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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 8, No. 24, December 21, 2009

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


ASSESSMENT


INDIA
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Orissa: Creeping Consolidation
Fakir Mohan Pradhan
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

Despite a visible decline in fatalities relating to Left Wing Extremist (LWE) violence in Orissa, there are grounds to believe that the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has continued its consolidation in the State. Maoist activities spread to one more District, beyond the 22 recorded in 2008, even as a Maoist front organization, the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) stoked fires in the Narayanpatna Block of the Koraput District. The Maoists lost far fewer cadres in 2009, as compared to the previous year, even as Security Force (SF) fatalities declined. Far from indicating an overall de-escalation, a spike in civilian fatalities demonstrates that declines in fatalities in the other categories are nothing more than a tactical shift, reflecting a diminished ‘rate of contact’ between the Maoists and the SFs – which is far from desirable from a counter-insurgency (CI) perspective.

Maoist-related fatalities in Orissa, 2006-2009

Year
Civilians
SFs
Maoists
Total
2004
4
4
0
8
2005
13
1
3
17
2006
5
4
15
24
2007
15
2
7
24
2008
24
76
32
132
2009*
36
31
12
79
Source: Data 2004-2007: Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India
Data 2008-2009: South Asia Terrorism Portal
*Data till December 18, 2009

While total LWE-related fatalities in Orissa declined significantly from 132 in 2008 to 79 in 2009 (till December 18), the share of civilians vaulted from just 18 per cent to 46 per cent of these totals. The share of SF and Maoist fatalities declined from 58 per cent to 39 per cent, and 25 per cent to 15 per cent, respectively. In both years, Maoist fatalities remain considerably lower than either of the other categories.

While four major incidents (involving three or more fatalities) were reported in 2008, the State witnessed six major incidents in 2009. These include:

November 13: Three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, including an officer, were killed in a landmine blast triggered by cadres of the CPI-Maoist in the Malkangiri Village-66 (MV-66) area of Malkangiri District. The blast took place when a van carrying the CRPF personnel was on its way from Kalimela to Gompagunda to pick up rations. CRPF Deputy Commandant Bhupinder Singh was among the three killed. The attack was part of the Maoist strategy to restrict movement of the SFs ahead of a proposed state offensive in the region.

November 10-11: CPI-Maoist cadres killed four persons and critically injured another in the Pandrotala village of Rayagada District in the night of November 10, suspecting them to be Police informers. Around 50 Maoists armed with guns, axes and other sharp weapons struck the village killing three persons and causing injuries to two others. One among the wounded later succumbed to his injuries.

October 13: CPI-Maoist cadres killed three Police personnel, including the security guard of senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Sudam Marandi, after a football match at Bandap village under Chandua Police Station in the Mayurbhanj District. Sudam Marandi, a former Member of Parliament, however, escaped unhurt.

August 12: Three woman cadres of the CPI-Maoist were killed in an exchange of fire between a group of about 10 to 15 Maoists and a joint team of the Andhra Pradesh and Orissa Police near Ramannaguda in the Rayagada District, about 30 to 40 kilometers from the State border.

June 18: Nine Policemen, including eight belonging to the Orissa Special Security Force and one belonging to the Orissa State Armed Police, were killed when a landmine triggered by CPI-Maoist cadres struck their convoy near Palur village in the Koraput District.

April 12: 11 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel and four CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in a gunfight following an attack on an armoury and bauxite mine of public sector NALCO at Panchpatmali near Damanjodi in Koraput District.

According to the Institute for Conflict Management database, 133 LWE related incidents of violence were reported from 12 Districts of the State, though the Maoist spread was wider. Four south-western Districts – Malkangiri, Koraput, Raygada, Kandhamal – and Sundergarh and Mayurbhanj in the northern part of the State accounted for most of the incidents in 2009. Though Jajpur and Jagatsinghpur reported no violence, several Maoist arrests occurred in these Districts. Out of a total of 30 Districts in the State, the Maoists registered a presence in at least 23. Nuapada District, which witnessed two killings, was the new addition to the list. Maoist activity in the Sundergarh District has increased manifold. The abduction and subsequent killing of Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Police, Ajit Bardhan, during the looting of an explosive-laden vehicle in Sundergarh District generated shock waves in the State. One CRPF trooper was also killed in the rescue operation that was lunched to free the ASI. However, the State Government claimed in a white paper issued on July 24 that only 14 of the 30 Districts of the State are Maoist-affected. Earlier, at a meeting of the Chief Ministers of seven Maoist-affected States at New Delhi on January 7, 2009, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had conceded that only 17 Districts were Maoist-affected.

