| |
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 13, No. 17, October 27, 2014
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
|
Balochistan:
Targeting 'Outsiders'
Anurag Tripathi
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
At least
eight Punjabi poultry farm labourers were found dead in
the Sakran area of Hub tehsil (revenue unit) in
Lasbela District of Balochistan on October 19, 2014. Police
sources said that unknown armed men had kidnapped nine
labourers from a poultry farm in Sakran on October 18
and killed eight of them after checking their identity
cards.
Earlier
on April 15, 2014, at least two Punjabis were killed and
a child was injured when unidentified militants opened
fire at a barber shop on Sariab Road in Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan. The Superintendent of Police (SP)
Imran Qureshi disclosed that the victims belonged to Punjab
and were working on Sariab Road for a long time. "This
was an act of targeted killing," he added.
After the
killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in August 26, 2006, in a
military operation in the Chalgri area of the Bhamboor
Hills in Dera Bugti District, a series of attacks on Punjabi
and other non-Baloch settlers in Balochistan, as well
as the destruction of national infrastructure, commenced.
On August 23, 2007, Punjabi-speaking hair salon owners
in Quetta said that they felt insecure after attacks on
their shops in preceding months and demanded that the
Government provide them security. An unnamed Barbershop
Owners’ Association member said they were facing security
problems due to their ethnic background. "Since Nawab
Akbar Bugti’s killing last year, more than 12 attacks
have been made on barbershops. The number of attacks in
interior Balochistan is higher," he claimed, adding
that around 800 barbers worked in Quetta and that most
of them hailed from Punjab: "Business is affected
badly, as workers are fleeing the city in order to avoid
ethnic attack."
In the
wake of the Bugti killing, Baloch militant organisations
such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) began to paint
slogans such as 'down with Punjabis', 'Long Live Azad
Balochistan', etc. Punjabis were mainly targeted, but
other ethnic groups have also been hit — Urdu-speaking
people from Karachi and Hindko-speaking settlers from
Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). According to partial
data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP),
17 Punjabi settlers have already been killed in the current
year (data till October 23, 2014). In 2013, the number
of such fatalities stood at 29; in 2012, at 26; in 2011,
at 13; in 2010, at 21; and 18 and 1 in 2009 and 2008,
respectively. Data also suggests that the civilians killed
by insurgents are either Punjabi settlers, who have been
located in Balochistan under Islamabad’s design to alter
the region's demography, or people suspected to be spying
for state agencies.
According
to the SATP database, at least 125 Punjabi settlers have
been killed in Balochistan since 2008. Most of the Punjabi
settler killings are recorded in South Balochistan (principally
in Bolan, Turbat, Gwadar, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Sibi and Lasbela
Districts) which accounts for 101 killings; followed by
24 in North Balochistan (mostly in Nushki, Quetta and
Mustang District). The overwhelming concentration of such
killings in the South is because South Balochistan is
dominated
by Baloch insurgent groups, while the North is dominated
by Islamist extremist formations such as Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP)
and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).
Of the
3,274 civilian fatalities recorded in Balochistan since
2004, at least 807 civilian killings are attributable
to one or another militant outfit. Of these, 305 civilian
killings (182 in the South and 123 in the North) have
been claimed by Baloch separatist formations while the
Islamist and sectarian extremist formations, primarily
LeJ, TTP and Ahrar-ul-Hind (Liberators of India), claimed
responsibility for the killing of another 502 civilians,
all in the North, mostly in and around Quetta. The remaining
2,467 civilian fatalities - 1,521 in the South and 946
in the North - remain ‘unattributed’. A large proportion
of the ‘unattributed’ fatalities, particularly in the
Southern region, are believed to be the result of enforced
disappearances carried out by state agencies, or by their
proxies, prominently including the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Aman
Balochistan (TNAB, Movement for the Restoration of Peace,
Balochistan). The 305 civilian killings attributed to
Baloch formations include at least 125 Punjabis, since
2008.
