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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 8, No. 48, June 7, 2010
 
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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
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Reports
from the Dark
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
Reporting
out of the murk of conflict has always been fraught
with danger, but the controversy surrounding Hamid Mir,
Executive Editor of GEO News, exposes a dimension
of risk that is rarely seen out in the open – that of
collusion between the media and extremists to engineer
specific acts of terrorism.
The
audio-taped conversation between Hamid Mir and a man
purportedly linked to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP), indicates that information Mir passed on to the
TTP, and direct exhortations by Mir, could have led
to the execution of Khalid Khawaja, a former Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI)
officer, allegedly killed by a group calling themselves
the Asian Tigers, a little known TTP-linked outfit.
The tape, which has Mir divulging ‘dirt’ on Khawaja,
ostensibly to TTP militant Usman, who was to ‘cross
examine’ Khawaja, was first posted by the ‘Let Us
Build Pakistan’ blog, and subsequently picked up
by other online publications. It is still unclear who
made the tape, with online speculation suggesting that
it could be the militants themselves, or intelligence
agencies who released the recording. While Mir claims
the tape is a fabrication, several sources, including
the ISI and Khawaja’s son, Osama Khalid, have confirmed
that the voices on the tape belong to Mir and to Usman.
Usman had spoken to the Khawaja family during negotiations
for his release.
The
content of the conversation suggests that this call
was made before Khawaja’s execution on April 30. Mir
gives details of Khawaja’s purported background, linking
him to the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
and to the Lal Masjid operation [July 3-11, 2007]. Mir
claims that Khawaja and his wife were responsible for
the death of Ghazi Rasheed [on July 10, 2007] and the
humiliating capture of Maulana Abdul Aziz and his family
[on July 4, 2007] at Lal Masjid. Mir then urges the
man to cross-examine Khawaja about his relationship
with the Qadiani sect, which he describes as "Worse
than kafirs (unbelievers)", as well as with
two ‘CIA agents’, William Casey and Mansur Ejaz.
Khawaja’s
son Osama insists that Mir had hatched a conspiracy
to murder his father: "This audiotape is enough
proof to show Hamid Mir’s role in the murder."
Intelligence
agencies, including the ISI, presented an investigation
report to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani regarding
the Mir-Usman audiotape on May 19, confirming that the
tape was authentic.
While
Mir will certainly bring disgrace upon himself and raise
wider questions about the complicity of sections of
the Pakistan media with terrorists, most journalists
in the country are confronted with a distinctly unenviable
task, at once threatened by extremists and by an arbitrary
and despotic State – dominated by an overbearing Army.
Significantly, following a suicide attack on the Peshawar
Press Club on December 22, 2009, Adnan Rehmat, Executive
Director of Intermedia, disclosed: "At least
45 journalists have been killed in Pakistan in the last
five years, several by suspected militants, but this
is the first time that suicide squads of terrorists
have targeted media persons as a specific, overt target,
indicating a dramatic increase in the level of threats
facing the media in the country." According to
the Paris-based Reporters without Borders, suicide
bombings have made Pakistan one of the "world’s
most dangerous countries for the Press".
In
2009 alone, there were 163 cases of direct attacks on
the media in Pakistan, and 10 journalists paid the ultimate
price for practicing a difficult trade against a backdrop
of rising terrorism in the country. Of these, four were
killed in Punjab, three in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
(KP, formerly the North West Frontier Province) and
one each in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA),
Balochistan and capital Islamabad, according to Intermedia’s
annual research on the state of the media in Pakistan.
The
total of 163 cases included murders, assaults, abductions,
explicit threats and attacks on media properties and
establishments. Punjab bore the brunt of these attacks
with 54 cases and KP a close second, with 52. Islamabad
accounted for 28 cases; Sindh, 12; six each in Azad
Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and FATA; and three in Balochistan.
