South Asia Terrorism Portal
KLO: Uncertain Negotiations Afsara Shaheen Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
On November 6, 2023, the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation–Koch Nationalism (KLO-KN) demanded that all charges against the outfit's ‘president’ Jeevan Singha alias Jeevan Koch Timir Das and other cadres should be dropped, and they should be formally pardoned. It also demanded that steps must be taken for the formation of a separate state of Kamatapur, carved out of portions of Assam and West Bengal. Other demands were to include the Kamatapuri language into the Eight Schedule and give it due recognition, and that the Koch Rajbanshi community be brought under the ambit of reservations under the Scheduled Tribes (Plains) category. These demands were a precondition to facilitate the peace talks between the government and the outfit, and bring these to a conclusion.
Significantly, on October 3, 2023, the Kamtapur State Demand Committee (KSDC) — an umbrella organisation of 28 organisations of Rajbanshis — demanded that the Union government immediately hold talks with Jeevan Singha. Jyotsna Roy, a surrendered KLO cadre and a KSDC member stated, “The Centre should include Kamtapuri (Rajbanshi) language in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.”
A day earlier, on November 5, 2023, KLO-KN ‘convener’ Daosar Langham Koch issued a threat about launching insurgency operations after the forthcoming Diwali festival on November 12, 2023.
Earlier, on October 17, 2023, KLO-KN refused to engage further in peace talks with the government, declaring,
Significantly, tensions had flared between the two sides – the government and the outfit – in September 2023, when Jeevan Singha accused the Government of India of betraying the people of Kamtapur. In a video message to the media, Singha urged the people of Kamtapur to protest against the perceived injustice and to reclaim their rights.
It is pertinent to recall that, on January 13, 2023, Jeevan Singha surrendered before the Assam Rifles in the Longwa area, along the Indo-Myanmar border, of Nagaland. The surrender came within five months after two top KLO militants – Kailash Koch, the second-most important leader of the outfit and his wife Jugli – surrendered before the West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malaviya in Kolkata, and days after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had invited the outfit for peace talks. Earlier, in December 2021, the KLO had expressed its willingness to join the peace process, in a letter by Jeevan Singha sent to the Assam Government.
Subsequently, on January 17, 2023, Biswajit Ray, who is part of a five-member committee formed by the KLO to facilitate talks between the Union Government and the group, announced that he was “hopeful” of a peace accord with the Union Government by January 26, 2023. However, it was not clear how the accord could be reached when the West Bengal government, a major stakeholder, remained out of the loop. Indeed, the January 26 ‘deadline’ passed with no such accord. Nevertheless, according to a January 22, 2023, report, an unnamed senior official of Assam police stated, "The government has initiated talks with KLO”. In between, on January 18, 2023, Assam Chief Minister (CM) Himanta Biswa Sarma stated, "It's good news that KLO chief Jeevan Singha has returned to the mainstream after shunning violence. He will take rest and slowly peace talks will be held between the centre and the KLO chief." Indeed, Jeevan Singha had also announced in January that the talks between KLO and the Indian government about the welfare and rights of the Koch-Kamtapur population had progressed to a more advanced level. After that on March 5, 2023, Ray stated that there had been progress in the peace talks between the KLO and the central government, and further discussions would be held through the peace committee. He also claimed that a special delegation from the Prime Minister’s and Home Minister's office was in talks with the surrendered KLO leader, Jeevan Singha, to further the peace process.
KLO, which primarily operates in western Assam and the northern Bengal region, was formed on December 28, 1995, by a section of the West Bengal-based All Kamtapur Students’ Union (AKSU), with the objective of establishing a separate Kamtapur State, comprising six Districts of West Bengal (Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur, and Malda) and four Districts of Assam (Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara). KLO militants were initially trained by the then undivided United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The organization later maintained close ties with the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) and it was one of the enduring insurgent groups that had refused negotiations with the government. The KLO was declared a banned organisation by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) on November 12, 2014, and has now taken the title of KLO-KN.
