South Asia Terrorism Portal

PAKISTAN

Balochistan: Violent Retaliation
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
 

On May 19, 2020, six Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers were killed when unidentified militants targeted their vehicle using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the Mach District of Balochistan on May 19, 2020. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

TOn May 8, 2020, five FC soldiers and one officer were killed when their vehicle was targeted with an IED at Kallag, near the Pakistan-Iran border, in the Tigran area of Kech District. In a tweet, the ISPR said the security personnel were returning from patrolling in Buleda - 14 kilometres from the Pakistan-Iran border - to "check possible routes used by terrorists in the mountainous terrain of Makran". The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility of the attack saying,

The BLA statement accused the Army officer killed in the attack to be “directly involved in the formation and leading of so-called death squads of criminal gangs operated by the army” in the Kech region. The statement also accused the army officer of helping drug dealers and arming them to take on the rebels.

On February 20, 2020, five Security Force (SF) personnel were killed and three were injured after militants attacked a check post in the Turbat District of Balochistan. Three militants were also killed in the subsequent exchange of fire between the SF personnel and militants. There was no claim of responsibility, but the attack took place an area where Baloch separatists frequently target Pakistani security convoys and checkpoints.

On February 19, 2020, at least 16 Army personnel were killed in an attack by Balochistan Liberation Tigers (BLT) at an Army post in the Singsila area of the Dera Bugti District of Balochistan. BLT militants also seized all weapons and ammunition kept at the post and subsequently set the post on fire. This attack was the worst on SFs by a Baloch group. The previous worst attack by a Baloch group targeting SFs was recorded on February 1, 2012, when at least 15 FC personnel were killed and 12 were injured in an attack on four FC check posts near the Margat Coalmines in Mach District. Mirak Baloch, who introduced himself as the BLA spokesperson, claiming the attack declaring, “It is a reaction to the January 31, 2012, killings of granddaughter and great-grand-daughter of Nawab Akbar Bugti in Karachi.”

During the first five months and seven days of the current year, 2020, Balochistan has accounted for 41 SF fatalities. During the corresponding period of 2019 also, Balochistan recorded 41 fatalities in the SF category. Through 2019, there was a total of 54 SF fatalities.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on conflict in Pakistan, Balochistan has accounted for a total of 1,529 SF fatalities. A maximum of 178 fatalities were registered in 2012.

Balochistan North-South SF Fatalities Breakup

A North-South breakup of SF fatalities over the last 20 years indicate that SF fatalities in North Balochistan are consistently higher than South Balochistan. Since, March 6, 2000, out of the total of 1,529 SF fatalities in the Province, 1,134 were recorded in the North while 395 in the South. In 2020, out of the 41 SF personnel killed in the Province so far (data till June 7, 2020), 26 were killed in North Balochistan, while 15 were killed in South Balochistan.

As has been noted  on several occasions in the past, the North is afflicted by Islamist extremist groups such as the Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Baloch nationalist insurgent groups operate in the South. The major Baloch insurgent groups include the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), BLA, BLT and United Baloch Army (UBA).

Though SFs are significantly targeted by Islamist terrorist formations such as TTP and LeJ in North Balochistan, the principal focus of their attention is on Baloch insurgent groups and minority or sectarian groupings. Significantly, out of 1,392 terrorists killed in Balochistan since the formation of the TTP in December 2007, the group identity of 310 has been confirmed, so far. More than 63 per cent of these (197 in total) are from five Baloch insurgent groups – BLA (110), Baloch Liberation Front (BLF, 44), BRA (31), UBA (10) and Lashkar-e-Balochistan (2).