Baloch
Republican Army (BRA) General Secretary Dr. Bashir Azeem
observed, on September 19, 2014, “The Baloch has been
struggling against the excesses and tyranny of Punjab-dominated
establishment of Pakistan for decades.” Resource-rich,
though sparsely populated Balochistan is the largest of
Pakistan's four provinces, but its roughly seven million
inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a
fair share of its gas and mineral wealth. Despite its
vast natural endowment, Balochistan is Pakistan’s poorest
Province.
Some of
the prominent major attacks (each resulting in three or
more fatalities) targeting Punjabi settlers in Balochistan
include:
January
8, 2013: At least six persons were killed and another
five sustained injuries in three different firing incidents
in Shiekhwasil area of Mastung District. An unnamed Levies
official confirmed, “The deceased and injured were residents
of Punjab."
August
6, 2013: At least 14 Punjabi persons, including three
security personnel, were killed in an attack by BLA militants
on five passenger buses in Machh area of Bolan District.
The buses were on their way from Quetta to Punjab when
200 militants intercepted them in Machh and abducted the
passengers. The militants killed Punjabi passengers after
inspecting their national identity cards (NICs).
July 6,
2012: At least 18 Punjabi-speaking persons, who were travelling
to Iran, were shot dead and another two were injured when
Balochistan Liberation Tigers (BLT) militants attacked
their vehicles in the Basoli area of Turbat District.
July 23,
2011: At least five labourers of Punjabi ethnicity were
shot dead by unidentified assailants in Kisankuri area
of Nushki town in Nushki District.
August
14, 2010: Unidentified assailants singled out Punjabi
passengers travelling on a bus, killing 10 and injuring
five near Ahd-e-Gham in Mach town of Bolan District.
August
14, 2010: At least six Punjabi speaking persons were shot
dead by assailants riding a motorcycle when they were
going home from work in the Khilji Colony of Quetta.
February
3, 2009: The BRA admitted to having killed four Punjabis
in the Nushki Districts. Unidentified people riding on
a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire on a welding shop
owned by a Punjabi. According to sources, the shop had
been attacked many times in the past because of its Punjabi
links.
The targeted
killings have created an atmosphere of fear and terror
among settlers across Balochistan. According to a Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report on October
15, 2014, more than 300,000 people have fled the Province
over the past 10 years due to growing unrest. Tahir Hussain
Khan, president of the Balochistan chapter of the independent
HRCP asserted that 90,000 people who had fled were from
Punjabi and Urdu-speaking communities, and had left to
avoid violence by Baloch nationalists.
Further
compounding ethnically targeted violence, according to
partial data compiled by SATP, Balochistan has recorded
218 incidents of attacks on gas pipelines, in which 16
persons have been killed and 31 injured since 2005 (Data
till October 23, 2014). In one such attack on September
30, 2014, a gas pipeline was blown up in the Zain Bugti
area of Dera Bugti District, suspending gas supply from
Well No. 10 to the Sui plant in the area. BRA claimed
responsibility for the attack, and its spokesperson vowed
to continue targeting gas pipelines and Security Forces
in the District.
Baloch
separatists allege that the Federal Government is systematically
suppressing development in Balochistan to keep the Baloch
people weak. The attacks on Punjabi settlers are thus
claimed as retaliation by Baloch people against the Pakistan
establishment for continuously ignoring the genuine demands
of the Baloch people.
Even as
both the Provincial and Federal Governments persist in
their neglect of the ground realities of the Province,
Islamabad’s strategy of supporting armed Islamist extremist
formations and other violent proxies has enormously worsened
the situation in Balochistan. State agencies have been
active in repressing Baloch groups articulating the genuine
demands of the community, even as the most basic issues,
including the urgent crisis of extra
judicial killings, continue to be
ignored. Such a strategy, long embedded in Islamabad's
approach to this restive Province is bound to bring more
chaos in the already destabilized region.