In response to a query on the confrontation between the Police and the Maoists, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik informed the State Assembly, on November 23, that 145 Police personnel had lost their lives in Naxalite (LWE) related violence since 2000. The Police and LWEs had been brought into confrontation exactly 100 times since 2000. While 61 extremists were killed in Police action, 97 civilians became victim in the conflict, Patnaik disclosed. The intensity of exchange of fire has increased over the years. During the current year, the Police and Naxalites engaged in gun battles on 22 occasions, while an equal number of exchanges of fire was recorded in the year 2006. However, the gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that, in 2000, the Police and the extremists exchanged fire only once and the number of incidents of exchange of fire had never risen above 10 till 2005. Over the past four years, a confrontation has occurred at least 15 times annually.

In 2009, the Maoists made seven daring attacks on six Police outposts, blowing them up and destroying vehicles and official documents. Four of the outposts in Malkangiri District, one in Koraput and another in Kandhamal District, faced the brunt of the Maoists attacks. The Katingia outpost in Kandhamal was blown up twice, on July 17 and October 4.

Mobile communication networks have also been repeatedly targeted by the Maoists. At least eight mobile towers – five in Malkangiri District and three in Koraput District – were blown up in 2009.

Wildlife sanctuaries are a new category of targets. The Maoists made repeated attacks on the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj District and Sunabeda Wildlife sanctuary in Nuapada Distrct. In a knee-jerk reflex, the State Government has demanded Central Forces to guard the sanctuaries.

In a shocking admission, State Government officials admitted before a visiting Central Government team in February that nearly half of the Plan expenditure allocated for LWE-affected Districts was cornered by the Maoists.

The Maoists have clearly overcome the split in their outfit just before the beginning of 2009. There were unconfirmed reports that Sabyasachi Panda’s expulsion was revoked in February. It is believed that the decision was taken to successfully execute 'Plan Kandhamal', the project to 'take over' Kandhamal District, along with the intensification of activities in the Malkanigiri, Gajapati and Rayagada Districts, when the State was preoccupied in the General Elections. However, Panda was reportedly warned not to take 'interest' in the General Elections – an indication of earlier deals with political parties in the run-up to polls. The apprehensions that Panda had worked at the behest of Christian Missionaries to eliminate the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmananand Saraswati, and that a front was developing between the Maoists and the Christians, were deepened when the Police recovered firearms, including one SLR and three AK-47 rifles, from the Nandagiri Rehabilitation Centre in Kandhamal District, during a raid on September 28, following the death of an inmate during the illegal manufacturing of crude bombs there. The arms had been looted from the Nayagarh Police armoury during a raid by the Maoists in February 2008. The Nandagiri Rehabilitation Centre had been opened to give shelter to riot-hit Christians in the aftermath of the killing of the VHP leader on August 23, 2008.

The Maoist master stroke in the State, however, remains the way the outfit has backed CMAS. CMAS ostensibly works under the leadership of Nachika Linga to protect the land rights of the tribals. In an agitation against alleged exploitation in May-June 2009, CMAS forcibly occupied nearly 2,000 acres of land belonging to the non-tribals. It was during this forcible land occupation period that CMAS had blocked the Lakshmipur-Narayanpatna road, and nine SF personnel were blown up by Maoists during a road-opening exercise.

Narayanpatna was only the most recent of a continuous succession of Maoist-related incidents in Orissa's severely affected southern border areas – the Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati and Kandhamal Districts – where there are unmistakable signs of a Maoist consolidation and of attempts to transform the region into a 'guerrilla zone'. CMAS activities are integral to the Maoist strategy of consolidation across this region. The situation in Narayanpatna became volatile, with the attempt by CMAS activists to attack the Narayanpatna Police Station and loot arms and the retaliatory firing by the Police on November 20, in which two senior CMAS activists, W. Singhana and Andrew Nachika, were killed and an unspecified number of persons were injured. The State Police has sought a ban on CMAS and is looking for Nachika Linga, who has gone underground.

