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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 9, No. 44, May 9, 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
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Fundamentalist
Backlash
Sanchita Bhattacharya
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
A rash
of Islamist fundamentalist violence has broken out across
Bangladesh. On April 3, 2011, Railway Madrassa
students took out processions in Jessore. When the Police
intercepted the procession, the madrassa (seminary)
students attacked the Policemen. In the retaliatory action,
a madrassa student was shot dead and 30 people
were injured.
On April
4, 2011, a dawn to dusk hartal (shut down) was
observed across the country. The hartal was called
by Mufti Rashidul Hasan Fazlul Haq Amini, leader of the
Islami Ain Bastabayan Committee (IABC, Islamic Law Implementation
Committee). The IABC is linked to the Islami Oikko Jote
(IOJ), a political party which has openly been vocal about
its support for the Islamist militants, the Taliban and
the al-Qaeda. The IOJ is allied to the main opposition
Bangladesh National Party (BNP). The ruling Awami League’s
(AL) General Secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam claimed the
BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) sponsored the hartal
and Aminee was used strategically to implement their political
programme. He also alleged that BNP-JeI were on the streets
during the strike. Meanwhile, Amini, on April 15, had
threatened to paralyse the country, declaring, “We can
create an impasse in the country by a one-hour notice
as there are 20,000 madrassas which will respond
to our call immediately.”
Violence
erupted in Dhaka, Chittagong, Chandpur, Barbaria, Faridpur,
Feni, Moulvibazar and Khulna during the April 4 hartal.
While, 250 people, including 16 Policemen, were injured
and another 200 people were detained, in the wake of mass
attacks on vehicles, public transport and Security Forces.
In a fresh wave of violence on May 1, hundreds of Islamic
activists, belonging to Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB,
Islamic Movement Bangladesh) wearing the traditional white
Muslim dress and sporting copies of the Quran, marched
in Dhaka, where the Police had imposed a ban on political
rallies. A Police spokesperson said nearly 200 protestors
were wounded during clashes with riot-Police. An estimated
150 Islamic activists were detained, whisked away in prison
vans.
The apparent
provocation of this unrest is the National Women’s Development
Policy (NWDP) 2011, declared by the Government on March
7, 2011, which includes, among others, a provision of
an equal share for women in property and opportunities
in employment and business. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury,
State Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, stated,
“The approval of the NWDP has created a great scope for
the advancement of women empowerment”. Women’s rights
groups have also backed the Government, urging an early
implementation of the policy.
Unsurprisingly,
the NWDP has provoked the fundamentalists, who have rejected
it as ‘anti-Islamic’ and ‘anti-Quran’ , and have orchestrated
mass agitations across Bangladesh, demanding its withdrawal.
An umbrella Islamist group, the Islamic Law Implementation
Committee (ILIC), further threatened to paralyse the country
if the Government did not scrap what it termed "anti-Islamic
provisions" in the NWDP.
The NWDP
is a revival of the 1997 Women’s Development Policy, and
is the fulfillment of an Election (2009) pledge by the
AL. The 1997 Policy was formulated during the previous
tenure of the Sheikh Hasina Wajed led AL Government (1996-2001).
The Begum Khalida led BNP coalition Government (2001-2006),
of which JeI was a part, approved another Women’s Development
Policy in 2004, deleting crucial provisions, such as “equal
right”, “equal and full participation”, “right to land”,
“inheritance” and “property”, or replacing them with “constitutional
right”, “preference” and “greater participation”.
Meanwhile,
in 2008, the then Caretaker Government had announced another
Women’s Development Policy, guaranteeing equal rights,
including property rights for women, which was also opposed
by a section of Islamic clerics. As a result, the then
Government had constituted a 20-member Ulema (Islamic
experts) Committee on March 27, 2008, to identify any
potential "inconsistencies" in the Policy. On
April 17, 2008, the Ulema Committee submitted its recommendations,
strongly opposing the grant of equal rights to women,
recommending deletion of six sections of the policy and
amending 15 others which, the Ulema claimed, "clash"
with the provisions of the Quran and Sunnah (sayings and
examples from the life of the Prophet). Suggesting the
inclusion of guidelines "in the light of the Quran
and Sunnah" while taking any decision regarding women’s
rights, the Ulema Committee recommended abolishing the
section that recommends steps to implement the UN Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women. The Committee also asked the Government to cancel
the initiative to reserve one-third of parliamentary seats
for women and the application of comparable reservations
to local elections.
