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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 11, No. 42, April 22, 2013
Data and
assessments from SAIR can be freely published in any form
with credit to the South Asia Intelligence Review of the
South Asia Terrorism Portal
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From
Boston to Bengaluru
Ajai Sahni
Editor, SAIR; Executive Director, ICM & SATP
Two dramatic
terrorist attacks, one in Boston – during the iconic annual
Boston marathon – in the US, and the other in Bengaluru,
the capital city of Karnataka in India, have once again
provoked frantic assessments of a ‘resurgence’ of terrorism
and hand-wringing regarding the ‘failure’ of states to
contain or neutralize this threat. Such assessments are
misconceived for more than one reason. First, it must
be clear that the expectation that any kind of security
blanket can be a 100 per cent guarantee against any possibility
of terrorism is utterly wrong. Indeed, the idea that the
US has been ‘free of terrorism’ since 9/11 as a result
of dramatic institutional transformations and initiatives
by the Government, is factually utterly incorrect. The
Boston incident is not the first major terrorist incident
in the US since the catastrophic 2001 attacks – though
it has been by far the most dramatic. Unfortunately, in
India, this misconception has been embedded in the discourse
at the highest level, with top Government officials and
their cheerleaders in the media and ‘expert’ community,
particularly those arguing for the creation of the National
Counter-terrorism Centre (NCTC) in India, reinforcing
the erroneous perception that, once the NCTC was established
at Washington, the US ‘homeland’ has been secure.
The truth
is, the US homeland has not been entirely free of terrorist
successes since 2001. On July 28, 2006, for instance,
Naveed Afzal Haq opened indiscriminate fire at the Jewish
Federation of Greater Seattle, killing one and wounding
five. On February 12, 2007, Sulejman Talovic killed five
and wounded another five, at the Trolley Square Mall in
Salt Lake City, Utah. And on November 5, 2009, Nidal Malik
Hasan, a US Army major serving as a psychiatrist, killed
14 and injured 29, at the military establishment at Fort
Hood, Texas. Significantly, moreover, in at least three
cases, disaster has been averted, not by any preventive
initiatives on the part of US intelligence and enforcement
agencies, but by the sheer and spectacular incompetence
of terrorists: the December 2001 case of the “shoe bomber”,
Richard Reid; the December 2009 “underwear bomber”, Umar
Farouk Abdulmutallab; and the May 2010 “Times Square bombing”,
by Faisal Shahzad.
The counter-terrorism
discourse in India, at the highest levels of strategy
and policy, has largely chosen to ignore, or has been
ignorant of, these basic realities and has, in imagining
a ‘perfect’ American success after 9/11, invented a variety
of arguments that have, at least on occasion, bordered
on the idiotic, to justify a range of ‘magical’ solutions
which would help India make the problem of terrorism vanish
at a stroke. The Boston incident will, of course, irrevocably
puncture this make-believe.
Similarly,
raising an alarm about the ‘rising threat of terrorism’
in India in the wake of the latest attack in Bengaluru
is contra-factual. Unfortunately, this outcry is typical
in the wake of each major incident of terrorism in the
country, though both the media and the ‘experts’ are quickly
drawn back into habitual somnolence. The real threat of
terrorism can only be assessed in terms of trends, not
of random incidents, and the trends, across India, have
been broadly and dramatically
positive. It is not necessary to cover
the details again, but it is useful to note that according
to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, terrorism and
insurgency related fatalities in India have fallen from
a peak of 5,839 in 2001, to 803 in 2012. Within this broad
trend, the category that provokes the greatest hysteria,
attacks by Pakistan-backed Islamist terrorists across
India, has recorded a remarkable decline, with just one
incident in 2012 outside Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)
– a low intensity blast in Pune, with no fatalities. 2011
had registered three such attacks outside J&K, with
at least 41 killed. 2008, of course, saw such incidents
peaking, with seven attacks, and 364 fatalities, of which
195 (166 civilians, 20 SF personnel and nine terrorists)
were accounted for by the 26/11 Mumbai attacks alone.
Before the Bangalore blast, 2013 had already recorded
twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad, on February 21,
with 17 fatalities.
This does
not, however, mean that India’s vulnerabilities have declined.