Despite the State’s failure to make a correct assessment of the gravity of the situation and enormous deficits in the State Police apparatus, the State Police has been successful in making a few key arrests. Ashutosh, a member of the ‘central military commission’ of the CPI-Maoist was arrested on March 2 near Rourkela in the Sundergarh District. P. Rama Rao aka Udaya, a CPI-Maoist 'commander', was arrested on April 21 along with three of his associates, from the Gudari forest of Rayagada District. According to District Superintendent of Police Ashish Kumar Singh, "Udaya is the third in rank in the Vansadhra Division and a link between (the Maoists') Andhra Committee and the Orissa unit." One of his arrested associates, Padmana was an ‘area committee’ member, who provided logistic support to Udaya and others. Uday’s arrest subsequently led to the arrest of some other Maoist cadres. Such examples of Police successes, however, are few and far between.

On the State Government's action against Maoists, Chief Minister Patnaik stated on July 21 that some suggestions given by the Orissa Police Association to effectively combat the Maoists, such as fortification of Police Stations, provision of barracks and imparting suitable training to the Policemen, had been implemented 'to a large extent'. The State Government, he claimed, was already providing a suitable incentive package to Police personnel involved in anti-Maoist operations. Further, on July 24 he stated that another 3,000 tribal youth from the insurgency-affected areas will be recruited as Special Police Officers (SPOs). This will be in addition to the existing 2,100 SPOs. Other programmes announced by Patnaik include plans to open at least one Industrial Training Institute in each block to enhance employability of the youth; spending at least INR 200,000 per District in tribal areas for sports activities; and filling up vacant paramedical staff posts in all schedule areas of Orissa. The Chief Minister disclosed that another 4,000 Home Guards would be engaged, with special emphasis on Maoist affected Districts. Another initiative to try and counter the Maoists was the withdrawal or dropping of petty cases against tribals. As many as 9,000 minor forest offences and 3,000 other cases against tribals have reportedly been dropped. Again, speaking at the passing out parade ceremony of first batch of Sub-Inspectors who undergone training at the Biju Patnaik State Police Academy Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik informed on September 10 that the State Government will soon come up with a new Police Training Institute where one thousand personnel will be able to under go training every year. The Chief Minister said five new India Reserve Battalions, four special security battalions are being established to take on Maoists.

There are, however, serious chinks in the State Government's armour. The State Government's neglect has also been documented in detail by the latest Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) Report, which reviews the period 2002-2007.

The Maoists have consolidated their position steadily in Orissa, and State responses have fallen far short of what is needed. Accumulated capacity deficits over decades of neglect are yet to be addressed, and the Maoist rampage can only expand across newer areas, even as it intensifies further in regions of their present consolidation in the State.

INDIA
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Meghalaya: Dying Embers
Sandipani Dash
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

Meghalaya has witnessed an almost continuous diminution in trends in militant violence since 2003, with a slight discontinuity in 2006. The years 2008 and 2009 saw the progressive marginalization of militant formations in the State, even as overall fatalities declined by 66 per cent, from an already diminished total. Militancy-related incidents decreased by 41 percent, and there was a complete absence of any civilian or Security Force (SF) fatalities in 2009. A total of 4 militant fatalities were recorded.

Militancy-related Fatalities in Meghalaya: 2001-09

 
Incidents
Civilians
SFs
Militants
Total
2001
70
29
15
07
51
2002
84
28
14
24
66
2003
85
35
07
37
79
2004
47
17
08
22
47
2005
37
01
00
23
24
2006
38
06
00
20
26
2007
28
09
01
14
24
2008
79
00
01
11
12
2009*
49
0
0
4
4
Source: Data 2001-2007: Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India
Data 2008-2009: South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP)
* Data till December 20

Militancy related incidents were reported from all of Meghalaya's seven Districts in 2009. While the East Khasi Hills was the most affected District, with 18 recorded incidents, Jaintia Hills reported 12 incidents; West Garo Hills, six; East Garo Hills, five; West Khasi Hills: four, Ri-Bhoi, three; and South Garo Hills, one.

The South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database records that a total of 62 militants were neutralised in Meghalaya in 2009. Of these, 48 were arrested, 10 surrendered and four were killed.

The proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), remains the strongest among surviving militant groups. Claiming to represent the majority Khasi tribe, the HNLC continued to operate in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills region in 2009. Extortion targeting local traders across the India-Bangladesh border constituted the bulk of HNLC’s activities. Media reports in March 2009 mentioned that, after Police successes in curbing the HNLC’s extortion drive, the group began targeting local traders in the border region. The HNLC has over 100 cadres, most of them located in Bangladesh. Difficult living conditions and the absence of facilities in the neighbouring country have provoked the surrender of many cadres in Meghalaya. According to the SATP database, at least nine HNLC cadres surrendered in Jaintia and East Khasi Hills District in 2009. One of them reveled that leaders of the proscribed outfit were leading a luxurious life, despite acute privations among the rank and file in Bangladesh.

On December 5, 2009, the Meghalaya Chief Minister D.D. Lapang appealed to HNLC ‘general secretary’ Cherishterfield Thangkhiew and ‘commander-in-chief’ Bobby Marwein to come over-ground and also offered them ‘safe-passage.’ The HNLC leadership, however, rejected the offer.

Purportedly representing the Garo tribe, the Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) has been under an extended cease-fire agreement with the Union Government since July 23, 2004. The ANVC has renewed its demand for a separate State of Garoland, after the Centre initiated the process for the creation of a new State of Telangana, bifurcating the south Indian State of Andhra Pradesh. The outfit’s ‘publicity secretary’, Arist Sengsrang Sangma, on December 11, 2009, declared that, with the Centre taking steps to create a Telangana State, the ANVC’s demands would also be justified in days to come: "Our demand is very much genuine and we are not asking for the sun or moon, but a separate State within India, unlike other militant groups, which are demanding sovereignty." Earlier, the Union Government reportedly rejected the outfit’s demand for a separate Garo State, when the Joint Secretary (in-charge of Northeast) of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Naveen Verma, held a series of meetings with senior Meghalaya Government officials and discussed a rehabilitation package for the ANVC on September 10, 2009. Meanwhile, the Meghalaya Police sought the help of the ANVC to neutralise other militant groups in the Garo Hills. The ANVC leader Arist Sengsrang Sangma stated that the outfit was ready to help the Meghalaya Police.

Since the cease-fire with the ANVC, several fringe militant formations had filled the vacuum in the Garo Hills, primarily with the intention of exploiting the lucrative extortion racket. The Liberation of Achik Elite Force (LAEF) led the pack, maintaining linkages with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland – Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) in Nagaland, and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in Assam. The Garo group had set up its operational camp inside the Balpakram National Park in the South Garo Hills, with the help of the NSCN-IM, to train new LAEF recruits in guerilla warfare tactics.

The Meghalaya Police have registered significant counter-insurgency (CI) successes against the LAEF in 2009. On March 24, the Police neutralized a LAEF camp in the Tajal area near Shahlang in the West Khasi Hills District. Again, on July 7, the Police arrested three LAEF militants at Sisobibra village in the East Garo Hills District, while they were trying to extort INR 500,000 from an unidentified local businessman. On August 20, an unidentified LAEF militant was shot dead by the East Garo Hills District Police during an encounter at Nengkra near Williamnagar. On November 22, the Police neutralized another LAEF hideout and arrested five cadres, including ‘sergeant major’ Kyndoh Momin, during a CI operation at Byrnihat in the Ri-Bhoi District along the Meghalaya-Assam border. Outside Meghalaya, on January 17, two cadres of another tiny armed Garo group, People’s Liberation Front of Meghalaya (PLF-M), including its founding ‘general secretary’ John Jubilee D. Shera Marak (34), were shot dead by the Army during an encounter at Hat Hati bridge near Singhimari village on National Highway-37 in the Bongaigaon District of Assam.