Hafez Maulana
Ziaul Hasan, Chairman of Sammilito Islami Jote (United
Islamic Alliance), a liberal Islamic organization, on
April 28, 2011, however, noted, “The review (Ulema) committee
could not pinpoint any verse in the Quran that the Women's
Development Policy contradicts. It also failed to show
any provision of the policy that contradicted the Quran
and Sunnah ."
Resistance
to the hue and cry against the NWDP is significant. The
leaders of Gausul Azam Maizbhandari Parishad [GAMP. Gausul
Azam Maizbhandari Shah Sufi Moulana Syed Ahmadullah was
a Sufi saint who started the Maizbhandari Sect. GAMP preaches
his religious practices and works for the development
of society], an Islamic social organization, on April
12, 2011, criticized IABC for creating an ‘anarchic situation’
in the country during protests against the women’s development
policy. Syed Saifuddin Ahmed Maizbhandari, Secretary General
of the organization, stated, “Creating anarchic situation
and sufferings for people are considered as the most heinous
activities in Islam. Amini and his followers have done
such heinous activities on the hartal day (April
4).”
However,
IABC’s Amini has identified the policy's Section 23.5,
which speaks about opportunity and participation in employment,
wealth, market and business for women, as ‘un-Islamic’.
Further, Section 25.2, which seeks to give women full
control over the wealth they accumulate through earning,
inheritance, loans and market management, is also declared
‘anti-Islamic’. Amini insists that the IABC was not opposed
to policies for the development of the women, but these
must be formulated in the light of the holy Quran and
Sunnah.
Various
scholars have contested Amini’s claims. Maulana Mohammad
Ziaul Hasan, an Islamic academic from the Islamic Foundation
argues, "Any literate person will understand that
the word 'wealth' in Section 23.5 does not mean inherited
wealth. Similarly, the word 'inherit' in section 25.2
does not imply equal share of property to women."
Noted educationist Prof. Sirajul Islam Chowdhury declared,
on April 18, “Amini's comments are very objectionable
and tantamount to treason for denial of the Constitution.”
Professor Chowdhury asserted that Amini had taken a direct
stand against the Constitution, which guarantees equal
rights for all, irrespective of gender. Besides, other
scholars noted, the women’s development policy is not
a law, but a guideline upholding the Constitution and
existing laws.
Rattled
by the protests, however, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
sought to appease the fundamentalists and announced, on
April 20, 2011, that her Government had removed all contradictions
from the NWDP to make it ‘confusion-free’: “After going
through the Quran, especially Surah an-Nisa, we have removed
contradictions from the policy.” Hasina reiterated, further,
that AL would never enact any law or adopt any policy
which conflicted with the Quran or Sunnah. She added,
further, that the Government would also append to the
policy, the religious and social reservations mentioned
in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women. At the same time, she asserted that vested
political groups were carrying out propaganda against
the women and education policies in the name of religion
and urged Islamic scholars to remain alert about such
attempts. Again on April 26, the Prime Minister noted
that a certain quarter “trading on religion” had been
trying to mislead people by misinterpreting the NWDP,
although Islam as a religion never approves inequality
between man and woman.
Significantly,
on December 7, 2010, the AL Government had approved the
National Educational Policy (NEP) 2010, which prescribes
a uniform curriculum and syllabus to be followed in general,
madrassa and vocational education. Quami
madrassa (private seminary) administrations were
asked to form a commission and determine what they want
to introduce in their institutions. All educational institutions
were required to register with the Government to gain
legality.
The Islamists,
who favour the implementation of the Sharia have
clubbed both NWDP and NEP together, and have opposed these
measures as an unwarranted interference in their religious
affairs.
The successful
implementation of the NWDP and NEP could mark the beginning
of a new era for Bangladesh, where Democracy has been
restored and carried forward by two women Prime Ministers.
Nevertheless, given the complex range of initiatives
that the Sheikh Hasina Government has introduced to curb
the activities of Islamist terrorists, extremists and
fundamentalists, a delicate balancing act will be necessary
to ensure that the system, long perverted by dogma and
extremist ideologies operating at the very centre of power,
is not tipped over into a fundamentalist backlash that
would wipe out the gains of the past year.
