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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 13, No. 44, May 4, 2015
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:
Shooting the Messenger
Tushar
Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
One more
messenger of peace fell prey to Pakistan’s Mullah-military
nexus in the night of April 24, 2015, when unidentified
assailants shot dead Sabeen Mahmud, a prominent Pakistani
women’s rights activist, in the Phase-II area of the Defence
Housing Authority (DHA) in Karachi, the provincial capital
of Sindh. According to reports, Sabeen, accompanied by
her mother, was just returning home after organizing a
discussion on ‘Unsilencing Balochistan’ at ‘The Second
Floor’ (T2F), a café that had been developed as a forum
for open debates, of which she was Director. The event,
“Un-Silencing Balochistan (Take 2)” was organized after
the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) cancelled
the talk due to security threats allegedly from Pakistan’s
intelligence agencies. The panelists in the discussion
included ‘Mama’ Abdul Qadeer Baloch, the President of
Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), who had led a
‘long march’ to protest forcible disappearances in Balochistan;
Baloch activists Farzana Baloch and Mir Muhammad Ali Talpur;
and journalists Malik Siraj Akbar and Wusut Ullah Khan.
Sabeen
sought ‘an open and honest debate’ on Baloch disappearances
and, acknowledging that there were strong opinions on
the issue, she urged a debate that was mutually respectful.
She joked that, while LUMS had been forced to cancel its
event, she had received no such warning about the talk
at T2F, knowing little that she was crossing a critical
red line by organizing an event highlighting the Baloch
issues. Zohra Yusuf, Chairperson, Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan (HRCP) observed after the killing, “It appears
that an attempt is being made to silence human rights
defenders or those who take up the causes of the people.”
Meanwhile,
the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani declared, on April 26,
2015, “We categorically deny involvement in the murder
of Sabeen Mahmud” and that “investigation by the TTP’s
intelligence wing suggests Government agencies are behind
the killing of Sabeen Mahmud.”
During
the talk show, Qadeer Baloch spoke at length about the
forced disappearance and extrajudicial killings of Balochs
and the role of Army. He
noted:
The
situation today is that thousands of Baloch are
victims of violence in the army’s torture cells.
The courts, political parties, human rights organizations,
and civil society are helpless in front of the Pakistan
Army and its agencies. The media is forced to remain
silent on the missing persons and the tortured bodies
[that are found regularly in Balochistan]. International
human rights organizations and media is forbidden
from going to those areas… Today when I am addressing
this conference, the number of missing persons from
Balochistan is over 21,000. This is the figure for
2014. We are writing up the figures for 2015 and
release them every six months together. So until
2014, over 21,000 missing persons and over 6,000
tortured bodies have also been found. We knocked
on every door for the missing person’s issue.
|
The attack
on Sabeen Mahmud for bringing the Baloch plight into the
limelight is no aberration. Exactly a year ago, top Pakistani
journalist Hamid Mir barely returned from the brink of
death after he was attacked on April 19, 2014, soon after
he left Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on the
way to his Jang group-owned Geo TV's office. He was going
to Geo TV’s Karachi studios to interview the same ‘Mama’
Qadeer Baloch, who had led more than 2,000 kilometers-long
‘peace march’ with relatives of ‘disappeared/missing’
persons of Balochistan, from Quetta to Islamabad, in February
2014. Mir had earlier told his family, friends, colleagues,
Army and Government officials in writing that he would
hold ISI chief Lt. Gen. Zaheerul Islam responsible if
he was attacked. Hamid Mir had been relentlessly highlighting
the issue of missing persons in Balochistan.
The threat
to media persons and activists raising Baloch issues is
particularly acute. State agencies, the ISI and their
non-state proxies have executed and abducted a number
of Baloch journalists who had focused on forced disappearances
in Balochistan. On August 21, 2013, for instance, the
body of Haji Abdul Razzaq Baloch (42), a sub-editor at
the Daily Tawar (Voice), a leading anti-military
Baloch newspaper published in Urdu, was recovered from
the Surjani Town area of Karachi. His face was mutilated,
and his body showed signs of torture and strangulation.
He had 'disappeared' from Chakiwara area of Lyari Town
in Karachi on March 24, 2013. Razzaq was also a supporter
of the Baloch National Movement, a nationalist political
organization.
