Terai Simmering,‘Educationally Infertile’::South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR),Vol. No. 9.39
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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 9, No. 39, April 4, 2011

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

 

NEPAL
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Terai Simmering
Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management

At least one person was killed and 42 others were injured in three separate incidents of explosions in moving passenger buses on three consecutive days from March 25 to 27, 2011 in the Terai region of Nepal. An Improvised Explosive Device exploded in a moving microbus near Milanchowk in the Butwal area of Rupandehi District on March 27, injuring at least 23. One of wounded later succumbed to injuries in the morning of March 28. In a similar blast, on March 26, seven persons were injured in the Nepalgunj area of Banke District. No group claimed responsibility for these two blasts.

However, another explosion injured 13 passengers near Bhediyachowk in Rautahat District on March 25, and was claimed by the Terai Janatantrik Mukti Party (TJMP). The group’s leader, Abhay Singh, stated that the bus was bombed for defying a bandha (shut down) called by his party on February 23. On the same day, another explosion was carried out by the Madhesh Mukti Sangram (MMS) at the Women’s Development Office in the Gaur area of the District. No casualties were reported in this incident.

Concerned by these blasts, Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), on March 28, urged all concerned parties to abstain from violence. In a press statement MoHA spokesperson Jaya Mukunda Khanal urged the concerned parties to stop terrorizing the people by exploding bombs at public places and on public transport.

In addition to the series of explosions, an attempt was made on the life of Balwa Village Defense Committee secretary, Shiva Ram Pandey, as he was shot at by unidentified assailants in Mahottari District on March 28. He escaped unhurt.

Moreover, Security Forces (SFs) foiled a number of other attacks too. On March 29, the Nepal Army bomb disposal squad defused a pressure cooker bomb planted at the City Police Office in the Traffic Chowk area of Biratnagar in Morang District. Brochures of the Janatantrik Madhesh Mukti Tigers (JMMT) were found from the incident site. Another, bomb was found near the Biratnagar City Police Office on April 1. Further, the Kalaiya District Police arrested Dev Narayan Paswan of Sihowa in Bara District, along with a pistol, bullets, two bombs and a rifle, from his house. They also recovered a ‘donation pad’ of the Tarai Utthan Krantikari.

Meanwhile, three cadres of different armed underground outfits operating in the Terai were killed in separate incidents in the border areas on March 31. Those killed were identified as Chhotelal Patel of JMMT, Shekhar Singh of the Samyukta Janatantrik Mukti Morcha (SJMM) and Prabhu Thakur of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM). Warning of retaliation, Avay Singh, the Bhojpur District in-charge of the JTMM, declared, "Nepal Police is behind Ranabir’s murder."

The simmering violence in the Terai is worrying Kathmandu. Describing the present upsurge, Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, on April 1, observed, "The ongoing activities of violence taking place in the Terai region are intended to make the Government a failure… The forces that are against the timely (framing of the) Constitution in the country are engaged in waging violence." He, however, stressed that all problems would be resolved with the drafting of the new Constitution.

Meanwhile, a report published by the Democratic Freedom and Human Rights Institute on March 25 stated that the state and various armed groups were competing to perpetrate extra-judicial killings in the Terai. The report, "The Series of Extra-judicial Killings in Terai", claimed that the state was involved in 133 extra-judicial killings, while armed groups were involved in 128 cases during the 2007-2010 period. Among the various armed outfits in the Terai responsible for such killings, the Jwala Singh faction of the JTMM (JTMM-J) topped the list with 28 murders, followed by the Madhesh Mukti Tigers (MMT), which had killed 12 persons. On the basis of geography, Dhanusha District saw the largest number of extra-judicial killing (31 cases) followed by Saptari, Bara, Parsa, Siraha, Rautahat, Banke, Rupandehi, Dang and Kapilvastu. According to the partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management, a total of 354 persons including 144 civilians, 84 Security Force (SF) personnel and 126 terrorists were killed in the region through 2006-2011 (data till April 2, 2011). During this period overall fatalities in Nepal stood at 754.

