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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 14, No. 32, February 8, 2016
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:
Unending Misery
Tushar
Ranjan Mohanty
Research
Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
At least
12 persons, including four Frontier Corps (FC) officials,
were killed and another 38 persons injured on February
6, 2016, when a suicide bomber blew himself up near an
FC vehicle in the Multan Chowk area of Quetta, the provincial
capital of Balochistan. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP)'s
‘central spokesperson’ Mohammad Khorasani claimed the
incident, declaring, in an email statement, “The TTP’s
Special Task Force (STF)'s unit carried out the attack
that targeted the convoy of Security Forces.”
On January
28, 2016, the same unit of TTP killed four Policemen on
the Munir Mengal Road in Satellite Town, Quetta. In that
case as well, Khorasani stated, "The TTP's special
unit STF's commandos successfully carried out the attack
at a Police mobile at Quetta's Satellite Town. The commandos
disappeared after the attack."
On January
18, 2016, TTP militants detonated an improvised explosive
device (IED) targeting an FC vehicle killing six FC personnel
and injuring another one near the Margat FC check post
in Quetta. Once again, Khorasani identified “TTP’s special
unit Mujahideen Special Group (MSG)” as responsible for
the attack, and that the attackers managed to escape after
the operation.
On January
13, 2016, at least 15 people, including 13 Police personnel,
an FC trooper and a civilian, were killed, while 25 were
injured, when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a
Government Health Centre in Satellite Town, of Quetta.
TTP’s Khurasani claimed the attack in an email, but Azam
Tariq, ‘spokesman’ for Jaish-ul-Islam (JuI), made a similar
claim, asserting that the attack had been carried out
by his group to avenge the torture of people in custody.
There had
been a rise in violence against Security Force (SF) personnel
in Balochistan since the beginning of 2016. According
to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism
Portal (SATP), Balochistan recorded 35 SF fatalities
in the first 37 days of the current year, as against 20
such fatalities during the corresponding period of 2015,
an increase of 75 per cent.
This conforms
to the rising trend visible through 2015. Though overall
terrorism related fatalities in the Province declined
from 653 in 2014 to 635 in 2015, fatalities among SFs
increased from 83 such in 2014, to 90 in 2015 had.
Balochistan
has already recorded at least 86 terrorism-related fatalities,
including 38 militants, 35 SF personnel and 13 civilians,
in the first 37 days 2016. During the same period of the
preceding year, the Province recorded 39 such fatalities,
including 20 SF personnel, 12 civilians and seven terrorists.
These are early signs of a deteriorating security environment,
against declining fatalities in years 2014 and 2015. Such
fatalities had also increased on a year-on-year basis
between 2011 and 2013.
According
to the SATP database, Balochistan recorded 635
fatalities through 2015, including 298 militants, 247
civilians and 90 SF personnel; in comparison to 653 such
fatalities, including 347 civilians, 223 militants and
83 SFs in 2014. The number and lethality of suicide attacks
in the Province also decreased considerably, with just
one such incident resulting in two fatalities – the suicide
bombers who blew themselves up when intercepted by SFs
– in 2015; as against four such attacks resulting in 12
deaths and 64 injuries in 2014. The Province also witnessed
a decrease in bomb blasts and resultant fatalities, from
84 incidents and 132 deaths in 2014, to 60 incidents and
80 deaths in 2015. While the number of major incidents
(each involving three or more fatalities) increased in
comparison to the previous year, fatalities in these incidents
remained low. As against 56 major incidents, resulting
in 415 fatalities in 2014, 2015 recorded 74 such incidents,
resulting 397 fatalities. Meanwhile, Quetta, the provincial
capital, also registered a slight increase in terrorism
related incidents, from 100 in 2014 to 102 in 2015. However,
attacks on gas pipelines decreased from 17 in 2014 to
10 in 2015.