10
journalists were abducted through 2009 — four in KP,
two in Islamabad and one each in Balochistan, FATA,
Punjab and Sindh. At least 24 cases of assault on working
journalists were also recorded in 2009. A total of 70
journalists were injured in these assaults — 36 in Punjab,
12 in Islamabad, 10 in the NWFP, seven in Sindh and
five in AJK.
10
cases of physical and armed attacks were reported on
media property and establishments, peaking in the suicide
attack on the Peshawar Press Club on December 22. Three
people, including a woman, were killed and another 24
persons injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up
at the main gate of the Peshawar Press Club. Subsequently,
the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
warned that it was a sign of a new "war on media" by
political extremists. IFJ General Secretary Aidan White
observed, "This targeted attack, far from the frontline
of conflict, illustrates that the war on media by extremists
is being taken into the heart of the cities."
Attack on Media: 2000-2010
|
Year
|
Killed
|
Assault/
Injured
|
Arrested/
abducted
|
Intimidated
|
Banned/Barred
/Censored
|
Damage
to Property
|
|
2000
|
5
|
14
|
10
|
24
|
6
|
6
|
|
2001
|
2
|
2
|
5
|
3
|
4
|
2
|
|
2002
|
1
|
37
|
10
|
13
|
8
|
2
|
|
2003
|
2
|
7
|
4
|
17
|
2
|
1
|
|
2004
|
2
|
2
|
8
|
17
|
3
|
2
|
|
2005
|
3
|
7
|
13
|
18
|
28
|
3
|
|
2006
|
5
|
31
|
12
|
22
|
15
|
9
|
|
2007
|
11
|
215
|
325
|
79
|
43
|
16
|
|
2008
|
13
|
74
|
40
|
118
|
20
|
4
|
|
2009
|
10
|
70
|
10
|
28
|
35
|
10
|
|
2010*
|
2
|
5
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
|
Total
|
56
|
464
|
438
|
340
|
164
|
57
|
Source:
2000-2009: Intermedia
*Data till June 6, 2010: South Asia Terrorism Portal
Assaults
against Press freedom in 2009 were, however, far from
new, and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ)
had, earlier, described 2008 as a "dangerous year,"
for journalists in Pakistan, with Swat [KP] and Bajaur
[FATA] identified as the most dangerous areas for reporting.
The PFUJ blamed both Government agencies and "non-state
actors," for the rise in violence, noting that no prosecution,
or for that matter even arrest, took place in any of
the cases relating to the killing of journalists in
2008. The Government also failed to take action against
those personnel of intelligence agencies, who were responsible
for illegal detention of journalists (there were 40
cases of arrest and abduction of journalists in 2008)
in different parts of the country, including capital
Islamabad. Noting the rising danger for journalists,
PFUJ had warned, "The situation may worsen in the
coming months" – fears that were substantially realized
in 2009.
Khalid
Khishgi, former Secretary General of the Khyber Union
of Journalists and a senior journalist working for The
News in Peshawar, noted on January 26, 2010,
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Both
the military and the militants are monitoring
each and every report from the conflict zones.
I cannot predict which sentence or word in my
report goes against the "strategic interests"
of the powerful groups. In Peshawar, so many organisations
received threatening letters from a certain militant
group for not giving "enough space"
to their side of the story. Words like Press freedom
become meaningless in such horrible situations.
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Journalists
are routinely abducted either by militant groups or
arrested by the security and intelligence agencies for
not observing the "code of conduct" enforced
by the one or the other. Under such pressure, there
have been several cases where family members have compelled
journalists to quit their jobs or migrate to other countries.
Rahman Buneri, who fled the country and took asylum
in the United States when a group of militants bombed
his house on July 9, 2009, in the Buner valley of KP,
notes, "When your home and your family members
are not safe, you cannot do justice to your profession."
Dr. Khalid Mufti, a Peshawar-based psychiatrist, observes
that these tensions have resulted in a marked increase
in mental health problems among journalists and their
families.
