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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 12, No. 37, March 18, 2014
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
|
Maoists:
Surviving Adversity
Ajai Sahni
Editor, SAIR; Executive Director, ICM
& SATP
In a searing
self-assessment, the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist
Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist),
at its 4th Meet, some time in April-May 2013, conceded,
"the condition of our countrywide movement is critical".
And further,
In
DK (Dandakaranya) mass base decreased in considerable
area, the intensity and expanse of the resistance
of the PLGA (People's Liberation Guerrilla Army)
and people decreased; non-proletarian trends increased
in party and the PLGA, recruitment decreased; number
of people leaving the party and the PLGA increased...
the movement in NT (North Telangana) and AOB (Andhra
Odisha Border) is in ebb. We are striving hard for
their revival. Gondia division is continuing in
a weak condition since a long period of time. Due
to series of arrests in the past few years the Maharashtra
movement is facing setback.
Though
the Mainpur division movement in the COB (Chhattisgarh
Odisha Border) area has weakened, in the rest of
the area the movement is gradually getting established
among the people and expanding. Due to betrayal
of (Sabyasachi) Panda and enemy onslaught the Odisha
movement weakened a lot. Due to heavy losses to
the leadership and subjective forces and due to
decrease in mass base the BJ (Bihar Jharkhand) movement
suffered setback at present. Due to Comrade Kishenji's
martyrdom and martyrdom and arrests of state and
district leadership comrade and dent in the deluge
of Lalgarh movement the Paschim Bang (West Bengal)
movement suffered a setback... ..
(Due
to) the martyrdom of four comrades including the
secretary of the State Leading Committee in a fake
encounter and arrests of other comrades... the Asom
(Assam) state movement that was gradually developing
weakened. In North Region we lost subjective forces
at various levels along with party's central and
state level leadership... As a result the North
Regional Bureau was completely damaged...
|
Further,
Between
2009 and 2012 the enemy damaged our central weapon
manufacturing and supply departments; the political
and military people's intelligence departments,
the central magazine department, central SUCOMO
(Sub Committee on Mass Organisations) and the international
department.
|
No official
or outside assessment has been quite as devastating as
the 4th CC's resolutions, reiterated thereafter in the
Revolutionary
Greetings for the 9th Anniversary
of the party (September 21-27, 2013). Unsurprisingly,
given the acknowledged weakening of the party, fatalities
linked to Maoist violence across the country have remained
relatively low, at 421 in 2013 [including 159 civilians,
111 Security Force (SF) personnel and 151 insurgents],
less than 36 per cent of the peak fatalities in 2010,
at 1,180 (626 civilians, 277 SF personnel and 277 Maoists),
according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP)
database. The 2013 figure, however, represents a significant
escalation, after three years of continuous
decline, from 367 fatalities in 2012
[146 civilians; 104 SF personnel; 117 Maoists]. Initial
data for 2014 suggests a continuation of this escalating
trend, with 81 already killed by March 17. Union Ministry
of Home Affairs (UMHA) data, however, indicates a continuance
of the declining trend through 2012-2013, with 394 fatalities
recorded in 2013, as against 415 in 2012, 611 in 2011
and 1,005 in 2010.
In a frustratingly
familiar pattern, 16 persons – 11 Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF) personnel, four Chhattisgarh Policemen and
one civilian, were killed on March 11, 2014, when CPI-Maoist
cadre and militia ambushed a road opening party at Tahakwada
on National Highway 30 near Tongpal in Sukma District.
The incident occurred just eight kilometres away from
Jeeram Ghati, where Maoists had massacred 31 people, including
the top State leadership of the Congress Party, on May
25, 2013. The incident demonstrated,
once again, the Maoist capacities to deliver lethal strikes
against SFs, despite the reverses they have suffered,
even as they exposed the persisting weaknesses of State
response.
Crucially,
in the immediate aftermath of the Tahakwada attack, the
CRPF Inspector General (IG) in Chhattisgarh, H.S. Siddhu,
blamed the State Police leadership for blocking a 'massive
operation' across Maoist 'base zones' in Bastar, which,
he asserted, could have prevented the March 11 attack.