The official
record corroborates these trends. According to an official
document released by the Provincial Home Department on
November 6, 2015, acts of terrorism as well as sectarian
and targeted killings declined by 50 per cent in Balochistan
over the preceding two years. Statistics released indicated
that 27 people were killed and 13 were wounded in incidents
of sectarian killing in 2015, till September, significantly
less than the figures for 2014, when 91 people were killed
and 129 were wounded. It is a further and marked improvement
over 2013, when 258 people were killed and 478 were injured
in sectarian incidents. There has also been a significant
decline in attacks on settlers, mostly Punjabi- and Urdu-speaking
residents of Balochistan. In 2010, around 113 settlers
were killed. However, this figure dropped to 91 in 2014,
and 36 in 2015.
Attributing
the successes to the National Action Plan (NAP), Provincial
Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani stated, on December
28, 2015, that more than 9,000 suspected militants and
criminals were arrested by Police, Levies, Frontier Corps
and Intelligence Agencies in Balochistan as a part of
the NAP in 2015. He claimed that a total of 1,973 intelligence
based-operations were conducted in Balochistan to arrest
elements involved in targeted killings, bomb explosions
and kidnappings: "Innocent people were freed, whereas
the criminals were charged." Durrani added, further,
"Balochistan Government implemented 17 out of 20
points under NAP to bring an end to unrest and maintain
law and order situation." The 20-point
NAP was implemented in the country
in the aftermath of December 16, 2014, militant
attack on the Peshawar Amy Public
School, in which 148 persons, including 135 school children,
were killed.
Extra judicial
killings by state agencies and their proxies remain rampant.
Through 2015, 247 civilians were killed in Balochistan,
of which some 114 were attributable to one or other militant
outfit. The remaining 143 ‘unattributed’ fatalities are
overwhelmingly the work of the state apparatus and its
surrogates. Of the 3,580 civilian fatalities recorded
in Balochistan since 2004 [data till February 7, 2016],
at least 922 civilian killings are attributable to one
or other militant outfit. Of these, 361 civilian killings
(205 in the South and 156 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
561 civilian killings, 554 in the North (mostly in and
around Quetta) and seven in the South. The 361 civilian
killings attributed to Baloch formations include at least
153 Punjabi settlers since 2006. The remaining 2,658 civilian
fatalities – 1,612 in the South and 1,046 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 Voice
for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) noted, on January 1,
2016, that approximately 463 people were forcefully disappeared
while 157 mutilated bodies were recovered from Balochistan
in 2015. Nasrullah Baloch, Chairman of VBMP, observed,
“The VBMPS report is based on documents received from
Missing persons’ families, Human Rights Organization and
political parties," adding that number of enforced
disappeared persons in 2015 could be higher, as the Government
recently admitted to having arrested 9,000 people under
NAP from Balochistan in 2015.
While Islamabad
deploys disproportionate and lawless force against to
suppress all Baloch dissidence, including political activists
raising genuine grievances, the response against Islamist
terror outfits remains feeble. This is despite the fact
that the Forces engaged in the ‘fight against terror’
have lost far more personnel to these Islamist groupings
than to Baloch insurgents.
While North
Balochistan is afflicted
by Islamist extremist groups such as TTP and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
(LeJ),
Baloch insurgent groups operate in the Southern part.
The major Baloch armed formations include Baloch Republican
Army (BRA), Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan
Liberation Tigers (BLT) and United Baloch Army (UBA).
Separately,
in a major setback to the Baloch people’s sentiment, an
Anti-terrorism Court (ATC) in Quetta acquitted former
President General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf on January
18, 2016, in the case of the murder
of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. The Court
also acquitted Former Federal Home Minister Aftab Khan
Sherpao and former Provincial Home Minister Shoaib Nosherwani.
In January 14, 2015, an ATC had indicted Musharraf, Sherpao
and Nausherwani in the murder case. Musharraf, who was
President at the time, had directed a military operation
in which Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) leader Nawab Akbar
Bugti was assassinated along with 38 of his comrades in
the mountains of Dera Bugti on August 26, 2006.