Moreover, a systematic campaign of extermination of ethnic Baloch people through enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the South remains unabated. According to partial data compiled by SATP, of the 4,476 civilian fatalities recorded in Balochistan since March 6, 2000 (data till June 7, 2020), at least 1,399 have been attributable to one or another terrorist/insurgent outfit. Of these, 436 civilian killings (263 in the South and 173 in the North) have been claimed by Baloch separatist formations, while Islamist and sectarian extremist formations – primarily Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), TTP and Ahrar-ul-Hind (Liberators of India) – claimed responsibility for another 963 civilian killings, 880 in the North (mostly in and around Quetta) and 83 in the South. The remaining 3,077 civilian fatalities – 1,712 in the South and 1,365 in the North – remain 'unattributed'. It is widely believed that Security Agencies engage in “kill and dump” operations, particularly in the Southern region, targeting local Baloch dissidents, a reality that Pakistan’s Supreme Court has clearly recognized.

A large proportion of the ‘unattributed’ fatalities, particularly in the Southern region, are believed to be the result of enforced disappearances carried out by state agencies, or by their proxies, prominently including the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Aman Balochistan (TNAB, Movement for the Restoration of Peace, Balochistan). TNAB is a militia formation operating in the province of Balochistan, especially in Khuzdar, since 2012. The TNAB leader is Shafique Mengal, also known as Mullah Shafique. The group’s main target is Baloch nationalists.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Balochistan (HRCB), in a report released on May 8, 2020, disclosed that Balochistan witnessed a surge in military raids with 16 killed and 45 abducted in April, amid the COVID-19 lockdown. As many as 73 people had been picked up by the Pakistani forces, including students, women, children, and infants, though 28 were later released. The whereabouts of the remaining 45 are unknown. Settlements were burned down in weeks-long military actions in the Kech, Panjgur, and Awaran Districts which left people homeless, including those returning from the state’s torture cells.

Pakistan’s establishment expectedly took action against HRCB for defying media censorship. On May 12, the Government imposed an indefinite ban on HRCB’s official website (also known as Hakkpaan). Over the past years, HRCB has been actively working in Balochistan to collect information about ongoing human rights abuses and to report them to the international media and organizations. Its website remains accessible outside Pakistan.

Subsequent to the blocking of its website in Pakistan, HRCB expressed the fear that Pakistani authorities might target their “volunteers and office-bearers who are living in the country.”  Their apprehension is not unfounded, as state agencies have had little compunction in targeting journalists and human rights workers in the past.

Baloch journalist Sajid Hussain, who was living in exile in Sweden and had been missing since March 2, 2020, from Uppsala, was found dead on April 23, 2020, in the Fyris River, outside Uppsala. According to one of Hussain's close friends, who is based in Sweden as well, Hussain was last seen boarding a train from Stockholm to Uppsala to collect keys to his new apartment and to leave his personal belongings there. Hussain, hailing from Balochistan, was working as a part-time professor in Uppsala, about 60 kilometres north of Stockholm. He was also the chief editor of Balochistan Times, an online magazine he had set up, in which he wrote about drug trafficking, forced disappearances and a long-running insurgency. Balochistan Times on May 2, wrote,

Hussain left Pakistan in 2012 following a Police raid on his house and subsequent threats on his life. He first moved to Oman, then to UAE, then Uganda, before moving to Sweden in 2017.

Further, on May 2, 2020, two Baloch student activists Shahdad Baloch and Ehsan Baloch, both graduates from Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, were killed by SFs in Kalat District. Both the graduates were critical of the Pakistani establishment for exploitation of the natural resources and gross human rights violations in Balochistan.

Some of the other prominent killings/disappearances of Baloch journalist/activists overt the past five years include:

On May 25, 2020, amid the COVID-19 outbreak in the region and rest of the world, a Paris-based NGO, the Baloch Voice Association, organised a virtual conference "Prevent genocide in Balochistan and end eliminations with impunity". The speakers included prominent human rights activists from Balochistan and western analysts who accused the Pakistan Army of being responsible for enforced disappearances, torture and killing of intellectuals, students and political activists in the Province.