Siddhu told the media, "The plan was to mobilize
forces and undertake effective operations in all the base
areas of the Maoists before the beginning of the Tactical
Counter Offensive in March. The CRPF saw it as a window
of opportunity to destabilise the Maoists and damage their
military capacity before the Lok Sabha (Lower House of
Parliament) elections." The requisite force of 3,000
CRPF personnel had assembled at Jagdalpur and was on its
way to Bijapur, from where operations were to commence,
when permission was denied by the State Police. The last
leg of the proposed operations was intended to target
the Darbha and Tongpal zones, around March 10, and, Sidhu
points out, "the massive entry of Forces would have
sanitized the entire area and the recent incident would
have been averted." The denial of permission by the
State Police appears to have been based on the assessment
of the Bijapur Superintendent of Police, Prashant Aggarwal,
who cautioned against 'military adventurism', arguing
that he did not have sufficient Forces to lend for the
operation (the CRPF is required to be accompanied by contingents
of State Police), and that the CRPF's proposals "were
risky" as "the area being addressed is one of
the highly affected." Senior Chhattisgarh Police
leaders subsequently criticized Sidhu for "raising
confidential issues of national security through media".
The merits
or otherwise of the CRPF proposal notwithstanding, the
spat exposed the continuing discordance between Central
and State Forces on issues of strategic and tactical response
to the Maoist challenge. The incoherence, indeed, pointlessness
of political reactions in the wake of the incident gives
little further grounds for confidence, with the Union
Minister for Home Affairs, Sushil Kumar Shinde, issuing
a gratuitous threat, "We will definitely take revenge",
and ordering an investigation by the National Investigation
Agency (NIA) into the attack. This, it seems, has become
a UMHA ritual for major incidents now, ignoring the rather
discouraging fact that there is still no word on the progress
in the investigation by NIA into the earlier Darbha Valley
incident of May 2013. The principal function of the NIA,
it would appear, is now to give politicians the cover
of an illusion of response, in the absence of any real
effort to address the challenge of the Maoist insurgency.
Chhattisgarh
State Chief Minister Raman Singh added to the vapidity
of these responses, declaring grandly that there would
be "no let up on anti-Naxalite operations".
The fact that his own Police leadership was complaining,
at precisely the same time, of a lack of sufficient Forces
in the core areas of response, appears to have no bearing
on this expression of 'determination', or on the Chief
Minister's assessment of existing operational capabilities
of the State Police. Worse, recent cases of visible
political collusion with Maoist facilitators
in Raipur and Kanker have provoked neither comment from
the Chief Minister, not effective response against political
leaders of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
and the principal opposition Congress Party in the State,
months after the arrest of eight conspirators, who were
running an urban network for the Maoists. The 'kingpin'
of this operation, Dharmendra Chopra, was arrested while
fleeing in a car belonging to Sohan Potai, the BJP Member
of Parliament from Kanker. In his interrogation, Chopra
disclosed that he was knowingly supported in his activities
by Potai, as well as by BJP Member of the Legislative
Assembly (MLA) Vikram Usendi, and Congress MLA Mohan Mandavi.
Chhattisgarh
is not alone in the confusion of its perspectives and
responses. At a time of considerable weakening of the
Maoist operational capabilities across the principal theatres
of their activity, almost all the worst afflicted States
continue to display a comparable lack of focus, with the
notable exception of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West
Bengal. There have, of course, been dramatic gains in
Odisha as well, but these are the consequence, principally,
of the disintegration of the Party structure in the State
after CPI-Maoist 'State secretary' Sabyasachi Panda's
defection in August 2012. The cumulative impact, however,
is a significant reduction in Districts affected by Maoist
activities and violence, from a total of 223 in 2008,
down to 182
in 2013, including 76 Districts recording violence
during the year, and another 106 in which Maoists retained
some influence, according to official sources. Significantly,
UMHA had indicated a decline to 173 Maoist affected Districts
[87 recording violence, and 86, other activities], in
June 2012.
The Maoists
have pinned some hopes for a revival in the Telangana
region of Andhra Pradesh, where they had spearheaded the
movement for the formation of a separate State, with the
legislative separation of the Telangana and Seemandhra
regions receiving Presidential assent on March 1, 2014.
The 4th CC Meet Resolutions thus observed, "In Telangana
the movement for Separate Telangana is developing in militant
forms. Revolutionary political and propaganda agitations
are ongoing widely in AP, NT and AOB. People are getting
consolidated through various people's movements."