According to partial data compiled by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), between March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on conflicts in India, and January 13, 2023, KLO activities led to 52 fatalities in the two States (Assam and West Bengal): 10 fatalities in Assam (two civilians and eight terrorists) and 42 fatalities in West Bengal (31 civilians, 10 terrorists and one trooper). Total KLO-linked incidents stood at 142 (67 in Assam, 66 in West Bengal, three in Manipur, two in Nagaland, one each in Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Meghalaya and one incident of surrender at an unidentified location).
The worst incident in terms of civilian fatalities, during this period, was the explosion at Belakobo Station in a passenger train between Jalpaiguri and Siliguri of West Bengal on November 20, 2006 in which at least 10 civilians were killed and 50 injured. KLO and ULFA were suspected to be behind this attack.. The last KLO-linked civilian fatality was recorded on January 21, 2014, when suspected KLO militants shot dead a businessman, Sudhangshu Sarkar (52), at Khukshi Bao Bazaar under the Fakiragram Police Station in the Kokrajhar District of Assam. However, the last fatality was reported on April 24, 2023, when two KLO militants, Abhijit Deka and Nipon Roy, were killed in an encounter with the Assam Police at Chakraxila Hills area in Kokrajhar District of Assam.
The most recent fatal incident before this was reported on March 4, 2016, when the ‘deputy commander-in-chief’ of KLO, Dibankar Barman aka Anupal aka Jabarjung aka Raghav, was killed by Security Forces (SFs) in the Siljan Kakrikola area of Kokrajhar District in Assam.
Meanwhile, between January 14, 2023 and November 12, 2023, six KLO-linked incidents were recorded (four in Assam, one in Nagaland and one in Kerala), prominently including:
September 20: Assam Police arrested a KLO cadre, Mamen Rai, from Kerala.
August 21: Assam Police arrested three KLO cadres, Pranab Rai (21), Mandeep Rai (19), and Nabayjyoti Rai (22), from the Kashibari area of Kokrajhar District of Assam. The trio was arrested after a letter in the name of the KLO demanding INR 50,00,000 from certain individuals surfaced, following which a Police team launched an operation.
April 24: Two KLO militants, Abhijit Deka and Nipon Roy, were killed in an encounter with the Assam Police at Chakraxila Hills area in Kokrajhar District of Assam.
Moreover, there have been reports which suggest that KLO has been sending threatening letters to local businessmen in North Bengal, demanding hefty ransoms. On October 23, 2023, for instance, Binay Kumar Das, a businessman in the Alipurduar District of West Bengal, received an extortion notice reportedly sent by KLO, demanding INR 10,000,00.
Although efforts have been made to initiate a peace process between the KLO and the central government, the distrust shown by the outfit in recent months may jeopardise the whole process. Delays in the talks have likely contributed to the growing misgivings, and it is urgent that the talks make some progress soon. Absent a consolidation of the gains of the past, peace and stability in the Kamtapur region in particular, and the larger areas of the northeast, will come under renewed threat, particularly in the shadow of the eruption of ethnic violence in Manipur.
Kerala: Persistent Target Deepak Kumar Nayak Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On November 7, 2023, the Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Thunderbolt Squad of the Kerala Police arrested two Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, Chandru and Srimathi alias Unnimaya, following an encounter between the extremists and the Security Forces (SFs) during combing operations in rural Kozhikode and the Periya Forest region in the Wayanad District of Kerala. The SFs confiscated two AK-47 rifles from the possession of the arrested Maoists, who are suspected to be part of Kabani Dalam (armed squad), a Maoist unit that operates in the Wayanad and Kannur districts.
On October 30, 2023, a five-member CPI-Maoist group fired shots at three forest watchers, Ebin, Sijo and Bobus, of the Narikkadavu Forest Station at Chavachi in Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kannur District of Kerala. The three watchers are temporary employees of the Narikkadavu Forest Station, who were on their way to the camp shed at Ambalappara from Narikkadavu Forest Station, when the incident occurred. As they crossed the camp shed at Chavachi and moved 100 metres ahead, they saw the Maoists who were coming towards them, near the Kudakan River. Shocked to encounter the forest watchers face to face, the Maoists fled, leaving camping materials and food.