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Justice
in Terror
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
A Peshawar
Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on April 25, 2011, took exception
to the inordinate delay by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP,
erstwhile North West Frontier Province) Government in
hiring a defence counsel for the banned Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi
(TNSM)
chief, Maulana Sufi Muhammad, charged in nine cases, including
sedition, conspiring against the state and encouraging
terrorism. The ATC gave the Prosecution Department a final
chance to hire a state lawyer before the next hearing
on May 9, 2011. Sufi Muhammad, meanwhile, stuck to his
decision of not hiring a lawyer to defend himself.
Earlier,
on December 30, 2010, the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, expressed
his dissatisfaction with the poor functioning of ATCs,
particularly with regard to the low disposal and high
pendency of cases. The data cited indicated disposal/pendency
figures of the ATCs in the four Provinces as follows:
Name
of Province
|
Number
of Courts
|
Total
cases decided during the preceding year
|
Cases
Pending
|
Punjab
|
14
|
1574
|
408
|
KP
|
11
|
1120
|
369
|
Balochistan
|
6
|
227
|
114
|
Sindh
|
11
|
340
|
1027
|
A day later,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also voiced similar
concerns in the National Assembly (NA), admitting that
the ATCs needed improvement, because thousands of terrorists,
who had been apprehended by law enforcement agencies,
got bail from courts due to legal lacunae and resumed
terrorist activities. The Prime Minister added, "I
will not blame the judiciary, but we have to improve the
Anti-Terrorism Act."
The ATCs
were established in 1997 under former Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif's Government to deal with terrorism. The main purpose
was to disburden the parent judicial system from the increasing
number of terrorism related cases. The 1997 Anti-Terrorist
Act was amended on October 24, 1998, by the
Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance, and originally applied
to the NWFP and Balochistan. On August 27, 1999, the Pakistan
Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance extended the ATC
system to the entire country.
The data
on disposal and pendency of cases before the ATC does
not adequately reflect the gravity of the situation. According
to the Pakistan Security Report 2010 published by the
Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), law-enforcement
agencies had arrested 10,161 suspected terrorists across
the country, including 8,863 alleged members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) and other Taliban affiliated groups, 50
al Qaeda operatives, 288 suspected Afghan Taliban, 18
militants of Jundullah (a Karachi-based group) and 147
cadres of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).
A significant proportion of these suspects were released
after preliminary investigations, although precise figures
were not made public.
Partial
reports from other sources help fill up the picture. According
to an October 16, 2010, report in Dawn, the ATCs
in the Punjab Province had freed the accused in 306 high-profile
terrorism cases after witnesses resiled out of fear, while
suspects in another 372 cases were acquitted on the basis
of compromises between the parties, or on merit, through
2010. The Punjab Public Prosecution Department initiated
proceedings against hardened criminals and activists of
banned outfits in 1,324 cases registered under the Anti-Terrorism
Act (ATA) from January 1 to September 30, 2010. These
cases were sent to 14 ATCs working in Lahore, Gujranwala,
Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bahawalpur and
Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions. The report disclosed that 479
of these cases resulted in the acquittal of all accused,
including 144 cases in Lahore courts, 62 in Gujranwala
courts, 42 cases in Rawalpindi, 35 in Multan, 53 in Faisalabad,
62 in Sargodha, 42 in Bahawalpur and 39 in Dera Ghazi
Khan. The prosecution was successful in securing convictions
in just 199 cases, 43 in Lahore, 40 in Gujranwala, 15
in Rawalpindi, 14 in Multan, 22 in Faisalabad, 34 in Sargodha,
eight in Bahawalpur and 25 in Dera Ghazi Khan. The prosecution
department had 235 cases transferred from the ATCs, to
lower courts because these were found to be unsuitable
for trial under the ATA.
Some of
the high profile cases, in which the accused were set
free, include:
December
15, 2010: Judge Malik Akram Awan of Rawalpindi ATC No.
I acquitted Qari Ilyas, who was accused of involvement
in a suicide attack which had killed 15 Policemen and
two civilians near Islamabad’s Melody Market on July 6,
2008.
May 13,
2010: Justice Raja Ikhlaq Hussain of Rawalpindi ATC No.
II acquitted nine persons allegedly involved in a suicide
attack, which had killed the then Surgeon General of Pakistan,
Lieutenant General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, and eight others
in Rawalpindi on February 25, 2008, in the jurisdiction
of the RA Bazaar Police Station.