The Government’s
apathy towards the Baloch and to development in the Province
continues to be reflected in the region’s economic human
development profile, despite its enormous wealth in natural
resources, and the location of a range of high profile
projects backed by China. The impact of these projects
on local populations has been nil, and outside workers
have been brought in, to the exclusion of locals. Numberless
programmes and packages have been announced for the development
of Balochistan and, on August 6, 2015, Prime Minister
(PM) Nawaz Sharif approved another, the Pur-Aman (Peaceful)
Balochistan programme. Given the past record, however,
there is a question mark against the potential success
of this programme as well.
Significantly,
the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan (Beginning of
the Rights of Balochistan) package, which was launched
by then Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani with much fanfare
on November 23, 2009, failed to bring progress to the
Province. On its own admission, the Government has only
been able to implement 15 of the 61 proposals contained
in the package.
Even if
these programs bring some development to the region, this
would be too little too late. Indeed, Brahamdagh Bugti,
the separatist leader of the Balochistan Republican Party
(BRP), on August 26, 2015, observed, “Development in Balochistan
is irrelevant, as a democratic Government is not present
in the Province and the Baloch people were not included
in the decision.”
|
Bihar:
Maoist Retreat
Mrinal
Kanta Das
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
A top Communist
Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
leader, identified as Ram Chandra Mahto aka Pramod
aka Chirag Da, was killed in an exchange of fire
during a joint operation conducted by Bihar Police, Central
Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Commando Battalion for Resolute
Action (CoBRA) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) at Charkapaththar
area in the Jamui District on January 29, 2016. Mahto’s
body was recovered along with one looted Police rifle,
one .303 regular weapon, one 8mm pistol and one country
made pistol. Mahto was a ‘member’ of the Purvi Bihar Purvottar
Jharkhand Special Area Committee (PBPJSAC, Eastern Bihar
North Eastern Jharkhand Special Area Committee) and wanted
in 20 cases in Bihar and over three dozen cases in Jharkhand.
He carried a head money of INR 2.5 million in Jharkhand
and INR 500,000 in Bihar. Confirming the incident Inspector
General of Police (IG), Operations, S.M. Khopde said the
killing of Chirag was a big feat.
On January
8, 2016, four Maoists were killed while one CoBRA trooper
received bullet injuries in an exchange of fire between
Security Force (SF) personnel and Maoists at Bandh Gorya
village under the Dhibra Police Station area in Aurangabad
District. One of the Maoists killed was identified as
Rajiv, whereas the identity of the remaining three was
not known. SF personnel also recovered four weapons, including
one AK-47, one carbine and two pistols from the encounter
spot. The encounter took place during a joint operation
conducted by SFs in the Bhaluahi, Gopaldera, Morma, Chuchiya
and Dulare areas under the Dhibra and Dumaria Police Station
limits in the District.
Till February
5, 2016, 15 Maoists had been arrested in the current year
in Bihar, including a CPI-Maoist ‘area commander’.
These operational
successes at the beginning of the year augur well for
SFs in their fight against Maoists in the State.
Significantly,
the successful operations launched by SFs are notable
in that only seven Maoists were killed in the State during
the three years between 2013 and 2015. On the other hand,
SFs lost 35 of their personnel over the same period. In
fact since the formation of the CPI-Maoist in 2004, SFs
have lost more personnel, 181, than the Maoists, at 176.
SFs have already lost two of their personnel in the current
year. On January 25, 2016, CPI-Maoist cadres killed a
Policeman, identified as Girija Paswan, in Aurangabad
District. The Maoists claimed that he was killed as he
was suspected to have told his superiors about the whereabouts
of Rajiv alias Bihari, killed in the January 8,
2016, encounter. Again on January 30, 2016, a Police official
was killed at Lathiakoresi village in Munger District.