This is a crucial distinction. While the visible threat
has diminished due to a range of extraneous
factors, the capabilities of the state
and its agencies – most significantly, intelligence and
enforcement – have, at best, augmented only marginally,
even as an astonishingly blind political executive seeks
to focus on theatrical initiatives that can have little
impact on real counter-terrorism
capacities and capabilities (The issue
of capabilities has been taken up repeatedly and does
not bear repetition here).
The real
lesson of the Boston and Bengaluru attacks is manifest
in the contrasting patterns of responses in the two locations.
It was not the NCTC or major Federal agencies that were
elbowing their way into the Boston CT responses. Manifestly
competent local agencies were firmly and visibly in charge,
though the FBI had been brought in to support these authorities,
as was the National Guard. Throughout the incident response
and the manhunt for the two perpetrators, however, it
was State Police representatives and the State Governor,
who spoke, circumspectly, with disclosures limited to
known facts. At no stage, before identities were actually
and unequivocally confirmed, was any speculation regarding
the perpetrators of the outrage at the Boston marathon
voiced by any person in authority. Even after the identities
of the Tsarnaev Brothers and their role in the bombings
had been demonstrably established, no speculation regarding
their motives and possible affiliations has been articulated
by any one in Government. Certainly, their linkages and
motives will be progressively exposed as investigations
proceed. But the perverse pandering to a hysterical media
and public, the immediate politicization of the issue,
and the graceless jockeying for prominence between local
and national agencies – characteristic of the Indian response
and immediately visible in the wake of the latest Bengaluru
blast – was conspicuous by its absence in Boston.
Equally
dramatic was the contrast in responses and visible capabilities.
The sheer quantum and quality of local Police and emergency
response capabilities, the discipline, the professionalism,
the training and equipment, visible in Boston can only
dishearten any Indian security professional, who simply
cannot imagine a comparable general force capability in
the foreseeable future.
Boston
has a Police-population ratio of 325 to 100,000. The ratio
is unexceptional, even by Indian standards for metropolitan
concentrations. According to National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB) data for 2011 (the last authoritative data available),
Delhi, for instance, has a Police-population ratio of
448, and policing in India’s capital is nothing short
of a scandal. Bengaluru’s Police-population ratio, however,
stands at a much lower 207 per 100,000 on sanctioned strength
(170 per 100,000 on actual current strength), according
to Police sources, and, while law and order in the city
are relatively better managed by the city’s Force than
by its counterpart in Delhi, the responses in the wake
of the explosion of April 17, 2013 – and in the immediate
aftermath of the terrorist attack at the Indian Institute
of Science in 2005, the serial blasts of 2008, and the
Chinnaswamy Stadium twin explosions of 2010 – have been
far from encouraging. It is significant, however, that
each of the three preceding attacks has resulted in prosecutions,
and the first of these has already ended with the conviction
of six conspirators.
The startling
difference is, of course, not in numbers, but in the character
of response, the systems that are pressed into service
at the first hint of a crisis, and, crucially, the cooperation,
discipline and respect elicited by the Forces from the
public as well. In a country where the registration of
a First Information Report (FIR) is, for a majority of
victims of crime, an insurmountable task, and where such
victims are more harassed and intimidated by the Police
than are the perpetrators of crimes, it is impossible
to imagine such efficiency or public confidence.
It is useful
to notice, further, that, while fragmenting terrorist
groups are now unable to mount attacks against hard, protected
targets – even in India, the last ‘hard target’ attack
was the assault on Parliament in 2001 – the susceptibility
to soft-target attacks persists, and cannot be ended as
long as terrorist groupings and extremist ideologies survive.
General policing and intelligence capabilities will be
crucial in meeting this challenge. It is crucial that,
while a handful of terrorist plots in USA have been brought
to fruition, more than 60 such conspiracies have been
detected and neutralized before they could get to the
stage of inflicting harm.
India,
of course, also has her
intelligence and policing
successes; but the threats the country
faces, and her peculiar vulnerabilities, are infinitely
greater. The current relief from the much higher intensities
of terrorism that India has experienced in the past, provide
an opportunity to create the necessary capacities and
capabilities to meet these threats and end these vulnerabilities.
This is an opportunity, however, that the political leadership
appears, unfortunately, to be frittering away.
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Talibanised
Surge
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On April
6, 2013, in the biggest-ever show of force by Islamists
in the country in recent times, hundreds of thousands
of members of the Chittagong-based radical Islamist group
Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI), organized a ‘Long March’ from Chittagong
to Dhaka, and held a massive rally in the Bangladesh capital.