Fatalities in Terai: 2006-2011

Year
Civilians
SFs
Terrorists
Total
2006
37
79
50
166
2007
50
0
22
72
2008
32
2
23
57
2009
14
1
4
19
2010
8
1
21
30
2011*
3
1
6
10
Total
144
84
126
354
Source: Institute for Conflict Management
*
Data till April 3, 2011

Nepal is divided into three regions: the Himalayan, Hilly and Terai regions. The Terai is located along Nepal’s the Southern border with India, and the name is used interchangeably with Madhesh, and its people are described as Madheshis or Madheshyas. 23 per cent of Nepal’s total land area of 147, 181 square kilometers and approximately 30 to 40 percent of the population falls within this region. Out of the country’s 75 Districts, 20 are located in the Terai, including, from east to west, Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Kalaiya and Kanchanpur.

Violence in the Terai escalated after the Government of Nepal signed a peace agreement with the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist in 2006 to end a 10 year civil war. Groups targeting both the State and the Maoists, polarizing citizens along ethnic issues largely unaddressed during the civil war, pushed the region towards mayhem. Though they represent a large portion of the Nepali population, the Madheshis lack proportional representation in Government and have long experienced discrimination by Kathmandu as well as the dominant ethnic groups in Nepal. The failure to address these issues is claimed as the justification of violence by the armed Madheshi groups.

In 2007, the three largest Madheshi political formations, the Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF), Terai Madhesh Loktrantrik Party (TMLP) and Sadbhavana Party (SP), joined forces to create a coalition called the United Democratic Madheshi Front (UDMF). With the stated goal of transforming the Terai into a single autonomous province, Madhesh, the UDMF has sought to reconstruct the identity of the people living in the Terai against those outside of it. They have succeeded exacerbating ethnic divisions and violence at the grassroots level.

The Madheshi struggle for autonomy is, however, deeply divided. The moderates, who primarily demand an autonomous Terai region within a Federal Nepal, include the MJF, Nepal Sadbhavana Party-Rajendra Mahato (NSP-RM) and Terai Madhesh Democratic Party (TMDP). Notably, on November 16, 2007, MJF chairman, Upendra Yadav, explicitly declared that the forum was against the demand for a separate Madheshi state: "We oppose the concept of a separate Madhesh. What we want is an autonomous Terai within a federal Nepal."

In a positive development, the Central Committee meeting of the Madheshi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal on March 29, 2011, decided to join the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML)-led Government under the leadership of Chairman Upendra Yadav. However, on April 1, senior CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal reportedly told the CPN-UML standing committee that the five-member talks team formed to convince the Nepali Congress and Madhesh-based parties to join the Jhala Nath Khanal-led Government had failed in its mission.

However, 30 radical groups – who seek an independent Terai – continue to engage in an armed campaign. The most prominent among these are the JTMM-J, Madhesh Mukti Tigers, JTMM-Rajan), JTMM, Madhesh Rashtriya Janatantrik Party (Krantikari) and Terai Mukti Morcha.

Moreover, criminal activities, particularly extortion and abduction, have become the order of the day. Armed groups and criminal gangs abduct children for ransom, and have, in many cases, murdered them. At least 28 children were abducted in the Terai region during 2010, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) survey based on English-language media, with nine of them killed and two girls raped by their kidnappers. The HRW said the evidence pointed to much broader criminal activity across Terai. "These armed groups are willing to risk children's lives to extort money from poor shopkeepers, farmers, and teachers," said Bede Sheppard, senior children's rights researcher at HRW. Another July 2010 report said that armed groups are engaged in murder, abduction, explosions, robbery and forceful collection of ‘donations’. The prominent groups engaged in such activities include the Terai Tigers, Madhes Terai Force, Janatantrik Terai Mukti Mahasangram, and Terai Tufan Yuva Group, among others. These groups issue threats to the general public, industrialists, businessmen and employees, both of the Government and the private sector. In the wake of repeated threats by underground outfits, secretaries of all 84 Village Development Committees (VDCs) in the Rautahat District had resigned en masse on July 6, 2010. On March 21, 2011, secretaries of all the VDCs in Sunsari District resigned, citing extortion and rising security threats as the reason. The VDC secretaries were receiving death threats from several underground groups.

