SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 12, No. 14, October 7, 2013

PAKISTAN

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Peshawar: Legitimizing Terror
Ambreen Agha
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, has been brought under a relentless campaign of violence and intimidation by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates. TTP terrorists have continued principally to attack unarmed civilians across the District, though some attacks have also targeted the Security Forces (SFs).

On September 29, 2013, a car bomb killed at least 42 people and injured another 100 in Kissa Khawani Bazaar (the storytellers’ market) of Peshawar. A splinter group of the TTP [unspecified] claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying the attack was in response to United States (US) drone strikes in tribal areas. However, TTP ‘spokesman’ Shahidullah Shahid condemned the attack saying, "We are targeting the Government machinery and the law enforcement agencies but not general public."

In another targeted attack on September 27, 2013, the terrorists killed at least 19 persons and injured another 42 in a bomb explosion on a bus carrying employees of the Civil Secretariat at the Gulbela area on Charsadda Road in Peshawar. “This time, the targets of the attack were Government employees”, the Commissioner of Peshawar, Sahibzada Mohammad Anis, confirmed.

In the most gruesome attack on civilians in Peshawar so far, as many as 81 persons were killed and another 145 were injured, when two suicide attackers blew themselves up at the All Saints Church targeting the Christian community on September 22, 2013.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) out of 850 persons killed in KP in 2013, nearly 42.35 per cent (360 persons, including 282 civilians, 61 SF personnel and 17 terrorists) have been killed in Peshawar alone [all data till October 6, 2013]. In comparison, Peshawar had witnessed 181 killings, including 134 civilians, 31 SFs and 19 terrorists, in the corresponding period of 2012, out of a total of 510 killings, including 277 civilians, 65 SFs and 168 terrorists in the whole of KP, accounting for 36 per cent of the total. Indeed, Peshawar has accounted for a continuously increasing proportion of the killings in the Province since 2007:

Peshawar has clearly emerged as the principal target of terror in volatile KP. It is no mere coincidence that the violence has peaked since the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Government under Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, assumed office on June 1, 2013. While Peshawar witnessed 222 fatalities in the first four months after PTI’s coming to power (391 in the whole of KP), the previous four months saw 122 fatalities in Peshawar (and 366 in KP), indicating a sharp increase of 54.95 per cent since PTI’s accession to power.

Rising trends of terrorism in Peshawar, and in KP, are unsurprising given the soft policy of the incumbent provincial Government. Indeed, on October 1, 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the Federal Government to begin ‘dialogue’ with the TTP for ‘peace without delay’. The resolution stated: “The Federal Government should start process of dialogue under the guidelines of the All Parties Conference to restore peace in the country including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.” PTI Chairperson Imran Khan, on September 25, 2013, proposed that TTP be allowed to open a ‘political’ office in the country in order to carry peace talks forward. Khan, who is considered soft on TTP, asked the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led Federal Government to “allow the terrorists to open an office in Pakistan similar to the one set up by the Afghan Taliban in Qatar to facilitate dialogue.” Khan’s demand to provide political legitimacy to TTP could further embolden the terrorists, eventually increasing their hold over and influence within Pakistan.

The ‘imminent’ peace process in Pakistan has also gained enormous oratory momentum. As the hullaballoo about peace talks between the Government and terrorist ‘stakeholders’ increased, Deobandi Ulema have been drawn in to mediate between the two. Though supported by all quarters of the establishment, however, the prospects of a real peace are slim. Nevertheless, Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on October 4, 2013, termed the process of peace talks with the TTP “very crucial”, asserting that things were moving in the ‘right direction’, though he remained silent on the TTP’s demand to stop US drone strikes in the tribal areas. TTP ‘spokesperson’ Shahidullah Shahid October 2, 2013, reiterated, “A cease-fire alone is not sufficient. The stoppage of drone strikes is essential; otherwise, if drones continue to strike, we will not accept the cease-fire.” Earlier, the TTP had demanded a Government cease-fire and the withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas.

Meanwhile, struggling with the reality of ever-increasing violence, the KP Government devised a counter-terror strategy to ward off threats in the provincial capital, soon after the September 29 attack. Secretary Interior Akthar Ali Shah, after a high-level security meeting, disclosed that two Special Task Forces (STFs) would be set up for the city to maintain peace and counter terrorist threats. Two Committees are also to be constituted to devise short and long-term measures to counter terrorism. Of these, one would be headed by the Commissioner and the other would be under the Inspector-General (IG) of Police. Referring to these proposals as “an effective strategy on the cards”, Shah added that Peshawar would be divided into four zones and targeted operations would be carried out in sensitive areas. The emphasis of these targeted operations would be on bus stands, hotels and private inns, which would be thoroughly searched.  He said that a ready-to-move quick response force would be present in each zone along with the Police. He further stated that intelligence sharing and gathering would be improved and that public mobilization would also be increased.

