SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 15, No. 7, August 16, 2016

PAKISTAN

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Justice in Terror
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

At least 55 lawyers were among 74 persons killed and over 100 wounded in a suicide bombing at the emergency ward of Quetta’s Civil Hospital on August 8, 2016. Scores of people had gathered at the Hospital to mourn the death of Balochistan Bar Association (BBA) President Bilal Anwar Kasi in a gun attack earlier in the day. Law enforcement officials asserted that the two attacks were connected and confirmed that the blast was carried out by a suicide bomber. Kasi’s body had been brought to the Civil Hospital, and a number of friends, colleagues and relatives, as well as a posse of Press photographers, reporters and television cameramen had also gathered. The 55 slain lawyers include BBA’s former President Baz Muhammad Kakar; former Supreme Court Bar Association Vice-President Syed Qahir Shah; Advocate Sangat Jamaldani, son of Jahanzeb Jamaldani, Secretary General, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M); and Advocate Dawood Kasi, son of Former Federal Minister Dr. Abdul Malik Kasi. Two cameramen — Shahzad Khan and Mehmood Khan— working for Aaj TV and Dawn, respectively, were also killed.

The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed the targeted killing of Advocate Kasi and the subsequent suicide attack. JuA ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan vowed more attacks “until the imposition of an Islamic system in Pakistan”. JuA had earlier claimed responsibility for the Charsadda Court Complex suicide attack of March 7, 2016, in which at least 16 persons were killed.

The Islamic State (IS) group also claimed responsibility for the suicide attack at the Quetta Civil Hospital. IS’s Amaq news agency declared, “A martyr from the Islamic State detonated his explosive belt at a gathering of justice ministry employees and Pakistani policemen in... Quetta.”

Four days after this drastic attack, 14 persons were injured in a roadside blast targeting a vehicle belonging to the Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF) accompanying Justice Zahoor Shahwani's vehicle on Zarghon Road, Quetta, on August 11, 2016. Justice Zahoor Shahwani is a judge of the Federal Shariat Court (a court which has the power to examine and determine whether the laws of the country comply with Shariah law). The bomb was planted along the side of the road and exploded as the ATF vehicle passed by. According to rescue officials, 10 civilians and four security officials were injured in the blast.

Lawyers in the Province have been under attack over the past months. Prominently, on August 3, 2016, a lawyer, Jahanzeb Alvi, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Brewery road area of Quetta. On June 8, 2016, Barrister Amanullah Achakzai, the principal of University Law College, Quetta, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Spiny Road area.

Lawyers in other parts of the country have also come under attack. Unidentified motorcycle borne assailants shot dead a lawyer Kundal Khan in the limits of the University Town Police Station in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on May 18, 2016.  Earlier, in a targeted attack on May 5, two lawyers, Atif Zaidi and Ali Murtajiz, were killed on Grid Station Road of Dera Ismail Khan town. They were cousins, and belonged to the famous Zaidi family of Dera Ismail Khan, a prominent Shia clan that has been a key target of violent extremists for about a decade. The family has produced a number of notable bureaucrats, lawyers, judges, police officers, teachers and professors. But in various incidents of targeted killings, bombings and suicide attacks, the Zaidi family has lost about 30 of its members, while another 20 have been injured.

Indeed, irrespective of their sectarian background, it appears that lawyers are being singled out across Pakistan. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 114 lawyers have been killed, and another 210 have been injured, in 28 incidents of attack on lawyers since 2007. Significantly, the current year has so far recorded the highest number of attacks on lawyers over the last decade, with eight such resulting in 114 fatalities and more than 50 injured.

Lawyers in the country have been under persistent threat from extremist and sectarian groups. Abdul Maroof, the Special Public Prosecutor of Sindh, once regarded as one of the most effective prosecutors in Karachi, took refuge in the US in August 2014 after his house was attacked on November 21, 2013 and his brother was assassinated on April 12, 2014. Maroof was responsible for pursuing cases involving some of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the region, including TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ, a violent Sunni extremist group). Maroof disclosed that he received frequent death threats, and his requests for greater resources and security for himself and his staff were turned down by the Sindh Home Department: “Until mid-2013, my department did not have a vehicle and no security details, despite the fact we were handling a majority of the cases related to the TTP or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.” 

Security fears for prosecutors and lawyers are a nationwide problem. “It’s normal for the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants to tell us that they know which schools our children go to,” said Abdus Samad Chaudhry, prosecutor general for Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province. “The only security we have are umbrellas to protect us from the rain.” On May 2, 2013, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, a special federal prosecutor who worked on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination case, was gunned down in Islamabad, the nation’s capital, on his way to work.