There
is little subtlety in these campaigns of intimidation
and terror. On April 14, 2010, for instance, TTP spokesman
Azam Tariq told journalists in the North Waziristan
Agency that the "pro-America" media was spreading false
propaganda about the ‘Taliban’, and would be punished.
Similarly, on April 23, 2010, a TTP spokesman, Muhammad
Umar, warned the media for "the last time"
against "ignoring" his group’s viewpoint,
and claimed newspapers and TV channels were "hiding
the truth". This warning by the "spokesman
for the Taliban Media Centre" in North Waziristan
– was emailed to the media hours after a deadly attack
targeted an army convoy in North Waziristan, and declared:
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Why
is the media only conveying the army’s point of
view? Is this proof that the media is also working
as an ally for the government and the army? Or
they are being forced to hide the truth? ...This
email should be considered a last warning for
the media of Pakistan. If the media doesn’t stop
working as an ally of the Government and the Army,
the Taliban would have to treat the media as they
want to be treated."
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Muhammad
Umar added, further, that the media could either be
with "the terrorists (state agencies) or the truth".
There
was more troubling news for the media. On January 10,
2010, the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) of
the Interior Ministry warned that TTP had decided to
attack newspaper offices and renowned journalists across
the country. According to Intelligence reports, the
TTP was "not happy" with Pakistan’s media
policy and want to teach the media a lesson. The NCMC
sent circulars to the Provincial Governments, Police
and other law-enforcement agencies to put security on
high alert in order to protect newspaper offices and
journalists. The report noted that the attack on the
Peshawar Press Club on December 22, 2009, was to be
seen in this context.
Apart
from the direct targeting of the media, escalating risks
of collateral fatalities among journalists have also
been noted. On May 10, 2010, 26 journalist organisations
from around the world called on the Taliban, al Qaeda
and other jihadi organisations in Pakistan to
stop targeting civilians with their attacks, observing
that journalists also lost their lives in such incidents.
The appeal from the organisations, which included PFUJ
and Reporters Without Borders declared,
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We
appeal with the utmost urgency to the leaders
of the Taliban, jihadi movements and al
Qaeda in Pakistan to put a stop to all further
suicide bombings on public gatherings… As journalists,
we have to cover official events first-hand but
that does not mean that we support this or that
politician or public figure. By targeting large
gatherings, the organisations are endangering
the lives of innocent civilians and reporters.
This is not acceptable. We can no longer accept
the loss of lives of our fellow journalists… We,
the undersigned journalists of Pakistan and defenders
of press freedom around the world, condemn with
the utmost firmness all recourse to suicide bombings
in the middle of crowds of civilians that result
in the deaths of innocent people, including media
workers.
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The appeal
came more than a week after two TV journalists were
killed in two days in suicide bombings in Balochistan
and KP. Malik Arif, a Quetta-based TV cameraman and
Azamat Ali Bangash, a Kohat-based reporter for the same
network, were both covering stories at the time of the
bombings.
Meanwhile,
Zulfiqar Ali, a Dawn columnist, on September
6, 2009, had detailed a multiplicity of ills that had
come to afflict the media in Pakistan, blaming "monetary
benefits and sensationalism", as well as reliance
on unnamed "intelligence sources" for much
of the decline in the quality and accuracy of reportage.
Crucially, well before the Hamid Mir scandal, he had
pointed to a "deepening nexus between militants
and journalists".
The
media is under unprecedented, multiple and escalating
pressures in Pakistan, even as both state repression
and terrorism rise. As conditions in the country worsen,
however, the media’s role will become even more crucial.
Sections of the Pakistani media have displayed extraordinary
determination under relentless pressure through decades
of relentless crisis, establishing standards of reportage
and commentary that are sometimes astonishing. It is
not clear, however, how long this fortitude can survive
the sheer brutality of the focused attacks against individual
journalists and media institutions that appear now to
have been initiated; or the increasing proclivity of
a new breed of journalists who are eagerly ‘embedded’
with the state’s agencies, or with the terrorists.