April 9,
2010: Justice Raja Ikhlaq Hussain acquitted seven terrorists
accused of involvement in a car suicide bombing targeting
a 72-seater bus of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI),
parked in front of the Hamza Camp (Ojhari Camp) near Faizabad
in Rawalpindi on November 24, 2007, which killed 32 people.
March 2,
2010: Judge Malik Akram Awan of the Rawalpindi ATC No.
I acquitted seven accused who were arrested in connection
with a suicide attack targeting a Pakistan Air Force (PAF)
bus on the Faisalabad Road in Sargodha in Kamra, killing
seven PAF officers and three civilians.
January
2, 2010: Rafaqat Hussain and Hasnain Gul, accused of involvement
in two suicide attacks in Rawalpindi, were set free by
Rawalpindi ATC No. I due to lack of evidence. They were
also accused of being part of the conspiracy to assassinate
Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007, in Rawalpindi.
Another
media report on March 24, 2011, indicated that, during
an internal security assessment in February, 2011, the
KP Government was informed that, of 1,443 militants arrested,
695 had been bailed out, mostly by appellate courts, while
48 others had been acquitted by ATCs. The only conviction
in the Province, to that date, had been delivered by an
ATC of the Malakand Division in early March 2011, when
a ‘commander’ of the Swat chapter of the TTP, Noorani
Gul, was handed down a cumulative prison term of 120 years.
The overall conviction rate in terrorist cases in KP stood
at five per cent.
Worse,
KP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain observed, on
February 25, 2011, that “those terrorists freed by the
courts become active again as they are given the opportunity
to regroup.” Giving details of cases decided by courts
over the preceding two years, Hussain noted that 200 cases
had been registered during 2009, but the number fell to
101 in 2010. However, a 75 per cent increase was recorded
in the last quarter of the year. 96 per cent of those
charged with terrorism were freed by the courts, while
four per cent were convicted.
The Pakistani
military establishment is particularly dismayed by the
dismal performance of the Rawalpindi-based ATCs, which
failed to convict even a single terrorist over the last
three years for involvement in at least two dozen high-profile
cases of suicide bombings in and around the twin cities
of Rawalpindi and Islamabad between 2007 and 2010, primarily
targeting Security Forces (SF) personnel. A senior Army
official at General Head Quarters conceded, while requesting
anonymity, that the country’s khaki (Army) top
brass was really upset with the performance of the ATCs
not only in Rawalpindi, but also in KP.
Lack of
evidence is cited as one of the reasons for the acquittal
in most the cases. The prosecution’s cases collapse because
the trial judge often finds witnesses and confessional
statements unreliable. Advocate Basharat Ullah Khan of
Rawalpindi noted, “if the eyewitnesses were found at the
right time, the prosecution fails to fulfil legal requirements,
making the testimony invalid”. The lack of evidence also
points a finger at the ill equipped Police Force. Policemen
who had received training in skills like lifting fingerprints
or gathering other forensic evidence, are rarely used,
Akbar Nasir Khan, former Police Chief of Mianwali District
in Punjab, observes; “If there is no fingerprint provided
to the court, no bloodstained clothing, no ballistics
provided, no firearms or other things, how can the court
convict?”
Meanwhile,
a close scrutiny suggests that, though the judiciary has
failed to deliver, it is Governments at both the national
and provincial levels which are more at fault. Governments
appear disinterested in pushing appeals against inadequate
sentences or the acquittal of militants and terror suspects.
Section 25, Sub-section 4, of the ATA 1997, provides that
“the attorney general may, on being directed by the federal
or a provincial government, file an appeal against an
order of acquittal or a sentence passed by a Special Court
within 15 days of such order.” The clause is used with
extraordinary reticence.
The President
had promulgated the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance,
2009, on October 1, 2009, in the expectation that amendments
to the ATA would help in taking appropriate action against
those involved in acts of terrorism. Following completion
of the constitutional life of 120 days of that ordinance,
it was re-promulgated in February 2010, but was allowed
to lapse on May 31, 2010, with the Federal Government
making no attempts at its renewal, demonstrating a surprisingly
lackadaisical approach in dealing raging terrorism in
the country.
The problem,
clearly, lies at every level of the system, with each
concerned agency demonstrating a lack of capacity and
will to address a problem that grows more urgent by the
day. Given the enveloping institutional decay in Pakistan,
it remains unlikely that much will change in the foreseeable
future.