As the security apparatus in the Terai flounders, the Government has invited all "armed political outfits" active in the country to the negotiating table. However, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Barshaman Pun, on March 29, stressed that the Government would hold talks only with the armed outfits of a political nature and not with those involved in criminal activities, a distinction that appears far from tenable in the confusion of the Terai violence.

Unless a majority of the armed groups can be brought to the negotiating table, any alternative scenario of a dialogue with the few who are willing, would have little impact on the prospects of peace in the region. Moreover, a strong and stable Government in Kathmandu, willing to provide proper representation of the Madhesh people, will have to prevail long before the Terai can be restored to tranquility.

PAKISTAN
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‘Educationally Infertile’
Ambreen Agha
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management


Delay is the deadliest form of denial.

Once again the long-pending and much hyped Pakistan education reforms are doing rounds in the media with the hope of final implementation. On March 25, 2011, the World Bank approved a USD 400 million assistance package to help Pakistan improve the access, quality and relevance of education at every level. According to the Bank, the project is designed to improve conditions for teaching, learning and research for enhanced access. The project will aim at quality and relevance at the tertiary level across the country, while continuing to increase enrolment rates and reduce gender and rural-urban disparities in primary education in Punjab and Sindh Provinces.

Rachid Benmessaoud, the World Bank Country Director, noted that Pakistan’s transition to a middle-income country in the global knowledge economy of the 21st century will depend critically on its intellectual and human capital. It was necessary for Pakistan to upscale its entire education system so that it can produce skilled, innovative and enterprising graduates, as well as improve research and innovation capacity to promote dynamic economic development.

In addition to World Bank aid, a number of other agencies, including NGOs, are supporting individual educational projects in Pakistan, many of them with a focus on the education of girls.

Pakistan’s education sector has of course, suffered due to the lack of resources, but the lack of political will and acute religious extremism, with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) blowing up primary Government schools, have been far more significant factors. Pakistan’s crisis of primary education is worsened by the TTP’s coercive recruitment of children as live bombs.

In one glaring incident, on January 26, 2011, a 13 year old boy announced, "I have come", before blowing himself up at a security picket at the Urdu Intersection in Lahore, Punjab, killing 10 people, including a woman and three Policemen, and injuring 85. A Washington Times report noted that there was a big price tag on child bombers, ranging from USD 7,000 to USD 14,000. A CNN report added that Pakistan’s South Waziristan Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a TTP stronghold, is used for training suicide bombers between the ages of 12 and 18.

On March 28, Police arrested a seminary student, Wahab, for his alleged involvement in the bomb blast in the Hashtnagri area of Peshawar, the Provincial Capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (PK), which left 18 persons injured on March 25. On the same day, unidentified militants blew up a primary school for girls and a high school for boys in Jawaki area of Frontier Region (FR) Kohat in FATA.

This is the present educational landscape of Pakistan, where children are both instruments and victims of TTP terrorism. Concerns rise further because of the growing number of madrasas (seminaries) that breed sectarianism and hatred for other communities. Zahid Hussein, an expert on militant Islam in Pakistan argues that madrasas need to go beyond updating their curricula, since this is not going to undercut radicalisation unless there is a change in the environment of the madrasas which create and nurture extremism.