Earlier, on September 28, 2023, armed CPI-Maoist cadres attacked and vandalized the office of the Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC) at Kambamala estate under Thalappuzha Police Station limits in Wayanad District, demanding better residential facilities for plantation labourers. They also urged the labourers to join their outfit. Posters in Malayalam and Tamil on behalf of the CPI-Maoist Kabani Area Committee read,
On April 18, 2023, a 'zonal commander' of the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a splinter group of the CPI-Maoist, identified as Ajay Oraon (29) from Jharkhand, was arrested from a migrant labour camp in the Kaimbalam area under Pantheerankavu Police Station limits in Kozhikode District, in a joint Kerala and Jharkhand Police operation. Oraon had been living at the migrant labour camp in the guise of a construction worker for the preceding one month. According to the Police, Oraon was wanted in connection with the burning of several vehicles of a road contractor after trying to extort money from him in Jharkhand in March 2023. Though Oraon was in Kerala when the attack took place, he was allegedly involved in the conspiracy.
On April 18, 2023, a ‘zonal commander’ of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a splinter group of the CPI-Maoist, identified as Ajay Oraon (29) from Jharkhand, was arrested from a migrant labour camp in the Kaimbalam area under Pantheerankavu Police Station limits in Kozhikode District, in a joint Kerala and Jharkhand Police operation. Oraon had been living at the migrant labour camp in the guise of a construction worker for the preceding one month. According to the Police, Oraon was wanted in connection with the burning of several vehicles of a road contractor after trying to extort money from him in Jharkhand in March 2023. Though Oraon was in Kerala when the attack took place, he was allegedly involved in the conspiracy.
According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), in 2023, at least four Maoist-related incidents were reported from three districts [two from Wayanad, and one each from Kozhikode and Kannur] so far (data till November 12, 2023). Through 2022, no such incident was recorded in the state. The last incident prior to April 18, 2023, was recorded on July 25, 2021, when three gun-wielding Maoist cadres, forcibly entered a house at Kattekkad in Chittur, close to the forest, and took away food items, in Palakkad District. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-linked violence, a total of 67 such incidents have been documented in the state.
Significantly, since March 6, 2000, the State has not recorded any fatality in the civilian and Security Forces (SFs) categories in LWE-linked violence (data till November 12, 2023). However, nine Maoist fatalities have been registered during this period: one in 2020, five in 2019, two in 2016, and one in 2014. The last Maoist fatality was registered on November 3, 2020, when a CPI-Maoist cadre, Velmurugan from Tamil Nadu, was killed in an encounter between five Maoists and a 20-member Thunderbolt – the elite commando Force of the State Police – patrol team, in the forests near Meenmutty in Wayanad District. During the subsequent search, the body, along with a .303 rifle, was recovered from the encounter site. According to the Police, Velmurugan was an expert in handling arms and in propagating the Maoist ideology, and was an active member of the CPI-Maoist. He had been on the run since 2012 and had cases registered against him in Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, including for criminal conspiracy against the Government with illegal weapons, among others.
Since March 6, 2000, search operations and combing raids have resulted in the arrest of 50 Maoists in the state, including the April 18, 2023 arrest (above). Prior to the April 18 incident, the last arrest was recorded on November 9, 2021, the Kerala Police's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested and took into custody, B.G. Krishnamurthy, a senior CPI-Maoist leader, who served as the 'secretary' of the ‘Western Ghats Special Zone Committee (WGSZC)’ and Savithri alias Rejitha, the 'commander' of the group's Kabani Dalam, in Sulthan Bathery, Wayanad District.
Since March 6, 2000, the state has recorded one incident of Maoist surrender. On October 25, 2021, senior CPI-Maoist leader P. Lijesh, the ‘deputy commander’ of the ‘Kabani Dalam’ of the WGSZC, who worked for the organization in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, turned himself in without arms in Wayanad District. Lijesh revealed that he surrendered because “he realized that there was no point in continuing with the organization and that many young people were being misled by it.”
Indeed, constant vigil and combing operations have successfully contained Maoist efforts to extend operations into territories in the state. The Maoist groups are suspected to be hiding along the forested Kerala-Karnataka borders.