A similar concern was raised by Allah Nizar Baloch, the leader of BLF, on March 28, 2020. He asserted,

Amid the swelling attacks on SF personnel in the Province, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, visited Quetta on May 13, 2020, and tried to woo the Baloch people. He stated that Balochistan was the future of Pakistan and it was the Army’s duty to fully assist its government and the people towards a peaceful and prosperous future. Bajwa directed all commanders to reach out to the people in far-flung areas of Balochistan to help mitigate challenges faced by the masses due to COVID-19.  

The grim reality, however, is that the anger and mistrust of the Baloch people towards Pakistani SFs, generated by a long history of atrocities, as well as against the administration as a result of persistent neglect, is unlikely to subside. As long as the people of Balochistan continue suffer at the hands of the SFs and an exploitative, iniquitous administration, the restive region will continue to see targeted attack against the SFs.

INDIA

Maharashtra: Gadchiroli: Strategic Restraint
Indrajit Sharma
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On May 17, 2020, two Police personnel, Sub-Inspector Dhannaji Honmane and constable Kishore Atram, were killed and another three were injured in an exchange of fire with Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres in the Poyerkothi-Koparshi forested area under Bhamragarh Tehsil (revenue unit) in Gadchiroli District. Superintendent of Police (SP) Shailesh Balkawade disclosed that the gun-battle took place when Maoists opened fire at a Quick Response Team (QRT) from Bhamragarh and C-60 commandos of Gadchiroli Police, who were out on a joint anti-Naxal [Left Wing Extremism, LWE] operation.

On May 2, 2020, a senior CPI-Maoist woman ‘commander’ was killed in an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) in the forests of Sinbhatti under the Pendhra Division near Jaravandi village under Jarawandi Police Station limits in Gadchiroli District. The slain ‘commander’, identified as Sujanakka aka Chinakka aka Jaini (48), was on the wanted list of the Police in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh. She carried a reward of INR 1.6 million on her head. SP Balkawade stated, “Sujanakka had joined the Naxal movement in 1988 and was the wife of CPI-Maoist Central Committee member Devji. She was involved in 144 crimes, including ambushes on Police and civilian murders.” Sujanakka was the ‘divisional commander’ of Kasansur Dalam (armed squad) in Gadchiroli at the time of her death.

On April 8, 2020, Maoists shot dead a former Special Police Officer (SPO), identified as Jivte Ramteke (45), after branding him a ‘police informer’ at Kohoka-Mokasa village under Kotgul Police Station limits in Gadchiroli District. The Maoists reached his village and dragged Ramteke out of his house and shot him dead. Reports indicate that the Maoists had earlier, erected a banner mentioning Jivte’s name and warning him of dire consequences for ‘making money’ by becoming a ‘police informer’.

According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), Gadchiroli has recorded six fatalities (two civilians, two SF personnel, and two Maoists) in Maoist-linked violence this year, so far (data till June 7, 2020). During the corresponding period of 2019, 39 fatalities (13 civilians, 15 SF personnel and 11 Maoists) were recorded in the District. Total fatalities through 2019 stood at 50 (18 civilians, 15 SF personnel and 17 Maoists) lower than the 58 fatalities (five civilians, two SF personnel and 51 Maoists) recorded in 2018.

Overall fatalities had increased for three consecutive years between 2016 and 2018 – 22 in 2016, 24 in 2017, and 58 in 2018. Notably, fatalities in 2015 were the lowest recorded in the District since 2008 when the District had recorded 13 fatalities.

Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on LWE-linked violence across India, Gadchiroli has recorded 613 fatalities (176 civilians, 165 SF personnel, 260 Maoists and 12 Not Specified). After reaching a peak of 99 fatalities (10 civilians, 52 SFs and 37 Maoists) in 2009 the District saw a decline in the level of violence, though a cyclical trend has been observed thereafter.