Meghalaya’s militancy flows substantially from activities of militant formations in the neighbouring States. Groups such as ULFA and NDFB in Assam have used the Garo Hills to travel between Assam and their base areas in Bangladesh. On June 5, 2009, a suspected NDFB linkman was arrested by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel from the Nokchi outpost in the West Garo Hills District, while trying to exfiltrate to Bangladesh. Similarly, on June 11, 2009, two ULFA militants were shot dead by a joint team of the Meghalaya Police and the Army at Bangalpara village in the same West Garo Hills District. One of them was an ‘area commander’ of the outfit for the entire Garo Hills and was involved in the smuggling of arms and ammunition from Bangladesh through the Garo Hills border to Assam. Assam’s armed groups also continue to engage in extortion in the Jaintia Hills region. On January 3, 2009, an NDFB militant, who, along with HNLC militants, was involved in an extortion drive in the coalfields of Jaintia Hills District, was arrested after being wounded in an encounter with the Police, in the Shohksih coal mining area. He subsequently succumbed to his injury. A media report on January 16, 2009, mentioned that Assam's Karbi Anglong District-based militant groups, the Karbi National Volunteers and United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), were engaged in extortion activities targeting civilians belonging to the Pnar tribe of Jaintia Hills residing in the Block-I area on the Meghalaya-Assam border. Several villages, including Mooluber, Psiar, Moojem and Deinler, were served demand notes ranging from INR 200 to INR 1,000 per household, depending on their family income. The Black Widow (BW) group in Assam, and the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Manipur, also operate in Meghalaya.

The 15th Parliamentary elections were held in Meghalaya’s two constituencies of Shillong and Tura on April 16, 2009. While the HNLC called for a 24-hour general shutdown in protest against the visit of the Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi, to address a public meeting in capital Shillong on April 13, 2009, as much as 64. 41 per cent voter turnout was registered in the elections in the State.

An unfenced 65 kilometre stretch of Meghalaya’s 443 kilometre-long border with Bangladesh continues to allow the inward and outward movement of militants. This is the principal reason for the persistence of the militancy, albeit at its lowest ebb, in the State. There is, however, projection for the complete fencing of India-Bangladesh border till 2010. Unless the security establishment in Meghalaya refocuses its strategy on this militant vantage point, the vestiges of militancy will continue to linger in the State.


NEWS BRIEFS

Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
December 14-20, 2009

 

Civilian

Security Force Personnel

Terrorist/Insurgent

Total

BANGLADESH

 

Left-wing Extremism

0
0
1
1

INDIA

 

Assam

0
0
4
4

Jammu and Kashmir

3
1
4
8

Manipur

7
0
4
11

Left-wing Extremism

 

Bihar

1
0
0
1

Chhattisgarh

1
1
2
4

Jharkhand

1
6
0
7

West Bengal

5
0
2
7

Total (INDIA)

17
8
16
41

PAKISTAN

 

Balochistan

0
3
0
3

FATA

4
4
147
155

NWFP

13
1
14
28

Punjab

33
0
1
34

Total (PAKISTAN)

50
8
162
220
Provisional data compiled from English language media sources.


INDIA

‘Pashtun-looking’ suicide bombers trained by Taliban have entered India, say intelligence sources: ‘Pashtun-looking’ suicide bombers, trained by Taliban, have entered India and are positioned in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and a couple of cities in Gujarat to carry out Lashkar-e-Toiba’s (LeT) plan to launch a fresh wave of attacks in coming days, security agencies have said. Though the exact number of fidayeen who entered India is not yet clear, Indian agencies have come across inputs stating that suicide squads have already been in touch with their facilitators - who entered India as an advance party - for necessary logistics for the operations. An unnamed official said, "It is possible that one or two suicide bombers could be positioned in each of the cities, which are on terror radar. They have been trained by Taliban and pushed into India by LeT."

The suicide bombers’ targets include Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai, American consulate and sea port in Kolkata, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangathan (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur; National Defence College in Delhi and some defence establishments and civilian targets in other cities, including Ahmedabad. Indian agencies have got the inputs from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which got the details from US-based terrorist David Coleman Headley during his interrogation.

After being tipped off by FBI, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has now alerted Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi and Gujarat asking them to beef up security of all such installations and high-risk individuals - like Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray - and remain fully vigilant. The official said states had also been asked to keep watch on soft and potential targets and intensify patrolling, especially at airports, railway stations, bus terminus and hotels. He said the inputs also suggested that terrorists were ‘‘Pashtun-looking’’ and drawn from Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas. A few days before the terrorists’ entry, some of their ‘‘facilitators’’ had visited different cities for recce and to provide information, the official said. Times of India, December 15, 2009.

Government to strengthen national security apparatus: The Government on December 15 said it would strive to establish a National Security Guard (NSG) hub or an equivalent commando force in every State in due course to strengthen the national security apparatus. The Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament) that the Government was trying to have the units soon, though it was a long-term plan in view of the constraints of manpower and training. The Centre would also provide assistance for raising commandos in States, apart from upgrading existing four training centers for the Central Paramilitary Forces at Silchar (Assam), Hazaribgah (Jharkhand), Sapri (Himachal Pradesh) and Gawaldham (Uttarakhand), which would train the commando components of India Reserve Battalions.