Christian lawyer and human rights activist Advocate Sardar Mushtaq Gill, who was the legal counsel in Shahzad and Shamma Masih lynching case, had gone into hiding on July 1, 2016, after being threatened of serious consequences. Moreover, there are serious concerns for the security of his family as well. His family escaped an abduction bid on May 22, 2016. Gill, who leads the Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD), has gone into hiding after surviving an assault by extremists. He was singled out for his legal support to Pakistan’ persecuted Masih couple who were beaten and then burnt alive by a mob over fabricated blasphemy accusations.

While lawyers had been targeted from time to time, the security threat to the courts and judges has also loomed large. Some major incidents of terrorist attacks on courts and their functionaries in recent years include:

March 7, 2016: A teenage suicide bomber killed at least 17 people, including six women, two children and two Policemen, and injured another 23 at the Court Complex in the Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda District in KP. The JuA faction of the TTP claimed the responsibility calling it revenge for the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer. Taseer had advocated amendments to the blasphemy law.

November 11, 2014: One person was killed and 20 were injured in an explosion targeting a vehicle carrying ATC Judge Nazeer Ahmed Langove on Double Road in Quetta.

June 20, 2014: Environmental Tribunal Judge Sakhi Sultan was killed in a firing incident in the Jinnah Town area of Quetta.

March 3, 2014:  At least 11 persons, including Additional District and Sessions Judge Rafaqat Awan, a woman lawyer, and a Policeman, were killed and another 25 were injured when terrorists attacked the courthouse complex in Islamabad. Asad Mansoor, the spokesman of Ahrar-ul-Hind (AuH), a TTP splinter group, claiming responsibility for the attack, declared that the judicial system in the country was 'un-Islamic' and that they would continue their 'struggle' till enforcement of Shariah law. 

June 26, 2013: A bomb attack targeting a Sindh High Court judge killed at least 10 persons, including two Rangers personnel, six Policemen and the driver of the judge's car, and injured 15, including the judge, near Burns Road in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. The intended target of the terrorists was senior Sindh High Court judge, Justice Maqbool Baqar. TTP 'spokesman' Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility of the attack, saying they detonated the bomb remotely, adding, "We attacked the judge in Karachi as he was taking decisions against Shariah and he was harmful for Mujahideen.'

August 30, 2012: Three people, including a Shia Sessions Judge, identified as Zulfiqar Naqvi, his guard and driver, were shot dead by unidentified terrorists in a sectarian attack on Munir Mengal Road in Quetta.

March 18, 2012: Two Policemen, identified as Abdul Malik and Naveed, were killed when unidentified assailants opened fire at the residence of Justice Jahangir Arshad, a newly-appointed judge of the Shariat Court, in the Mumtazabad area of Multan District.

July 17, 2007: at least 17 people were killed as a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the venue of the District Bar Council Convention in Islamabad, killing some PPP political workers waiting for the arrival of the then deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, who was due to address the lawyers’ convention.

February 17, 2007: Seventeen people, including Senior Civil Judge Abdul Wahid Durrani, were killed and 30 were injured, in a powerful suicide bombing in the Quetta District Courts compound.  

Indeed, the Courts have been so completely intimidated, compounding entrenched sectarian biases, that religious minorities have little chance of justice in Pakistan. Thus, in the high profile Aasia Noreen case, the trial judge, while delivering a guilty verdict, declared that any argument between a Muslim and non-Muslim “could not (be) other than the (sic) blasphemy.”

In the wake of the attack on lawyers in Quetta on August 8, 2016, an emergency meeting was convened on August 10, on the directions of the Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court, Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi. Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court chaired a meeting of the Police and Administration to the review security of Islamabad’s Courts including buildings of the High Court and the District Courts, and directed the Administration and Police to make walkthrough gates, CCTV cameras functional and ensure foolproof security in around the Court premises.

This is not first time that the judicial fraternity has been worried about the lack of proper security measures in and around Courts. After the Charsadda Court suicide attack on March 7, 2016, the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA), on March 21, 2016, expressed concerns over the lack of proper security arrangements on the premises of the Court, especially the ‘inoperative CCTV cameras.’ In a letter to the Registrar, Islamabad High Court, and the Chief Commissioner, the Association stated that lawyers in the Federal Capital were concerned about their security. The letter stated that IHCBA had contacted relevant officials regarding the issue, but to no avail. It pointed out, further, that CCTV cameras installed in the High Court premises were inoperative, walk-through gates had not been placed properly, while security officials performed their duties inside the compound instead of outside the gate. 