Earlier, in August 2013, the Federal Ministry of Interior, disclosed its National Counter Terrorism and Extremism Policy – 2013, focusing on five elements: dismantle, contain, prevent, educate and re-integrate. It is, however, clear that the Federal Government is not contemplating any startling changes in the execution of its counter terror policies, given Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s outlook orientation towards the Islamist extremists. Indeed, after representing Pakistan at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and holding bilateral meetings with various countries, including India, Sharif alleged that “external forces” were to blame for Pakistan’s internal disturbances. On September 29, 2013, he asserted that external forces were involved in the terrorism campaign inside Pakistan and that, far from being a sponsor, Pakistan was actually a ‘victim’ of a foreign-funded, well-organised wave of terrorism. His reluctance to condemn and act against the TTP and other affiliates is another clear demonstration that Pakistan remains a victim of its own conspiracy theories and continues to ignore the reality of home-grown terrorism and the pernicious role of its own state agencies in creating the terrorist organisations that have turned against it, among a large array of those that continue to serve the state’s perceived interests.

Peshawar has become the extremist bastion of KP, and the Nawaz Sharif Government will continue to remain paralysed unless it confronts the realities of the role of state and society in creating and sustaining Islamist extremism and terrorism. Indeed, the situation can only worsen with efforts by Imran Khan and others to cede legitimacy and political influence to the terrorists.

BANGLADESH

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Another Verdict
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On October 1, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) sentenced to death the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) standing committee member and six-time Member of Parliament (MP) [sitting MP from Rangunia constituency of Chittagong District since 2008], Salauddin Quader Chowdhury (64), for war crimes during the Liberation War of 1971. The tribunal found him guilty on nine of 23 charges that were leveled against him. He was held guilty for the Maddhaya Gohira Genocide; the murder of Nutun Chandra Singha; genocide at Jogotmollopara; the murder of Nepal Chandra and three others; genocide at Unsuttarpara; the killing of Satish Chandra Palit; the killing of Mozaffar and his son; abduction and torture of Nizamuddin Ahmed; and abduction and torture of Saleh Uddin.

Chowdhury had been arrested in Dhaka on December 16, 2010, and was indicted on April 4, 2012.

Though this is the seventh verdict by the two ICTs, thus far, the judgement is extraordinary as the first conviction of a BNP leader. All the earlier six verdicts, were against Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leaders. While four of them had received death sentences, the remaining two were awarded life imprisonment. While JeI ameer (chief) Ghulam Azam (91), and, assistant secretary general of JeI Abdul Quader Mollah were originally sentenced to life imprisonment, the Supreme Court, on September 17, 2013, converted Mollah sentence to the death penalty. Indeed, there had been widespread protests across the country demanding death for Mollah after the ICT-2’s February 5, 2013, judgement.

A total of 13 high profile leaders, including 11 of the JeI and two of BNP, the latter including Chowdhury, have so far been indicted for the War Crimes. The other BNP leader facing trial is former minister, Abdul Alim. Alim, arrested on March 27, 2011 from his residence in Joypurhat District, was indicted on June 11, 2012.

As expected, soon after the October 1 verdict, as had happened after each of the six earlier verdicts, violent protestors hit the streets across the country. As many as 13 people have been injured in two incidents of violent protests since October 1 (all data till October 6, 2013). According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a total of 171 persons, including 74 JeI-ICS cadres, 88 civilians and nine Security Force (SF) personnel have been killed in street violence since January 21, 2013, when the first verdict in the War Crimes Trials had been delivered. As many as 2,795 JeI-ICS cadres have been arrested for their involvement in 202 incidents of violence over this period.

Indeed, on May 28, 2013, the BNP had threatened to overthrow the Government through a street movement, when BNP standing committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed declared, “If the Government favours violence skipping the path of dialogue, we’ll ensure its fall through violence, but we don’t want violence in the country… we want peace and discipline.”

Moreover, signaling the future course of the politics of vendetta, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's adviser, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, warned that, if voted to power, the BNP would try those involved in the War Crimes trials. Speaking in a similar vein, Mirza Abbas, another member of the BNP standing committee, observed, “The nation has not accepted the judgment… If the verdict against Salauddin Quader is executed, the people involved with this [trial] will be charged with murder.” Likewise, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, chief of the Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal (Nationalist Youth Party), the youth front of BNP, stated, “On completion of the tenure of this Government and Parliament, Bangladesh will be ruled by Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman. Servile ministers and judges will not be allowed to move around freely. They will be made to run around in their birthday suits and brought to trial at the people’s court.”

