South Asia Terrorism Portal

Pakistan: Minorities under Collusive Terror 

Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

At least two members of the Christian community, Rashid Khalid and Azhar Iqbal, were killed and another five were injured in a firing incident near a church in the Essa Nagri area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, on April 15, 2018. Quetta’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Abdur Razzaq Cheema, stated that the incident occurred when worshippers were leaving after attending the Sunday service at the church. Islamic State (IS, also Daesh) claimed responsibility for the attack through the Amaq ‘news agency’, its propaganda wing.

On April 2, 2018, four members of a Christian family were shot dead by unidentified assailants on Shah Zaman road in Quetta. A minor girl was also injured in the attack. The family was travelling in a rickshaw, when armed assailants on a motorcycle intercepted them and opened fire. Belonging to Punjab, the family was visiting relatives in Quetta on the occasion of Easter on April 1, and was likely being tailed by the assailants after they had identified them as Christians. Moazzam Jah Ansari, Inspector General of the Balochistan Police, observed that it appeared to have been a ‘targeted attack’. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.

On December 17, 2017, at least 11 civilians were killed and 56 injured in a suicide attack by two Daesh terrorists on the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta. Police Guards stationed at the church entrance and on its roof killed one terrorist, but the second detonated his explosives-filled vest outside the prayer hall, causing all the casualties. DIG Abdur Razaq Cheema disclosed further that another two terrorists managed to escape. At the time of the incident there were nearly 400 worshippers in the church for a pre-Christmas service.

Terrorist attacks on Christians are not a new phenomenon in the theocratic state of Pakistan. Indeed, according to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), Pakistan has witnessed at least 27 such incidents resulting in 252 fatalities and 609 injuries since March 2000 (data till April 22, 2018). The Christian community has faced the brunt of some of the worst terrorist attacks in the country in recent years. Some of the major terrorism-related incidents targeting the Christian community across Pakistan included: 

March 27, 2016: At least 74 people were killed and more than 300 injured in a suicide blast inside the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in the Iqbal Town area of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, when Christians were celebrating Easter. Ehsanullah Ehsan, ‘spokesperson’ of the Jama’at-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had declared, “We had been waiting for this occasion. We claim responsibility for the attack on Christians as they were celebrating Easter. It was part of the annual martyrdom attacks we have started this year.”

March 15, 2015: At least 15 persons, including 13 Christians and two Policemen, were killed and more than 70 were injured, when two suicide bombers attacked two churches near the Youhanabad neighbourhood in Lahore, sparking mob violence in which two terrorists were killed. Youhanabad is home to more than 100,000 Christians. JuA had claimed responsibility for the attack as well.

September 22, 2013: At least 79 worshippers, including 34 women and seven children, were killed and another 130 were injured when two suicide bombers attacked a Christian congregation at the historic All Saints Church in the Kohati Gate area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), on September 22, 2013. Ahmed Marwat, ‘a spokesman’ for the Jundullah group, a faction of the TTP, had claimed responsibility for the attack, and declared, in a statement to the media, "Until and unless drone strikes are stopped, we will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land. They are the enemies of Islam, therefore we target them."

The entry of Daesh into this ‘campaign of targeting Christians’ has created a more insecure environment for this minority. The Voice of America, quoting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentarian Tariq Christopher Qaiser, who belongs to Christian community, expressing serious concerns about the increasing number of targeted attacks, both on different Muslim sects and on Christians, stating, on April 7, 2018,

Mehdi Hassan, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), noted, on April 7, 2018,

At the launch of its annual report on April 16, 2018, HRCP noted,

Indeed, after the Quetta Essa Nagri attack, on April 15, 2018, DIG Abdul Razzaq Cheema said to SAMAA TV over phone on April 16, 2018 that, 

More recently, on March 30, 2018, National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) Chief Ihsan Ghani, observed that Daesh posed a real threat to Pakistan, and that its significant presence in Afghanistan threatened a spill over into Pakistan.