Maoist optimism on Telangana, however, is likely to be
belied by future events. Even if a politically sympathetic
regime is installed after the formation of the new State
in June 2014, sheer administrative imperatives will eventually
make it necessary for the Government to eventually restore
anti-Maoist operations in the region - a pattern that
has been repeated on several occasions in the past. Moreover,
the social, economic and administrative conditions in
the Telangana region, graphically documented in the CPI-Maoist's
Social
Investigation of North Telangana: Case Study of Warangal,
have rendered the region and population substantially
unreceptive, if not actively hostile, to the Maoists'
revolutionary creed. Moreover, with the capital city,
Hyderabad, going to the new Telangana State, the administrative
and security leadership, as well as the resource and infrastructure
profile, are unlikely to suffer the kind of haemorrhaging
that afflicted new States such as Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand
after their formation in 2000.
Among the
various responses to their current crises, the Maoists
have emphasised that their efforts must be focused to
"preserve the subjective forces (from CC up to party
cell) from enemy onslaught" and "particularly
priority should be given to preservation of top level
leadership forces". After sustained leadership
losses since 2007, the Maoists appear
to have taken some effective measures to contain this
trend. Only one Central Committee member from Assam was
arrested in 2013, while Maoist fatalities through the
year included no leader above the level of State committee
members. However, in a major shock to the system, the
high profile spokesperson of the Dandakaranya Special
Zonal Committee (DKSZC), G V K Prasad alias Gudsa
Usendi, surrendered to SFs on January 8, 2014.
The Maoists
have also resolved to "fight back the enemy onslaught
on strategic area and guerilla bases. As part of this
people and the People’s Militia should be rallied on a
vast scale and mine warfare should be intensified."
The efficient harnessing of diminished resources, and
concentrated attacks on the weakest links of the state
Forces are integral to this effort, and at least some
successes have been notched up by the Maoists. For instance,
nearly 70 percent [78 out of 111] of SF personnel killed
in Maoist attacks in 2013, have been killed in major
incidents (each resulting in three
or more fatalities); the proportion of SFs killed in major
incidents was just around 50 per cent [53 out of 104]
in 2012, indicating a sharp increase in lethality, despite
the declining frequency of attacks. The most notable single
strike was the killing of Mahendra Karma, the controversial
leader of the Salwa Judum, former Union Minister
V.C. Shukla and Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committe
president Nandkumar Patel and his son in the Darbha Valley
ambush, in which a total of 27 persons were massacred
on May 25, 2013.
The Maoists
have also fully exploited the overwhelming posture of
passive defence adopted by state Forces, particularly
State Police formations, in the affected States. Partial
data compiled by SATP indicates that, of total of 76 armed
confrontation between the Police and Maoist cadres resulting
in fatalities in 2013, 49 were initiated by the Maoists,
and 27 by the SFs. Of these, 28 were major incidents,
among which 16 were initiated by the Maoists and 12 by
the SFs.
In another
element of their tactical response to the crisis within
the movement, the Maoists have enormously escalated their
campaigns against alleged 'police informers', and civilians
seen to be sympathetic to the state or to 'enemy classes'.
UMHA data, for instance, indicates that 465 alleged "police
informers" were killed by the Maoists between 2011
and 2013, accounting for over 44 per cent of the 1,049
civilian fatalities over this period. Such killings are
ordinarily executed with a high measure of demonstrative
cruelty on the principle, "kill one, frighten ten
thousand".
The Maoists
have devised a 15
point two year plan for the revival
of their 'countrywide movement'. The losses they have
suffered over the past years have tempered the euphoria
and adventurist expansionism that followed the unification
of the People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre,
and the formation of the CPI-Maoist, in September 2004.
Despite defections, losses and a visible degree of demoralization,
however, the core leadership remains committed to its
radical project of revolutionary violence, and its conviction
that the present reverses are only part of the inevitable
cycle of 'advancing and retreating' that is the essence
of the 'revolution'.