Similarly,
the mutilated body of Javid Naseer Rind, the former Deputy
Editor of Daily Tawar, had been recovered from
the Khuzdar area of Balochistan on November 6, 2011. He
had been abducted by unidentified persons on September
10, 2011, from the Hub Chowki area of Lasbela town in
Balochistan. His relatives blame ISI for his abduction
and killing.
Malik Baloch,
Chief Minister of Balochistan, on March 20, 2014, announced
the formation of a Special Task Force to arrest culprits
involved in the murder of around 30 journalists in the
Province over the preceding seven years. He announced
the decision to journalists protesting outside the Provincial
Assembly. The President of the Balochistan Union of Journalists
(BUJ), Irfan Saeed, however, pointed out on the same day,
“Despite repeated assurances, the killers of journalists
are still at large.”
Significantly,
on February 7, 2014, a BUJ delegation headed by Irfan
Saeed, met with Balochistan’s Inspector General (IG) of
Police, Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera, to ask for immediate Government
action to arrest those responsible for the killing of
Mohammad Afzal Khawaja, a reporter for Daily Balochistan
Times, on February 2. The IG had then promised that
the Police Department would take ‘all measures’ to ensure
the speedy arrest and trial of the reporter's murderers.
However, no arrest has yet been made in this case.
Despite
repeated efforts to focus on the issue of 'disappearances'
in Balochistan, the official response has been suppression
and falsification. A July 23, 2014, report by the Home
Department stated that only 71 people were missing in
the Province [Balochistan]. Human rights organisations
and Baloch activists variously estimate between 8,000and
21,000 disappearances, with Mama Baloch claiming over
6,000 tortured bodies recovered.
There was
a staggering rise in recoveries of such tortured bodies
in 2014, primarily accounted for by the discovery of three
mass
graves in the Totak area of Khuzdar
District. Between January 25, 2014, and April 2, 2014,
a total of at least 103 bodies were recovered from these
graves (local sources claimed that 169 bodies were found).
The bodies were too decomposed for identification. According
to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism
Portal (SATP), based on open media sources, at least
153 bullet-riddled bodies were recovered in Balochistan
through 2014, as against 39 such recoveries in 2013. 124
of the bodies found in 2014 where recovered from the Baloch
separatist areas of South Balochistan, and 29 from Pashtun-dominated
North Balochistan. Significantly, on February 10, 2015,
the Pakistan Supreme Court directed the Federal and Provincial
Governments to launch coordinated efforts for the recovery
of missing persons as well as to address the issue of
unidentified dead bodies found dumped in different areas.
Of the
3,375 civilian fatalities recorded in Balochistan since
2004 [data till May 3, 2015], at least 837 civilian killings
are attributable to one or other militant outfit. Of these,
325 civilian killings (202 in the South and 123 in the
North) have been claimed by Baloch separatist formations,
while Islamist and sectarian extremist formations – primarily
LeJ, TTP and Ahrar-ul-Hind (Liberators of India) – claimed
responsibility for another 512 civilian killings, 506
in the North (mostly in and around Quetta) and six in
the South. The 325 civilian killings attributed to Baloch
formations include at least 146 Punjabi settlers since
2006. The remaining 2,538 civilian fatalities – 1,543
in the South and 995 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 large number of unattributed civilian
fatalities strengthens the widespread conviction that
Security Agencies engage in “kill and dump” operations
against local Baloch dissidents, a reality that Pakistan’s
Supreme Court has clearly recognized.
The Supreme
Court has been hearing the Balochistan missing
person’s case since 2012 and has already
reprimanded the Government for its failure to comply with
its orders on several occasions. The Government has, on
occasion, pleaded helplessness in the matter. Significantly,
a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by then
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on December
10, 2013, had ordered that all the missing persons be
recovered or accounted for by December 19, 2013, and made
the Federal and Balochistan Governments responsible for
execution of its directive.
Having
failed to implement the order, the Balochistan Government
on January 30, 2014, conceded before the Supreme Court
that it was handicapped in recovering missing Baloch persons,
because it had no effective control over the Frontier
Corps and none of the 16 FC officials accused in missing
persons cases, had appeared before the Police to record
their statements. As a result, on March 7, 2014, the Supreme
Court sought a reply from the Balochistan Government as
to whether it would proceed against the FC officials involved
in missing persons cases under the Code of Criminal Procedure
(CrPC), or refer the matter to the Army to take action
against them under the Army Act 1952.