On February 26, Pakistani media published the ‘Education Manifestos’ of various political parties. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) called for improvements in quality and standard of education in the country, while the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) outlined broad strategies to secure similar objectives. The pro-Taliban Jama’at–e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), which runs large number of madrasas in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, differed from the others, supporting an ‘Islamic’ system of education. JUI-F’s clear agenda is to throttle the reforms. This religious political party has raised an alarm over the ‘dubious’ restructuring of the education system and has sought to strengthen radical forces to further their Islamisation programme. Lack of unanimity on education monitoring and reform Pakistan has created an ‘education emergency’, where there is much talk and no action. Former President General Ziaul-Haq’s disciples still dominate educational policy, making religion an ideological instrument in all spheres of life.

On March 8, 2011, the launch of the March for Education campaign was organised, and a booklet giving a grim picture of the Education Emergency in Pakistan, was released. The booklet noted that one in ten children in Pakistan is out of school, equivalent to the population of Lahore, placing the country second in the global ranking of out-of-school kids. The report says that seven million children in the country are not in primary school, while three million will never see the inside of a classroom. The speakers at the launch lamented the current rate of progress. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, the ruling PPP legislator said, "The Government’s commitment has been articulated but it did not translate into action on ground."

The presentation showed children in classrooms that resembled sheds and noted that 35 per cent of schools in Sindh have no building or are in a dangerous condition. Nationwide, over 21,000 schools had no building, while only 39 per cent had electricity. Across Pakistan, just 36 per cent of public schools are said to be in ‘satisfactory’ condition. The report also highlighted fewer educational opportunities for girls in the country and observed that, at the current rate, Punjab would only be able to provide all children with their constitutional right to education by 2041, while Balochistan would reach this goal by 2100. One of the speakers at the launch declared, "It is absolutely unacceptable what is happening to children in Pakistan. The responsibility falls on this Government, successive Governments and the people." The speakers called for political will to sustain a programme of education reform, and an increase in education expenditure to four per cent of the GDP (USD174,800 million). Pakistan spent 2.5 per cent of its budget on schooling in 2005/2006. It now spends just 1.5 per cent.

The report supports the declaration of 2011 as the ‘year of education’ by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, demanding that the year be used to turn around the situation and head off the "impending disaster".

The school curriculum in Pakistan has long been condemned as being exclusionary, ideologically motivated, and stereotypical, with obsolete content and biased viewpoints. The Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission, which was constituted by the Pakistan Government under then Chief Justice of Pakistan Supreme Court Hamood-ur-Rehman to investigate the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, noted that the 1971 war saw thousands killed, leaving permanent scars on millions of people in Bangladesh who witnessed torture and death of their countrymen at the hands of the Pakistan Army. Instead of the findings of the report, all that the new generation of Pakistan knows about the war comes from the state curriculum. Instead of setting record straight on the creation of Bangladesh and the real reasons for the separation, students in Pakistan are taught conspiracy theories and factually incorrect versions of history. Nowhere in textbooks is there a mention of the documented atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army, which include mass rape, targeted killings and genocide. The textbooks also fail to mention the number of civilian deaths in East Pakistan in the period leading up to the creation of Bangladesh. Nor do they mention Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s inflexible stand on sharing power with Mujib-ur-Rehman’s Awami League.

Misconceived textbooks indoctrinate the new generation with concocted stories and a distorted history, leaving little space for the de-radicalisation of Pakistani society. Islamabad’s biased course content is bound to produce a violent and intolerant generation.

An ideologically driven curriculum is not only far from reform, but will, sooner or later, lead to a survival crisis in Pakistan. Unable to deal with challenges of failed nation-building and national integration, Islamabad has fallen back on religion as a unifying force. This instrumentalisation of Islam, however, has only added to the country’s woes, with extremism gaining momentum. Unless a strategic national policy emerges, to deter children from falling into the trap of militancy, Pakistan will remain ‘educationally infertile’, and will continue its hurtling flight into chaos.