Not to be cowed down, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asserted, on October 3, 2013, “I believe that we will be able to complete trials of war criminals who committed crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971 so as to free the nation from stigma. The BNP cannot save them.” She accused the BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia of siding with war criminals and alleged that BNP-JeI activists have been killing people, setting them on fire, in order to save war criminals.

Further, disproving the BNP and its supporters’ claim that people were against the War Crimes verdicts, people across the social spectrum have expressed strong approval for the latest judgement, as they did of the past verdicts. Several hundred people of all ages burst into cheers shouting Joy Bangla (Victory of Bangladesh), Jonotar Joy Holo (People Triumphed) when the Tribunal announced its decision. Imran H. Sarker, spokesperson of the Gonojagoron Mancha, declared, “S.Q. Chowdhury not only committed genocide, he has challenged our independence many times in the last 42 years. The verdict proved that the war criminals have no place in independent Bangladesh.” Gonojagoron Mancha (People's Resurgence Platform) is demanding the death penalty for all war criminals. Likewise, Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal (Communist Party of Bangladesh), Bangladesh Jubo Union (the youth front of Communist Party of Bangladesh), United National Awami Party, and others, issued separate statements hailing the verdict and demanding its quick execution. Witnesses to S.Q. Chowdhury’s war-time atrocities also expressed satisfaction over the verdict. Mohammad Salimullah, who owned the Muslim Press in Chittagong District during the Liberation War and was the second prosecution witness in the case, wept as he said, “When I was being tortured in Goods Hill in 1971, I cried in pain and was thinking of my little daughter I left home … Today, these are tears of joy.”  He urged the BNP not to oppose the verdict and to expel Chowdhury from the party’s standing committee.

Regrettably, however, an unnecessary controversy has been created by the leaking of parts of ICT-1’s verdict on Chowdhury prior to the delivering of the judgement. The Detective Branch has launched an investigation into matter, but the leak has undermined the credibility of the tribunal, providing an opportunity to those who are opposing the trials to hit back. Indeed, in its official reaction to the ICT-1 verdict on October 2, 2013, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced an agitation programme, claiming, “We are expressing our condemnation of the Government for its evil attempt to eliminate opposition party politics in the country. We are astonished that SQC (S.Q. Chowdhury) was deprived of justice… The text of the ICT verdict was displayed on different websites even before its pronouncement. It was leaked from the office of an acting secretary in the law ministry.” The State Minister for Law, Quamrul Islam, while admitting that part of the verdict had been leaked, stated, “This is certain that the verdict has not been leaked from the ministry and such an allegation is baseless… People involved in the leak will be spotted soon.” Meanwhile, on October 3, 2013, the Detective Branch of the Police seized the computer on which the verdict delivered by the ICT-1 was drafted, in order to track down those involved in the ‘verdict leak plot’.

Hasina’s assertiveness in the aftermath of the Salauddin Quader Chowdhury verdict is appreciable, and it appears clear that her determination to bring the war criminals of 1971 is not faltering. Nevertheless, a long process remains before the trials and appeals can be brought to their eventual conclusion, and the elections of 2014 are quickly drawing closer. The Opposition parties have made their intention to reverse – indeed, ‘avenge’ – the war crimes trials, abundantly clear. Justice for the victims of the atrocities of 1971, and emotional and political closure for Bangladesh, are still distant prospects.

INDIA

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Maoists: Stealing Childhood
Fakir Mohan Pradhan
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

That the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) recruits children for non-combat activities is hardly news. Indeed, the Secretary General of United Nations (UN), in his report to the Security Council in 2010, had put this reality on record, observing, “The Naxals have claimed that children were used only as messengers and informers, but have admitted that children were provided with training to use non-lethal and lethal weapons, including landmines”. Though India denies Left Wing Extremist violence in India to be an ‘armed conflict’ under International Law for other considerations, it has never denied recruitment of children by the Maoists. What has, however, recently made news is the fresh evidence that Maoists are recruiting children forcibly and giving them training for explosives handling.