Police said that, on a tip-off, a Police team led by Additional
Superintendent of Police (ASP), Operations, Navin Kumar,
went to Lathiakoresi village to arrest a suspected Maoist
Lallan Koda. According to reports, Maoist ‘sympathizers’
opened fire at the Police, resulting in an exchange of
fire in which Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Bhavesh Singh
died. One Maoist ‘sympathiser’ was also injured in the
firing.
Meanwhile,
according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP)
database, through 2015, nine persons, including four civilians,
three SF personnel and two Maoists, were killed in 2015;
as compared to 17 fatalities, including seven civilians,
seven SF personnel and three Maoists in 2014. This was
the lowest number of fatalities recorded across categories
in Bihar since the formation of the CPI-Maoist in 2004.
At least seven persons have already been killed in Left
Wing Extremism (LWE)-related violence in the State in
2016, including five Maoists and two Police personnel.
Also, on January 22, 2016, Maoists killed one villager
at Gulab Bigha village under the Madanpur Police Station
in Aurangabad District, suspecting him of being a ‘Police
informer’.
Giving
further credence to claims of an improving security situation
in the State, there were no major incident (resulting
in three or more fatalities) reported in 2015, as against
one such incident in 2014, where at least three CRPF personnel
were killed and eight were injured near Baranda Mor under
Dhibra Police Station area in Aurangabad District. There
was also no attack involving ‘people’s militia’ in 2015,
as against three such incidents in 2014. People’s militia
constitute the armed local support the Maoists mobilize
in support of their movement.
The Maoists
were also involved in seven exchange of fire incidents
in 2015, as against six such incidents in 2014; nine arson
incidents in 2015 against 11 in 2014; and one abduction
incident on record, as against three in 2014.
The Bihar
Police arrested 153 Maoists through 2015 in addition to
163 in 2014. This included the catch of three ‘sub zonal
commanders’, one ‘commander’, four ‘area commanders’ including
one belonging to the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC)
and one ‘platoon commander’. On May 16, 2015, acting on
intelligence inputs, a CoBRA team and Bihar Police personnel
arrested 10 CPI-Maoist cadres, including four 'key functionaries'
of the outfit in Gaya District. The arrested Maoists,
included the 'secretary' of the 'Magadh Zone' and member
of 'Bihar Regional Committee' Sanjeevan Baitha alias
Shravanji; 'Treasurer' of the 'Magadh Zone' Gorelal Ramani,
who carried a reward of INR 300,000 on his head; and 'sub-zonal'
members Umesh Yadav and Basant Yadav. In 2014, 16 ‘commander’
rank cadres were arrested across Bihar.
SF personnel
also recovered a huge amount of arms, ammunition and explosives
in Bihar. In one of the incidents of recovery, the State
Police seized 7,000 detonators, 3,000 explosive devices
and 2,000 kilograms of ammonium nitrate during raids conducted
at CPI-Maoist hideouts in Rohtas District on March 14,
2015. Further, on September 8, 2015, Central Para-military
Forces (CPMFs) and the District Police engaged in anti-CPI-Maoist
operation recovered over 400 kilograms of Improvised Explosive
Devices (IEDs) planted by the Maoists from the dense forest
areas of Lakhisarai District.
Bihar had
not done well with regard to the surrender of Maoists
since 2012. However, there was marginal improvement in
the number of surrendered cadres in Bihar in 2015. Seven
Maoists surrendered in 2015 in comparison to none in 2014.
The cadres who surrendered in 2015 included Nageshwar,
an ‘area committee member’, Sanjay, a ‘sub-zonal committee
member’ and Anandi, a ‘sub zonal commander’. It is clear
that the Bihar Government’s surrender policy fails to
attract the Maoists to join the mainstream. Notably, at
least 608 Maoist cadres had surrendered through 2015 (excluding
the seven in Bihar) across the country.
The Director
General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Prakash
Mishra, observed on February 2, 2015, that the ‘red zone’
was steadily shrinking in Bihar and Jharkhand.
He further asserted that this had been made possible because
CRPF personnel were not only carrying out operations against
Maoists but also helping the common man in many other
ways, such as distributing essentials such as woolen clothes,
utensils etc., and enabling them to get their Aadhaar
(Universal Identity) cards.