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Manipur:
Another False Peace
Sandipani Dash
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
A Suspension
of Operations (SoO) agreement between the Kuki armed groups
and the Union Government was signed in August 2005, but
has done little to contain violence by these groups. While
the agreement with Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and
the United People’s Front (UPF), two umbrella organisations
of as many as 19 militant groups, continues to hold, the
conflict simmers on, with little progress in resolving
the Kuki militancy in the Manipur Hills.
Kuki
Insurgency related Fatalities in Manipur: 2001-2010
|
Year
|
Incidents
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
Militants
|
Total
|
|
2001
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
|
2002
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
|
2003
|
10
|
0
|
0
|
20
|
20
|
|
2004
|
17
|
0
|
0
|
22
|
22
|
|
2005
|
18
|
1
|
1
|
11
|
13
|
|
2006
|
18
|
5
|
0
|
7
|
12
|
|
2007
|
67
|
3
|
1
|
51
|
55
|
|
2008
|
82
|
4
|
0
|
44
|
48
|
|
2009
|
43
|
4
|
1
|
20
|
25
|
|
2010*
|
25
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
*
Data till June 6, 2010
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP)
The violence
unleashed by the Kuki armed groups in Manipur has registered
an irregular trajectory in 2005-2010 with sharp increase
in the years 2007 and 2008. Despite a subsequent deceleration,
the overwhelming fratricidal violence remains well above
the 2005-06 level.
‘Area domination’
exercise carried out by warring Kuki groups, primarily
in the Hills region, have resulted in relentless internecine
clashes, almost across the State of Manipur. In a total
of 136 Kuki-related insurgent fatalities, at least 69
Kuki insurgents were killed and 16 others wounded in some
29 factional
clashes in Senapati, Churachandpur,
Chandel and Ukhrul Districts in the Hills and Imphal East
and Thoubal Districts in the Valley through 2005-2010
(till June 6). While Senapti was the worst affected District,
with 16 recorded clashes, Churachandpur reported nine
clashes, while there was one each in Chandel, Ukhrul,
Imphal East and Thoubal.
The worst
of the intra-Kuki clashes since 2005 include:
July 24,
2007: At least 10 Kuki Liberation Army (KLA)
militants were killed in a clash between Bongbal and Rongyang
under Yairipok Police Station in Thoubal District.
May 29,
2007: The Zougam faction of the Kuki National Front (KNF)
killed five of its cadres, who deserted the outfit's camp
at T. Bijang in Churachandpur District.
March 13,
2007: Six Kuki National Army (KNA)
militants were killed and another injured in a factional
fight with the KNF at Phaijang village in Senapati District.
February
22, 2008: Five Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA)
militants were abducted and subsequently killed by suspected
KLA militants along the road leading to Thangal Surung
from Ekou Bazar under Saikul Police Station in Senapati
District.
May 25,
2008: Four KLA militants and one KRA cadre were killed
during an internecine clash at New Saikhul under Saikhul
Police Station in Senapati District.
This fratricide
has even spread far beyond the State’s territory. On November
12, 2007, for instance, the KRA ‘commander-in-chief’,
Thangkeng Hangshing, was killed by alleged cadres of the
rival Kuki Revolutionary Army-Unification at his brother’s
residence at Sriniwaspuri in the national capital, Delhi.