Past experience
has, moreover, demonstrated repeatedly that the insurgents'
capacity for recovery is overwhelmingly a function of
the quality, character and persistence of state responses,
rather than of revolutionary intent. It is here that India's
greatest vulnerabilities lie: in the inability of the
political executive and bureaucracy to create the necessary
capacities to confront this challenge on any of its component
dimensions, despite the unending deluge of rhetoric on
'holistic' and 'multi-pronged' solutions. Indeed, the
'battalion approach' - the mechanical shuffling about
of troops - and fitful operations to secure transient
'area domination', remain the core of the state's 'strategy'.
This is despite the recurring failure of this expedient,
and the repeated loss of life among troops flung far and
wide in grossly insufficient numbers, often with little
training, poor technical and technological support, and
little chance of quick reinforcement in case of ambush.
The Maoists
have displayed tremendous capacities for resurgence in
the past, and surviving is, for any insurgent formation,
the essence of winning. For all their reverses, the Maoists
have survived, and continue to hope for a future victory.
|
Mizoram:
Continuing Irritants
Veronica Khangchian
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
A
20-year insurgency, in what was then the Lushai
Hills District of Assam (after 1972, the Union Territory
of Mizoram) came to an end on June 30, 1986, with
the signing of an accord between the rebel Mizo
National Front (MNF) and the Government of India
(GoI). The accord resulted in the creation of Mizoram
as a State in February 1987. The end of the insurgency,
however, only solved the 'Mizo' (Lushai speaking
people's) issues, leaving out the State's minority
tribes, such as the Hmars and the Brus. Nagging
issues continue to feed cycles of low grade strife,
and the 'silent' activities of the Hmar under the
Hmar People's Convention-Democracy (HPC-D), and
the issue of Bru (Reang) refugees, remain unresolved,
more than two-and-a-half decades after peace was
restored to the State.
|
On February
9, 2014, the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum
(MBDPF) declared that repatriation of refugees from Tripura
to Mizoram would not be possible as long as three basic
demands were not fulfilled: financial assistance to each
family should be enhanced from INR 90,000 to INR 150,000;
free ration for two years; and allotment of land under
the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
Following
the Assembly elections of November 2013, the new Government
of Mizoram had initiated steps to resume repatriation
of Bru refugees sheltered in six relief camps in North
Tripura’s Kanchanpur Subdivision. A. Sawibunga, President
of MBDPF, stated, on February 9, 2014, “We heard that
the Mizoram Government is on the move to resume repatriation
of Reang refugees without considering our basic demands.
We are ready to resettle in Mizoram but provided the Government
takes steps to address our basic needs or requirement.”
Arguing that repatriation of Bru refugees is not the only
solution to the problem, A. Sawibunga added that the Government
must pay heed to the ‘social demands’ of the Bru people,
and that, “Return of displaced Bru people could take place
any time after addressing genuine grievances of Bru people.”
Congress
leader Lal Thanhawla, at his swearing-in ceremony as the
Chief Minister of Mizoram for the second consecutive term,
on December 14, 2013, declared that the future of Brus
lodged in six relief camps in Tripura would be taken up
by his Government, and that the new Government would try
its best to end the problem. He, however, asserted that
the Government would take steps to delete the names of
those who refused to be repatriated.
This declaration
came even before the dust had settled, after scores of
Brus fled Mizoram following the abduction
of three people [two Mizos and Deep Mondal, an official
of a Delhi-based telecom company and resident of Kolkata
(West Bengal)] by Tripura-based National Liberation Front
of Tripura (NLFT)
and Bru Democratic Front of Mizoram (BDFM) militants from
Damparengpui village near the Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mamit
District of Mizoram on November 23, 2013. On December
6, Mizoram Police officials stated that an NLFT cadre,
who abducted the trio, had demanded a ransom of INR 50
million for Mondal's release. A senior Police official
indicated that the ransom demand was made directly to
the telecom company. The abductors had not demanded any
ransom for the two abducted Mizos. On January 19, 2014,
over 2,423 Bru, including women and children fled
from Mizoram, and sheltered in Tripura, after Mizo Zirlai
Pawl (MZP, Mizo Students’ Federation), a powerful students'
union, reportedly began a mass voluntary search operation,
on January 14, 2014, to find the abducted men. "Over
2,423 men, women and children comprising 368 families
late January 19 evening took shelter in four villages
in Tripura," a Tripura relief department official
disclosed. The Brus from at least three villages - Damdiai,
Tumpanglui and New Eden - in Mamit District, fled to Tripura
or had taken refuge in nearby villages, fearing a repeat
of the 1997-Bru-Mizo
ethnic violence. On January 16, 2014,
MBDPF President Saibunga alleged that a group of Mizo
youth had perpetrated violence against Brus living in
the three villages on January 13, and accused the latter
of maintaining clandestine relations with banned militant
outfits. Saibunga alleged, "They beat up the Brus
and set at least 13 house on fire, forcing the Bru families
to flee the place and take shelter in camps in Tripura."