Significantly, on September 29, 2017, Pakistan’s Foreign Office had denied the organised presence of Daesh in the country, claiming that the country remained immune to this terrorist formation. Earlier, on July 1, 2017, the Director General of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor had declared that there was no Daesh presence in Pakistan.

Other religious minorities have regularly faced atrocities across Pakistan. The Jinnah Institute of Pakistan, in a report titled ‘State of Religious Freedom in Pakistan 2015’, had noted that, between 2012 and 2015, at least 543 incidents of violence were recorded against religious minorities in Pakistan. Shias were targeted on at least 288 occasions during this period, followed by Hindus (91 occasions), Christians (88 occasions), and Ahamadiyas (76 occasions).

According to partial data compiled by SATP, at least 144 Shias have been killed in 30 incidents of violence since 2016 (data till April 22, 2018). During this period, at least 92 Christians were killed in five incidents of targeted killing. Nine Ahamadiyas were killed in as many incidents while one Hindu doctor was killed in this period.

Religious minorities have also been systematically targeted by Pakistan’s perverse blasphemy laws, which prescribe a mandatory death sentence for any act purportedly bringing Islam and its Prophet to disrepute. Most recently, a Christian man, Nadeem James Masih, was sentenced to death on September 15, 2017, for blasphemy. Nadeem was arrested in July 2016, after his friend Yasir Bashir told the Police that he sent him a poem on WhatsApp that was insulting to Islam. Following the incident, Masih fled from his home in Sara-e-Alamgir town in Punjab to escape an angry mob that had gathered there, but later surrendered to the Police. His trial continued for more than a year at the Gujrat Jail in Punjab. Besides the death sentence, Masih was fined PKR 300,000. While there have been no executions for blasphemy in Pakistan, there are currently about 40 people on death row or serving life sentences for the ‘crime’, according to a release dated April 26, 2017, by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Underlining the weakness in the existing blasphemy law, the Islamabad High Court had asked Parliament on August 11, 2017, to make changes to the current Act to prevent people from being falsely accused of the crime. In a 116-page order, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui suggested that Parliament amend the law to require the same punishment of the death penalty for those who falsely allege blasphemy, as for those who commit the crime. "Currently, there is a very minor punishment for falsely accusing someone of blasphemy," the judgment noted.

Significantly, then Federal Minister for Minorities’ Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was killed on March 2, 2011, by terrorists of the Fidayeen-e-Muhammad, a TTP faction, and al Qaeda Punjab Chapter, for his opposition to the country’s blasphemy laws. Christians have also been attacked for opposing often forcible conversions to Islam. Asia Bibi (46), a Christian woman from the Sheikhupura District of Punjab, who has been sentenced to death and has been in prison for the last four years following a conviction for blasphemy, in her memoir Blasphemy, describes how she had been asked to convert to Islam to ‘redeem herself’. The Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, came forward in her support and asserted that the blasphemy law had been abused in her case. Taseer was later killed by his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri on January 4, 2011, for his support to Asia Bibi and a campaign for amendment to the blasphemy law.

The United States (US) State Department on January 4, 2018, placed Pakistan on its Special Watch List for ‘severe violations of religious freedom’.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) at the launch of its annual report on April 16, 2018, noted,

The continuing attack on minorities, including Christians, is a clear manifestation of the dismal state of affair in Pakistan’s extremist theocracy, where religious minorities live in constant fear. The Pakistani establishment, meanwhile, remains collusive or quiescent.

Assam: ULFA-I: Marginal Threat 

M.A. Athul
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

Insurgency across India’s Northeast is currently at its lowest ebb. Most major insurgent groups have suffered severe losses over recent years and are now engaged in talks  with the Government. However, some splinter formations remain violently active. One of these latter groups is the Independent faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I).     

On March 26, 2018, ULFA-I militants attacked a check post manned by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at Dirak in the Namsai District of Arunachal Pradesh. No casualties were reported in the incident.

On February 18, 2018, an ULFA-I militant, identified as Moniram Deori alias Moniram Axom, was killed in an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) at Shankapani in the Changlang District in Arunachal Pradesh.