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Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in
South Asia
May 2-8, 2011
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Jammu &
Kashmir
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Jharkhand
|
1
|
11
|
0
|
12
|
Maharashtra
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
6
|
Odisha
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
Total (INDIA)
|
9
|
14
|
1
|
24
|
NEPAL
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
8
|
FATA
|
2
|
3
|
36
|
41
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
4
|
1
|
6
|
11
|
Sindh
|
19
|
0
|
2
|
21
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
33
|
4
|
44
|
81
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
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BANGLADESH
JeI
Chief admits his role in 1971 genocide: Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI) Ameer (chief) Motiur Rahman Nizami on May
5 admitted during interrogation that he was involved with
Al-Badr and Al-Shams in 1971 under 'death threat'. He
claimed he "had to be involved" with Al-Badr and Al-Shams,
auxiliary forces of Pakistani Occupation Army, in the
face of death threats. Daily
Star , May 6, 2011.
INDIA
Centre
extends SoO agreement with UPDS for a period of six months
with effect from May 5: Centre extended the suspension
of operation (SoO) agreement with the United People's
Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) for a period of six months
with effect from May 5. In a statement, UPDS joint secretary
political affairs Wojaru Mukrang said that through a mutual
agreement with the Government of India and Government
of Assam SoO agreement was extended. Nagland
Post, May 6, 2011.
Armed
Forces capable of surgical strikes like US, says Army
chief General V. K. Singh: Army chief General V.
K. Singh on May 4 said the Indian Armed Forces were capable
of carrying out surgical operations against terrorists
similar to the one conducted by the US in Pakistan to
kill al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. "All the three wings
(army, navy and air force) are capable of carrying out
such operations, when needed. But we need permission from
the top for this," he said. Hindustan
Times, May 5, 2011.
Osama's
death will not mark the end of terror, says Union Home
Minister P Chidambaram: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram,
on May 3, said that the death of al Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden would not mean the end of terror and India would
have to be "very vigilant" until Pakistan dismantled terror
infrastructure within its territory. "The terrorist organizations
that threaten us like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Hizb-ul -Mujahideen
(HM) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) continue to threaten India
and plot against India. Times
of India, May 4, 2011.
NEPAL
UCPN-M
gets Home Ministry: The Unified Communist Party of
Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) has got the Home Ministry in the
latest expansion of cabinet on May 4. Deputy Prime Minister
and Maoist leader in the Government, Krishna Bahadur Mahara,
who held the communication portfolio, was appointed Home
Minister.
Nepal News, May 5, 2011
UCPN-M
has plan for integration and rehabilitation of the combatants
staying in the cantonments, claims Prachanda: Unified
Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) chairman Pushpa
Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda on May 6 said that the party
has prepared a clear-cut action plan for the integration
and rehabilitation of the combatants staying in the cantonments
to give a head-start to the peace process before May 28.
He said he had not been able to table the proposal at
the three-party meeting due to absence of Nepali Congress
leaders.
Nepal News, May 7, 2011.
UCPN-M
and CPN-UML agree to extend CA tenure: Ruling coalition
partners Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M)
and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist
(CPN-UML) on May 2 agreed to extend Constituent Assembly
(CA)'s term that expires on May 28 after forging consensus
with other political parties. The meeting between the
two parties took a decision to this effect.
Nepal News, May 3, 2011.
PAKISTAN
61
militants and four civilians among 69 persons killed during
the week in FATA: The
United Sates (US) drones fired missiles into a compound
in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan Agency in Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on May 6, killing at
least 17 militants.
Ten militants
were killed and as many others injured in a clash between
the Hafiz Daulat and Nabi groups in Kurrat area in Kurram
Agency on May 4.
Seven Lashkar-e-Islam
(LI) militants were killed and two others injured in an
aerial firing by the Security Forces (SFs) in the remote
Bazaar Zakha Khel area near Khar Ghot in Landikotal town
of Khyber Agency on May 3.
Dawn;
Daily
Times; The
News, Tribune;
May 3-9, 2011.
Al Qaeda
confirms Osama bin Laden's death and warns US of retaliation:
The al Qaeda on May 6 confirmed the death of its leader
Osama Bin Laden and swore revenge for his killing by elite
US commandos, the SITE monitoring group reported. "We
in the al Qaeda organisation pledge to God and ask his
help, support and steadfastness to continue on the path
of jihad, the path walked upon by our leaders, and on
top of them, Osama," SITE quoted a statement by the organisation
as saying. Daily
Times , May 7, 2011.