Interestingly,
on December 30, 2013, the Balochistan Government evolved
a “smart and effective security policy”. Under the new
policy, operations would commence against Baloch militant
formations, such as BRA, BLA, BLT, United Baloch Army
(UBA), Baloch United Liberation Front (BULF) and Baloch
Liberation Front (BLF). Significantly, Islamist terrorist
formations find no mention in this listing, though they
are responsible for the greater proportion of attributable
attacks and killings in the Province. Fortunately or unfortunately,
however, nothing much has been done to put this policy
into practice.
Conspicuously,
SFs remain preoccupied with their “kill and dump” operations,
while Islamabad continues to wait out the crisis in the
Province. Meanwhile, the problems deepen as legitimate
demands and genuine grievances are ignored. The recent
and tragic incidents targeting Punjabi settlers highlight
the cumulative failures of both the Federal and Provincial
Governments, in restoring peace and justice in Balochistan.
|
Andhra
Pradesh: Advantage Sustained
Fakir Mohan Pradhan
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
In a significant
incident, irate tribal villagers lynched three Communist
Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
cadres belonging to the Korukonda area committee at Veeravaram
village located in Balapam Panchayat (village-level
local self-government institution) within the Annavaram
Police Station limits in the Chintapalli mandal
(Revenue Unit) of Vishakhapatnam District in Andhra Pradesh
in the night of October 19, 2014, after the Maoists killed
a villager. The Maoist dead were identified as 'divisional
committee member' Sindri China Ranga Rao alias
Sharath (from Kannavaram village) and militia squad members
Palasa Gangapati (Sabbapalli village) and Korra Nageswara
Rao (Gillebanda village). The villager who was killed
by the Maoists was identified as Gemmeli Sanjeeva Rao
(39), a former Maoist, who had stopped taking part in
Maoist activities and virtually confined himself to his
village, Veeravaram, since 2001.
Though
details of the incident are yet to crystallize, the broad
contours of the incident in the night of October 19 are:
a group of 30 to 40 Maoists came to Veeravaram village
to kill Rao and his friend Satyanarayana alias
Simhachalam, a preacher from Boddalaveedhi village, suspecting
both friends to be Police informers. While a group of
about 10 Maoists led by Sharath entered Veeravaram, other
Maoists waited outside the village. As the Maoists in
the village caught hold of Sanjeeva Rao and Simhachalam
and accused them of being Police informers, tribal villagers
gathered around them, pleading with them to spare Rao
and Simhachalam as they were innocents. The Maoists, however,
killed Rao and announced that Simhachalam was next. Infuriated,
the villagers, more than 300 in number, took on the Maoists.
The extremists reportedly fired at the mob, but one villager
hit Sharath in the head with a stick, killing him on the
spot. The villagers then attacked and killed another two
Maoists, while the others managed to escape. According
to reports two weapons, including an AK-47 in damaged
condition, were found at the spot. Later, Andhra Pradesh
Director General of Police (DGP) J.V. Ramudu told reporters
that the Police recovered the bodies of Sharath and the
victim, Sanjeeva Rao. The body of Ganapathi was taken
by his family members and Nageswara Rao’s body was washed
away in a stream.
As was
expected, the Maoists blamed the Police for instigating
the tribal villagers. According to the 'East Division
Committee secretary' Kailasam, the party cadres killed
Sanjeeva Rao and were going to the Korukonda area to make
an announcement in a praja court ("people’s"
Kangaroo court) but tribals, under the influence of security
forces, did not give their armed cadre a chance to explain
why they took the decision to kill Rao. Issuing a threat
to the locals he stated that the CPI-Maoist had already
identified 19 people involved in the murder of three of
its cadres: "They should come forward and admit their
mistake, otherwise the party will take stern action."
