South Asia Terrorism Portal

Punjab: Turning a Blind Eye
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On January 20, 2019, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials of Punjab Police killed two terrorists, identified as Abdur Rehman and Kashif Langra, in a shootout in Gujranwala District of Punjab. The suspects allegedly belonged to Islamic State (IS, also Daesh) and were gunned down in an exchange of fire, an unnamed CTD spokesperson disclosed, claiming that the two were accomplices of IS 'local commander' Zeeshan. The deceased were wanted for their involvement in attacks on Security Forces (SFs) and kidnapping of local and foreign citizens, the spokesperson added.

A day earlier, on January 19, 2019, IS 'local commander' Zeeshan was killed during an encounter with CTD personnel in Sahiwal District. Three civilians, including a husband, wife and their teenage daughter, were also killed during the encounter.

According to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), Punjab has recorded at least six terrorism-related fatalities (three civilians and three terrorists] in 2019, thus far (data till February 24, 2019). During the corresponding period of 2018, the Province recorded eight terrorism-related fatalities (seven terrorists and one SF trooper).

Through 2018, Punjab registered 39 fatalities (17 civilians, seven SF personnel, and 15 terrorists) as against 158 such fatalities (32 civilians, 27 SF personnel, and 99 terrorists) in 2017. The 2018 fatalities were the second lowest recorded in terrorism related incidents in the Province since 2006, when seven fatalities was recorded.

There were 17 civilian fatalities in 2018, the second lowest in this category since 2006, when six civilian deaths were recorded. There were a total of 32 civilian fatalities in 2017.

The number of fatalities among SF personnel also came down to seven in 2018 from 27 in 2017. Significantly, fatalities among terrorists also came down considerably, from 99 in 2017 to just 15 in 2018. SFs are now less active, with lower terrorist mobilization and fewer operations on the ground.

According to the SATP database, two incidents of explosion were recorded in Punjab in 2018, as against five in 2017, and the resultant fatalities declined from 56 in 2017 to 14 in 2018. Punjab also witnessed two suicide attacks in 2018 as against four in 2017, with fatalities dropping from 55 in 2017 to 14 in 2018.

The number of major incidents decreased from 20 in 2017 to just six in 2018 and resultant fatalities from 146 in 2017 to 31 in 2018, a 78.76 per cent decline. The most prominent major attack of the year came in the night of March 14, 2018, when a suicide bomber hit a check post outside the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in the Raiwind Town of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, in which nine people, including five Policemen, were killed and another 35 were injured. The attack was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In a statement sent to AFP, it threatened more attacks on Police in retaliation for killing their “associates” in Punjab.

According to a report of the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), fatalities dropped by 65.58 per cent in Punjab from 154 in 2017to 53 in 2018. The report said this was because of six major and 9,157 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) by SFs.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police claimed on September 17, 2018, that they had neutralisedthe terror network of TTP and Hizb-ul-Ahrar (HuA) which had carried out terror attacks. Notably, one of the major success came on March 29, 2018, when the Punjab Police CTD and the Intelligence Bureau neutralised “the biggest network” of TTP in the Province during a joint operation at different places, and arrested six terrorists who had been dispatched by the TTP leadership from a Madrasa located at Gajumata near Ferozepur Road in Lahore to hit the targets. The network had carried out two major suicide attacks –on Army personnel on Bedian Road on April 5, 2017, in which seven persons, including two civilians, four Army personnel and one suicide bomber was killed; and another on Policemen on Ferozepur Road near Arfa Karim Tower on July 24, 2017, in which 17 civilians, one Policemen and one suicide bomber were killed.

Despite broad improvements, several instances through 2018 demonstrated that the Province remained a fertile ground for fundamentalist and extremist groups.

Four people were arrested in Ali Town of Multan District in Punjab on February 14, 2019, for their involvement in hate speech. The action was taken over a speech delivered by one of the apprehended suspects at a mosque in Ali Town on December 28, 2018. In the speech made over a loudspeaker, the primary suspect allegedly incited the audience with statements of a sectarian nature and provoked them against the Government of Pakistan and incumbent rulers, according to the first information report (FIR) registered on the complaint of a Police official against six named and 40 to 45 unidentified people.