On January
21, 2014, the two Mizos were released by their abductors,
after spending nearly two months in captivity in the jungles
of eastern Bangladesh. Despite subsequent warnings, Mondal
is still held captive. On January 23, the Young Mizo Association
(YMA) had warned that Mizo people would launch a mass
search operation, if Deep Mondal, was not released during
January. The MZP also urged the abductors to free Mondal
unconditionally and immediately or face the wrath of the
Mizo people, declaring, "We will not tolerate the
Brus using the Mizos and non-tribal people working in
Mizoram for earning money by way of abduction for ransom."
This is
the third round of ethnic tension between the Mizos and
the Brus, the major one being that of 1997. The second
exodus of the Brus to Tripura took place in 2009, during
the first stage of repatriation, following the killing
of a Mizo youth by suspected Bru militants in November
2009.
The unfinished
repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura, who fled the
State after the major ethnic clashes of 1997, continues
to be an issue plaguing Mizoram even after 17 years later.
In the fifth phase of repatriation (September 30-October
6, 2013), about 100 families from relief camps in the
Kanchanpur Subdivision of North Tripura District returned
to Mizoram. 891 Bru families had earlier been repatriated
to Mizoram in four phases between May 2010 and May 2012,
out of an estimated 35,000 Bru refugees in Tripura.
A March
6, 2014, report, however, claimed that the Bru refugee
repatriation would be completed before the upcoming Lok
Sabha polls in April-May 2014. A meeting between the
District Level Core Committee on Bru Repatriation and
the Rehabilitation Committee was also held on March 6,
2014, in Mamit District in Mizoram, in this regard. However,
given the current situation, this is unlikely to happen.
According to a March 15, 2014, report, the MBDPF has also
sought arrangements of polling booths in all the Bru relief
camps of North Tripura District, so that the Bru refuges
can exercise their franchise in the elections scheduled
to be held on April 9, 2014, without any trouble, adding
that only a few voters were able to cast their votes in
the November 2013 Mizoram Assembly elections. The Forum
also alleged that the community-based Non Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) of Mizoram vehemently opposed the
setting up of polling booths in relief camps in Tripura,
effectively deleting the names of Bru refugees from the
existing Electoral Roll. On February 5, 2014, moreover,
major civil society organizations in Mizoram had asked
the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) V.S. Sampath to
delete the names of Bru voters, who were in six Tripura
relief camps from the Mizoram voters' lists if they did
not return to Mizoram by February, 2014. A March 18, 2014,
report further observed that Mizoram Chief Minister Lal
Thanhawla, in the preceding week, had submitted a memorandum
to the CEC, urging him not to allow Bru refugees living
in relief camps in Tripura to exercise their franchise
in the April 9 elections to the State's lone Lok Sabha
seat. The Chief Minister asserted that if the Bru voters
wanted to exercise their franchise, they should cast their
votes inside Mizoram, not in the relief camps through
postal ballots.
Further,
knowing about the difficulties faced by Bru returnees
to Mizoram, the displaced Brus are apprehensive about
returning to Mizoram unless both the Central and State
Government take favorable steps to resolve their demands.
Meanwhile,
the stalled
talks between the Mizoram Government
and the insurgent Hmar People's Convention - Democracy
(HPC-D),
which resumed in State capital Aizawl on August 14, 2013,
ended in a deadlock. HPC-D and the Government of Mizoram
had signed a Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement
at Aizawl, on January 31, 2013, for a period of six months,
after several months of tense negotiations. The HPC-D
had also received a major setback on June 10, 2012, when
SFs arrested two top leaders of the group, ‘army chief’
Lalropuia and ‘deputy army chief’ Biaknunga, at the Kumbigram
Airport located in Silchar, Cachar District, Assam. Again,
on July 18, 2012, H. Zosangbera, the 'chairman' of HPC-D,
was arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport
in New Delhi, by a combined team of the Mizoram and Delhi
Police. However, all the three leaders were released on
bail and talks were initiated again in 2013.