Remarkably,
the Maoists were a no show during the five phase Bihar
Assembly Elections conducted between October 12 and November
5, 2015. Defying the Maoists’ poll boycott call, 56.80
per cent of registered voters cast their vote. 52.73 per
cent voting had been recorded during State Assembly Elections
in 2010. Just before the election, the Maoists issued
a four-page letter, exhorting the people to “Take up arms
to establish your authority over jungle, jal (water)
and zamin (land) and be a part of the armed class
struggle to defeat these feudal and imperial forces robbing
the country for centuries.”
The battle
against the Maoists is, however, far from over, as reflected
in recent incidents. More worryingly, the Maoists continue
to enjoy some ‘mass support’, as displayed in the January
30, 2016, killing of a Policeman by Maoist ‘sympathizers’.
Earlier, on October 26, 2015, a Special Auxiliary Police
trooper, Surendra Kumar Jaiswal, was beaten to death and
six other Policemen, including a Station House Officer,
were injured when villagers attacked a Police team which
had gone to arrest a CPI-Maoist cadre at Kushmahat village
under the Nima Chandpura Police Station limits in Begusarai
District. Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar disclosed
that the villagers started hurling stones at the Police
team and freed the Maoist and that the Police opened fire
in its defence.
The Maoists
also issued five bandh (shut down strike) calls
on different issues in 2015, in comparison to three such
calls in 2014. The May 24-25, 2015, bandh was the
most violent. 32 trucks were set ablaze by CPI-Maoist
cadres on the busy Grand Trunk Road in Gaya District.
Media reports indicated that life in major parts of the
Sherghati Sub-Division of Gaya District, particularly
Dumaria, Imamganj, Banke Bazar and Raushanganj Police
Station areas, came to a standstill as CPI-Maoist cadres
got markets, road transport, banking services and Government
offices closed. The Maoists were protesting the killing
of Urmila Ganjoo alias Sarita, a member of the
‘Bihar-Jharkhand Chhattisgarh Special Area Committee’,
by the SFs on May 17, 2015.
Further,
there are signs that Maoists splinter groups such as People’s
Liberation Front of India (PLFI), and Tritiya Prastuti
Committee (TPC), mainly based in Jharkhand, are trying
to extend their influence into Bihar. On March 30, 2015,
PLFI orchestrated a blast at a flat in the Bahadurpur
residential colony in State capital Patna. It was a low
intensity blast in which no casualty was reported. Two
live timer-attached bombs were recovered from the spot.
Further, nine PLFI cadres were arrested from Bihar – five
from Patna on June 3 and four from Nalanda on October
2, 2015. A Maoist cadre was also killed by TPC cadres
under the Kothi Police Station area of Talaiya Bazar in
Gaya District on March 12, 2015. A TPC ‘area commander’
was also arrested from Rohtas District in Bihar on September
23.
Despite
SF successes, the presence of low-grade violence suggests
that the Maoists still wield significant residual strength
in the State. Consolidating the gains of 2014, SFs have
succeeded in containing Maoist violence even further in
2015, and early trends in 2016 augur well. The Maoists
are down and this provides an opportunity to the SF personnel
to strengthen their position against the rebels.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
February
1-7, 2016
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
Bangladesh
|
|
Left Wing
Extremists
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
INDIA
|
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
Manipur
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Meghalaya
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Nagaland
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
Punjab
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
Left-Wing
Extremism
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
Jharkhand
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
Odisha
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Total (INDIA)
|
6
|
0
|
13
|
19
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
8
|
4
|
6
|
18
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
34
groups
now
allied
to
Islamic
State
extremists,
says
UN
chief
Ban
Ki-moon:
United
Nations
(UN)
Secretary-General
Ban
Ki-moon
said
in
a
report
that,
34
militant
groups
from
around
the
world
had
reportedly
pledged
allegiance
to
the
Islamic
State
(IS)
extremist
group
as
of
mid-December
(2015)
and
that
number
will
only
grow
in
2016.