The decline in overall fatalities in the District in the current year demonstrate that the tremendous success achieved by the SFs against the Maoists in the District in 2018 has now started to show real impact on the ground. Significantly, 40 Maoists were killed at one go in the Kasnasur-Boriya area of Etapalli Tehsil in twin encounters on April 22 and 23, 2018. During the year a total of 51 Maoists were killed, the maximum in a single year. Moreover, combing operations and raids have resulted in the arrest of seven Maoists in the District in the current year (data till June 7, 2020), in addition to 10 in 2019 and 11 in 2018. Mounting SF pressure has led to surrender of 50 Maoists since 2018 (16 in 2018, 33 in 2019 and one in 2020).

Vilas Kolha (44), a former 'divisional commander' of the CPI-Maoist Chatgaon Dalam, who surrendered before Gadchiroli Police on February 28, 2020, sees an uncertain future for the armed rebel movement in the District. Kolha, who was wanted in over 147 cases in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, including 22 murders and several cases of firing on the Police, revealed,

Clearly, there is waning support from villagers, resulting in declining recruitment of cadres.

Nevertheless, worries remain. 2019 accounted for the maximum civilian fatalities, 18, since 2011, when there were 36 fatalities in this category. Similarly, in 2019, 15 SF personnel were killed, the highest since 2009, when there were 52 fatalities in this category.

Further, a February 3, 2020, report, revealed that, even though the number of Maoist attacks in the District was on the decline, there had been a massive rise in the destruction of private property by Maoists over the preceding three years. SP Gadchiroli, Balkawade thus noted,

More recently, protesting against the killing of Sujanakka – the ‘divisional committee member’ and ‘commander’ of Kasnasur Dalam – on May 2, 2020, the Maoists set ablaze four vehicles near Kulbhatti and Gajamendhi villages in Dhanora Tehsil in the District on May 20, 2020.

Located in the north-eastern part of Maharashtra, Gadchiroli has been the epicenter of Maoist violence in Maharashtra. The District has a total area of 14,412 square kilometres, of which 11,694 square kilometres fall under forest cover (78.40 per cent). This serves as ideal terrain for the Maoists and makes the task of locating and sanitizing Maoist hideouts difficult. Further, Gadchiroli shares borders with four Districts – Bijapur, Kanker, Narayanpur, and Rajnandgaon of Chhattisgarh, the worst Naxal-affected Indian State and two Districts – Adilabad and Karimnagar of Telangana, and is used as a transit area between the two States.

Significantly, all these Districts (barring Karimnagar)  are among the 90 Districts in 11 States  listed as LWE affected, according to a Government release of February 5, 2019. Further, all the Districts (barring Adilabad and Karimnagar), along with Gadchiroli, fall among the ‘30 worst Maoist-affected’ Districts, across seven States in the country, according to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA). Moreover, Gadchiroli covers parts of the Abujhmadh forest (along the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border), which has been developed as a Maoist fortress, from where its leaders manage the rebel movement.

According to a March 7, 2020, report, a document seized by Gadchiroli Police during an operation (date unspecified) in the District, suggested that the Maoists have no plans to shift their base from the forested and hilly Abujhmadh region. The seized document clearly stated, ‘last blood would be shed at Abujhmadh’ implying that the Maoists plan to make their last stand in the region. Gadchiroli SP Balkawade thus asserts, “Abujhmadh occupies a place of pride among Maoists, which is unlikely to get replaced, going by the documents we have seized.” The Maoist document puts to rest any speculation regarding developing forested terrains of Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh as an ‘alternative base’, despite repeated strikes on Abujhmadh by SFs of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

The declining trend in violence in the District does not necessarily imply that Maoist capacities are at a terminal stage. The Maoists in the District currently appear to be maintaining strategic restraint. It would be premature to conclude that the Maoist insurgency in Gadchiroli is ending, despite sustained SF successes. The gains would need to be continuously consolidated through aggressive operations, if they are not to be eroded.