Meanwhile, the Government admitted that the problem of fake currency was "alarming and dangerous" as some groups are trying to de-stabilise the Indian economy by injecting massive doses of counterfeit notes in the country. "There are two kinds of groups, one is of individuals working for profits, but much more dangerous is the effort of injecting massive doses of fake notes in the country, trying to de-stabilise the economy," Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Parliament). Times of India, December 16, 2009.

17000 more troops for anti-Naxal operations, indicates report: The Union Government is set to send an additional 17,000 Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMFs) to States to step up their anti-Naxalite (left wing extremism) operations under its plan of a "major offensive" against the Naxalites in all affected States. Though the operation is underway in Chhattisgarh, the idea is to extend it simultaneously at the junctions and tri-junctions of the affected States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra. A senior official of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the States already had 58,000 CPMFs— drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police, Sahastra Seema Bal and Combat Battalion for Resolute Action— at their command. The additional deployment would increase the strength of CPMFs for the anti-Naxalite operation to nearly 75,000. Stating that there is nothing called a "Green Hunt" as such, which could have possibly been coined by some State Police for some local operation, the official said the MHA was already on track to pursue its plan of a "major offensive" against the Naxalites. The Jharkhand polls, which saw the deployment of nearly 40,000 CPMFs, made the Union Government postpone the simultaneous operation for a couple of months, but there was hardly any period when the forces were not after Naxals in one or the other affected State, he added. "Operations are supposed to be launched secretly so that the forces can catch the ultras off guard. We are on the job and we will expand the area of operation gradually," said a senior CRPF official, adding it is a "long haul". Times of India, December 19, 2009.


NEPAL

Maoists declare Madhesh autonomous State: The Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (Unified CPN-Maoist) wrapped up its autonomous State declaration program by declaring Madhesh autonomous State on December 18. The Maoist vice-chairman Babu Ram Bhattarai announced the establishment of Madhesh autonomous state amid a program organized at Barabigha Ranabhoomi Maidan in the Janakpur District. The Madhesh state comprises of 12 Terai Districts from Saptari in the east to Kapivastu in the mid-west Nepal. With the announcement, the Maoists have finished declaration of 13 autonomous States based on ethnicity and region. Earlier, the Maoists had declared Limbuwan, Kochila, Kirat, Sherpa, Bher-Karnali, Tharuwan, Seti-Mahakali, Tamsaling, Newa, Bhote, Magarat and Tamuwan autonomous States.

Meanwhile, the Maoists declared that they would go ahead with their pre-announced plan to impose nationwide general strike for three days starting December 20. Nepal News, December 19, 2009.


PAKISTAN

147 militants and four civilians among 155 persons killed during the week in FATA: The Security Forces (SFs) killed 20 militants in operations across the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on December 19.

On Decemebr 18, the SFs backed by fighter jets killed 16 Taliban militants and injured another 22 when they targeted militant hideouts in various areas of Orakzai Agency. Sources said the jets destroyed four hideouts in Dabori, Ghalju, Mamuzai and Malpati areas of Upper Orakzai.

A key al Qaeda operative, Zohaib Al-Zahidi, and seven other foreigners were among 17 persons killed in two separate drone strikes in the North Waziristan Agency on December 17. Zohaib Al-Zahidi was an important al Qaeda cadre involved in planning and executing several militant attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Six persons, including three SF personnel and three Taliban militants, were killed while five SF personnel injured in two separate attacks in the Bara tehsil (revenue division) of Khyber Agency.

The SFs killed 49 Taliban militants in separate military actions in the FATA on December 16. At least 18 militants were killed when helicopters pounded Toori Khel town of Orakzai Agency when they (militants) were holding an important meeting. Four more militants were killed in air strikes in the Sultanzai town of Orakzai Agency. The SFs lunched a ground and air offensive in Dagar town in the Kurram Agency, killing 21 Taliban militants. Separately, six Taliban militants and one soldier were killed in the raids and clashes in the South Waziristan. As many as four persons were killed and 27 others were injured when unidentified militants hurled grenades at the participants of a music concert at Shah Kas area in the Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency.