NEWS BRIEFS

Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
March 28-April 3, 2011

 

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

INDIA

  

Assam

0
3
1
4

Manipur

2
0
0
2

Jammu & Kashmir

2
0
2
4

Left-wing Extremism

  

Bihar

1
0
0
1

Jharkhand

1
0
0
1

Maharashtra

1
0
0
1

West Bengal

1
0
0
1

Total (INDIA)

8
3
3
14

NEPAL

1
0
2
3

PAKISTAN

  

Balochistan

15
0
0
15

FATA

3
14
28
45

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

22
5
12
39

Punjab

41
0
2
43

Total (PAKISTAN)

81
19
42
142
Provisional data compiled from English language media sources.


BANGLADESH


BNP keeps off JeI in its anti-Government programme: The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will not team up with Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) to launch any anti-Government programme until War Crimes (WCs) allegations against top JeI leaders are settled. A section of influential BNP leaders are strongly opposing the idea to revive the alliance, as some senior JeI leaders now face trial for their alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. The Daily Star, March 29, 2011


INDIA


13, 215 civilians killed in violence in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990, informs State Government: The State Government in a written reply told the Legislative Council that a total of 13, 215 civilians have been killed in violence since 2009. It disclosed that this included a total 698 political activists/ leaders. The highest number of 101 politicians were killed during 2002, followed by 76 in 2001, 62 during 2004, 61 in 1996 while 58 each during 1997 and 1998. During 2008, 09 and 10, four each political activists were killed by terrorists while during this year up to February 25, 2011, only one political worker was killed in such incident. Daily Excelsior, April 1, 2011.

Infiltration bid on rise in Jammu and Kashmir, says Army: Army sources at New Delhi stated on March 29 that the infiltration attempts by Pakistan-based terrorist organisations into Jammu and Kashmir increased slightly in 2010 with recorded 500 such bids as against 490 in 2009. In these attempts, 120-125 militants were able to enter into Indian Territory. Daily Excelsior, March 30, 2011.

300-350 militants' active in the State, says Jammu and Kashmir DGP Kuldeep Khoda: The Director General of Police (DGP), Kuldeep Khoda, stated on April 1, that while nearly 45 per cent reduction in the militancy related incidents has been recorded in the first quarter of 2011, over 300 to 350 terrorists are still active in the State. Out of these total militants operating, nearly 45 per cent of them are foreigners. Daily Excelsior, April 2, 2011.

Doors to militant groups open, says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 2 said that the Union Government was open to talks with all militant outfits and the discussions with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had been a good beginning. "The ULFA peace talks are a good beginning. Our doors for peace talks with all militant groups are open. We want the militants to shun violence and come for talks," the Prime Minister said. Times of India, April 3, 2011.


NEPAL


NA proposes separate unit comprising of Maoist combatants, Police and Army personnel: Nepal Army (NA) has proposed to form a separate general directorate under its command comprising of certain number of personnel from NA, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Maoist combatants to complete the peace process. In a report submitted to Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal, Chief of Army Staff Chhatraman Singh Gurung has said, a general directorate with up to 12,000 personnel could be formed and deployed for special tasks like border, industrial or forest security and for rescue works in case of natural disasters. eKantipur, March 30, 2011.

Statute sub-committee term extended by another 15 days: The tenure of the sub-committee under the Constitutional Committee (CC) formed to resolve disputes in the issues to be incorporated in the new constitution has been extended for the second time by 15 days. A CC meeting in the morning of March 30 decided to extend the sub-committee's tenure till April 14. Nepal News, March 31, 2011.

Government invites armed political outfits for talks: The Government has invited all "armed political outfits" active in the country to the negotiating table. Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Barshaman Pun on March 29 said the Government would hold talks only with the armed outfits of political nature and not with those involving in criminal activities. Nepal News, March 30, 2011.

Drafting of new constitution possible in two months, says Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal: Prime Minister (PM) Jhala Nath Khanal has claimed it is possible to draft the new constitution and conclude the peace process in the coming two months. "The constitution can be written and the peace process can come to a conclusion within the stipulated time if major political partiers show commitment to these objectives," PM Khanal said on April 1. Nepal News, April 2, 2011.