Earlier on January 29-30, over 90 members of hard-line religious parties were arrested from different parts of Punjab for holding demonstrations against the Supreme Court's decision to reject a review plea against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman long held in a blasphemy case. Punjab Police spokesperson Nabila Ghazanfar observed that most of the arrests were made from Lahore, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi: "Police have arrested more than 90 activists of different religious parties mostly of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) cadres, on Tuesday [January 29] and Wednesday [January 30] for creating law and order situation." On October 31, 2018, the SC reversed the judgements of the Lahore High Court as well as the trial court, setting aside the conviction and death sentence awarded to Aasia Bibi. Following the Supreme Court decision acquitting and ordering the release of Asia Bibi, supporters of TLP took to the streets in several parts of Punjab, including Lahore, Islamabad, and Multan. The Punjab Home Department was forced to impose Section 144 barring the gathering of people in public places. Section 144 was imposed across the Province from October 31 to November 10, 2018.

Aasia Bibi, also known as Asia Noreen, a Christian woman, belongs to Ittan Walivillage in the Sheikhupura District. She was sentenced to death on November 7, 2010, for blasphemy allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad during a row with neighbouring women in June 2009. Noreen denied that she had committed blasphemy and asserted that she had been accused by her neighbours to "settle an old score". On November 7, 2010, Muhammed Naveed Iqbal, a judge at the district Court of Sheikhupura, sentenced her to death by hanging. Additionally, a fine of the equivalent of USD 1,100was imposed.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP, the Here I Am Movement, Pakistan, derived from the declaration “Here I am to do thy bidding, O Lord”) is Pakistan's newest far-right religious party, founded by Islamic preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi on August 1, 2015. It has created a strong base across Punjab in particular, as well as in other regions of the country.

Moreover, while Islamabad has succeeded in targeting domestically oriented terror groups operating in Punjab and thus controlling anti-state terrorism in Punjab, it has continued to openly supported terror groups in directing attacks against India and Afghanistan, and to thrive in Punjab. Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the chief conspirator of February 14, 2019, Pulwama attack, among a long succession of others, has been enjoying state and Army patronage in Punjab though it has notionally been banned since 2002. Media commentator Praveen Swami, in a column on Firstpost on July 27, 2018, disclosed that JeM had been secretly building on a 15-acre complex on the outskirts of the city of Bahawalpur—five times the size of its existing headquarters. The complex, the Jaish hopes, will train thousands of young children from the south Punjab countryside to ‘sacrifice’ themselves to the cause of Jihad.

JeM was also allowed to openly and brazenly continue with its anti-India tirade at the behest of its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) masters. While addressing a rally in Bahawalpur District of Punjab on March 1, 2018, a leader of JeM and brother of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, Maulvi Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, threw a challenge at India, declaring that his cadres were heading towards Delhi and if India could stop them, let it do so. More recently, on November 23, 2018, JeM organized a rally in Faisalabad, Punjab, which was attended by hundreds of its members. According to sources, more than 35 JeM fidayeen (suicide attackers) took an oath to carry out attacks on security establishment in India.

Further, the Hafiz Muhammad Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organisation of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), is also openly engaged in anti-India activities and operates out of its Headquarters in Murdike in the Sheikhupura District of Punjab. Saeed operates freely across the country, holding rallies dominated by anti-India and Islamist hate speech, inciting cadres to wage jihad against India. On December 18, 2018, addressing a rally at Mall Road in Lahore under the banner of Difa-e-Pakistan Council, Saeed threatened, "You forgot Somnath, Modi. The time is near when this war will be fought in your cities not at the borders. You will not be able to hide your terrorism behind curtains." Most recently, following the February 5, 2018, rally in Lahore addressed by Saeed, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on February 6 issued a note verbale to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and registered India's strong protest at the "continued use of Pakistan controlled territory by extremist and terrorist elements" to freely propagate and promote violence and terror against India.

As long as radicalized forces find fertile ground in Punjab under state patronage, the problem of terrorism will continue to constitute a threat to the entire region.

Andhra Pradesh: Peace Endures
Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On January 8, 2019, two Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres surrendered before the Police in East Godavari District. They were identified as Diridi Jogayya aka Peramaiah aka Mukesh, a ‘militia commander’, and Madakam Jogaiah aka Raghu, a ‘militia member’, both native of Pungutta village in Chintur Mandal (administrative sub-division) of East Godavari.

On January 5, 2019, two CPI-Maoist leaders, including Chiranjeevi Lakshmi Narayana Reddy aka Narasimhulu, a ‘Divisional Committee Member (DCM)’; and S. Durga Devi (39), an ‘Area Committee Member (ACM)’, surrendered before the Police in Visakhapatnam District. Narasimhulu had joined the Maoist party in 1994 and worked in various capacities at various places. During an exchange of fire in 1997 at Rayavaram in Kadapa District, Narasimhulu was severely injured and the Police had arrested him. After getting released on bail, he again joined the Maoist party and worked as ‘deputy commander’ in the Talakona Dalam (armed squad) of Chittoor District. There were several cases registered against him, including murder. Durga had joined the Maoists in 2003 and used to provide information about the Police to the Maoists.