On January 18, 2018, an ULFA-I linkman, identified as Swarup Jyoti Chetia, was arrested from Chabua in the Dibrugarh District of Assam. Chetia, a local journalist, was reportedly tasked by ULFA-I to collect information about the Chabua Air Force Station to plan sabotage activities, and he had passed on some related information.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 74 ULFA-I linked fatalities were reported from four states of the Northeast – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya – where ULFA-I has been active, since its formation in August 2012 (data till April 22, 2018). The maximum number of killings were reported from Assam, at 55 (20 civilians, five SF personnel and 30 militants); followed by Meghalaya, eight (five militants and three SF personnel); Nagaland, six (one civilian, one trooper and three militants); and Arunachal Pradesh, five (all militants). During this entire period, the total number of killings in these four Northeastern States was 1,060 (430 civilians, 64 SF personnel, and 566 militants); thus ULFA-I accounted for 6.98 per cent of these killings.

ULFA-I linked fatalities in these States stood at seven (five civilians and two militants) in 2015; which went up to 14 (seven civilians, four SF personnel, and three militants) in 2016; and declined, again, to 11 (three civilians, one trooper, and seven militants) in 2017. Only one ULFA-I linked fatality has been recorded in the current years so far (data till April 22, 2018).

During this period, at least 430 civilians were killed in these four States, among which ULFA-I was involved in 21, i.e., 4.88 per cent.

Similarly, during this period, at least 64 SF personnel were killed in these four states, with ULFA-I found involved in nine of these, i.e., 14 per cent.

ULFA-I was confirmed to have been involved in nine major incidents (each resulting in three or more fatalities) reported from these four States over this period, out of a total of 46 major incidents in these States. The worst such incident involving ULFA-I occurred on April 19, 2013, when one civilian, one trooper, and two ULFA-I militants were killed in an encounter at Kordoiguri village in Tinsukia District.

It is useful to recall that the parent group, ULFA, was formed on April 7, 1979, with the principal aim to ‘establish sovereign socialist Assam through armed struggle’. Not surprisingly, it was primarily active in Assam. The group split into two on August 8, 2012, when the then ‘commander-in-chief’ of ‘undivided’ ULFA, Paresh Baruah, ‘expelled’ Arabinda Rajkhowa as ‘chairman’. Earlier, on February 5, 2011, Pradeep Gogoi the ‘vice chairman’ of ULFA, along with ULFA’s ‘foreigh secretary’ Sashadhar Chowdhury and ‘central publicity secretary’ Mithinga Daimary, had announced the decision of ULFA’s ‘central executive council’ to sit for talks with the Government of India without any pre condition. Rajkhowa is currently the ‘chairman’ of the parent ULFA, as the Paresh Baruah-led splinter group came to be known as the anti-talks faction (ULFA-ATF), and subsequently, as ULFA-I. The parent ULFA has since been in talks with the Government. According to latest information provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, “United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) talks are continuing. Last meeting was held on November 24, 2015. SoO [Suspension of Operations] is valid from September 3, 2011, and is continuing indefinitely.”

ULFA-ATF rechristened itself ULFA-Independent following its 'central executive committee' meeting between April 2 and 5, 2013, at Taga in Myanmar. According to a National Investigation Agency (NIA) charge sheet in case RC-04/2013/NIA/GUW, the ‘chairman’ of ULFA-I is Abhijit Barmans aka Dr.Mukul Hazarika, presently residing in the UK. He is originally from Nagaon District in Assam. The ‘commander-in-chief’ is Paresh Baruah from the Dibrugarh District of Assam; while the ‘general secretary’ has been identified as Bhaskar Borah aka Rantu Gogoi, from Tinsukia District (Assam). The ‘assistant general secretary/ finance secretary’ is Jiban Moran aka Gunnat Dangori, who is also from Tinsukia District. Drishti Rajkhowa is the ‘commander of eastern command’ and ‘deputy chief of staff’, and is originally from Goalpara District (Assam). The ‘director’ of the ‘general military headquarters’ has been identified as Dwipen Saud aka Ramen Nath.