Ban
Ki-moon
said
UN
member
states
should
also
prepare
for
an
increase
attacks
by
IS
associated
groups
from
countries
such
as
the
Philippines,
Uzbekistan,
Pakistan,
Libya
and
Nigeria,
traveling
to
nations.
DNA
,
February
6,
2016.
Newly-floated
militant
outfit,
Moran
Tiger
Force
(MTF),
behind
two
incidents
of
firing
in
Tinsukia
District
of
Assam:
Cadres
of
a
newly-floated
militant
outfit
of
the
Moran
community,
Moran
Tiger
Force
(MTF),
are
said
to
be
behind
the
two
incidents
of
firings
which
happened
on
February
3
in
Tinsukia
District.
Additional
Director
General
of
Police
(ADGP)
(special
branch)
Pallab
Bhattacharya
said
"We
have
reports
about
a
new
outfit,
Moran
Tiger
Force,
floated
a
week
ago.
We
also
have
clues
about
Paresh
Baruah's
involvement.
The
situation
in
Tinsukia
district
is
tense
and
we
have
issued
orders
to
bring
the
situation
under
control
so
that
it
does
not
spill
over
to
Dibrugarh."
Times
of
India,
February
6,
2016.
Twitter
suspends
125,000
terrorism-related
accounts
primarily
related
to
IS:
Micro
blogging
website,
Twitter,
has
suspended
over
125,000
accounts,
most
of
them
linked
to
the
Islamic
State
(IS)
militant
group,
“for
threatening
or
promoting
terrorist
acts”
even
as
handles
of
India-centric
terrorist
organizations
and
individuals
on
the
micro-blogging
site
remain
untouched.
In
a
blog,
the
United
States
(US)-based
firm
said,
“As
the
nature
of
the
terrorist
threat
has
changed,
so
has
our
ongoing
work
in
this
area.
Since
the
middle
of
2015
alone,
we’ve
suspended
over
125,000
accounts
for
threatening
or
promoting
terrorist
acts,
primarily
related
to
ISIS”.
Outlook,
February
6,
2016.
Dawood
Ibrahim
on
UK
assets
freeze
list:
Dawood
Ibrahim
is
the
only
"Indian
national"
on
an
updated
list
of
financial
sanctions
by
the
UK
that
also
includes
Sikh
terror
groups.
Dawood,
against
whom
an
international
arrest
warrant
has
been
issued,
appears
on
the
UK
Treasury
department’s
‘Consolidated
List
of
Financial
Sanctions
Targets
in
the
UK’,
with
four
recorded
addresses
in
Pakistan,
all
in
Karachi.
Midday,
February
4,
2016.
Maharashtra
extends
LWE
surrender
policy:
Maharashtra
has
extended
the
Left-Wing
Extremism
(LWE)
surrender
policy
up
to
August
28,
2017.
The
Policy
had
lapsed
in
August
last
year
(2015)
but
wasn’t
renewed
as
the
State
Home
Department
was
awaiting
approval
from
the
Finance
Department.
The
State
Government
has
been
claiming
that
LWE-violence
had
ebbed
in
2015
as
a
result
of
its
lucrative
surrender
policy.The Hindu,
February
4,
2016.
535
persons
killed
in
ethnic
clashes
during
last
15
years
in
Assam,
say
State
Assembly
records:
According
to
written
replies
to
a
series
of
short
notice
questions
in
the
State
Assembly,
535
people,
including
45
children
and
80
women,
were
killed
in
Assam
in
ethnic
clashes
during
the
last
15
years.
During
this
period,
eight
major
ethnic
clashes
occurred
in
different
parts
of
the
State.
Times
of
India,
February
5,
2016.
1,450
militants
arrested
last
year
in
Assam,
says
Governor:
Nearly
1,450
cadres
of
different
militant
groups
were
arrested
across
the
state
in
2015
and
a
huge
cache
of
arms
and
ammunition
seized,
Governor
Padmanabha
Balakrishna
Acharya
informed
the
State
Assembly.
