South Asia Terrorism Portal
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Menacing Landmines Tushar Ranjan Mohanty Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On June 29, 2021, at least 10 persons were killed and eight injured, when terrorists triggered a landmine explosion that struck a van in the Godar area of Kurram District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
On June 2, 2021, an Army soldier, identified as Lance Naik Waqas Ahmed, was killed in a landmine explosion triggered by terrorists, close to an Army check post in the Kaniguram area of South Waziristan District, KP.
On May 27, four children were injured in a landmine explosion triggered by terrorists in the Tandi area of Kurram District in, KP.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), KP has already recorded a total of at least seven incidents of landmine explosions by terrorists resulting in 14 deaths and over 16 injured in 2021 (data till July 4). During the corresponding period of 2020, two such incidents resulting in three deaths and five injured were reported. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on conflicts in Pakistan, KP has accounted for 156 such incidents resulting in 279 deaths and 362 injured. [Since media access is heavily restricted in most disturbed areas of Pakistan, and there is only fitful release of information by Government agencies, the actual figures could be much higher.]
Moreover, a large number of landmines planted by terrorists during peak conflict periods (between 2008-2015) in the tribal areas of KP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which was merged with KP on May 31, 2018, continue to explode, killing and injuring locals.
Significantly, when Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) started returning to their homes in 2017 after a series of military operations in the tribal areas of KP, they found their villages and areas surrounding their homes littered with deadly landmines.
Mohammad Mumtaz Khan, an IDP from South Waziristan, describing his personal horror story about IEDs, stated on April 26, 2018, “I am lucky that I got away with a small injury. It may not be so the next time around.” He added, further, that the mountains and valleys were “teeming” with explosive remnants of war. Raza Shah, the Executive Director of Sustainable Peace and Development Organization (SPADO), noted on April 25, 2018, “Despite having cleared the area of militants, it is not possible for many to move about freely as the place remains infested with landmines.”
Indeed, during a hearing in Peshawar High Court (PHC) on June 22, 2021, the petitioners, advocate Sajjad Ahmad Mehsud and four other lawyers, claimed that during the last couple of years, 178 landmine explosions had taken place in South Waziristan District alone, leaving 800 residents dead, 250 paralysed and 77 visually impaired. They added that residents in South Waziristan District had also lost around 4,000 cattle heads to landmine blasts. The petitioners submitted that, since May 28, 2021, three landmine explosions had taken place, leaving 15 children and three Army personnel dead. The petitioners claimed that landmine explosions were killing and injuring more and more residents, but the relevant authorities remained unmoved. The petitioners requested the Court to direct the respondents, including the Federal and KP Governments, to remove landmines, especially in South Waziristan District, and highlight the affected areas as Red Zones. The PHC bench directed the Federal Government to produce a detailed report on landmine explosions in KP, especially South Waziristan, within three weeks.
Earlier, on June 4, 2021, Senator Dost Mohammed Khan, who belongs to the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan, moved an adjournment motion in the Senate to draw the attention of the Defence Minister Pervez Khan Khattak to the issue of de-mining in KP, particularly in South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Bajaur, Khyber and Khurram Districts.
On June 6, 2021, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) expressed its deep concern over recent incidents of landmine explosions, resulting in the deaths and injuries to children. Aida Girma, UNICEF representative in Pakistan stated,
In a press conference on February 22, 2021, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson Major General Babar Iftikhar disclosed that, till then, more than 72 kilometres of land had been cleared of mines in the tribal region. “A total of 48,000 mines have been defused and work is still going on in 42 per cent of the areas which will be completed soon,” he added. According to analysts, when the militants moved into Pakistan after the US onslaught in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US, they laid landmines to secure their fronts and strongholds.
On June 12, 2021, Dawn reported that the Security Forces had completely cleared Malakand and Bajaur Districts of explosives, including landmines, while the clearance operation in other Districts was in progress. According to the report, 37 Army personnel were killed in landmine blasts and 17 had suffered injuries during de-mining work since 2018. Around 80 square kilometres in South Waziristan and North Waziristan were yet to be de-mined.
While the militancy in the tribal areas of Pakistan has been controlled to a certain extent, the explosive remnants of war remain a grave threat to life in the region.
The Third Route Ajit Kumar Singh Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
In the first ever successful offensive use of drones in India, in the night of June 26-27, 2021, two explosive payloads were dropped, within a span of six minutes, on the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), by drones/unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Two Security Forces (SF) personnel were injured and a building was damaged in the explosion.
Again, in the night of June 27-28, two drones were found hovering over Ratnuchak and Kaluchak military stations in Jammu. Defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Devender Anand disclosed that “two separate drone activities were spotted over Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military areas” and “a major threat was thwarted by the alertness and proactive approach of troops” who “engaged them [drones] with firing”.
On July 2, 2021, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a media briefing, was asked whether India would “raise the suspected drone attack at Jammu with Pakistan considering that security agencies suspect the hand of Lashkar-e-Toiba [LeT]?” And further, “What is India's answer when Pakistan has completely rejected that the drone attack in Jammu was from across the border?” Bacgchi simply responded that “the investigation is in progress.” Responding to another question "was there a drone spotted twice inside Indian High Commission in Islamabad in June 26 night?” he confirmed that “a drone was spotted over the premises of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on 26th of June this year” and “this issue has been taken up officially with the Government of Pakistan.” Though the incident of the drone sighting over the Indian High Commission complex in Islamabad occurred on June 26, 2021, it came to light only during the media briefing.
J&K Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh, however, was forthright, stating that Lashkar e Taiba [ LeT] was suspected to be responsible for the attack and, ”in all likelihood, the unmanned aerial vehicles have flown in from across the border and returned after the operation.”