A June 11, 2017, report estimated ULFA-I’s strength at ‘nearly 300’. Later, on August 28, 2017, a surrendered ULFA-I militant reportedly disclosed that training camps operated by ULFA-I in Myanmar housed more than 500 militants.

On December 15, 2017, Assam Director General of Police (DGP) Mukesh Sahay had stated,

On January 10, 2017, the then  Assam Additional Director of General of Police (ADGP) L. R. Bishnoi, stated that ULFA-I ‘chief’ Paresh Barua had currently set up base in Ruili, a Chinese town in the Myanmar border, and added,

Not surprisingly, on March 1, 2018, the DGP Mukesh Sahay stated that SFs could not afford to drop their guard against ULFA-I which has of late made its presence felt in certain pockets along the Assam Border. Sahay observed,

ULFA-I’s lethality has been depleted over the years, and the organisation is unlikely to engineer a significant resurgence in the foreseeable future. However, the group retains residual capacities to engage in isolated incidents of violence, primarily of a symbolic in nature. Additionally given that ULFA-I’s Headquarters have been moved to further away from the area of its operations, the tempo of violence is unlikely to abruptly increase. The decline in insurgent activities in Assam has also created the environment that allows the state and its agencies to address the complicated challenges facing the state, including the protracted ‘peace processes’ with numerous insurgent formations, as well as illegal migration, governance and economic development.

 

AFGHANISTAN

57 killed in suicide attack on a voter registration centre in Kabul Province: 57 people were killed and 119 others injured in a suicide attack on a voter registration centre in the Dasht-i-Barchi area of Kabul City (District), the national capital in Kabul Province, on April 22. The 57 killed included 21 women and five children. Taliban ‘spokesman’ Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement denied involvement of the group in the explosion, adds Khaama Press. Pajhwok, Khaama Press, April 23, 2018.

HPC not to hold talks with IS militant or foreign militants, says HPC Spokesman Ehsan Taheri: Afghanistan’s High Peace Council (HPC) spokesman Ehsan Taheri said on April 20 that it will not hold any talks with Islamic State (IS) militants and foreign militants who fight against Government Forces and are trying to destabilize the country. Tolonews, April 21, 2018.

Supply route for Taliban militants between Kurram Agency in Pakistan and Dand-e-Pathan District blocked in Paktia Province: Afghan Forces blocked the supply route near Durand Line for Taliban militants between Kurram Agency in Pakistan and Dand-e-Pathan District in Paktia Province of Afghanistan. The route known as Enzergai Kando was used by militants to access Khost, Logar and Ghazni Provinces. Tolonews, April 19, 2018.

ATA to be mobilized in Afghanistan, says MoD Afghanistan: The Ministry of Defense (MoD) Afghanistan on April 15 said that based on a Presidential Decree, the Afghan Territorial Army (ATA) will soon be mobilized to help maintain security in insecure areas across Afghanistan. According to the Defense Ministry, 5,000 soldiers have been recruited in the first phase of establishing the force. These soldiers are currently being trained, the MoD added. The first group has been recruited from Herat, Kandahar, Laghman and Kapisa Provinces. Tolonews, April 17, 2018.

President Ashraf Ghani invites Taliban to contest elections in Afghanistan, but Taliban rejects: President Ashraf Ghani on April 14 invited Taliban to participate in the upcoming national elections on October 20, 2018, in Afghanistan. Taliban rejected the offer to participate in elections emphasizing that the fight against the Foreign Forces still has a priority for the group, and that all the decisions on political and military level are taken by the foreigners. Khaama Press, Pajhwok , April 16, 2018.

INDIA

‘Strong’ evidences emerged of Pakistan’s support to the Khalistan cause, says report: Photographs of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) ‘chief’ Hafiz Saeed and Sikh militant Gopal Singh Chawla, has emerged in Lahore city of Pakistan. On April 14, Gopal Singh Chawla, followed the instructions of Pakistan authorities and denied the entry of Indian officials into the premises of Gurdwara Panja Sahib Ji in Hasan Abdal in Pakistan, on the occasion of Baisakhi Day. The Tribune, April 17, 2018.