Over two million people are estimated to have participated
in the rally. The HeI demanded enactment of blasphemy
laws by authorities to punish people who ‘insult Islam’.
In a written statement, HeI Ameer (Chief) Shah
Ahmad Shafi declared, “Our current movement is not political.
Government has to agree to our 13-point demand in order
to continue in office.” HeI gave the Government an April
30, 2013, deadline to meet its demands or face a ‘Dhaka
Siege’ programme from May 5, 2013.
Earlier,
on March 9, 2013, Shafi had put forward a 13-point
demand at the Olama-Mashayekh (Islamic Scholars)
Convention organized at the Darul Uloom Hathazari
Madrassah (Islamic Seminary) Convention Hall in
Chittagong District. On the same day, HeI’s “central joint
secretary general” Maulana Moinuddin Ruhi, gave the call
for the April 6 rally.
The Sheikh
Hasina-led Awami League (AL) Government initially attempted
to clamp down on the Long March, with Security Force (SFs)
arresting 30 HeI cadres from a bus in Palashbari area
of Gaibandha District on April 5, 2013, while they were
going towards Dhaka to join the rally. This, however,
led to a rise in tensions, culminating in large scale
violence. Notably, Junaed Babunagri, HeI ‘secretary general’,
addressing a Press Conference in Dhaka on April 5, 2013,
warned, “(the) Long March towards Dhaka will be spread
across the country if the Government resists the HeI cadres
on their way to Dhaka.” According to partial data compiled
by the Institute for Conflict Management, since
that incident, at least five AL activists have been killed
and 286 others have been injured across the country (all
data till April 21, 2013) in incidents involving HeI.
Some of the violent incidents include:
April 5:
HeI cadres killed AL activist Shahidul Islam (36) at Dhaka’s
Kamrangirchar.
April 6:
An AL activist identified as Nowsher Ali (25) was killed
by HeI cadres at Bhanga Chourasta in Bhanga sub-District
of Faridpur District.
April 11:
Three AL activists were killed as HeI and Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI) cadres clashed with AL men in Fatikchhari sub-District
of Chittagong District.
The HeI-provoked
violence and success of the rally forced the Government
to announce that it would “consider the demands” of the
fundamentalist formation, and emboldened Shafi, who, on
April 11, 2013, declared that the Islamists had united
under the HeI banner after a long time, and threatened
the AL regime, “If you want to stay in power, you will
have to meet our demands. Or else, there will be dire
consequences.”
Formed
some time in 2010 under Shafi’s leadership, the HeI only
came to prominence after it raised its 13-point demands
and subsequently provoked violence. Reports suggest that
some HeI leaders have close links with the Pakistani Army
as well as various Islamist terrorist and fundamentalist
organizations. HeI’s chief, Shafi, moreover, had allegedly
collaborated with the Pakistan Army during the 1971 Liberation
War. Maulana Habib ur Rahman, the principal organiser
of the April 6, 2013, Long March, was a leader of the
terrorist Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B)
and has links with international Islamist terrorist formations,
a fact he personally confirmed in an interview in a special
bulletin of Islami Biplob (Islamic Revolution),
published in Sylhet on August 20, 1998.
More worryingly,
HeI maintains close ties with the main opposition Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) as well as JeI, which, along
with its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS),
has brought the nation to a standstill since the beginning
of 2013, and many of whose top leaders are at the centre
of the War
Crimes Trials. South Asia Terrorism
Portal (SATP) data shows that Bangladesh has recorded
145 fatalities related to Islamist extremism since January
21, 2013, when the first
verdict in the War Crimes Trials was
delivered against JeI leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad alias
Bachchu Razakar. Razakar was sentenced to death.
Indeed,
State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam on April 5, 2013,
observed, “There are JeI-BNP men in HeI. They may unleash
terrorism and create anarchy under the guise of HeI.”
He warned, however, “No matter who you are, action will
be taken if you are used by JeI-BNP men in creating anarchy.”
Further, on April 11, Syed Ashraful Islam, AL General
Secretary and Local Government and Rural Development Minister,
while addressing a Roundtable Conference, stated, “The
April 6 grand rally was not HeI’s; BNP-JeI had organized
the programme under the banner of HeI, and had hoped that
the rally would have continued for four days, and that
the Government would have been forced to step down within
this period.”