The East
Division Committee of the Maoists has called for a bandh
(general shutdown) on October 30 to protest the lynching
incident. Denying reports that Maoists fired at the villagers,
Kailasam asserted that his cadres did not open fire against
the tribals to avoid killing them: "Our men did make
a mistake at Sagulu in GK Veedhi on February 19, 2013,
by killing three tribals and the party has openly admitted
the mistake of its armed cadre. Our party took the decision
to kill police informer Gemmeli Sanjeeva Rao after he
was warned three times earlier."
The Maoists
appear to be taking the present incident as just another
case of defiance to be dealt with. However, its ramifications
are likely to be wider. Though this is the first incident
of villagers taking on the Maoists in the Vishakhapatnam
Agency Area of Andhra Pradesh, incidents of villagers
offering resistance against the Maoists are not new -
the salwa judum in Chhattisgarh and Nagrik Suraksha
Samiti and Shanti Sena in Jharkhand were, of course, wider
'people's movements' supported and sponsored by the state.
Similar, state backed movements have also been seen in
West Bengal and Bihar as well, even as the Maoists have
retaliated strongly. Just two days prior to the Veeravaram
incident, Maoists killed Raghunath Kisku, one founder
member of Nagrik Suraksha Samiti (Jharkhand), near Bakra
Pool under Musabani Police Station area in Ghatshila subdivision
of East Singhbhum District (Jharkhand). In one of the
worst
incidents of this nature, on February
17, 2010, the Maoists killed 12 persons, burning four
of them alive, and gutted nearly 35 huts at Phulwaria
village in the Jamui District of Bihar, after the villagers
had killed eight Maoists for raping a woman of the village.
The initial action by the villagers was said to have had
the backing of the Police. Crucially, however, none of
the state-backed 'popular' resistance movements have any
existence today.
The Veeravaram
incident is different as it does appear to be a spontaneous
reaction to Maoist excesses. Further, it has occurred
in an area where the Maoist base is still considered to
be strong, despite all the reverses
they had suffered in undivided Andhra Pradesh (now bifurcated
into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana). Further, girijans,
(the tribals of the Agency area) are considered to be
the last pillar of Maoist support in the area, as other
classes/categories have gradually moved away from the
rebel group.
Septuagenarian
K. Sudhakar Patnaik of neighbouring Koraput District of
Odisha, a former Naxalite sympathiser who witnessed the
movement in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh as a youth in
the late 1960s and early 1970s, recalls similar incidents
in 1970, at a time when the Naxalites enjoyed great sway
over the area: when the Naxalites abducted three persons
from Burja village, the villagers retaliated by taking
three Naxalites hostage, and released them only after
securing the release of the villagers. At that point of
time, such an act of audacious defiance pointed towards
the cracks in popular support enjoyed by the Naxalites.
Not surprisingly, shortly afterwards, the two tallest
leaders of the Srikakulam movement, Vempatapu Satyanarayana
and Adibhatla Kailasam, were killed by Police on intelligence
provided by villagers, critically weakening the movement.
The Veeravaram
incident, consequently, has far greater potential to undermine
the Maoists than may immediately be visible. Moreover,
other recent incidents in the Vishakhapatnam Agency area
reinforce such an assessment. Early this year, the Maoists
intervened in a land dispute between two tribal groups
– the Kondus and Bhagatas of Saagulu village (G.K. Veedhi
mandal). Both parties were brought together at
a meeting on February 19, 2013, after which the Maoists
pronounced in favour of the Kondus. The Bhagatas protested
and pelted stones at the Maoists, while the Maoists, in
turn, fired at them, killing three villagers.
Again,
on February 25, 2014, the Maoists killed a girijan
sarpanch (head of panchayat) of the Balapam panchayat,
identified as Seendri Karla of Rallagedda village, suspecting
him to be a Police informer, after 75 local sympathisers
surrendered before the Police. The killing sparked outrage
among girijans in the Agency area.
The waning
support base of the Maoists has been acknowledged
by the rebel leadership on more than one occasion, though
the very pace of this process must come as a surprise.