Reports indicate that a few Pakistani drones had ventured as deep as 12 kilometers inside Indian territory and dropped 'composite consignments' [weapons/drugs/Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN)] over the last two years. The IAF Station in Jammu is approximately 14 kilometers from the International Border (IB).
Indeed, data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), indicates that at least 35 incidents of Pakistan using drones to send ‘composite consignments’ were reported from along the India-Pakistan border in J&K and Punjab since August 2019 (data till July 4, 2021). While J&K has recorded 11 such incidents, 24 incidents have been reported from Punjab. These numbers are gross underestimates, in the context of the October 17, 2020, statement of J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh, who disclosed that, for every seized consignment, there would be others that got through undetected.
Some of the prominent incidents include:
May 14, 2021: A cache of arms and ammunition dropped by a Pakistani drone were recovered along the IB in Samba District, J&K. The recoveries included one AK-47 assault rifle, one pistol, one magazine, and 15 rounds of a 9mm weapon.
April 24, 2021: Two UAVs were spotted over Vikram and Jabowal border outposts in the Arnia Sector of Jammu District on the Indian side of the border. The UAVs, laden with weapons, however, retreated to the Pakistani side without dropping their payload, on being fired upon by the SFs.
January 17, 2021: Police arrested two persons from Vijaypur, Samba District, while they were picking up a consignment of 16 grenades, two AK-74 rifles, nine AK magazines, a pistol, and ammunition, which had been smuggled in via drones.
December 20, 2020: 11 hand grenades, reportedly dropped by a drone from Pakistan, were recovered by Border Security Force (BSF) troopers from a sugarcane field near the IB at Silach village in the Gurdaspur District of Punjab.
June 20, 2020: SFs shot down a Pakistani drone strapped with arms along the IB at Rathua village in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua District in J&K. A US-made M4 semi-automatic rifle, two magazines with 60 rounds and seven M67 Chinese grenades were found mounted on the drone
June 3-4, 2020: A consignment of weapons was dropped through three drone sorties outside Dharamkot Randhawa in Gurdaspur District, Punjab. The consignment included two guns, six pistols and INR 400,000 in FICN.
Significantly, the use of drones by Pakistan to drop 'composite consignments' came to the fore when SFs arrested four persons along with a consignment of arms, ammunition, explosives and FICNs on the outskirts of Chohla Sahib town, Tarn Taran District, Punjab, on September 22, 2019. It was later confirmed that the consignment had been dropped by a UAV originating from Pakistan. The National Investigation, which took over the case on October 1, 2019, in a chargesheet filed on March 18, 2020, noted,
Meanwhile, media reports citing government data claimed that over 300 'definite drone sightings' had been made by the BSF and other police units since August 5, 2019. These included 167 sightings along the western front (largely Jammu and Punjab) in 2019, 77 in 2020 and about 60 in 2021 (till June 27). Though it is not known how many of these were aimed at dropping composite consignments, given the fact that there has been a significant decline in terrorist operations in Kashmir due to a reported shortage of weaponry and logistical supplies, it is likely that most of these ‘sorties’ were intended to drop arms and ammunition, among other materials.
The use of a third option – after Indian SFs strengthened the anti-infiltration grid (on land and water) further during last couple of years – to send weapons into India by Pakistan, to escalate violence in J&K appears to have definite Chinese support. According to reports, China has sent “explicit instructions” to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to flood J&K with weapons of all kinds.
On October 5, 2020, J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh stated that China-made drones were being used to drop weapons in Kashmir. He disclosed that some Type 97 NSR rifles, manufactured by the Chinese state-owned Norinco, were also recovered in the Valley. This weapon is predominantly used by Chinese soldiers and is also found in Pakistan.
Reports, meanwhile, indicate that arms dropped into Punjab, using drones, were smuggled into J&K using land routes.
With a measure of tranquility established along the Line of Control (LoC) and IB in the aftermath of the Director Generals of Military Operations-level discussions held on February 25, 2021, between India and Pakistan, and the resultant ‘zero infiltration’ through the land and water route, the increasing use of drones by ISI, to smuggle in weapons into J&K and Punjab is in evidence.
Moreover, lessons learned from each and every successful ‘weapons drop operation’ may be used by ISI proxies to carry out offensive weaponized drone operations against select targets in India. These ‘attack drones’ may or may not take-off from Pakistani soil, as Islamabad is under increased pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which, on June 25, 2021, again decided to keep Pakistan on its ‘grey list’. However, the rising incidence of drone operations definitely have the Pakistan Military Establishment’s complicity. Under pressure from the FATF, Islamabad is in search of new tools of terror, which may help it continue its cross-border terrorist activities through proxies, without leaving any trace of its complicity. The drones seem to be one such tool.
It is pertinent to recall here that terrorist outfits have been using weaponized drones for successful terrorist attacks for some time now. The Islamic State is said to be the first to have used this ‘weapon’ way back in 2016 in Iraq, and subsequently in Syria. The Afghan Taliban has reportedly been using weaponized drones since 2019. It is, consequently, imperative for the security establishment in India to swiftly evolve measures to deal with this rapidly growing security threat. Regrettably, however, people at the helm have been reactive rather than proactive in their approach to this challenge.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia June 28 - July 4, 2021
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
NS
Total
AFGHANISTAN
BANGLADESH
Left Wing Extremism
INDIA
Jammu and Kashmir
INDIA (Left-Wing Extremism)
Chhattisgarh
Madhya Pradesh
Total (India)
PAKISTAN
KP
PaK
Azad Kashmir
Sindh
Total (Pakistan)
Total (South Asia)
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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.
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