Year after year, with incidents after incidents, the Pakistani Government and security agencies have failed to rouse themselves to the situation of the collapse of security across the country. With each major incident, there is a great hue and cry regarding security lapses for a few days. Quickly, however, every Government agency responsible for security lapses again into a deep slumber.

INDIA

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Andhra Pradesh: Maoist: Creeping Revival
Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

On July 30, 2016, Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres abducted and killed Vooraka Maraiah (45), a pastor, branding him as a 'Police informer', at Lakshmipuram village under the Nellipaka mandal (administrative unit) of the East Godavari District. Maraiah's body was found with hands tied at the back, bearing stab and bullet wounds, along with a letter in which the Maoists charged him with not heeding to their warning to mend his ways. He “accumulated wealth disproportionately… As Maraiah started exploiting the poor tribal people and the needy, we punished him in the people’s court,” the letter alleged. The Maoists also warned a host of other village leaders allegedly involved in “unlawful” activities and asked them to cut off their ties with the Police.

Similarly, on March 22, 2016, Maoist cadres killed a civilian, identified as Koothudi Venkata Rao, of Jakaravalasa village at D. Thadivalasa, a hamlet under Kurukutti panchayat (village level local-self government institution) in the Salur Agency of the Vizianagaram District. He was also killed on allegations of being a 'Police informer'.

In another incident on March 6, 2016, Maoists of the Galikonda 'area committee' killed a tiles trader, identified as Gundu Rao, near Kumkumpudi of G.K. Veedhi mandal in the Vishakhapatnam District. After killing the trader by slitting his throat, the Maoists left a note stating that Rao associated himself with the anti-Maoist wing of the District Police and was passing on information about the party. Rao was the husband of former Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) member Chandrakala of G.K. Veedhi mandal.

Since 2011, the Maoists have killed 708 supposed ‘Police informers’ out of 1,568 civilians killed across India, according to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) (till June 30, 2016). On a year on year basis, even though the ratio of killings of ‘Police informers’ has declined, it still hovers around 45.15 per cent of total civilian killings. 218, 134, 113, 91, 92, and 60 alleged ‘Police informers’ were killed by the Maoists in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 (till June 30) respectively.      

Despite these civilian killings, the ground reality remains adverse for the Maoists in Andhra Pradesh, as in other theatres of conflict across the Maoist heartland. Indeed, they face even more challenging times in Chhattisgarh, presently considered the Maoist’s last bastion.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 10 Maoist-related fatalities (five civilians and five Maoists) were reported from Andhra Pradesh in 2016 (till August 15), while the State recorded five such fatalities, (four civilians and one Maoist), during the corresponding period in 2015.

The highest number of fatalities, 320, including 132 civilians, 21 SF personnel and 167 Naxalites-[Left-Wing Extremists (LWEs)], in then undivided Andhra Pradesh was recorded in 2005. Fatalities in LWE-related violence in the State have registered continuous declines since 2006, with exceptions in 2010, 2013 and 2016, when transient reversals were recorded.

Maoist-orchestrated violent incidents have also recorded declines since 2012. Andhra Pradesh reported 11 such incidents in 2016 (data till June 30, 2016), as against 54 in 2011, and a peak of 67 in 2012. Significantly, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand recorded 210 and 194 incidents, respectively, in 2016, according to the UMHA data.     

Significantly, the ‘Martyrs Week’ observed by the CPI-Maoist (July 28 to August 3) passed off without incident in the Visakha Agency, except for the killing of the pastor in East Godavari District. The Maoists had pasted posters and put up banners asking people to observe the week in the Visakha Agency, one of the areas in which the rebels have a considerable presence. There was, consequently, a huge deployment of AP's Greyhounds and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who undertook combing operations all over the rural areas of Visakhapatnam District. A senior Police official in the Visakha agency disclosed, "This year, Maoists did not indulge in any violent or destructive activity during the Martyr's Week. They were aware of the combing parties and kept low." However, the Naxalites had paid tributes to their martyrs at Injari panchayat in Pedabayalu mandal, where ‘commander’ Kiran aka Manganna inaugurated a commemorative pylon. Some cadres including ‘commander’ Naveen and ‘division committee leader’ Kakuri Pandanna, were present at Garimanda village in the Koyyuru mandal.