The unresolved
challenges of the State are further compounded by occasional
activities of militant groups from neighbouring states
engaging in abduction and arms smuggling, using Mizoram
as a conduit.
According
to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database,
the State recorded two incidents of abduction in 2013
[the November 23 incident and an earlier February 19 incident;
the NLFT and Brus were involved in both the incidents]
resulting in eight persons abducted. In 2012 as well,
the NLFT had abducted 12 persons in two incidents; six
on November 25, including three Tripura residents, two
timber merchants and one driver, from Rajibnagar village,
in Mamit District; and another six on March 26, all executives
of the Assam-based Anupam Bricks and Concrete Industries
(ABCI), including residents of Assam, Punjab, and Rajasthan,
from the Lunglei District.
Mamit District
Superintendant of Police, Rodingliana Chawngthu, on January
25, 2014, disclosed that several steps had been taken
to curb the activities of the NLFT and BDFM along the
international border with Bangladesh: "The area is
heavily forested and falls inside a tiger sanctuary. We
have now got the Border Security Force (BSF) carrying
out joint patrolling with Forest Department personnel
who know all the tracks inside the forest. A permanent
Border Out Post will also be set up at the location where
Mondal was abducted."
Significantly,
the BSF submitted a list of 66 militant camps operating
from Bangladesh, to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB),
during a three-day bi-annual border coordination meeting
[March 7-9, 2014] between the BSF inspector-generals and
BGB’s region commanders held in Shillong (Meghalaya).
On June 12, 2013, during a meeting with Mizoram Chief
Minister, BSF officials had stated that at least 27 camps
of different insurgent groups were still located in Bangladesh
near the Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mamit District of Mizoram.
Significantly, according to an April 29, 2013, report, the
Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) has set a 2014 deadline
to complete the fencing along the India-Bangladesh border.
Mizoram shares unfenced borders with Myanmar (404 kilometres)
and Bangladesh (318 kilometres) of which nearly 62
kilometres of the border with Bangladesh in Mamit District
is unfenced.
The issue
of arms smuggling also remains a concern. SATP recorded
five incidents of arms seizure in 2013, as against three
incidents [resulting in seven smugglers arrests] in 2012.
Eight smugglers were arrested in 2013. The biggest
arms seizure in the State [31 AK-47
assault rifles, one Singapore-made Light Machine Gun (LMG),
one US-made Browning automatic rifle, 809 rounds of ammunition,
and 32 magazines] was on March 7 and 8, 2013, from a farmhouse
near the Lengpui Airport, on the outskirts of State capital,
Aizawl. The consignment was meant to be delivered to the
Parbotia Chatagram Jana Sangata Samiti (PCJSS), a group
claiming to fight for the rights of the indigenous people
of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) tribes of Bangladesh.
With a
multiplicity of challenges still facing the State, the
Mizoram Government, on June 15, 2013, demanded Security-Related
Expenditure (SRE) support for the State. On June
5, 2013, Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, while addressing
the Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security
at New Delhi, argued that various militant groups from
neighbouring States in the Northeast, as well as from
countries such as Myanmar and Bangladesh, had taken advantage
of the porous and inhospitable terrain along Mizoram's
interstate and international borders.
Despite
an enduring peace after an agonizing twenty years of insurgency,
a variety of issues, principally the result of ethnic
tensions and overflows of insurgency from the neighbourhood,
continue to rankle in Mizoram.
|
Weekly Fatalities: Major
Conflicts in South Asia
March 10-16,
2014
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
|
Islamist Terrorism
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
INDIA
|
|
Arunachal
Pradesh
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
Manipur
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Jharkhand
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Chhattisgarh
|
1
|
15
|
0
|
16
|
Total (INDIA)
|
3
|
17
|
6
|
26
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
11
|
2
|
0
|
13
|
FATA
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
12
|
3
|
1
|
16
|
Punjab
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Sindh
|
30
|
0
|
15
|
45
|
Total (PAKISTAN)
|
|
|
|
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Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
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BANGLADESH
Ban
on
JeI
by
June
2014,
asserts
Liberation
War
Affairs
Minister
A
K
M
Mozammel
Huq:
The
Bangladesh
Government
on
March
13
said
it
will
take
steps
to
ban
Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI)
by
June
2014
for
its
involvement
in
crimes
against
humanity
during
the
Liberation
War
in
1971.
