14
7
0
21

FATA

0
0
9
9

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

86
0
14
100

Punjab

0
0
1
1

Sindh

13
1
8
22

Total (PAKISTAN)

113
8
32
153
Provisional data compiled from English language media sources.


INDIA

96 ceasefire violations by Pakistan in 2013, says Defence spokesman S N Acharya: Defence spokesman S N Acharya on September 18 said that there were 18 ceasefire violations by Pakistan in the month of September, bringing the total number of violations to 96 this year up to September 18, the highest in last eight years. Times of India, September 19, 2013.

ISI harbouring top IM terrorists, says NIA: Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founders and terrorists Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal are being "harboured" by Pakistan's Intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on September 17 told a Delhi court. The NIA said that as per disclosure of arrested IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, both Riyaz and Iqbal are now residing in Pakistan and they used to communicate with each other in coded language through the Internet. PTI, September 18, 2013.

IM looking for tie-up with al Qaeda, reveals Yasin Bhatkal: Indian Mujahedeen's (IM) 'operational chief' in India, Yasin Bhatkal, who was arrested on August 28, 2013, during his interrogation admitted that the IM wants to join hands with the al Qaeda for "joint operations" in India and has even held talks with a senior leader of the outfit. These revelations come within days of al Qaeda 'chief' Ayman al-Zawahiri endorsing the right of militants to fight "Indians in Kashmir" in his first specific jihad (holy war) guidelines. Hindustan Times, September 19, 2013.

Maoists to kill rather than hold hostages for long, claims report: The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) plan to limit the use of abduction as a tactic to mount pressure on the Government to extract political benefits as well as release of their jailed comrades. The targets for abduction would be chosen carefully that would get the Government to surrender. The target will not be held hostage for too long or released if the Government does not give into the left-wing extremists' demands. Instead, the hostage will be killed shortly after abduction. Times of India, September 19, 2013.

Maoists form 'new division' in Odisha: In a move to gain control over the rich bauxite mining zones of Niyamgiri area of Rayagada District and Karlapat area of Kalahandi District, the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) created a 'special division' for these areas to prevent the mining companies to explore and exploit the resources. Earlier, the Maoists were using the jungles of Kalahandi and Nuapada Districts as their corridor to move out from Chhattisgarh, but now they are concentrating in these areas with a full-fledged division. Daily Pioneer, September 21, 2013.

200 Northeastern militants taking shelter in Bangladesh: Despite the crackdown launched by the Government of Bangladesh, around 200 members of militant groups of the North East region of India are still taking shelter in the neighbouring country. A list of the shelter points was handed over to Bangladesh during the recent meeting between the Border Security Force and Borer Guard Bangladesh. Assam Tribune, September 20, 2013.

Jharkhand Police concerned over Maoists acquiring know-how to use chemical weapons: Jharkhand Police on September 20 said it is concerned over Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) acquiring the capacity to use chemical weapons. Additional Director of General Police (Law and Order) and State Police Spokesperson SN Pradhan said, "Maoists have got training to use methane and nitrogen compounds in liquid form. Such liquid form of chemical weapons are hung on trees or thrown on Security Forces, and they set off a fire." Daily Pioneer, September 21, 2013.

RTI latest weapon in LWE extremists' hands to target contractors, says report: The Left Wing Extremists (LWEs) in Jharkhand are using proxies to file Right to Information (RTI) applications to gather details about government projects in order to target businessmen and contractors for extortion. Police have recovered RTI documents from a training camp of the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a breakaway faction of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), in Torpa forests, which have details of 30-odd Government projects under Khunti District rural development agency, with names of contractors and estimated costs. Times of India, September 17, 2013.


NEPAL

CPN-Maoist-Baidya launches "donation campaign" in Rukum District to obstruct CA elections: Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist-Baidya) has launched "donation campaign" in Rukum District to obstruct the scheduled November 19 Constitution Assembly (CA) elections. The party has prepared a list of around 500 people including Government and non-Government staffers, entrepreneurs, businessmen and contractors as possible donors. The party has demanded donations ranging from NPR 20,000 and NPR 2, 00,000. Republica, September 21, 2013.

EC extends deadline for the registration of candidacy by a week: The Election Commission (EC) on September 19 extended the deadline for the registration of candidacy by a week a day after cabinet's request for the same. A meeting of the EC extended the deadline for the registration of candidacy without affecting the final date of Constituent Assembly (CA) elections scheduled for November 19. With the latest extension, the proportional candidates will now have to be registered by September 30, while the direct candidates have to be registered by September 17. Nepal News, September 20, 2013.