Andhra Pradesh has recorded one major incident (each involving three or more fatalities) in 2016 (till August 15) in which three Maoists were killed:

May 4, 2016: Three Maoists were killed in an encounter with the Police in Marripakala forests under Visakha Rural Agency area in the Visakhapatnam District. The Maoists were identified as Galikonda area committee ‘commander’ V.R.L. Gopal aka Azad, Julumuri Chinnaiah aka Anand and Bharati, a woman cadre. Commenting on the incident, Babujee Attada, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Operations, Visakha Rural said that one loaded AK 47 assault rifle, two Self-Loading Rifles (SLRs) and kit bags were recovered from the encounter spot along with dead bodies.

There was no major incident through 2015.

Andhra Pradesh presents a picture of sustained SF consolidation, and the Maoist leadership has acknowledged this in the recent past. On July 20, 2016, in an interview in the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) region, Maoist ‘Central Committee’ member Ramachandra Reddy aka Pratap Reddy aka Chalapathi admitted that the Maoist movement had suffered serious setbacks in recent times in the form of encounter deaths and the surrender of leaders. However, he expressed the hope that the 'people's movement' had not been suppressed and would bounce back.

Crucially, Andhra Pradesh has done extraordinarily well against the Maoists over the past decade though it would be naïve to suggest that the threat has been completely eliminated and that the Maoists do not have the ability to make a comeback. Indeed, in their revival efforts in the AOB region, the Maoists have reportedly constituted an Action Team and conducted a ‘recce’ in the capital area of Amaravati, the newly designated capital of Andhra Pradesh in the month of May 2016. Commenting on this development, a top Police official preferring anonymity disclosed that there had been no underground activities in the capital region, but there was information on the movement of Maoists in Krishna and Guntur Districts: "We have information about the Maoists working with some frontal organisations and some like-minded people in Krishna and Guntur Districts. Some sympathisers are helping naxalites in spreading their network and an alert has been sounded in this regard."

Significantly, on August 3, 2016, the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of India's Parliament) was informed that Naxalism had shown varying trends in Andhra Pradesh during the preceding two years, while it declined in the newly constituted State of Telangana during the same period. In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir disclosed,

In 2014, 18 Naxal incidents were reported in Andhra Pradesh in which four deaths occurred and same year 14 incidents took place in Telangana in which five deaths were reported.'' In 2015, 35 Naxalite incidents came to light in which eight deaths took place in AP and the same year two deaths happened in Telangana in 11 incidents of extremism. In 2016 (up to July 15), 12 cases of extremism took place in AP in which five people died and in Telangana five cases came to the fore with no deaths.

Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh on June 2, 2014, after which the truncated State of Andhra Pradesh has recorded 26 fatalities, including 14 civilians and 12 LWEs, according to SATP (data till August 15, 2016).  Moreover, the Maoist failure to revive their movement in Telangana – which was long their heartland region in undivided Andhra Pradesh – has been a serious jolt to the organization, keeping in mind the fact that the Maoists were active supporters of a separate Telangana State.

Crucially, eight Districts of Andhra Pradesh out of a total of 13, feature among the 106 across the country declared as LWE-affected. The eight include Anantapur, East Godavari, Guntur, Kurnool, Prakasam, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram. The minimum number of LWE-affected Districts in the State was six – East Godavari, Chittoor, Kurnool, Prakasam, Vishakhapatnam and Vizianagaram – in 2015. Most of the violence in the State is, however, reported from Vishakhapatnam District. According to media reports the Agency area of Visakhapatnam District has 11 mandals and the Maoists have a presence in nine mandals.

The Maoists are looking for opportunities to recover lost ground in Andhra Pradesh, as it has long been their ‘lifeline’. According to documents seized from Naxals killed in encounters, including data retrieved from the laptop of Maoist leader V.R.L. Gopal aka Azad, who was killed in the Visakhapatnam District on May 4, 2016, the Maoists plan to abduct Government officials, especially Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, posted in the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and East Godavari Districts. This is a strategy that had succeeded in creating enormous disorders in the past. Clearly, any loss of focus on the part of the Administration and SFs could reopen opportunities that have been shut down through tremendous effort and sacrifice over the past decade of tremendously successful counterinsurgency.

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

BANGLADESH

Islamist Terrorism

INDIA

Assam

Jammu and Kashmir

Left-Wing Extremism

Bihar

Chhattisgarh

Telangana

Total (INDIA)

PAKISTAN

Balochistan

FATA

Total (PAKISTAN)