In Bastar division of Chhattisgarh adjacent to the Vishakhapatnam
Agency areas, considered to be the nerve centre of the
present Maoist movement, a wave of surrenders
has provided compelling evidence of the loss of the support
base of the movement. Interestingly, in a surprising incident
on October 15, 2014, tribals in the Sukma District of
Chhattisgarh forced Maoists to release 40 hostages. According
to the Police, the Maoists had, on October 9, 2014, visited
the Polampalli, Kerlapal, Sirsatti, Sisma and Pongabheji
villages in Sukma District to look for their former cadres
who had surrendered before Police, and had taken 40 former
Maoists hostage, to try them in Kangaroo courts, with
the reported intention of executing them. Enraged, around
2,000 unarmed tribals from these villages gathered at
Polampalli, then marched to the jungles of Sisma to successfully
free their abducted kin.
The unmistakable
erosion of the Maoist support base provides a window of
opportunity to the state. The new draft anti-Maoist policy
by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), awaiting
formal approval of the Cabinet, thus attempts to catch
some 'low hanging fruit' in this context. Taking note
of the experience of previous counter- insurgency (CI)
campaigns in States like Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura,
the draft policy suggests that the State Police should
take the lead in the campaign, supported by Central Forces.
The draft policy observes,
The
LWE (Left Wing Extremism) affected States will take
the lead in the counter-insurgency campaign with
support from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).
The CAPFs have the responsibility of holding the
counter-insurgency grid together, operating seamlessly
across state borders in coordination with the State
police forces... The CAPF personnel deployed in
LWE affected areas would be given incentives on
par with the maximum prevailing levels -- those
available in Jammu and Kashmir... In the worst left-wing
extremism affected areas, security interventions
will be followed by development interventions; in
moderately affected areas, both the interventions
will go hand in hand and in less affected areas,
development interventions will take precedence.
|
These ideas
have, of course, been around for a long time, and it is
in their implementation that they will, eventually, have
to be assessed. Crucially, however, Andhra Pradesh has
done extraordinarily well against the Maoists over the
past
eight years, and the recent incidents
suggest an excellent environment to take this process
to a logical conclusion, particularly in view of recent
Maoist attempts to regain a foothold in the State on the
pretext of opposing bauxite mining in the Vishakhapatnam
Agency area. The Maoists have reportedly been conducting
public meetings in the Agency, and armed Maoist movements
have been sighted right up to the East Godavari District.
With signs of Maoists weakness in their nerve centre in
the Bastar area of Chhattisgarh, the Andhra Pradesh Police
would find the situation even more conducive to a further
consolidation of past and dramatic CI gains.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
October 20-26,
2014
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
Arunachal
Pradesh
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
Assam
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
5
|
Meghalaya
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
Tripura
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
Chhattisgarh
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Jharkhand
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Total (INDIA)
|
4
|
3
|
10
|
17
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
14
|
0
|
1
|
15
|
FATA
|
7
|
5
|
36
|
48
|
Sindh
|
0
|
0
|
15
|
15
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
NSA
sees
large
network
behind
Bardhaman
blast:
On
the
eve
of
his
visit
to
Burdwan
Blast
site
in
West
Bengal,
National
Security
Adviser
(NSA)
Ajit
Doval
said
that
there
appeared
to
be
a
large
network
of
the
banned
group
(JMB)
that
the
investigators
were
working
to
unravel,
reports
The
Hindu
on
October
26.
He
said
that
both
Indian
and
Bangladeshi
Governments
were
working
in
close
coordination
in
the
fight
against
terrorism.
"Both
the
countries
enjoy
excellent
bilateral
relations
and
we
have
been
working
together,"
he
added.
Ajit
Doval
is
expected
to
visit
the
blast
site
in
Burdwan
and
meet
Chief
Minister
(CM)
Mamata
Banerjee
on
October
27.