Nevertheless, in their constant effort to secure a foothold in the state, the Maoists have registered their presence in residential areas and attempted to appeal to the people to join them. According to SATP, at least 11 incidents of recording a Maoist presence in residential areas have been noted in the state in 2023, so far (data till November 12, 2023). During the corresponding period in 2022, at least one such incident was reported. There was no such incident in the remaining period of 2022. Since March 6, 2000, a total of 50 such incidents have been documented in the State. The Maoists ask a family living in such areas to prepare food for them, to collect provisions and recharge their mobile phone batteries.
On March 6, 2023, a letter written on behalf of the CPI-Maoist’s Kotiyur unit, calling for farmers to pick up guns and fight against banks that are making farmers suffer by taking their farms away, was sent to the Collectorate, Press Club, and several banks in Wayanad District. The letter threatened to kill at least one bank official who was involved in seizing farmers’ properties and demanded a ‘fine’.
On March 15, 2023, a group of four armed Maoist cadres reached Arimala Colony in Tondarnad Panchayat (village level local self-government institution) in Wayanad District and distributed pamphlets, declaring that the appointment of the new beat forest officer should be canceled and a new notification should be issued. The pamphlets also stated that poor tribals should not be cheated and that people and tribals should fight against the fraud of the government and government officials.
Furthermore, on April 15, 2023, a five-member CPI-Maoist group, came to a house in the Vietnam colony of Aralam in Kannur. During their stay, the Maoists spoke about destroying the Barapol Mini Hydropower Project in the Ayyankunnu Panchayat. It is to be noted that Barapole is the most profitable of the mini hydro projects launched by the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited in the state and has a production capacity of 15 MW. The project was inaugurated on February 29, 2016
Meanwhile, on October 23, 2023, intelligence agencies submitted a report to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, which documented significant CPI-Maoist activity in Kerala. The Maoists reportedly operate in Wayanad and Kannur Districts, and the report noted that more than 50 Maoists were camping in the forest. Maoists, including those from Jharkhand, are reported to be holding training camps in the forest areas of Kerala. The intelligence report points out that when national and state leaders go to Wayanad and Kannur districts during electioneering for the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) elections in 2024, stronger security arrangements would be needed.
Another intelligence report on October 11, 2023, warned of a potential CPI-Maoist attack on eight Police Stations – Valayam, Kuttiadi, Thottilpalam, Peruvannamuzhi, Koorachundu, Thamarassery, Thiruvambady, and Kodenchery – in the Kozhikode District. These stations have been placed on high alert. This report came in the wake of the recent Maoist presence recorded in Wayanad, raising concerns of possible attacks in the hilly areas of Kozhikode.
According to a November 10, 2023, report, it is believed that Hanumanthu alias Ganesh Uike, associated with the Maoists’ ‘Dandakaranya Zonal Committee’, and a member of the CPI-Maoist ‘Central Committee’, had shifted his operational area to the Western Ghats after the arrest of Sanjay Deepak Rao, who was a member of the Maoist ‘Central Committee’ in Telangana. Intelligence agencies assert that Uike has been in charge of the WGSZC and had visited Kerala several times. Uike is said to be coordinating the Maoist activities in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are indications that he is the mastermind behind the Maoist actions recorded in the Kerala Forest area, including the one at Kambamala (September 28, 2023, above). According to reports, that Maoists are planning to strengthen their base in the Western Ghats and the recent actions and firings were part of that build-up. It is also believed that the firing on forest guards in the Aralam wildlife area was also a part of their plan to strengthen their presence.
Meanwhile, according to an October 27, 2023, report, as part of the investigation into the presence of Maoist cadres in the Attapadi Forest, the Police have resorted to helicopter surveillance at Mannarkkad in the Palakkad District. The investigation team carried out aerial surveillance over the Attapadi Forest area from Areek and monitored the forest border of Malappuram District, Silent Valley, Attapadi and Upper Bhavani Forests. It is to be noted that Maoists have been present in forests and population centers of Nilambur, Kannur and Wayanad.