On the
positive side, however, progressive and pro-Liberation
groups have come forward to protest against HeI’s ‘demands’.
The Bangladesh Islamic Front (BIF), a leading Islamic political
party which supported the Liberation War in 1971,
condemned HeI and its (BIF) secretary-general M. A. Momen,
noted, on April 5, 2013, “HeI has no Islamic ideology,
rather they are confusing the innocent Muslims.” Likewise,
Bangladesh Khedmot-e-Islam, another pro-Liberation religious
group, termed the followers of HeI ‘atheists’ and declared
that the ‘non-Muslims’ had called for the Long March.
Later,
on April 8, 2013, some 400 Dhaka University teachers demanded
punishment of HeI for its stand against the spirit of
the Liberation War and core ideals of the country. Urging
the Government not to give in to the radical Islamist
group, their statement read: “All 13-points of this organization’s
demand clash with the core principles and spirit of Bangladesh.
This is a blatant attempt to hinder the progress of Bangladesh.”
Similarly, leaders of Peshajibi Shomonnoy Parishad, a
body of professionals, addressing a Press meet at Dhaka
Reporters Unity on April 11, 2013, declared that HeI’s
13-point demand was against the progress of women and
the nation. They observed, moreover, that HeI cadres barred
women from entering its rally in Dhaka city and harassed
several female journalists performing their professional
duties, on April 6.
Bangladesh
is locked in a struggle between those who supported the
Liberation war, and those who collaborated with Pakistan
in the atrocities of 1971. The latter have sought to protect
themselves under the banner of radical Islam, and to manipulate
public sentiments, both to escape culpability for their
criminal past, and to dominate the fractious politics
of the country. This struggle has now come to a decisive
point, with many of the worst offenders now arraigned
before the War Crimes Tribunals, and three of them already
convicted. If this process continues unhindered, the very
existence of Pakistan-backed radical Islamist formations
in Bangladesh will come under threat. Unsurprisingly,
these groupings are fighting back with everything they
can harness. For the first time in recent history, however,
a popular resistance to these extremist creeds and the
violence and disruptions they are engineering, has taken
shape in the Shahbagh demonstration, which has continued,
uninterrupted, since February 5, 2013, in support of the
War Crimes Trials and the Government’s initiatives to
bring their perpetrators to justice. The Islamist extremist
parties appear willing to lead Bangladesh into anarchy
to push their agenda. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has
shown determination, on April 8, 2013, by firmly rejecting
the HeI’s demand for a new anti-blasphemy law. It remains
to be seen whether her determination will suffice to neutralize
the extremist surge and the Opposition’s mischief, as
elections approach.
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Assam:
Emerging Troubles in Goalpara
Giriraj Bhattacharjee
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
On March
31, 2013, Security Forces (SFs) killed a Garo National
Liberation Army (GNLA)
militant in an encounter near the Khashi Ghaghra area
under Krishnai Police Station in Goalpara District. Another
GNLA militant was injured in the incident. On the same
day, SFs recovered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED),
suspected to have been planted by National Democratic
Front of Bodoland (NDFB)
cadres, from a road that connects Kanyakuchi and Saljhar
Townships under the Rangjuli Police Station in the same
District.
Worryingly,
Goalpara recorded
22 insurgency-linked fatalities in 2012, including 17
extremists, four civilians and an SF trooper, as compared
to just four fatalities, all militants, in 2011. The highest
previous record of fatalities in the District was 14 in
2001, including eight SF personnel and six militants.
In fact, the District had recorded its last civilian fatality
on July 21, 2009, when United Liberation Front of Asom
(ULFA)
cadres shot dead a surrendered militant, Hazong Rabha,
and his wife Nalani Rabha, at their Nalanga Pahartoli
residence under Baguwan Police Station in Goalpara District.
He was engaged in coal trade since laying down arms. The
last SF fatality had taken place on July 30, 2010, when
at least five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers
were killed and 33 were injured in an ULFA-triggered IED
blast at Bhalukdubi.
The District
has recorded a total of 106 fatalities since 1998, including
17 civilians, 25 SF personnel and 64 militants, in 85
incidents of killing since 1998. 10 of these incidents
were ‘major’ (each involving three or more fatalities).