On December 15, the SFs killed 36 Taliban militants in separate military operations in Orakzai, Bajaur and Kurram Agencies. Sources said that 25 Taliban militants were killed when gunship helicopters pounded their hideouts in the Khost Sturi Khel and Sultanzai areas of Orakzai Agency. In addition, nine Taliban militants were killed in Kurram Agency. Separately, the SFs killed two Taliban militants and injured two other militants in Charmang, Mamoond and Nawagai tehsils of Bajaur Agency.

The SFs killed 18 Taliban militants in the ongoing military operations in FATA on December 14. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, December 15-21, 2009.

14 militants and 13 civilians among 28 persons killed during the week in NWFP: The Security Forces (SFs) killed four Taliban militants in the Kalangi area of Malakand in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on December 20. The security officials said the militants were trying to enter Malakand through Bajaur Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and fired at the SFs when they were intercepted near the Kalangi check post. The subsequent gun battle led to the killing of four Taliban militants. In addition, the SFs recovered dead bodies of four Taliban militants and a Sub-Inspector of Police in the Buner District, officials said.

12 persons, mostly worshippers, were killed and 32 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden van near a mosque in the Police Lines area of Lower Dir District on December 18. It was the first incident of its kind in Lower Dir, where the Security Forces (SFs) in the summer crushed a Taliban-led insurgency concentrated in Maidan and Adinzai tehsils (revenue divisions).

In addition, the SFs killed four Taliban militants during a search operation at Najigram in the Swat District on December 14. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, December 15-21, 2009.

33 persons killed and 60 others injured in suicide attack in Punjab: A suicide car bomb exploded in a market outside the home of the Punjab Chief Minister’s senior adviser, Zulfiqar Khosa, in the Dera Ghazi Khan District of Punjab, killing 33 people and injuring 60 others on December 15. Unidentified militants detonated the explosives outside the house of Khosa, who was not in home at the time of explosion. It was unclear whether the bomber meant to target the politician’s home or the market. The attacker had packed the car with about 900 pounds (400 kilograms) of explosives, Senior Police Officer Muhammad Rizwan said. Daily Times, December 16, 2009.

Arms for terrorism coming from Afghanistan, says NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani: Weapons being used for terrorism in Pakistan come from Afghanistan, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said on December 14. Addressing a conference on ‘Improving Governance: Towards Sustainable Growth, Peace and Equity’, he said, "Every bullet, gun, bomb, rocket and explosives being used in acts of terrorism in Pakistan comes from Afghanistan." He said external factors were the main cause for the increasing terrorism across the country. "Religious seminaries and economic problems in the country existed before the advent of terrorism in the country; therefore, these things cannot be attributed as the reason behind the menace. Terrorism has actually been triggered by external factors, primarily anarchy and unrest in Afghanistan," he said. "The question that needs answering is that who is providing the resources to the insurgents," Ghani said, adding, that around PKR 40 billion had been spent by terrorists in the NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the last 10 years. Daily Times, December 15, 2009.

Pakistan officers working with jihadis, David Coleman Headley confirms to FBI: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interrogator of David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani has, for the first time, confirmed that "a section of serving Pakistan army officers" are working in collaboration with India-specific jihadi groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Sources said this was revealed by Headley to his FBI interrogators in what is the first confirmation by an independent probe agency of the involvement of Pakistani Army officers in planning and executing terrorist operations against India. This, sources said, had been conveyed to the Indian side by the FBI team which visited India to share information on Headley’s questioning. While Pakistan has explained away the instances of the involvement of Army officials calling them "aberrations", this has exposed the jihadi infiltration of the Pakistani Army and their collaboration with terrorist outfits in anti-India operations. Sources said the officials identified by Headley were working with Lashkar on ‘Karachi project’ as part of a larger campaign against India. This project involves using jihadi fugitives from India sheltered in Pakistan to draw in vulnerable Indian Muslim youth. The FBI interrogation of David Coleman Headley has revealed a Lashkar training project involving jihadi fugitives from India. The youth, after they are trained by Pakistani army officials, are sent back to India as part of the game plan to conceal the Pakistani involvement and pass off the terror in India as a home-grown phenomenon. Times of India, December 17, 2009.

 


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.

South Asia Intelligence Review [SAIR]

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K. P. S. Gill

Editor
Dr. Ajai Sahni


A Project of the
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