The
Hindu,
October
26,
2014.
National
Investigation
Agency
report
reveals
details
of
Maoist
planning
of
the
May
25,
2013
Darbha
valley
attack
on
Congress
Convoy
in
Chhattisgarh:
A
three-month
long
conspiracy
culminated
into
the
meticulously
planned
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
attack,
which
was
rehearsed
over
six
days,
on
the
convoy
of
senior
Congress
leaders
in
Chhattisgarh
on
May
25
in
2013,
the
National
Investigation
Agency
(NIA)
has
concluded
after
conducting
a
probe
for
nearly
16
months.
The
report
was
submitted
in
a
court
in
Bilaspur
on
September
23
and
said
the
Maoists
celebrated
with
a
"macabre
dance
of
death"
on
the
spot
after
killing
Karma.
Economic
Times,
October
24,
2014.
India
is
capable
enough
to
deal
with
al
Qaeda
and
ISIS
threat,
says
NSA
Ajit
Doval:
National
Security
Advisor
(NSA),
Ajit
Doval
on
October
21
said
that
there
is
no
threat
from
either
al
Qaeda
or
Islamic
State
of
Iraq
and
Syria
(ISIS)
of
a
magnitude
which
the
country
cannot
deal
with
as
security
agencies
were
keeping
a
"very
close
watch".
Speaking
at
the
Munich
Security
Conference
in
New
Delhi
Doval
said
that
"There
is
nothing
as
big
or
small
terrorism.
It
is
not
on
the
basis
of
geography,
but
on
the
basis
of
groups,
it
is
on
the
basis
of
capabilities
and
tactics.
Any
group,
about
whom
we
have
information
that
has
the
capability
and
intention
to
strike
against
would
be
our
biggest
targets."
Sahara
Samay,
October
22,
2014.
JMB
trains
Assamese
men
to
carry
out
terror
attacks,
says
Assam
DGP
Khagen
Sarma:
Director
General
of
Police
(DGP),
Assam,
Khagen
Sarma
on
October
21
said
that
Assamese
youths
who
were
arrested
in
connection
with
the
Burdwan
blast
(West
Bengal)
have
undergone
a
training
under
the
Islamic
terror
network
Jama'atul
Mujahideen
Bangladesh
(JMB)
to
carry
out
terror
attacks.
He
said
that
"We
have
received
information
against
some
youths
who
have
been
visiting
Bangladesh
for
getting
the
training
under
the
Islamic
terror
networks
such
as
the
JMB
to
carry
out
terror
attacks."
Morung
Express,
October
22,
2014.
NIA
team
probing
the
Burdwan
blast
case
faces
threat
from
subversive
elements,
says
report:
Specific
intelligence
reports
reaching
the
Centre
suggest
that
the
National
Investigation
Agency
(NIA)'s
team
probing
the
Burdwan
blast
case
is
facing
a
serious
threat
from
subversive
elements.
According
to
the
sources,
even
though
the
NIA
team
has
been
provided
adequate
security
cover
by
para-military
and
local
Police,
the
high
threat
perception
shows
that
the
Burdwan
terror
module
had
probably
managed
to
establish
a
good
network
within
the
state
(West
Bengal)
and
subversive
elements
may
want
to
prevent
security
agencies
from
busting
the
entire
module.
Deccan
Chronicle,
October
22,
2014.
Al
Qaeda
plans
to
attack
on
oil
shipments
of
India
and
Western
countries:
After
its
near
successful
hijack
bid
of
PNS
Zulfiqar-
a
missile-equipped
warship
of
Pakistan
at
Karachi
last
month,
the
global
terrorist
outfit
al
Qaeda,
in
the
latest
issue
of
its
online
propaganda
magazine
'Resurgence',
has
revealed
terror
plot
for
attack
on
oil
shipments
passing
through
Strait
of
Hormuz
and
other
key
choke
points
in
Turkish
straits.