The last major incident occurred on July 13, 2012, when
SFs killed three suspected militants of the Ranjan Daimari
faction of NDFB (NDFB-RD) at Salpara village. The worst
ever attack targeting civilians took place on March 16,
2003, when six civilians were killed and 55 were injured
in an IED blast engineered by ULFA cadres, under a passenger
bus at Bamunghopha on National Highway (NH) 37.
Goalpara,
meanwhile, has emerged as the centre of an illegal weapons’
market, a fact borne out by the recovery of arms in the
District over the last three years. State Home Department
records indicate that Goalpara topped the chart in the
category of 'arms recovered from extremists' in Assam
in 2012. An official report stated, "Between January
and December 5 in 2012, the State Police recovered 118
weapons and 642 rounds of live ammunition from various
areas of Goalpara District. In 2011, the figure was 97
and 63 respectively; while, in 2010, 50 arms and 303 ammunition
rounds were recovered from the District... Across the
State, a total 418 weapons and 9,257 rounds of ammunitions
were recovered in 2012."
Clearly,
extremist activities have increased considerably in Goalpara.
The District borders the troubled Garo Hills in the neighbouring
State of Meghalaya, which shares a 443 kilometre international
border with Bangladesh – the longest after Tripura amongst
North-eastern States. Despite dramatic initiatives by
Bangladesh
to expel Indian insurgent groupings from its soil, several
Northeastern extremist formations continue to maintain
a residual presence in that country, and cross the border
to execute terrorist attacks and abductions, or to ferry
arms, ammunition and contraband. In fact, the District
has, since long, been an extremist
hub.
The increase
in the number of fatalities in 2012 reflects the growing
nexus between the Meghalaya-centric GNLA and the Assam-oriented
Anti Talks Faction of ULFA (ULFA-ATF). These two groups
have established joint training facilities in the Durama
Hill Range of the Garo Hills. Paresh Baruah's close aide,
Drishti Rajkhowa alias Manoj Rabha, is ULFA-ATF’s
chief coordinator with GNLA. Rajkhowa also stays in close
contact with GNLA ‘commander-in-chief’, Sohan D Shira.
Speaking on the ULFA-ATF-GNLA arrangement, then Senior
Superintendent of Police (Guwahati City), Apurba Jibon
Baruah noted, “According to the pact, ULFA-ATF will not
harm the Garo people living on the Assam side, while a
group of 30-40 ULFA cadres are taking shelter in GNLA
camps in the West Garo Hills District.” An unnamed senior
official in the Assam Police (Operations wing) thus noted,
on January 21, 2013, “Every year, we are recovering an
increasing number of weapons from cadres of the GNLA and
the ULFA hardliner’s faction [ULFA-ATF]. The GNLA is procuring
weapons in huge numbers from Myanmar. A team of ULFA hardliners
[ULFA-ATF] led by Drishti Rajkhowa is procuring the arms
in turn from the GNLA.” This arrangement has become crucial
for ULFA-ATF, as most of the undivided ULFA’s armed faction
leaders have joined the rival Pro-Talks faction (ULFA-PTF)
following the formal split of ULFA in February 2011. Moreover,
a presence in the Garo Hills areas of neighbouring Meghalaya
provides the ULFA-ATF with an escape route to Bangladesh.
The Rabha
National Liberation Front (RNLF), earlier known as Rabha
Viper Army (RVA), is another militant formation with a
significant presence in the Goalpara District. Sustained
SF action, however, has led to the depletion of RNLF cadres.
According to the SATP database, at least 31 RNLF militants
have been arrested since 2009. A weakened RNLF is trying
to regain its influence in the area. Inspector General
of Police (IGP) Law and Order, L.R Bishnoi on April 3,
2013, noted, “We have information that following Panchayat
(local level self-Government institution) elections in
Goalpara, the Rabha National Liberation Force is again
trying to gain strength by purchasing arms and ammunition.
The outfit, which is mostly active in the District [Goalpara],
had received a blow when eight of its cadres were killed
in encounters during the past seven-eight months. Another
five cadres had surrendered. Drishti Rajkhowa of ULFA
had asked a leader of the outfit, Deepak Rabha, to regroup
and promised them support in this regard.”