The
recoveries
included
577
assorted
arms,
15,515
rounds
of
live
ammunition,
58
IEDs,
307
grenades,
144
kg
of
explosives,
2,979
detonators
and
cash
amounting
to
INR
29,85,510
from
different
extremist
elements.
Eeconomic
Times,
February
2,
2016.
NEPAL
58
people
lost
their
lives
in
Madhes
agitation
that
began
with
promulgation
of
new
Constitution,
says
spokesperson
for
Home
Ministry
Yadav
Prasad
Koirala:
Spokesperson
for
the
Home
Ministry
Joint
Secretary
Yadav
Prasad
Koirala
at
a
press
meet
organized
by
the
Ministry
of
Information
and
Communications
on
February
1
said
that
58
people
lost
their
lives
in
the
Madhes
agitation
that
began
with
the
promulgation
of
the
new
Constitution
in
the
country.
According
to
Koirala,
those
killed
during
the
course
of
the
agitation
include
security
personnel,
agitators
and
common
people.
The
Himalayan
Times,
February
2,
2016.
Birgunj
blockade
removed
by
locals
after
134
days:
After
134
days
of
blockade,
locals
removed
the
blockade
at
the
Nepal-India
border
checkpoint
in
Birgunj
town
in
Parsa
District
on
February
5.
The
border
point,
which
was
shut
since
September
24,
2015,
opened
with
the
initiative
of
local
entrepreneurs
of
both
the
Nepali
and
Indian
sides.
The
move
overtakes
the
United
Democratic
Madhesi
Front
(UDMF),
which
is
reportedly
set
to
announce
its
official
decision
to
lift
the
blockade
at
its
meeting
on
February
6.
Republica,
February
6,
2016.
People's
movement
is
not
over
yet,
says
CPN-Maoist
politburo
member
Om
Prakash
Pun:
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Maoist
(CPN-Maoist)
politburo
member
Om
Prakash
Pun
said
"People's
movement
is
not
over
yet".
He
added,
"Prachanda,
Baburam
and
other
Maoist
leaders
betrayed
the
people.
If
the
state
does
not
meet
our
demands,
there
is
a
possibility
that
we
will
raise
our
rifles
again."
According
to
him,
they
will
reject
the
recently
promulgated
Constitution
as
it
does
not
fulfill
their
demands.
Republica,
February
3,
2016.
UCPN-M
is
posing
hurdles
in
endorsing
draft
regulations
of
TRC
and
CIEDP,
say
sources:
Sources
said
that
Unified
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Maoist
(UCPN-M)
is
posing
hurdles
in
endorsing
the
draft
regulations
of
the
Truth
and
Reconciliation
Commission
(TRC)
and
the
Commission
of
Investigation
on
Enforced
Disappeared
Persons
(CIEDP).
TRC
and
CIEDP
draft
regulations
couldn’t
be
approved
by
the
Cabinet
because
of
strong
protests
by
the
UCPN-M
on
key
provisions
proposed
in
their
drafts,
including
seizing
passports
of
those
who
are
under
investigation
in
connection
with
the
rights
violations
during
the
Maoist
insurgency
and
barring
them
from
travelling
abroad.
The
Himalayan
Times,
February
3,
2016.
PAKISTAN
No
evidence
against
JeM
chief
Maulana
Masood
Azhar
in
Pathankot
terror
attack,
says
SIT:
The
Special
Investigation
Team
(SIT)
constituted
by
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif
to
investigate
January
2,
2016,
terror
attack
on
an
Indian
airbase
in
Pathankot
(Punjab),
concluded
that
there
is
no
substantive
evidence
to
suggest
Maulana
Masood
Azhar,
the
head
of
the
Jaish-e-Muhammad
(JeM)
militant
group,
ordered
or
masterminded
the
assault.