We will
avenge Osama killing, says TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan:
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on May 2 confirmed
the killing of Osama Bin Laden and issued a threat that
TTP will take its revenge. TTP's spokesman, Ehsanullah
Ehsan in an audio message, said, "Pakistan will be the
prime target followed by United States (US)", adding,
"The US had been on a man-hunt for Osama and now Pakistani
rulers are on our hit-list. We had also killed Benazir
Bhutto in a suicide attack." The
News, May 3, 2011.
JUI-F
hail Osama bin Laden as a 'hero' in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:
Lawmaker Mufti Kifayatullah of Jama'at Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl
(JUI-F) during the proceedings of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly
on May 4 termed Osama bin Laden as a 'hero' of Muslims
and a great jihadi leader, who sacrificed his life for
the glory of Islam. Dawn,
May 6, 2011.
Osama
Bin Laden was given shelter by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, says
report: The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) owned the mansion
in the town of Abbottabad in Kahyber Pakhtunkhwa where
Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces, a Canadian newspaper,
Globe and Mail, has reported. The report claimed
that Pakistan is hushing up the issue of the ownership
of the compound. Times
of India, May 5, 2011.
Elements
in ISI have dual loyalty, says US lawmaker Peter King:
Charging that elements in the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) have "dual loyalty", United States (US) lawmaker
Peter King on May 4 alleged that the Pakistan intelligence
outfits spend more time in chasing Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) agents inside Pakistan rather the terrorists
operating inside the country. "There's no doubt that there
have been elements in the ISI which have not been supportive
of our position, which have at least a dual loyalty,"
said Congressman, Peter King. Indian
Express, May 5, 2011.
Any
'misadventure' or 'miscalculation' in future will be catastrophic,
warned Pakistan: Pakistan warned the United States
on May 5 of "disastrous consequences" if it carries out
any more raids against terrorists like the one that killed
Osama bin Laden, and hit back at international allegations
it may have been harbouring the al Qaeda 'chief'. Foreign
Secretary Salman Bashir said that Pakistan's military
and political leadership was well-equipped and mindful
of the defence requirements of the country. Daily
Times , May 6, 2011.
Obama
reserves right to act again in Pakistan, says US President
Barack Obama's spokesman Jay Carney: The
White House said on May 4 that United States (US) President
Barack Obama reserves the right to act again against top
terror suspects inside Pakistan, following the raid which
killed Osama bin Laden. Obama's spokesman Jay Carney said,
"President Obama made very clear during the campaign that
that was his view, and by the actions he has taken as
President, feels that it was the right approach and continues
to feel that way".
The
News , May 5, 2011.
Legislation
introduced in US to freeze financial aid to Pakistan:
A legislation was introduced on May
5 in the United States (US) House of Representatives which
if passed would cut aid to Pakistan unless the state department
can certify that Islamabad was not harbouring al Qaeda
chief Osama bin Laden. "For all these years, we believed
that Osama bin Laden was on the run, living in a cave
but, apparently, Satan's Pawn has been living for years
in a million-dollar compound just yards away from a Pakistani
military base, but Pakistan claims no knowledge of Osama
bin Laden's whereabouts. I just don't buy it," said Texas
Republican Ted Poe.
Times
of India, May 6, 2011.
No operation in Balochistan, says Chief Minister Nawab
Aslam Raisani: Balochistan
Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani on May 5 said that
no operation is being conducted in the province and there
are no troops or tanks present in the province. "No military
operation is being carried out in Balochistan," he said.
Dawn,
May 6, 2011.
SRI LANKA
Government
asks UN to include the definition of terrorism in its
charter: The Sri Lanka Government
on May 5 requested the United Nations (UN) to include
the definition for the term 'terrorist' or 'terrorism'
in its Charter and said that the absence of such a definition
had led to contradictory positions adopted by the UN system.
Elaborating upon the argument on this, Youth Affairs Minister
Dullas Alahapperuma said that UNICEF which is a sister
organisation of the UN, on one hand stressed on violation
of human rights by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) in the recruitment of child soldiers while on the
other hand the controversial Darusman report described
the outfit as a disciplined organisation.
Colombo
Page, May 6, 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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