The Panchayat
polls conducted in the District on February 12, 2013,
led to large scale violence. On that day, during the third
and final phase of Panchayat elections in Assam,
at least 20 persons were killed in Rabha Hasong Autonomous
Council (RHAC) areas in Goalpara District. While 13 people
died as a result of Police firing, when violent mobs of
Rabhas attacked polling centres and polling teams in RHAC
areas, another seven were killed in clashes between Rabha
and non-Rabha groups. The Rabha groups were demanding
RHAC polls before the Panchayat Polls. Clashes
between Garos and Bengali-speaking Muslims, on the one
hand, and Rabhas, on the other, had taken place in 2010-2011
as well. The Rabhas, who constitute just over a fifth
of the population in Goalpara, where almost 60 per cent
of the population is Muslim, are up against the combined
strength of the Garos and Muslims, who have allied against
them.
Adding
to its woes, the District is also the target of mischief
engineered by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
A media report on April 1, 2013, underlined Assam’s vulnerability
to the ISI's demographic invasion, arguing that the Agency’s
“current game plan” was the “construction of communalism”
in the Northeast, through “engineered and targeted migrations”,
especially in Goalpara and Dhubri – the “gateway Districts”
of the region.
Significantly,
Goalpara District is one of six Assam Districts which
has become Muslim majority in the past three
decades. The District’s strategic
location, combined with its use for illegal arms traffic
and the diverse mix of ethnic groups, makes it extraordinarily
susceptible to present and future troubles. Extraordinary
vigilance will, consequently, be necessary to ensure that
incipient threats do not find spaces to evolve into renewed
sources of major instability in a region that has already
suffered for far too long.
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Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
April 15-21,
2013
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
5
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Manipur
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
1
|
1
|
9
|
11
|
Total (INDIA)
|
4
|
3
|
12
|
19
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
9
|
0
|
0
|
9
|
FATA
|
14
|
15
|
41
|
70
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
22
|
0
|
2
|
24
|
Sindh
|
20
|
2
|
0
|
22
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
10
Maoists
killed
in
an
encounter
in
Sukma
District
in
Chhattisgarh:
10
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
cadres
were
killed
in
an
encounter
with
Security
Forces
(SFs)
in
the
forest
area
of
Puarti
village
in
Sukma
District
on
April
16.
SFs
recovered
dead
bodies
of
nine
out
of
10
cadres
killed.
Seven
of
the
10
killed
were
identified
as
members
of
the
North
Telangana
Special
Zonal
Committee
(NTSZC).
New
Indian
Express;
The
Hindu;
Daily
Pioneer,
April
16-17,
2013.
17
people
injured
in
blast
in
Bangalore:
17
people,
including
11
Policemen,
were
injured
in
a
bomb
blast
barely
50
metres
from
the
Bhartiya
Janata
Party
(BJP)
party
office
in
Bangalore
(Karnataka)
on
April
17.
Union
Ministry
of
Home
Affairs
(MHA)
called
the
blast
"a
terrorist
attack".
Indian
Express;
Hindustan
Times,
April
17-18,
2013.
IM
operative
Mirza
Himayat
Inayat
Baig
awarded
death
sentence
in
German
bakery
blast
case:
A
Pune
court,
on
April
18,
awarded
death
penalty
to
Indian
Mujahideen
(IM)
operative
Mirza
Himayat
Inayat
Baig
in
the
German
Bakery
blast
case
of
February
13,
2010,
which
killed
17
and
wounded
64.
Inayat
Baig,
the
lone
arrested
accused
in
the
German
Bakery
blast
was
convicted
by
a
sessions
court
in
Pune
on
April
15,
for
criminal
conspiracy,
murder
and
other
charges.
Indian
Express;
Times
of
India,
April
16-19,
2013.
Jharkhand
records
highest
Naxal
violence
in
2013,
says
MHA
report:
According
to
the
latest
statistics
prepared
by
the
Union
Ministry
of
Home
Affairs
(MHA)
on
Naxal
[Left
Wing
Extremism
(LWE)]
violence,
Jharkhand
not
only
fared
as
the
State
with
the
highest
incidence
of
Naxal
violence
in
the
first
quarter
of
this
year
(2013),
but
it
also
further
consolidated
its
lead
over
Chhattisgarh
with
twice
the
incidents
and
thrice
the
deaths
reported
by
the
latter.
The
report
said
that
Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh
and
Bihar
together
account
for
over
80
percent
of
the
violence
across
the
country.