Most
of
the
oil
shipments
passing
through
the
Straits
of
Hormuz
are
bound
for
Japan,
India
and
China.
New
Indian
Express,
October
21,
2014.
NEPAL
Constitution
through
majority
if
not
via
consensus,
says
Deputy
Prime
Minister
Bamdev
Gautam:
Speaking
at
Deusi-Bhailo
programme
organised
by
Reporters
Club
at
ministers'
quarters
in
Pulchowk
in
Kathmandu
on
October
24,
Deputy
Prime
Minister
(DPM)
and
Minister
for
Home
Affairs
Bamdev
Gautam
has
clarified
that
the
constitution
will
be
drafted
with
a
two-third
majority
on
the
basis
of
constitutional
provision
of
voting
if
the
political
parties
fails
to
forge
consensus
on
time.
"Nepali
Congress,
CPN-UML,
RPP-Nepal
and
CPN-ML
including
other
fringe
parties
would
create
a
two-third
majority,"
DPM
Gautam
said.
eKantipur,
October
25,
2014.
PAKISTAN
36
militants
and
seven
civilians
among
48
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
Six
militants,
two
civilians
and
a
soldier
were
killed
in
fresh
clashes
during
Operation
Khyber-1
in
Bara
tehsil
(revenue
unit)
of
Khyber
Agency
in
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
on
October
23.
The
Pakistan
Air
Force
(PAF)
fighter
jets
on
October
21
blitzed
suspected
terrorist
hideouts
in
Madakhel,
Dattakhel
and
Shawal
Valley
of
North
Waziristan
Agency
and
reportedly
killed
30
militants,
including
a
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
'commander'
Daud
Wazir,
and
injured
dozen
others.
Four
bullet-riddled
bodies
were
recovered
from
Akakhel
area
of
Bara
tehsil
(revenue
unit)
in
Khyber
Agency
on
October
20.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
October
21-27,
2014.
Nine
Hazara
Shias
killed
in
Balochistan:
Nine
members
of
the
Hazara
community
were
shot
dead
in
sectarian
target
killings
in
different
parts
of
Quetta
(Quetta
District),
the
provincial
capital
of
Balochistan,
on
October
23.
Eight
of
them
were
killed
in
a
single
incident,
which
took
place
early
in
the
morning
in
the
Hazarganji
area.
The
men
were
gunned
down
by
unidentified
militants
as
they
were
about
to
leave
the
area's
vegetable
market.
"The
five
masked
men
boarded
the
bus
in
which
the
victims
were
seated,
forced
the
driver
off,
and
shot
them,"
Sariab
Senior
Superintendent
of
Police
(SSP)
Imran
Qureshi
said.
"They
killed
one
man
outside
the
bus
and
the
others
inside
it
before
fleeing
on
their
motorcycles,"
he
said.
An
hour
after
the
Hazarganji
killings,
armed
men
on
a
motorbike
shot
dead
another
member
of
the
Hazara
community
in
Kirani
Road
area.
Tribune,
October
24,
2014.
TTP
sets
up
new
sanctuaries
in
Afghanistan:
Pakistani
officials
claim
to
have
found
evidence
of
'new
sanctuaries'
set
up
by
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
and
its
affiliates
in
the
Afghanistan
territory
near
the
border
with
North
Waziristan
Agency.
A
senior
security
official
told
The
Express
Tribune
that
the
new
sanctuaries
have
been
established
to
create
difficulties
for
Pakistan's
military
and
disrupt
Operation
Zarb-e-Azb
in
the
troubled
agency.
"It
is
a
worrying
development
that
the
TTP
is
regrouping
close
to
the
border
right
under
the
nose
of
the
Afghan
security
forces,"
said
the
official,
who
did
not
wish
to
be
named.
Tribune,
October
27,
2014.