Islamic State ‘conspired’ attacks on Jews based in Mumbai and Ahemdabad, says report: According to an unnamed source in Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Kasim Stimberwala and Ubaid Mirza—who were arrested for being operatives of the Islamic State (IS), had planned a ‘lone-wolf’ attacks on Jewish population at the Magen Abraham Synagogue in Khamasa area in Ahemdabad District of Gujarat and Nariman House located in Mumbai, Maharashtra. In this case, the ATS has reordered the statements of over 100 witnesses. Times of India, April 20, 2018.

Willing to talk to top Maoist leadership, says Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister (CM), Raman Singh, said he is ready to talk to Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) -- but only if their top leadership comes to the table. CM, Raman Singh, says the fight against Maoists is the “toughest fight in the world” and asserts that left-wing extremists can still claim dominance in only “15-20 per cent areas” in just two Districts — Bijapur and Sukma. Business Standard, April 18, 2018.

Centre removes 44 Districts from LWE affected list: The Government has removed 44 Districts from the list of 126 Naxal [Left Wing Extremism (LWE)]-hit Districts while adding eight Districts, including three in Kerala, as a pre-emptive measure. The number of worst-affected Districts has also gone down from 35 to 30, with three Districts in Jharkhand and two Districts in Bihar no longer in the list. Times of India, April 16, 2018.

MALDIVES

Religious freedom is difficult to accept in the Maldives, Nasheed told EU: The former President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed on April 20 has welcome the recommendations given by the European Union (EU) regarding his candidature right to contest in general elections but insisted that the Maldivians would find religious freedom ‘difficult to accept’. Nasheed's statement came after the Maldivian government had rejected the report saying that it had "largely disregarded" the progress made by the country [Maldives]. Avas.mv, April 22, 2018.

Mohamed Nasheed shall be allowed to contest 2018 General Elections, says UN Rights Committee: The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) firmly advocated that Maldives’ former President Mohamed Nasheed has a right to stand for the office, including in a Presidential elections in 2018. Nasheed’s conviction on terrorism charges were based on vogue laws which contained serious loopholes and violated his rights for a fair trial, said a panel of independent experts compliance with the United Nations (UN) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Mihaaru, April 17, 2018. 

NEPAL

Dissident RJPN leaders form new party: Dissident leaders of Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN), including Vice-chairman Ashok Kumar Yadav, General Secretary Kadam Rasul Ansari and others announced a new party named RJPN (Democratic), severing ties with the mother party on April 20. None of the RJPN members of Parliament and Provincial Assembly members has joined the splinter faction. My Republica, April 21, 2018.

PAKISTAN

Former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had handed over 4,000 Pakistanis to foreign countries: National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights on April 16 reveals that Former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had secretly handed over as many as 4,000 Pakistanis to foreign countries, mainly to the United States. In a briefing to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal said that former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao was also part of the “secret handover”. Iqbal, who is also chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), further said the Musharraf regime extradited those Pakistanis in exchange of US dollars. Tribune, April 18, 2018.

More Pakistanis died in ‘encounters’ than suicide attacks in 2017, reports HRCP: More Pakistanis died in what were dubbed, by law enforcers, as encounter killings than in gun violence or suicide attacks in 2017, reveals the annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). The 29th annual report – dedicated to the memory of veteran human rights activist Asma Jahangir – was launched at a ceremony in Islamabad on April 16. According to report, 495 people were killed in what were reported by law enforcement agencies as shootouts during 2017, while gun violence and suicide attacks claimed the lives of 399 and 298 Pakistanis, respectively. These were followed by deaths in bomb explosions. The figure stood at 144. Daily Times, April 17, 2018.

SRI LANKA

Government has planned to commence several development projects this year, says Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing media in Kandy District of Central Province on April 18 said the Government has planned to commence several development projects this year. The Prime Minister said that the aim of the Government is to strengthen reconciliation and peaceful environment in the country, initially and move forward without allowing incidents similar to those took place last month in Kandy. ColomboPage, April 19, 2018.