Liberation
War
Affairs
Minister
A
K
M
Mozammel
Huq
said,
"The
government
is
planning
of
banning
the
anti-liberation
force
Jamaat,
but
it
has
no
plan
to
ban
other
religion-based
political
parties".
Earlier
in
August,
2013,
a
High
Court
bench
declared
JeI's
registration
with
the
Election
Commission
illegal.
Gulf
Times,
March
15,
2014.
INDIA
Maoists
kill
16
persons
including
15
Security
Force
personnel
in
Chhattisgarh:
Fifteen
Security
Force
(SF)
personnel
were
killed
in
a
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
ambush
on
March
11
in
Sukma
District
of
south
Chhattisgarh.
One
civilian,
Vikram
Nishad,
also
died
in
the
crossfire,
while
three
others
were
injured.
Additional
Director-General
of
Police
Mukesh
Gupta
said
11
of
the
personnel
who
died
belonged
to
the
Central
Reserve
Police
Force
(CRPF),
while
four
were
from
the
Chhattisgarh
Police.
The
Hindu,
March
12,
2014.
CPI-Maoist
'internal
document'
asks
cadres
to
target
12
political
leaders
before
general
elections:
An
internal
document
prepared
by
the
Central
leadership
of
the
Communist
Party
of
India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist)
has
asked
its
cadres
to
boycott
the
Lok
Sabha
(Lower
House
of
Indian
Parliament)
elections
and
specifically
names
12
political
leaders
who
are
to
be
targeted
along
with
Security
Forces
(SFs).
The
document
gives
out
names
of
some
political
leaders
in
Hindi
codes,
"Nare,
Baba,
Nunu,
Ram,
Ud,
Ani,
Binde,
Prah,
Jeev,
Lal,
Prem,
Shai"
who
are
to
be
"eliminated
at
any
cost
despite
them
having
security
cover."
Indian
Express,
March
12,
2014.
ISI
wanted
IM
chief
Riyaz
Bhatkal's
family
to
take
refuge
in
Pakistan,
reveals
arrested
IM's
'India
operation'
chief
Yasin
Bhatkal:
Arrested
Indian
Mujahideen's
(IM)
'India
operation'
chief
Yasin
Bhatkal
during
interrogation
said
that
Inter-Services
Intelligence
(ISI)
wanted
IM
'chief'
Riyaz
Bhatkal,
who
is
in
Pakistan,
to
convince
his
family
in
Karnataka
to
cross
borders
and
join
him
in
that
country.
Riyaz
who
felt
the
ISI
proposed
this
in
order
to
gain
control
over
the
terror
outfit
rebuffed
the
suggestion
because
his
family
had
strong
local
roots.
Riyaz
was
planning
independent
setting
for
his
terror
outfit
with
the
help
of
al
Qaida
so
that
they
could
not
depend
on
ISI.
Times
of
India,
March
11,
2014.
ED
registers
case
against
HM
'chief'
Syed
Salahuddin:
The
Enforcement
Directorate
(ED)
on
March
11
registered
a
money
laundering
case
against
ten
people,
including
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
(HM)
'chief',
Syed
Salahuddin,
for
allegedly
funding
terror
activities
in
the
country
from
across
the
border.
The
ED
was
prompted
to
register
the
case
under
the
Prevention
of
Money
Laundering
Act
(PMLA)
after
taking
cognisance
of
an
FIR
registered
by
the
National
Investigation
Agency
(NIA)
against
the
ten
persons
in
2013.
The
NIA
had
filed
the
case
in
connection
with
its
probe
into
cross-LoC
trade.
Indian
Express,
March
12,
2014.
SEBI
tightens
norms
to
check
money
laundering
and
terror
funding,
says
report:
Securities
and
Exchange
Board
of
India
(SEBI)
on
March
12
tightened
norms
aimed
at
countering
money
laundering
and
terror
financing
through
the
capital
markets
and
asked
market
entities
to
conduct
detailed
risk
assessment
of
their
clients,
including
those
linked
to
countries
facing
international
sanctions.