According
to
media
reports
based
on
information
from
officials
privy
to
the
SIT
investigations,
Pakistani
authorities
have
conveyed
to
New
Delhi
that
there
was
no
substantial
evidence
that
could
prove
the
involvement
of
Maulana
Azhar
in
the
Pathankot
assault.
Tribune,
February
8,
2016.
JuD
'chief'
Hafiz
Saeed
calls
for
more
attacks
on
India:
The
Jamaat-ud-Dawa
(JuD)
‘chief’
Hafiz
Saeed
on
February
4
praised
January
2,
2016,
terror
attack
at
Indian
Air
Force's
base
in
Pathankot
and
encouraged
similar
attacks
against
India.
Addressing
a
rally
of
around
one
thousand
people
in
the
Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir
(PoK),
Saeed
said:
"800,000
Indian
troops
are
committing
genocide
on
Kashmiris.
Don't
they
have
a
right
to
carry
out
Pathankot-style
attacks
for
their
defence?"
Saeed
also
lauded
Kashmiri
militant
leader
Sayed
Salahuddin,
who
heads
the
United
Jihad
Council
(UJC)
that
has
claimed
responsibility
for
the
attack.
Times
of
India,
February
5,
2016.
182
madrassas
sealed
across
Pakistan
under
NAP:
Pakistani
authorities
have
sealed
182
madrassas
(religious
seminary)
since
the
December
16,
2014,
Peshawar
school
attack,
in
a
countrywide
crackdown
under
the
National
Action
Plan
(NAP)
on
religious
seminaries
allegedly
involved
in
extremism,
a
report
of
the
Associated
Press
said.
The
madrassas
were
closed
in
Punjab,
Sindh
and
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
because
of
their
involvement
in
promoting
extremism
and
other
suspicious
activities.
Times
of
India,
February
6,
2016.
SRI
LANKA
Red
notice
issued
against
former
LTTE
leader
removed:
The
Colombo
Special
High
Court
on
February
1
removed
the
arrest
warrant
issued
on
former
Liberation
Tigers
of
Tamil
Eelam
(LTTE)
leader
Emil
Kanthan
after
his
lawyers
informed
the
court
that
he
is
prepared
to
return
to
the
island
in
two
weeks
and
surrender
to
the
Police.
Accordingly,
the
court
issued
orders
to
remove
the
arrest
warrant
and
the
red
notice
issued
on
Emil
Kanthan.
Colombo Page,
February
2,
2016.
Government
will
not
deviate
from
Geneva
resolution
on
reconciliation
and
accountability
in
any
way,
says
Prime
Minister
Ranil
Wickremesinghe:
Prime
Minister
Ranil
Wickremesinghe
while
addressing
the
Commonwealth
Parliamentarians'
Association
Regional
Seminar
for
Members
of
Parliament
in
Colombo
on
February
1
said
that
the
Government
will
not
deviate
from
the
Geneva
resolution
on
reconciliation
and
accountability
in
any
way.
"Our
whole
approach
is
reconciliation
and
accountability.
We
are
not
talking
about
accountability
without
reconciliation
or
reconciliation
without
accountability.
How
do
you
achieve
it,
this
is
a
task,
on
one
hand
you
want
to
know
what
happened
and
who
was
responsible,
and
on
the
other
hand
we
want
to
get
on
with
your
future,"
he
said.
Daily News,
February
2,
2016.
India
signs
agreements
to
build
hospital
in
Eastern
Province
and
renovate
schools
in
Northern
Province:
During
the
ninth
India-Sri
Lanka
Joint
Commission,
India
has
signed
agreements
in
Colombo
on
February
5
to
build
a
hospital
in
Eastern
Province
and
renovate
schools
in
the
Northern
Province.
India
has
agreed
to
renovate
27
schools
in
the
Tamil-dominated
Northern
Province
and
to
renovate
and
also
supply
medical
equipment
to
a
hospital
in
Batticaloa
District.
Colombo Page,
February
6,
2016.
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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