President approves ordinance to make 601 members in CA as recommended by the Government: President Ram Baran Yadav on September 18 approved Constituent Assembly Member Election (First Amendment) Ordinance, 2070, endorsing that the to be elected Constituent Assembly (CA) will have 601 members, as recommended by the Government. According to the Office of the President, the Head of State endorsed the Ordinance as per Article 88 (1) of the Interim Constitution. The President on September 17 issued an order to remove constitutional difficulties. Himalayan Times, September 19, 2013.


PAKISTAN

86 civilians and 14 militants among 102 persons killed during the week in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: As many as 81 persons were killed and 145 others injured when two suicide attackers blew themselves up at the end of Sunday service at All Saints Church near Qissa Khawani bazaar in Peshawar (Peshawar District), the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on September 22.

At least 12 militants were killed and two soldiers were injured in a shootout near the Pak-Afghan border in Lower Dir District on September 21.

Three persons were killed and 20 others injured in the night of September 19 in a hand grenade attack near a mosque in the Sarband area of Peshawar. Daily Times; Dawn; The News; Tribune; Central Asia Online; The Nation; The Frontier Post; Pakistan Today; Pakistan Observer, September 17-23, 2013.

Afghan Taliban 'second-in-command' Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar awaits fate in Karachi safe house: Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, former Afghan Taliban 'second-in-command' released from jail on September 21 is being kept in a 'safe house' in Karachi. The whereabouts of Baradar had been the subject of speculation since Pakistan announced he would be released. Tribune, September 23, 2013.

Federal Government's new list of proscribed outfits reaches 52, according to BBC Urdu report: The Federal Government on September 19 prepared a new list of 52 proscribed outfits involved in militancy and extremism, according to a BBC Urdu report quoting sources in the Interior Ministry. A previous list, prepared by the Interior Ministry under former ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), had 23 such outfits. According to the sources, al Qaeda tops the new list. In the previous list, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) had secured the first place with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on the second spot. BBC Urdu, September 20, 2013.

Federal Cabinet approves amendments to anti-terrorism laws: Federal Cabinet on September 20 approved a draft of amendments to anti-terrorism laws in an effort to further empowering law enforcement agencies for better handling of terror-related cases. The draft bill, which will later be presented before the Parliament for approval, is aimed at curbing the menace of terrorism and giving special powers to security forces. It also provides ensuring protection of witnesses in terrorism cases. Dawn, September 21, 2013.

Supreme Court orders law enforcers to arrest 1,500 suspected terrorists and 33,000 absconding criminals in Karachi: The Supreme Court during hearing of the suo motu case on September 20 on the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ordered the Police and Rangers to arrest 1,500 suspected terrorists and 33,000 absconding criminals still at large in Karachi. He asked the Federal and Provincial Governments to ensure the ongoing 'targeted operation' in Karachi continues to be effective - unlike operations in the past. Tribune, September 21, 2013.

Federal Cabinet approves extraordinary powers for the Paramilitary Rangers to stamp out crimes from Karachi: On September 20, the Federal Cabinet approved 'extraordinary powers' for the Paramilitary Rangers in an effort to stamp out crimes from Karachi. The Paramilitary Force has already been mandated to carry out surgical operations against criminal gangs in the city. Tribune, September 21, 2013.

Talks with TTP come to a standstill, says Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan:Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on September 19 told the National Assembly that a move for a peace dialogue with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had "come to a standstill" with a "serious blow" from September 15, 2013, attack in Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that killed a Major General Sanaullah. He said that the military and opposition would be consulted in reviewing the process. Dawn, September 20, 2013.


SRI LANKA

TNA sweeps elections for NPC: The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) swept the elections held for the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) on September 21. The TNA secured a landslide victory, winning in all five Districts in the Province, with a clear majority in 28 of 36 seats. These included 14 seats in Jaffna District; four seats each in Mullaitivu and Vavuniya; and three each in Mannar and Kilinochchi. The TNA also secured two bonus seats on the basis of its percentage of votes in each District. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) secured seven seats and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) won one seat out of the total of 38 seats in the NPC.

The UPFA secured a convincing victory in two others Councils - North Western Provincial Council and Central Provincial Council - elections for which were held on the same day, September 21. It obtained 34 of 52 seats in the North Western Provincial Council, and 36 of 58 seats in the Central Provincial Council. Colombo Page, September 22, 2013.

Sri Lanka won't allow anti-India acts from its soil, says President Mahinda Rajapaksa: President Mahinda Rajapaksa in an interview said that he will not allow any country to act against the interests of India from Sri Lankan soil. Rajapaksa made the comment after ascertaining New Delhi's concern about China's presence in Sri Lanka. When asked about the deteriorating ties between the two countries due to coalition pressures on New Delhi from partners in Tamil Nadu, he conveyed his worries about "the message of separatism" still emanating from Tamil Nadu. Daily Mirror, September 17, 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.

South Asia Intelligence Review [SAIR]

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Dr. Ajai Sahni


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