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least four Naxalites [Left-Wing Extremists] have surrendered in 2019 (data till February 24) in Andhra Pradesh. During the corresponding period of 2018, at least 14 Naxalites had surrendered. The total number of such surrenders through 2018 stood at 49. In 2017, 60 Naxalites had surrendered in the State; another 32 in 2016; 114 in 2015; and 129 in 2014.

Though no Naxalite has been arrested in the current year (data till February 24, 2019), during the corresponding period of 2018, one Naxalite had been arrested. A total of at least 24 such arrests had been recorded through 2018, in addition to eight such arrests in 2017, according to the SATP database. The number of arrests was 18 in 2016, 42 in 2015, and 60 in 2014.

Compared to the killing of three Maoists in 2017, the State did not record any Maoists killed in 2018. The last fatality among Maoists was recorded on February 27, 2017, when a CPI-Maoist cadre, identified as Kotesu, died on the spot and a ‘Sabari Committee militia commander', Kaaki Kannayya, suffered injuries while planting a pressure bomb near National Highway 30in East Godavari District. The last incident of Maoists killed in an encounter with the Security Forces (SFs) took place on February 24, 2017, when a Greyhounds team killed two Maoists in Visakhapatnam District.

Since, the formation of CPI-Maoist on September 21, 2004, the State has recorded at least 429 Naxalite deaths. The highest number of 167 fatalities among Naxalites were registered way back in 2005. A former CPI-Maoist leader Ponnoju Parameswara Rao aka Viswanadh aka Papanna aka Nandu, died on June 21, 2018, while undergoing treatment in Visakhapatnam District. Joining the movement in 1984, Viswanadh rose to the 'divisional committee member (DCM)’, in the Korukonda Dalam in the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) division, and was member of the squad that abducted seven Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, including the then principal secretary of Andhra Pradesh, S.R. Sankaran, on December 27, 1987, at Gurtedu in East Godavari. The IAS officers were released after 12 days in Naxalite custody, when the then N.T. Rama Rao Government yielded to the Naxalite demand to release top People’s War Group (PWG) leaders from the Rajahmundry Central Jail, including Wadkapur Chandramouli. Civil Liberties activist K.G. Kannabiran negotiated with the Naxalites in this crisis. In 2011, Ponnoju Parameswara Rao and his wife surrendered and were given cultivable land at Devarapalle by the State Government. During his stay in Maoist ranks, he was very close to senior leaders and ‘Central Committee (CC) members’ such as Patel Sudhakar Reddy and Mallojula Koteswara Rao aka Kishenji.

Significantly, SFs did not suffer any loss through 2018, though one trooper had died in 2017. On May 5, 2017, a Home Guard, identified as Sheikh Valli, was killed in a landmine blast triggered by CPI-Maoist cadres on the Lothugedda junction-Balapam stretch in Visakhapatnam District. Since the formation of CPI-Maoist on September 21, 2004, at least 37 SF fatalities have been recorded in Andhra Pradesh. There has been no SF fatality, thus far, in the current year (data till February 24, 2019).

SF dominance has resulted in an overall positive kill ratio of 1:11.59 against the Maoists, with 429 LWEs killed against 37 SF personnel, since the formation of CPI-Maoist in 2004. SFs have maintained a positive kill ratio since 2005. Significantly, in five years SFs have suffered no losses of their own while eliminating 18 LWEs in 2009, 16 in 2010, four in 2011, two in 2015, and five in 2016.

Though the overall security situation in the State in terms of Left Wing Extremism-linked violence has improved considerably over the past years, some concerns persist. There were three civilian fatalities in 2018 and five in 2017. Significantly, 2018 marked the lowest civilian fatalities (three) in such violence since September 21, 2004. The previous low of five civilian fatalities was recorded twice, in 2016 and 2017. The highest ever civilian fatalities, since the formation of CPI-Maoist in 2004, in LWE-linked violence in Andhra Pradesh was 132, in 2005. Significantly, no civilian fatality has been recorded, thus far, in the current year (data till February 24, 2019).