Times
of
India,
April
20,
2013.
FICN
worth
INR
590
million
seized
during
2012,
says
report:
Fake
Indian
Currency
Notes
(FICN)
totaling
INR
590
million
was
seized
during
2012,
according
to
latest
figures
released
by
enforcement
agencies
and
banking
channels.
FICN
worth
INR
26
million
was
seized
in
2011.
Hindustan
Times,
April
19,
2013.
Pakistan
training
women
for
fidayeen
attacks,
says
Maharashtra
Home
Minister,
R.
R.
Patil:
Maharashtra
Government
on
April
15
said
Pakistan-based
terrorists
were
training
women
as
fidayeen
(suicide)
attackers,
possibly
to
strike
important
cities
including
Mumbai
and
Pune
(both
in
Maharashtra).
Maharashtra
Home
Minister
R.
R.
Patil
said
this
in
a
written
reply
in
the
State
Assembly.'
Times
of
India,
April
16,
2013.
Balwant
Singh
Rajoana's
sister
got
INR
22
million
for
reviving
terrorism
in
Punjab,
reveals
NIA
note:
A
note
from
the
National
Investigation
Agency
(NIA)
revealed
that
two
operatives
of
Babbar
Khalsa
International
(BKI)
had
transferred
money
amounting
to
INR
22
million
to
the
kin
of
Balwant
Singh
Rajoana
for
"revival
of
terrorism
in
Punjab".
The
note
also
mentions,
"There
are
inputs
that
the
Pakistan-based
BKI
leaders
like
Wadhawa
Singh
and
Jagtar
Singh
Tara...
are
trying
to
revive
terrorism
in
Punjab
and
wage
war
against
the
government
of
India".
Times
of
India,
April
16,
2013.
CPI-Maoist
planning
to
strengthen
base
in
Northeast,
says
report:
The
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
is
planning
to
strengthen
base
in
Northeast.
A
six
page
letter
sent
to
13
States,
by
the
Union
Ministry
of
Home
Affairs
(MHA)
on
CPI-M
efforts
to
expand
to
new
areas,
said
that
the
Maoists
have
planned
to
strengthen
their
Eastern
Regional
Bureau
which
was
guiding
the
movement
in
all
the
states
of
the
eastern
region.
"The
North-East
is
another
region
where
the
CPI
(Maoist)
is
trying
to
spread
its
wings
…
with
the
objectives
that
include
strengthening
the
outfit's
Eastern
Regional
Bureau,
procurement
of
arms/ammunition/communication
equipment,"
the
six-page
letter
said.
Shilong
Times,
April
18,
2013.
500
CMAS
activists
surrender
in
Odisha:
Five
hundred
tribals
belonging
to
Chasi
Muliya
Adivasi
Sangh
(CMAS),
a
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
backed
tribal
organisation
in
Narayanpatna
block
of
Koraput
District,
on
April
17
deserted
the
organisation
and
openly
supported
the
Police.
Villagers
of
Kanchanpadu,
Kumbhari,
Rangumguda
and
Siriguda
of
Kumbhari
panchayat
(village
level
local
self-Government
institution)
announced
their
decision
to
snap
ties
with
the
CMAS
and
expressed
desire
to
return
to
the
mainstream
before
the
security
personnel
belonging
to
Border
Security
Force
(BSF)
and
State
Police
at
Kumbhari.
Around
1,800
CMAS
activists
have
deserted
the
CMAS
since
January
2013
opposing
its
violent
activities.
Zee
News,
April
18,
2013.
NEPAL
Four
major
political
parties
agreed
in
principle
to
hold
fresh
CA
elections
in
mid-November:
Four
major
political
parties
on
April
15
agreed
in
principle
to
hold
fresh
Constituent
Assembly
(CA)
elections
in
mid-November
citing
the
time
constraint,
the
delay
in
clearing
legal
hurdles
and
differences
on
some
provisions
of
electoral
laws.
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Unified
Marxist
Leninist
(CPN-UML)
Vice-chairman
Bamdev
Gautam
said,
"Polls
are
not
possible
in
June
as
we
planned
so
the
vote
date
will
be
announced
for
November
15-21."
ekantipur,
April
16,
2013.