The ethnic
rivalry between Nagas and Kukis adds another lethal dimension
to the turf wars in the Manipur Hills. While the large-scale
massacres of the early 1990s have not recurred, the faultlines
of a festering conflict have remained intact. In the first
week of May 2010, the apex community group of the Kuki
tribe, the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), sent an open letter
to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying the Kuki people
also opposed National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah
(NSCN-IM)
general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah’s visit to his native
village, Somdal, in Manipur’s Ukhrul District [Tamenglong,
Senapati, Ukhrul and Chandel Districts figure in the projected
territory of Nagalim
(Greater Nagaland) conceived of by the NSCN-IM]. The KIM
letter stated, "His proponents may call him the ‘champion
of peace in South East Asia, but he is a Champion of Peace
because he was killing over 900 Kukis, uprooting 350 Kuki
Villages and rendering over 100,000 Kukis refugees in
their own land during the 1990s? (sic)." Though
Muivah was forced to defer his visit to his birth place
due to the Manipur Government’s decision not to allow
him to enter the State and a subsequent intervention by
the Union Government, the stalemate still persists, with
the Naga insurgent leader insisting that he will go ahead
with his visit. Violent protests and counter protests
have virtually paralysed normal life across Manipur.
Meanwhile,
the Manipur Hills have, over the years, continued to witness
sporadic clashes between Naga and Kuki insurgent groups.
At least 14 Kuki insurgents were killed by NSCN-IM militants
in three clashes in Ukhrul and Tamenglong Districts since
2005. In a major confrontation on September 3, 2007, at
least 12 KLA cadres were killed by the NSCN-IM in a forest
near Tangkhul Hundung Khunou under the Litan Police Station
in Ukhrul District. KLA cadres had earlier hijacked two
passenger vehicles from the Maphou Dam area. The clash
ensued following the KLA militants’ violation of an ‘understanding’
between the outfits not to intrude into each others’ area
of operation without prior information. In retaliation,
on September 8, 2007, five NSCN-IM militants were shot
dead by suspected KLA cadres between Jotsoma and Khonoma
in the Kohima District of Nagaland.
Almost
five years of cease-fire have failed to curb extortion
and other insurgency-related offences committed by the
Kuki militants across Manipur. The Kuki groups continue
to extract ‘levies’ and ransoms from residents and transients
over the years, targeting Government offices and beneficiaries,
educational institutions, commercial establishments, transport
agencies, and the wider civilian population alike. According
to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism
Portal, at least 56 extortion cases have been ascribed
to various Kuki armed groups since 2005 (a preponderance
of such cases go unreported). Manipur Legislator Morung
Makunga, on March 10, 2010, confirmed, in the State Legislative
Assembly, that militant groups under the truce were not
in compliance with the conditions laid down under the
SoO agreements, and that such agreements should, consequently,
be suspended. The Minister disclosed that Kuki armed groups
had been collecting as much as 50 per cent of the compensation
given by the Government to land owners at the Integrated
Check Post (ICP) at Moreh town in Chandel District along
the India-Myanmar border in the Hills. This is confirmed
by a trickle of refugees who have fled Moreh under threat
of extortion, or of reprisals for refusal to pay.
The Kuki
insurgents’ forays outside the Hills have provoked incidents
of occasional public protest and even vigilantism in the
Valley. In one such incident, on December 22, 2009, two
alleged cadres belonging to Prithvi faction of the KNF
were reportedly lynched at Nongbrang in Thoubal District.
Three women were injured in the attack. Police subsequently
clarified that the two persons who were lynched were students
belonging to the Kuki community.
On May
24, 2010, employees of the Manipur Sericulture Department
demonstrated in front of their office, in protest against
the May 20, 2010, abduction of a senior official of their
department by cadres belonging to the Military Council
faction of the United Kuki Liberation Army at Sangaipat
in Imphal East District, for his department’s failure
to meet the demand of INR five million. The group had
reportedly made the demand nearly a year earlier. Subsequent
to the abduction, the outfit had raised its demand to
INR ten million. While the Police are yet to trace the
abducted official, the Kuki group has denied involvement
in his abduction.
The South
Asia Terrorism Portal database records that 133 cadres
belonging to various Kuki groups have been neutralized
by Security Forces (SFs) in Manipur since 2005. While
105 Kuki militants were arrested in 61 search operations,
28 militants were killed in at least 23 standoffs with
the SFs. Two civilians and three SF personnel were also
killed in these confrontations.