On March
25, 2015, the Federal Government and counsel for Frontier
Corps (FC) told the Supreme Court that a requisition has
been sent to the Army for trial of two Army officers;
Major Saif and Major Moin, allegedly involved in enforced
disappearances, while the Army had also assured the initiation
of proceedings against the officers. During the hearing,
the counsels told the Court that trial of these two Army
officers would start ‘soon’. The proceedings are yet to
commence.
Balochistan
in general and the issue of Baloch disappearances in particular
are no-go areas for Pakistan’s security establishment,
media and activists. Those who have tried to cross the
line have faced the extreme consequence. Like others,
Sabeen Mahmud lost her life as she hit too close to the
state’s vulnerabilities. Though there has been some hue
and cry about her killing and a ‘high level enquiry’ has
been ordered by the Government, it is unlikely to yield
results any different from those of similar enquiries
in the cases of the killing of journalist Saleem
Shehzad and the assassination attempt
on journalist Hamid
Mir. The tragedy of Balochistan has
no proximate ending.
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Nagaland:
Rudderless Process, Aimless Violence
Giriraj
Bhattacharjee
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
As the violent incidents of last few months suggest,
NSCN-K's decision to unilaterally call off the ceasefire,
the split within its ranks, and the Union Government’s
failure to make any progress with regard to talks
with NSCN-IM, could lead to greater violence in
Nagaland and neighboring northeastern states. SFs,
who had enjoyed clear respite from terror, will,
in particular, face the brunt of escalating violence,
if these developments continue. Intelligence inputs
predict a spike in hit-and-run attacks on SFs over
the coming days, particularly by NSCN-K militants
operating from across the Indo-Myanmar border.
SAIR
Volume 13, No. 41, April 13, 2015
|
Twin ambushes
by Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang
(NSCN-K)
resulted in the death of eight Security Force (SF) personnel
- seven of them from the ‘C’ company of 23 Assam Rifles
(AR) and another from the 164 Naga Territorial Army (TA)
Battalion – in the Mon District along the Indo-Myanmar
border on May 3, 2015. Nine other troopers were injured
in the ambushes.
Reports
indicate that the first ambush occurred at around 14:45
hrs [IST] when the AR personnel in a truck were escorting
a tanker to fetch water from Changlangshu to Tobu town.
Three troopers died in the attack. On learning of the
ambush, an AR reinforcement party, rushed to the spot,
where NSCN-K cadres were lying in wait and launched the
second ambush. Another five troopers were killed. The
AR reinforcement party reportedly retaliated, killing
one NSCN-K cadre, identified as Ngamwang Konyak, while
another was injured and dragged away by the rebels. According
to Nagaland Director General of Police L.L. Doungel, another
four troopers are reported missing after the incident.
This is
the first major incident (resulting in three or more fatalities)
in the State involving SFs since April 7, 1998. In the
1998 incident, eight Army personnel were killed and another
15 were injured in an ambush by suspected NSCN-Isak Muivah
(NSCN-IM)
militants on an army convoy on its way to Kechire from
Zunheboto in Zunheboto District.
This is
the first major attack carried out by NSCN-K against SF
personnel since February 19, 1997. On that day, suspected
NSCN-K cadres had killed seven personnel of the Army Development
Group and had injured another four in an ambush at Thingtin
village, about 74 kilometers from Kohima town in Kohima
District.
Prior to
the May 3, 2015, incident, NSCN-K had recently targeted
SFs on two separate occasions in Kohima District - on
March 26 and April 25. In the April 25 incident an AR
trooper, identified as Rifleman Vijay Singh Rathore, was
killed near Classic Island on Raj Bhavan road in Kohima
city. Four AR personnel had sustained injuries in the
March 26 incident.
On March
27, 2015, NSCN-K had unilaterally called off the ceasefire,
claiming that there is “no use extending ceasefire without
discussing the issue of Naga sovereignty”. The Press release
by NSCN-K ‘chairman’ S.S. Khaplang declared, “Clamouring
for peace without even an inclination to discuss sovereignty
issue or resolution of sovereignty is only farce and any
settlement or solution short of sovereignty would only
be a betrayal of Nagas historical and political legacy.”