The Kerala Police have also resorted to aerial patrolling as a strategic approach to monitor CPI-Maoist activities within the Kannavam-Kambamala-Brahmagiri Forest area in Wayanad District. This decision followed the sighting of Maoist cadres at a tea plantation at Kambamala in the Wayanad District. The district Police have been experimenting with drone-based surveillance and are now planning to incorporate helicopters into their efforts. Padam Singh, the Wayanad District Police Chief, noted that ground-level combing operations had failed to produce desired outcomes. Consequently, the State Police were contemplating a joint operation with law enforcement in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, to address growing security concerns.
On August 12, 2023, the Police registered a case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against an 11-member CPI-Maoist group (nine of the group members were identified by the Kerala Police’s anti-Maoist force, the Thunderbolts, while efforts to identify two others, including a woman, were intensified) that staged a demonstration with guns at Keezhpally Vietnam in the Aralam Panchayat of Kannur District. Maoists belonging to the Kabani Area Committee put up a poster demanding 'Aralam Farm for Adivasis'. The group reached the town in the evening of August 11 and spent half an hour there. They also forcibly bought materials from a shop belonging to Abdul Rahman. Significantly, the Police has registered at least four such cases in 2023.
The constant efforts of the Maoists to persuade the tribal communities to join them, highlighting various difficulties related to civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights, are evident on the increase in the number of cases recording a Maoist presence in residential areas. Despite SF consolidation in the state, the failure to address the grievances of the tribal communities creates opportunities for the Maoists to maintain a presence in the region.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia November 6-12, 2023
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
NS
Total
AFGHANISTAN
INDIA
Jammu and Kashmir
INDIA (Total)
PAKISTAN
Balochistan
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Sindh
PAKISTAN (Total)
Total (South Asia)
NIA announces bounty on 14 Maoists in Chhattisgarh: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), on November 8, released a list of 14 suspects wanted in the Tekulagudem Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) attack case, which had taken place in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh, where 22 Security Force personnel were killed in April 2021. The NIA has put up a reward ranging up to INR one million on the wanted Maoists while informing them that the identities of the informants will be kept secret. The Tribune, November 9, 2023.
KLO sets condition for peace talks: The Kamatapur Liberation Organisation-Koch Nationalism (KLO-KN) on November 6, demanded that all charges against the outfit's 'president' Jeevan Singha alias Jeevan Koch Timir Das and other cadres should be dropped, and they should be formally pardoned, if talks between the government and outfit have to continue. It also demanded that steps must be taken for the formation of a separate state of Kamatapur, carved out of portions of Assam and West Bengal. India Today, November 6, 2023.
SFJ declares US phase of 'Khalistan referendum' to begin on January 28, 2024, says report: During the 44th annual Sikh Parade in Yuba City of California state in the United States (US), Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) announced that the 'American Phase' of the 'Khalistan Referendum' shall begin on January 28, 2024. "The ongoing global Khalistan referendum is a remarkable journey of Sikh sovereigntists from avenging operation Blue Star by the killing of Indira Gandhi and General Vaidya to the liberation of Punjab from Indian occupation through ballots," said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Chief of SFJ. Yes Punjab, November 6, 2023.
2018 deal with TTP behind rise in terrorism, says Leader of the House in Senate PML-N leader Ishaq Dar: The Leader of the House in the Senate and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar blamed an understanding reached with Kabul in 2018 and the subsequent release of hardcore Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants for a surge in acts of terrorism in the country during the Senate's debate on acts of terrorism and the expulsion of illegal immigrants from Pakistan. Speaking in the Senate, he said the PML-N government, soon after coming into power, had taken concrete steps against the menace of terrorism, which bore fruit, but regretted that it reared its ugly head again after "a policy of U-turn" was adopted in 2018. Dawn, November 11, 2023.
Terror incidents increased since Afghan Interim Government came to power in 2021, says Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar: The caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar on November 8 said there has been an increase in terror incidents in Pakistan since the interim Afghan Government came to power in 2021, as he linked the ongoing deportation drive of illegal immigrants to counter-terrorism actions. Dawn, November 9, 2023.
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