There are
11 designated camps constructed for the cadres of the
Kuki outfits under the SoO agreement, in the Manipur Hills.
Periodic meetings of the KNO and UPF, representing the
Kuki groups, and the Manipur and Union Government, have
been held in capital Imphal, the most recent of these
on March 25, 2010. However, the KNA, a signatory to the
SoO agreement, had declared, in January 2010, its
objective of creating an autonomous Kuki State under the
relevant articles and provisions of the Indian Constitution.
Similarly, the KNF, another signatory to the SoO agreement,
raised the demand of separate State for Kukis within the
Constitution of India before the Union Home Secretary
G. K. Pillai during his visit to Manipur on February 26,
2010.
With little
evidence of tribal reconciliation in Manipur, fratricidal
turf wars and continuous criminal activities by Kuki groupings
even under the cease-fire, there is little possibility
of substantive resolution of the Kuki conflict. The collapse
of governance in the State and the enveloping milieu of
violence can only enormously compound a perverse dynamic
that has birthed scores of insurgent groups in this tiny
State of 2.4 million people.
|
Weekly
Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
May 31-June 6,
2010
|
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
|
INDIA
|
|
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
0
|
8
|
8
|
|
Manipur
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Bihar
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
Jharkhand
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
Maharashtra
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
West Bengal
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
|
Total
(INDIA)
|
4
|
0
|
17
|
21
|
|
NEPAL
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
|
Balochistan
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
|
FATA
|
7
|
0
|
143
|
150
|
|
Punjab
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
|
Sindh
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
4
|
|
Total
(PAKISTAN)
|
17
|
0
|
144
|
161
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA Indian Mujahideen
declared terrorist outfit: The
Union Government declared the Indian Mujahideen (IM), suspected
to be a shadow outfit of the banned Students Islamic Movement
of India (SIMI) and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a
terrorist organisation. The IM was reportedly involved in the
serial bomb blasts in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bangalore and Mumbai.
"An order has been issued adding the Indian Mujahideen
and all its formations and front organisations to the list of
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967," the Union
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) statement noted on June 4. The
Government has banned 34 groups under the Act. The IM came to
light after the February 23, 2005, blast in Varanasi (Uttar
Pradesh). In 2008, it was reportedly involved in several terrorist
attacks. Intelligence agencies believe that the outfit is also
a closely connected with the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI).
The
Hindu, June 5, 2010.
Hills Tiger
Force reappears in Assam: Another militant outfit masquerading
as Hills Tiger Force (HTF) has appeared in Dima Hasao District.
The floating of HTF is linked to the raging protest by various
non-Dimasa groups across the District against the renaming of
North Cachar Hills as Dima Hasao. Community bodies of Zemes,
Kukis, Karbis, Jaintias, Hmars, Vaipeis, Baetis and Hrangkhals
have opposed the re-naming, apprehending discrimination by the
Autonomous District Council and also an exercise to drive non-Dimasas
out of the District. Sentinel
Assam, June 5, 2010.
India granted
access to Headley, says US National Security Adviser: US
National Security Adviser James Jones said that India has been
granted access to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Headley.
The report adds that a team of Indian investigators has been
camping in Chicago for the last four days to question the LeT
operative in connection with the November 26, 2008, Mumbai terrorist
attacks (also known as 26/11).
NDTV,
June 5, 2010.
We will fight
terror ‘root and branch', says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh:
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh said in New Delhi on June 1, "We
will fight against the scourge of communalism and political
extremism. We will fight terrorism root and branch. We will
ensure that this great, liberal and plural nation of ours is
not weakened by hatred and bigotry." He added, "In
dealing with Naxalism (Left Wing Extremism), we will pursue
a policy that genuinely seeks to address developmental concerns
at the grassroots, while firmly enforcing the writ of the State.".