The ceasefire agreement with NSCN-K was signed on April
28, 2001. Meanwhile, the Union Government also called
off the agreement with NSCN-K in a statement released
on April 28, 2015.
Soon after
the twin ambushes on May 3, NSCN-K reiterated that it
was determined to “uphold and carry on the struggle, regardless
of anti-Naga and anti-NSCN campaign launched by Naga collaborators
and Indian agencies, after entering into cease fire with
India.” It warned that it would “fight to the last remaining
man and shall never be cowed down by the threat of collaborators
and traitors.”
Significantly,
on April 23, 2015, reports indicated that as many as nine
Northeast militant groups – including the United National
Liberation Front (UNLF)
and the Coordination Committee (CorCom), an umbrella group
of six militant groups in Manipur – had formed a joint
front, the United National Liberation Front of West South
East Asia (UNLFW) in the Sagaing Division of Myanmar,
with S.S. Khaplang of NSCN-K as its ‘chief’.
Meanwhile,
on April 27, 2015, the Union Government signed a ceasefire
agreement with the breakaway faction of the NSCN-K, NSCN-Reformation
(NSCN-R), for one year duration. The modalities for the
ceasefire with the NSCN-R are almost the same as those
with other Naga groups. The area of ceasefire will be
confined within the state of Nagaland in writing, but
the outfit stated that the Union Government had verbally
agreed to extend the truce up to Arunachal Pradesh. The
NSCN-R was formed
on April 6, 2015, after the split in NSCN-K.
It is noteworthy
that an earlier split in NSCN-K, resulting in the creation
of the Khole Kitovi faction of the NSCN (NSCN-KK), in
2011, was followed by an increase in fratricidal
killings. Such killings, however,
declined through 2014, principally due to the signing
of the 'Lenten Agreement' on March 28, 2014, during a
two-day reconciliation
meeting of three Naga militant groups
– NSCN-IM, NSCN-KK and Naga National Council/ Federal
Government of Nagaland (NNC/FGN) – at Dimapur, under the
banner of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR). Three
incidents of fratricidal clashes, in which two militants
were killed, have already been reported from the State
in the current year, (data till May 3, 2015). In the most
recent incident, on April 30, 2015, a former NSCN-K militant,
identified as Mughato, was killed in a factional clash
in Dimapur District. NSCN-KK admitted to their involvement
in the killing, stating that he was a “habitual defector”,
who had defected to NSCN-K along with arms belonging to
NSNC-KK. Through 2014, two militants had been killed in
three such incidents.
Further,
there has been no
positive development with regards
to talks with the NSCN-IM even after 70 rounds of discussion.
The Union Government’s interlocutor for Naga peace talks
and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC),
R. N. Ravi, dismissed reports of any time bound strategy
to deal with the NSCN-IM, stating, on April 6, 2015, “The
Government has not given any timeline to end the talks.
I have no knowledge of it but we are trying to come to
a logical conclusion as early as possible.” However, on
October 18, 2014, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit
Doval, had asserted, “There should never be any feeling
that it (talks) is protracted… The (peace) process is
the means to an end and if there is an end, which is a
desired end, it must be found in real time. There should
be rule of law in the Naga insurgency-affected areas for
which peace process must be completed as early as possible.”
According
to reports on May 3, 2015, AR sources in Kohima had said
they have not started operations against the NSCN-K to
avoid causing inconvenience to the people. However, they
warned that they would not remain silent if attacked.
It can now be expected that operations against NSCN-K
will be initiated without any further delay.
|
Weekly Fatalities:
Major Conflicts in South Asia
April 27- May 3, 2015
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Arunachal
Pradesh
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Manipur
|
0
|
0
|
6
|
6
|
Meghalaya
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Nagaland
|
0
|
8
|
2
|
10
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
Chhattisgarh
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Maharashtra
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
Total (INDIA)
|
5
|
8
|
12
|
25
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
FATA
|
1
|
6
|
76
|
83
|
KP
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
7
|
Sindh
|
4
|
3
|
13
|
20
|
PAKISTAN
(Total)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
Eight
Security
Force
personnel
and
one
militant
killed
in
Nagaland:
Eight
Security
Force
personnel
and
a
militant
were
killed
in
two
separate
ambushes
carried
out
by
the
Khaplang
faction
of
National
Socialist
Council
of
Nagaland
(NSCN-K)
on
May
3.