PAKISTAN

41 civilians killed in suicide attack in Punjab: At least 41 persons were killed and more than 100 injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the shrine of Sufi saint Ahmed Sultan, popularly known as Sakhi Sarwar, in Dera Ghazi Khan District of Punjab. Daily Times, April 4, 2011.

28 militants and 14 SFs among 45 persons killed during the week in FATA: Security Forces (SFs) killed seven militants through gunship helicopter shelling in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on April 3.

Four militants were killed while another 12 injured in the factional clash between Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) volunteers and their opposition force, led by ‘commander’ Toti Khan, in the far-flung areas of Zakha Khel Bazaar (market) in Landikotal tehsil (revenue unit) of Khyber Agency on April 2.

Nine militants were killed when SFs launched a counter-offensive after the militants attacked a checkpost in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency on April 1.

Unidentified militants beheaded three watchmen at a NATO trucks’ terminal near Landi Kotal railway station in the Khyber Agency.

SFs killed eight militants and injured several others during a search operation in Kurram Agency on March 31.

At least 14 paramilitary troops, among them two senior officers, were killed in a militant ambush on their convoy in the Akakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency on March 28. Dawn; Daily Times;Tribune; The News, March 29 - April 4, 2011.

22 civilians and 12 militants among 39 persons killed during the week in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 10 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, including five top ranking ‘commanders’, were killed during an encounter Security Forces (SFs) in Tor Chapar village of Darra Adamkhel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 3.

A suicide bomber struck a convoy carrying Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, near the District Coordination Officer office on Nowshera Road in Charsadda District on March 31, killing 12 persons and injuring 42 others.

13 persons, including a Policeman, were killed and more than 20 others were injured in an incident of suicide attack in Swabi town on March 30. Dawn; Daily Times;Tribune; The News, March 29 - April 4, 2011.

JUI-F Chief offered to mediate between US and Taliban, reveals WikiLeaks: During a visit to India in 2007, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had hinted at offering his services as a mediator between the US and Taliban, diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reported on April 1. The cables published by the Indian daily The Hindu say that US Assistant Political Counsellor Atul Keshap reported on May 3, 2007, that officials had met on April 27, 2007 Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind (JUiH) leader Mahmood Madani and Pandit N. K. Sharma, who claimed close ties with the Gandhi family, after Maulana Fazl visited New Delhi from April 22 to 26. Dawn, April 1, 2011.

Pakistan agrees to allow Indian team to probe 26/11 terror case: During the India-Pakistan Home Secretary level talks which ended in New Delhi on March 29, Pakistan conveyed its readiness, in principle, to entertain a commission from India with respect to the Mumbai terror attack (November 26, 2011, also known as 26/11) probe, on the principle of comity and reciprocity. A decision to set up a 'hotline' between the countries to share "real time" information on terror threats was also taken during the talks. Times of India, March 30, 2011.

90 per cent Orakzai Agency 'cleared' of militants, claims Orakzai Political Agent: About 90 per cent of Orakzai Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has been cleared of militants and the internally displaced people should now quickly return to the safe areas, said Orakzai Political Agent Riaz Khan Masud on March 29. Dawn, March 26, 2011.


SRI LANKA

Interpol issues warrant against a Sri Lankan Tamil national: The Interpol issued an arrest warrant against a Sri Lankan national in the United Kingdom for his alleged involvement in human smuggling (Sri Lankan Tamils to Canada), trafficking, illegal immigration, and terrorism. The accused, identified as Shanmugasundaram Kanthaskaran, is originally a Sri Lankan Tamil from Silavathurai region. Colombo Page, March 31, 2011.

Reconciliation commission concludes public sittings: Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) said that it has concluded its public sittings on March 30. The LLRC Spokesperson Lakshman Wickremesinghe told the media that the LLRC public sittings were concluded with its visit to Ampara. The Commission will hand over its report to President Mahinda Rajapakse in May when the term of the LLRC will come to an end. Colombo Page, March 30, 2011.



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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