The
Hindu, June 2, 2010.
Union Home
Minister P. Chidambaram asks Naxal-hit States to double Police
recruitment: Union Home Minister
P. Chidambaram, on June 2, asked Naxal-hit (Left Wing Extremism
affected) States to double the capacity of their Police training
institutes as also Police recruitment, in order to fight the
menace of Left Wing Extremism. Addressing the inaugural function
of the 40th All India Police Science Congress at
Chhattisgarh State capital Raipur, Chidambaram pointed out how
the existing Police vacancy of over 335,000 personnel and dismal
Police-population ratio (160 per 100,000 of the population)
made the task of securing 1.1 billion people quite difficult.
Currently, as against the sanctioned strength of 2,100,000 Police
personnel, about 335,000 posts are vacant.
PTI
News; Times
of India, June 3, 2010.
No link between
Pakistan militants and Naxals, says CRPF: Special
Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Jammu
and Kashmir zone, N.K. Tripathi, on June 2, during the passing
out parade of the 78th batch of CRPF recruits at
the Recruit Training Centre, Humhama, ruled out links between
Pakistan-based militant groups and Naxalites (Left Wing Extremists).
He also stated that the Force was fully equipped and focusing
on new strategies to deal with Naxal problem in the country.
"There are no links between them (Pakistan-based militant groups)
and the Naxalites… we constantly focus on new strategies to
deal with such problems… we are fully equipped to deal with
the Naxalites," Tripathi said.
Daily
Excelsior, June 3, 2010.
Union Government
holds talk with NSCN-IM in Nagaland: The
Union Government held talks with the National Socialist Council
of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) in Kohima on June 1. The representatives
of the Government were headed by interlocutor R.S. Pandey, former
Chief Secretary of Nagaland, and the 12-member NSCN-IM team
by their General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah.
Imphal Free Press, June 2, 2010.
PAKISTAN 143 militants
and seven civilians among 150 persons killed during the week
in FATA: The Security
Forces (SFs) killed 44 Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,
TTP) militants and injured another 11 in various areas of Upper
Orakzai of Federally Administered Tribal areas (FATA) on June
6.
14 militants
were killed on June 6 in the ongoing clash between the Lashkar-e-Islam
(LI) and the TTP that began in Khyber Agency on June 5.
25 TTP militants
were killed and 22 were injured when SFs, backed by helicopter
gunships, pounded militant hideouts in the Orakzai Agency on
June 5. The SFs also destroyed nine hideouts of the militants
in the airstrikes carried out in Ghaljo, Tali, Mamozai, Sephan
Dara, Mullah Pati, Toti Mela, Sara Gara and Shakar Tangi areas
of Ismail Zai tehsil (revenue unit) in Upper Orakzai
Agency.
At least seven
militants and two civilians were killed in an armed clash between
the TTP and LI militants in the Tabai Bazaar area of Zakha Khel
in Landikotal of Khyber Agency.
At least 33 TTP
militants were killed during clashes with SFs in different parts
of Orakzai Agency on June 2.
Helicopter gunships
targeted TTP positions in Teri and Kot Kalay areas in Upper
Orakzai, destroying three hideouts and killing 20 militants.
Orakzai is the stronghold of TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud. Dawn;
Daily
Times; The
News, May 31-June 06, 2010.
Army declares
victory in Operation Khwakh Ba De Sham in Orakzai Agency: The
Pakistan Army declared victory over militants in Operation Khwakh
Ba De Sham (I will see you) in Orakzai Agency of
Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) on June 1 and declared
that the military operation in the area had been completed and
civilians could expect to return home soon. The announcement
about the operation’s end was contained near the end of a short
press release describing a visit to Orakzai and neighbouring
Kurram tribal regions by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. "Kayani’s visit to Orakzai Agency
marks the successful conclusion of operations in the agency,"
the statement said, adding: "He appreciated the professional
conduct of the operation which has cleared the agency of terrorists."