The
attacks
took
place
in
Mon
District,
along
the
India-Myanmar
Border.
Four
Assam
Rifles
personnel
went
missing
after
the
incident.
Nagaland
Post,
May
4,
2015.
LeT
'military
commander'
and
26/11
mastermind
Zakiur
Rehman
Lakhvi
will
link
with
al
Qaeda,
warns
R&AW:
The
release
of
Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT)
'military
commander'
and
26/11
(November
26,
2008
Mumbai
attack)
mastermind
Zakiur
Rehman
Lakhvi
by
Pakistan
could
be
bad
news
for
the
Middle
East
too
as
the
militant
could
"reactivate"
LeT's
links
in
Syria,
including
with
al
Qaeda
networks,
the
Research
and
Analysis
Wing
(R&AW)
warned
the
Prime
Minister's
Office
(PMO)
last
week.
R&AW
has
submitted
a
report
to
the
PMO
saying
Lakhvi's
release
from
Adilia
jail
in
Pakistan
on
April
10
assumes
greater
significance
in
view
of
his
past
activities
in
the
Middle
East
and
said
he
had
earlier
directed
LeT
operations
in
Chechnya
Republic,
Bosnia,
Herzegovina,
Iraq
and
South
Asia,
and
sent
LeT
operatives
to
Iraq
to
attack
US
forces
there.
Times
of
India,
April
29,
2015.
Security
establishment
alerts
Government
about
the
activities
of
IS
in
the
Af-Pak
region:
The
Indian
security
establishment
has
alerted
the
Government
about
the
activities
of
Islamic
State
(IS)
in
the
Af-Pak
region,
named
as
the
Wilayat
Khurasan-WK
(Khurasan
Province)
by
the
terror
group.
The
alert
was
about
the
possible
linkages
of
top
WK
leaders
with
the
Pakistani
establishment.
Times
of
India,
April
30,
2015.
Quit
or
die,
Maoists
warn
Policemen
in
Chhattisgarh:
The
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
warned
lower
rung
Policemen
working
in
Bastar
region
of
Chhattisgarh
to
leave
their
jobs
or
"get
killed
at
the
hands
of
People's
Liberation
Guerrilla
Army
(PLGA)
guerrillas".
In
a
press
statement
issued
by
Madhavi,
secretary
of
the
West
Bastar
Divisional
Committee
of
the
Maoists,
the
CPI-Maoist
took
responsibility
for
the
killing
of
Constable
Bira
Basant,
who
was
abducted
on
April
7
and
found
dead
two
weeks
later
in
Bijapur
District.
Blaming
the
State
government
and
the
Bijapur
Police
for
the
death
of
Bira,
the
Maoist
leader
claimed
that
the
District
Police
did
not
initiate
a
dialogue
for
his
release.
The
Hindu,
April
28,
2015.
UMHA
advises
all
states
to
set
up
separate
prisons
for
terrorists:
The
Union
Ministry
of
Home
Affairs
(UMHA)
advised
all
states
to
set
up
new
security
prisons
outside
cities
for
exclusively
housing
terrorists.
It
has
asked
them
to
give
serious
consideration
for
being
implemented
on
priority.
Till
the
time
it
is
not
possible,
movement
of
high-risk
prisoners
should
be
restricted
within
the
jails
so
that
they
cannot
indoctrinate
other
prisoners,
the
UMHA
has
said.
DNA,
May
2,
2015.
India
welcomes
UNSC
stand
on
LeT
'military
commander'
Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi:
India
on
May
3
welcomed
United
Nations
Security
Council's
(UNSC)
assurance
that
it
would
take
up
the
issue
of
Pakistan-based
26/11
mastermind
Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT)
'military
commander'
Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi's
release
from
a
prison
in
Pakistan
at
its
next
meeting.
Earlier,
a
UNSC
committee
assured
India
that
it
will
take
up
the
issue
of
Lakhvi's
release.
The
assurance
by
the
UNSC
to
take
up
the
matter
came
after
India's
ambassador
to
the
UN
Asoke
Mukerji
wrote
to
the
chair
of
the
UNSC
al-Qaida
sanctions
committee
ambassador
Jim
McLay
expressing
concern
over
Lakhvi's
release,
stating
that
it
violated
the
provisions
of
the
committee
concerning
al-Qaida
and
associated
individuals
and
entities.