1100
militants
killed
so
far
in
Operation
Zarb-e-Azb,
says
ISPR
DG
Asim
Bajwa:
The
Director
General
(DG)
of
Inter-Services
Public
Relations
(ISPR),
Major
General
Asim
Bajwa
said
on
October
24
that
Operation
Zarb-e-Azb
is
going
well,
adding
that
1100
militants
have
been
killed
so
far,.
Moreover,
Bajwa
said
that
the
operation
does
not
have
a
specific
timeline
and
will
end
once
all
militants
are
eliminated.
Addressing
the
issue
of
the
IDPs,
Bajwa
said
that
the
army
is
working
towards
making
a
'comprehensive
plan'
to
rehabilitate
them.
Tribune,
October
25,
2014.
Sectarian
violence
claims
more
than
4,900
lives
in
25
years,
says
report:
During
the
quarter
of
a
century
between
1989
and
2014,
more
than
4,900
Pakistani
citizens
have
perished
in
around
3,000
incidents
of
sectarian
violence
and
close
to
9,500
have
sustained
injuries,
research
conducted
by
The
News
reported.
Approximately
525
Pakistanis
had
lost
lives
in
128
incidents
of
sectarian
violence
during
2013,
509
people
had
died
unnaturally
in
57
such
incidents
during
2010,
as
many
as
507
humans
(in
173
incidents)
were
made
to
travel
towards
their
eternal
abodes
during
2012
because
of
their
religious
beliefs
and
441
citizens
had
succumbed
to
this
mode
of
terrorism
in
341
incidents
during
2007.
The
News,
October
24,
2014.
US
designates
TTP
leader
Khan
Said
Sajna
as
terrorist:
The
United
States
(US)
on
October
21
designated
Khan
Said
Sajna,
the
deputy
leader
of
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP),
a
global
terrorist.
The
designation
list
also
includes
Ramzi
Mawafi,
a
former
physician
of
al
Qaeda
'chief'
Osama
bin
Laden.
Both
have
been
designated
under
an
executive
order
targeting
terrorists
and
those
providing
support
to
terrorists
or
acts
of
terrorism.
The
consequences
of
these
designations
include
a
prohibition
against
US
persons
engaging
in
transactions
with
Said
and
Mawafi,
and
the
freezing
of
all
property
and
interests
of
Said
and
Mawafi
in
the
United
States,
or
come
within
the
United
States
or
the
possession
or
control
of
US
persons.
Dawn,
October
22,
2014.
Cracks
in
TTP
widen
as
Shahidullah
Shahid
removed:
While
declaring
that
Mullah
Fazlullah
remains
loyal
to
the
Ameer
of
the
Afghan
Taliban
Mullah
Mohammad
Omar,
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
has
said
in
a
baffling
announcement
that
"Shahidullah
Shahid
had
been
replaced
as
the
TTP
'spokesman'
long
ago
and
another
brother
will
be
named
later
to
replace
him".
Shahidullah
Shahid
had
abandoned
the
TTP
on
October
15,
2014
along
with
five
other
TTP
leaders
while
pledging
allegiance
to
the
Islamic
State
(IS)
led
by
Abu
Bakar
Al
Baghdadi,
the
self-proclaimed
Caliph.
The
News,
October
21,
2014.
SRI
LANKA
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
links
EU
decisions
to
opposition
parties
'conspiracies':
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
on
October
18
has
charged
that
the
recent
decisions
taken
by
the
European
Union
(EU)
are
a
result
of
the
attempts
by
the
opposition
parties
to
oust
him.
He
accused
that
certain
politicians
are
working
with
the
pro-
Liberation
Tigers
of
Tamil
Eelam
(LTTE)
Tamil
diaspora
to
oust
him
at
the
much
anticipated
presidential
election.
"European
Union
has
lifted
the
ban
on
the
LTTE.
It
happened
within
two
weeks
of
certain
opposition
leaders
having
talks
with
the
pro-LTTE
diaspora,
"the
President
said.
Colombo
Page,
October
21,
2014.
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.
|
|
|