The statement also said civilians who fled Orakzai could expect
to return home soon. More than 200,000 people are believed to
have poured out of the area since the end of 2009.
Meanwhile, a
SF official said on June 2 that the total number of people killed
in Orakzai since May 1 in action against the TTP was estimated
at 719.
Despite the Pakistan
Army’s announcement on June 1 of "successful conclusion
of the operation in Orakzai Agency", locals and officials
said on June 2 that more than half of the Agency was yet to
be cleared of the TTP. "The military has cleared only Lower
Orakzai, while the situation in upper and central Orakzai has
not changed much, as the Army is yet to evict the Taliban (TTP)
from these areas. The battle is far from over," locals
of Lower and Upper Orakzai said. Dawn;
Daily
Times, June 2-3, 2010.
Punjabi Taliban
have grown dangerous, says Interior Minister Rehman Malik: Interior
Minister Rehman Malik, addressing the Senate Standing Committee
on Interior on June 2, said that the Punjabi Taliban, holed
up in south Punjab, have become more dangerous and are geared
up for large-scale sabotage in the country. Malik revealed that
the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) had been behind the Marriott Hotel
bombing, the General Headquarters attack, the attack on the
Sri Lankan cricket team and the recent incidents in Lahore.
Meanwhile, the
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that Interior Minister
Rehman Malik’s statement about the Punjabi Taliban was aimed
at creating disharmony among the provinces.
Daily
Times, June 3, 2010.
The final
political solution in Afghanistan can involve reformed Taliban
in the Government, says US Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke:
US Special Envoy for
Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, in an international
conference to discuss non-military ways to help end the Afghan
conflict held in Madrid (Spain) on June 6, said that Washington
accepts that the final political solution in Afghanistan could
involve reformed Taliban in the Government if certain "red
lines" are respected. Holbrooke said that the peace jirga
(tribal council) in Kabul, in which the Afghan President was
given a mandate to negotiate with the insurgents, was an important
step in efforts to "reach out" to the Taliban and
the US supported that effort. Asked whether that support extended
to even top leaders, such as supreme leader Mullah Mohammad
Omar, he said, "Let me be clear on one thing, everybody
understands that this war will not end in a clear-cut military
victory. It’s not going to end on the deck of a battleship like
World War II, or Dayton, Ohio, like the Bosnian war," Holbrooke
said. "It’s going to have some different ending from that,
some form of political settlements are necessary ... you can’t
have a settlement with al Qaeda, you can’t talk to them, you
can’t negotiate with them, it’s out of the question. But it
is possible to talk to the Taliban leaders."
Holbrooke said,
if a member of the Taliban repudiated al Qaeda, laid down his
arms and worked within the political system to join the Government,
"there’s nothing wrong with that". "The door
is open and this jirga was a benchmark event on the road
to the effort toward reconciliation," he said, but did
not specifically mention the leadership. Washington has been
wary of overtures to senior Taliban leaders who sheltered al
Qaeda before the September 11, 2001, attacks, as opposed to
the "reintegration" of the insurgency’s foot soldiers.
Daily
Times, June 7, 2010.
SRI LANKA New Tamil
political alliance to emerge: Sri
Lanka is to see the emergence of a new Tamil political party,
with former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian N.
Sri Kantha deciding to register his party, the Tamil National
Liberation Alliance (TNLA), as a new party in the country. The
TNLA General Secretary, former TNA parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam,
said that the necessary registration papers would be handed
over to the Elections Commissioner this week. The TNLA is hopeful
of contesting the Northern Provincial Council election as a
new Tamil political front. According to Sivajilingam, the TNLA
is planning on holding several rounds of discussions with other
Tamil political parties before the elections to explore the
possibilities of forming a broad political coalition.
Colombo
Page, June 3, 2010.
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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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