A
Pakistani
court
had
on
April
9
set
free
Lakhvi.
Times
of
India
May
3-4,
2015.
NSCN-R
signs
cease
fire
with
Indian
Government:
The
Reformation
faction
of
National
Socialist
Council
of
Nagaland
(NSCN-R)
signed
a
cease-fire
agreement
for
one
year
with
the
Government
of
India
(GoI)
in
New
Delhi
on
April
27.
The
salient
feature
of
the
cease
fire
is
the
removal
of
the
sentence
"as
per
the
law
of
the
land"
from
the
cease
fire
ground
rules.
Nagland
Post,
April
28,
2015.
PAKISTAN
76
militants
and
six
SFs
among
83
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
Military
aircraft
on
May
2
bombed
militant
hideouts
in
North
Waziristan
and
Khyber
Agencies
of
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA),
killing
44
suspected
militants,
among
them
many
foreigners.
Five
militants
were
killed
and
several
others
were
injured
in
clashes
in
the
Tor
Darra
area
of
Jamrud
tehsil
(revenue
unit)
in
Tirah
Valley
of
Khyber
Agency
on
May
1.
Five
soldiers,
a
Captain
among
them,
and
27
militants
were
killed
in
clashes
in
Tirah
valley
on
April
30.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
April
28-May
4,
2015.
Karachi
operation
part
of
Government's
anti-terror
war,
says
PM
Nawaz
Sharif:
Prime
Minister
(PM)
Nawaz
Sharif
on
May
1
said
that
the
Karachi
operation
is
part
of
the
Government's
efforts
to
eliminate
terrorism
from
the
country,
which
is
achieving
good
results.
The
PM
said,
"The
people
of
Karachi
are
now
more
satisfied
as
the
incidents
of
street
crimes,
terrorism,
extortion
and
target
killings
have
decreased.
The
lights
of
Karachi
are
being
restored."
Nawaz
Sharif
said
it
was
the
Government's
top
priority
to
ensure
the
establishment
of
peace
in
the
country.
Daily Times,
May
2,
2015.
Federal
Government
to
seek
extradition
of
top
Baloch
insurgents,
says
unnamed
security
official:
An
unnamed
top
security
official
on
April
30
said
that
the
Federal
Government
is
seeking
to
approach
five
countries
and
the
United
Nations
(UN)
for
the
extradition
of
top
Baloch
insurgents
accused
of
fomenting
unrest
in
Balochistan,
as
the
security
agencies
have
identified
161
training
camps
of
insurgents,
nearly
two
dozen
of
them
are
believed
to
be
located
in
Afghanistan
and
two
in
Iran.
"We
are
taking
up
the
issue
of
Baloch
insurgents
with
five
countries
[India,
Switzerland,
United
Kingdom,
Iran
and
Afghanistan],"
said
the
official,
adding
that
Dr
Allah
Nazar,
Hyrbyair
Marri,
Brahumdagh
Bugti,
Javed
Mengal
and
some
other
wanted
insurgents
are
commanding
their
fighters
in
the
province.
Tribune,
May
1,
2015.
Stability
returning
to
country
due
to
ongoing
Operation
Zarb-e-Azb
in
FATA,
claims
CoAS
General
Raheel
Sharif:
The
Chief
of
the
Army
Staff
(COAS),
General
Raheel
Sharif
while
addressing
a
gathering
of
army
officers
in
the
Bahawalpur
Cantonment
on
April
28
said
that
stability
was
returning
to
the
country
due
to
the
ongoing
military
operation
Zarb-e-Azb
in
North
Waziristan
Agency
and
surrounding
areas
of
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA).
"A
peaceful
environment
in
and
around
Pakistan
is
our
top
priority,"
Director
General
Inter-Services
Public
Relations
(ISPR)
quoted
the
army
chief
as
saying
on
social
networking
site
Twitter.
The News,
April
30,
2015.
The South
Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that
brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on
terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on
counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on
related economic, political, and social issues, in the South
Asian region.
SAIR is a project
of the Institute
for Conflict Management
and the
South
Asia Terrorism Portal.
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