Government
decides
to
implement
Citizenship
Distribution
Directive:
The
Government
on
April
18
decided
to
implement
Citizenship
Distribution
Directive-2070
to
ease
the
distribution
of
citizenship
keeping
in
mind
the
proposed
Constituent
Assembly
(CA)
elections.
A
Cabinet
meeting
made
a
decision
to
that
effect.
ekantipur,
April
19,
2013.
PAKISTAN
41
militants
and
15
SFs
among
70
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
FATA:
A
roadside
bomb
targeting
a
military
convoy
on
April
21
killed
four
Army
soldiers
and
injured
four
more
in
Mir
Ali
town
of
North
Waziristan
Agency
(NWA)
in
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
on
April
21.
A
female
suicide
bomber
blew
herself
up
outside
a
hospital
in
Khar,
the
main
town
of
Bajaur
Agency,
and
killed
at
least
four
persons
and
injured
four
others
on
April
20.
At
least
five
militants
were
killed
in
retaliatory
action
by
Security
Forces
(SFs)
when
militants
try
to
ambush
security
personnel
in
the
Dabori
area
of
Orakzai
Agency
on
April
19.
In
addition,
at
least
four
persons
were
killed
and
eight
others
injured
in
a
rocket
attack
on
an
election
rally
in
Wana
town
of
South
Waziristan
Agency
(SWA).
At
least
nine
militants,
including
five
foreigners,
were
killed
in
a
US
drone
attack
in
Bobar
Samal
area
of
SWA
on
April
17.
At
least
11
militants
and
a
soldier
were
killed
in
clashes
at
Kago
Kamar
locality
of
Dabori
area
in
Orakzai
Agency
on
April
16.
Also,
at
least
nine
soldiers
were
killed
and
eight
others
injured
in
a
suicide
attack
on
a
military
vehicle
and
nearby
roadside
checkpoint
in
the
Saidgai
area
of
NWA.
At
least
nine
militants
and
a
soldier
were
killed
in
a
clash
between
the
SFs
and
militants
in
Dabori
area
of
Orakzai
Agency
on
April
15.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia
Online;
The
Nation;
The
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
April
16-22,
2013.
16
persons
killed
in
suicide
attack
in
Peshawar:
16
persons
were
killed
and
more
than
35
injured
when
a
suicide
bomber
targeted
the
senior
Awami
National
Party
(ANP)
leader
Ghulam
Ahmad
Bilour
and
his
nephew
Haroon
Bilour
in
Mundabheri
area
of
Yakatut
in
Peshawar
(Peshawar
District),
the
provincial
capital
of
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa,
in
the
evening
of
April
16.
While
Ghulam
Ahmad
Bilour,
contesting
from
the
NA-1,
Peshawar,
received
minor
injuries,
Haroon
Bilour,
contesting
from
the
PK-3,
escaped
unhurt.
The
News,
April
17,
2013.
Terror
safe
havens
in
Pakistan
threat
to
Afghan
peace,
says
US
General:
The
safe
havens
to
terrorists
in
Pakistan
pose
a
great
challenge
to
peace
and
stability
in
Afghanistan,
even
as
Afghanistan
National
Security
Force
(ANSF)
has
been
making
significant
progress
in
war
against
terrorism,
US
General
Joseph
Dunford,
the
commander
of
US
and
NATO
forces
in
Afghanistan,
said
on
April
16.
"Safe
havens
in
Afghanistan
and
sanctuaries
in
Pakistan
continue
to
provide
Taliban
senior
leadership
some
freedom
of
movement
and
freedom
of
action,
facilitating
the
training
of
fighters,
and
the
planning
of
operations,"
the
General
said.
Times
of
India,
April
17,
2013.
Former
President
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf
is
out
of
the
electoral
race:
An
election
tribunal
on
April
16
rejected
the
nomination
papers
of
Former
President
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf
from
the
only
constituency
where
his
eligibility
to
contest
May
11
polls
was
accepted
earlier.
Musharraf
has
already
been
disqualified
from
three
other
constituencies
from
where
he
had
filed
nomination
papers.
Musharraf's
nomination
papers
were
rejected
following
objections
that
he
had
subverted
the
Constitution
by
imposing
emergency
as
Army
Chief
and
had
illegally
placed
judges
under
house
arrest.
Times
of
India,
April
17,
2013.
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.
SAIR is a project
of the Institute
for Conflict Management
and the
South
Asia Terrorism Portal.
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