The incident came to light on September 18, 2013, when Latehar District Police exhumed the body of a boy with burn injuries. The Police had received information that the boy’s family had quietly buried him after he died just days after the Maoists ‘recruited’ him, with nine others, from Chuku Bandua village near Manika in Latehar District during the Karma Festival five days earlier. The body was exhumed in the presence of a magistrate. According to Latehar Superintendent of Police Michael S. Raj, villagers informed the Police that Maoists visited the village five days earlier and forcibly recruited 10 boys, eight of whom were minors, threatening villagers not to inform the Police. On the morning of September 18, the body of Jirokan Lohra’s son Pardesi Lohra, about 12 years of age, was sent back with instructions that the family must bury the body without informing anyone. The Police claimed, “There were burn injuries on the boy’s stomach that may have been caused by explosives triggered accidentally”. A Subsequent autopsy report confirmed blast injuries as the cause of death.

Meanwhile, some of the other children managed to flee Maoist captivity and returned to the village. One of them reportedly stated that “Pardesi did not connect the wires properly”, resulting in the explosion that killed him. Police believe that the incident occurred during a training programme in laying Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), which went wrong.

Earlier, the Maoists had issued a diktak to the village against felling trees in the nearby jungle. Some villagers disregarded the diktat and cleared an area for agriculture, as a result of which the Maoists imposed a ‘fine’ of INR 5,000 for each felled tree. When the villagers expressed their inability to cough up such a huge amount, the Maoists provided the villagers the option of giving one child from each family ‘for the revolution’. Before the villagers could raise their voice, the Maoists forced ten children to ‘accompany’ them to their camp.

The Latehar incident is not an isolated one. Some recent seizures by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Chhattisgarh included cameras with pictures and videos of the Bal Sangham (Child Force). The pictures and videos show children in battle fatigues armed with sophisticated weapons attending a Maoist camp. Intelligence sources disclose that children are being inducted from as early an age as six years, but are not used in combat till the age of 12. In one video, children are accompanied by their parents to one of the camps. Recruitment of children is particularly rampant in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, though Maoists also make such recruitment in other areas ‘Red Corridor’ areas.

Further, some documents seized by the Security Forces (SFs) during operations in Kondagaon, Bastar and Narayanpur Districts of south Chhattisgarh reveal that Maoists were organising 'Bal (child) Action Teams' to gather intelligence and to expand propaganda. According to the documents, intensified combing operations by security forces had made it difficult for adult members to gather information; consequently, school-children, including girls, were being recruited.

According to a recent, unconfirmed, media report, nearly 10,000 children, including girls, have been "recruited" by Maoists across Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand, to serve as intelligence gatherers, or to perform chores as cooks and couriers. Though these minor recruits, mostly aged between 10 and 15, don't carry arms, they are given the basic training in weapon handling. Some 3,000-4,000 children stand enrolled in the "bal sangham" in Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Likewise, the child Maoist recruits in Jharkhand and Bihar are organized as 'Bal Dastas' (Child Units). The child recruitments have mainly occurred in Koraput and Malkangiri Districts of Odisha; Aurangabad, Rohtas, Kaimur and East Champaran Districts in Bihar; Palamu, Chatra, Lohardagga and Latehar Districts of Jharkhand and the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

These child recruits are generally from areas where Maoists have considerable dominance. Sometimes peer pressure works in favour of the Maoists, with the recruitment endorsed by the families of willing children; in other cases, the Maoists ‘request’ families to ‘give up’ one child for ‘the cause’ – with no viable option of refusal. Almost all minor recruits are known to graduate into the Maoist regular force on attaining adulthood.

Interestingly, many senior Maoist leaders have not shown a comparable inclination to ‘give up’ their own children for the ‘revolution’. Pramod Mishra, a CPI-Maoist central committee member, has a son who is a qualified engineer. Ugeshwarji, a sub-zonal commander of the CPI-Maoist leading the outfit’s operations in bordering areas of Bihar and Jharkhand, has four daughters, three of who study in a private English medium school in Latehar District. Maoist commander Shivlal Yadav’s sons study in a private school in Daltonganj. Gopal Ganjhu, also a sub-zonal commander, sends his two children to a popular local school. A list prepared by the Jharkhand Police has the names of many of Maoist leaders with children in the best schools in the region.

While putting out such lists may undermine the credibility of some of the Maoist leaders, it is unlikely to dampen child recruitment by the Maoists. Indeed, as pressure on the group increases in these ‘heartland’ areas, reliance on children may also increase, particularly for intelligence operations, and recruits may be mobilized coercively, where voluntary recruitment is not available.

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

BANGLADESH

Left-wing Extremism

INDIA

Jammu and Kashmir

Nagaland

Left-wing Extremism

Jharkhand

West Bengal

Total (INDIA)

PAKISTAN

Balochistan

FATA

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Sindh

Total (PAKISTAN)