In an audacious attack, on September 23, 2018, CPI-Maoist cadres gunned down Kidari Sarveswara Rao, a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Siveru Soma, a former MLA, also belonging to TDP, near Livitiput village in Dumbriguda Mandal in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam District. In addition, the CPI-Maoist ‘central committee’ released a letter and threatened to kill the TDP MLA from Paderu, Giddi Eswari, alleging that she was “harassing” tribals by promoting bauxite mining in the region. Accusing Eswari of accepting INR 200 million from TDP and changing her party, the group advised her to fight against bauxite excavation and to distribute the money to the people within two months. The letter warned that Eswari "will get the same punishment as the other two [Araku MLA Sarveswara Rao and former Araku MLA Siveri Soma], if she does not change her methods."In the letter, the Maoists also sought to justify the killing of MLA Rao and former MLA Soma, arguing that they were ‘sentenced’ for tribal harassment, as they favoured bauxite excavation, which was affecting the livelihood of the tribals in the vicinity.

There were some other indicators suggesting some feeble efforts for a Naxalite revival in the State, which had been an erstwhile stronghold of the Maoists. According to SATP data, the Naxalites triggered at least four landmine blasts in 2018, in addition to the same number in 2017. One incident of arson was registered in 2018, and three in 2017. The Maoists issued bandh (total shut down) calls on two occasions in 2018, while they were no such calls through 2017.

Nevertheless, according to an August 9, 2018, report, the Maoists have decided to organise more village meetings to augment their cadre base, with a focus on the Galikonda area of the Ananthagiri Mandal in Visakhapatnam District, an area which they once dominated, but where they have weakened considerably. The same report also revealed that the Maoists’top leadership had entrusted this revival to Boda Anjayya aka Naveen, ‘chief’ of the ‘Korukonda Area Committee’, and a trusted lieutenant of Gajarla Ravi aka Uday, currently in-charge of the ‘Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC)’ region. Earlier, on June 16, 2018, West Godavari District Superintendent of Police (SP) M. Ravi Prakash disclosed that, in their effort to revive the organisation, the Maoists were using Polavaram, Velairpadu and Kukunuru Mandals in the West Godavari Agency areas as shelter zones.

Further, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) on March 27, 2018, at least eight Districts [Anantapur, East Godavari, Guntur, Kurnool, Prakasam, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram] of Andhra Pradesh were still afflicted by LWE-violence. One of these, Vishakhapatnam, was among the ‘30 worst Maoist-affected’ Districts in the country, listed by UMHA.

On November 29, 2018, Visakhapatnam SP (Rural), Attada Babujee, disclosed, “The Maoists are now focusing on hitting back and regaining strength.”

Several measures initiated in the past have resulted in the sustained gains of the last several years. The Governments has also taken took up some significant new schemes. On February 12, 2019, the Union Government informed Parliament that, in April 2018, it had approved a proposal for setting up a state-of-the-art Greyhounds Training Centre in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of INR 2.1916 billion, and the estimated time for completion of the project was three years from the date of commencement.

There have also been several new programs to boost development in the Naxalite afflicted areas of the State. The Union Government on August 3, 2018, informed the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the India Parliament) that a Special Development Package for the seven backward Districts of the Andhra Pradesh, amounting to INR 21 billion, had been announced, with INR three billion going to each District. An amount of INR 10.5 billion (three installments of INR 3.5 billion at INR 500 million per District) had been disbursed for backward areas and a further amount of INR 10.5 billion would be released in a second phase. Anantapur, Kurnool, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, YSR Kadapa and Chittoor, were identified as backward Districts. The first five of these are in the list of eight LWE affected Districts in the State.

In a significant development, on December 20, 2018, a large number of tribal people from the interior villages of G.K. Veedhi and Koyyuru Mandals in Visakhapatnam District participated in a rally against the CPI-Maoist, demanding that the banned outfit stop interfering in development activities in their region, especially the construction of roads. Holding placards and posters such as ‘We need roads,’ the tribal women said that the Maoists should allow development in the Agency.

Some deficiencies, nevertheless, persist in the security apparatus of the State. At least 11,596 Police posts were vacant in the State as on January 1, 2017, against a sanctioned strength of 61,048 – a deficit of 18.99 per cent – according to the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). Moreover, against the sanctioned strength of the apex Indian Police Service (IPS) Officers in the State at 144, just 120 were in position, considerably weakening decision-making in the Force. The police-population ratio (Policemen per hundred thousand population) in the State was 95.74 per 100,000, significantly lower than the appallingly low national average of 137.11 [over 220 Policemen per 100,000 population are considered necessary even for ‘peacetime policing’], according to BPR&D, as on January 1, 2016 [Disaggregated data of population/area for Andhra Pradesh & Telangana not available for 2017].

The enduring peace established by a successful battle against the Maoist insurgency in Andhra Pradesh needs further consolidation, with a strong focus on both security and developmental measures.