Besides,
stock
exchanges
have
been
asked
to
monitor
the
compliance
of
various
entities
through
half-yearly
internal
audits
and
inspections
and
keep
SEBI
informed
on
these
issues.
Zee
News,
March
13,
2014.
NEPAL
NC
and
CPN-UML
planning
to
skip
'authentication'
altogether
from
the
CA
Rules:
After
contending
with
the
problem
as
to
who
-
the
President
or
the
Constituent
Assembly
(CA)
Chairman
-
should
authenticate
a
new
constitution
for
days,
the
Nepali
Congress
(NC)
and
the
Communist
Party
of
Nepal-Unified
Marxist
Leninist
(CPN-UML)
that
are
sharply
divided
over
the
matter
are
planning
to
skip
the
term
'authentication'
altogether
from
the
CA
Rules,
currently
being
drafted.
It
is
likely
that
the
two
coalition
partners
would
settle
for
the
term
'certification'.
Himalayan
Times,
March
10,
2014.
PAKISTAN
30
civilians
and
15
militants
among
45
persons
killed
during
the
week
in
Sindh:
Three
people
were
killed
in
separate
incidents
in
Karachi,
the
provincial
capital
of
Sindh,
on
March
14.
28
persons,
including
19
civilians,
were
killed
in
gang
war
clashes
in
different
parts
of
Karachi
city
on
March
12.
Seven
persons,
including
a
Muttahida
Qaumi
Movement
(MQM)
activist,
were
killed
in
separate
incidents
of
violence
in
Karachi
on
March
11.
Five
people
were
found
dead
in
the
Brohi
Mohalla
area
of
Mawach
Goth
area
in
Baldia
Town
of
Karachi
on
March
10.
Daily
Times;
Dawn;
The
News;
Tribune;
Central
Asia;
Nation;
Frontier
Post;
Pakistan
Today;
Pakistan
Observer,
March
11-17,
2014.
11
persons
killed
in
suicide
blast
in
Peshawar:
At
least
11
persons
were
killed
and
45
others
were
injured
in
a
suicide
attack
targeting
Policemen
in
the
Sarband
area
of
Peshawar
(Peshawar
Disrict),
the
provincial
capital
of
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa,
on
March
15.
Deputy
Superintendent
of
Police
(DSP-city)
Banaras
Khan
said
the
blast
appeared
to
have
targeted
Police
mobile
van
and
was
carried
out
by
a
suicide
bomber.
Dawn,
March
16,
2014.
10
persons
killed
in
bomb
blast
in
Balochistan:
At
least
10
persons,
including
nine
civilians
and
one
trooper
were
killed
and
35
others
were
injured
in
a
bomb
explosion
targeting
Frontier
Corps
(FC)
vehicle
at
Science
College
Chowk
area
of
Quetta,
the
provincial
capital
of
Balochistan,
on
March
14.
The
target
of
the
blast
was
FC
vehicle
that
narrowly
escaped
the
attack.
Dawn,
March
16,
2014.
Karachi
operation
to
continue
until
peace
restored,
says
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif:
On
March
14,
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif
said
that
the
operation
in
Karachi
will
continue
and
that
he
would
himself
monitor
it.
"Karachi
operation
will
continue.
The
sacrifices
rendered
by
our
security
agencies
are
invaluable.
Karachi
operation
is
not
a
routine
issue
for
the
government
and
I
will
regularly
monitor
and
supervise
operation
and
will
help
the
provincial
government
in
resolving
their
issues,"
the
Prime
Minister
said.
Daily
Times,
March
15,
2014.
ISI
confirms
threat
to
former
President
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf's
life:
The
Inter-Services
Intelligence
(ISI)
on
March
13
confirmed
the
seriousness
of
the
threats
that
former
President
General
(retired)
Pervez
Musharraf's
lawyers
claim
he
is
facing.
A
representative
of
the
ISI
said
that
it
had
intercepted
a
phone
call
on
the
night
of
March
12,
2014,
which
confirmed
that
Musharraf
was
susceptible
to
attack.
Tribune,
March
14,
2014.
TTP
peace
process
enters
'decisive
phase',
claims
Advisor
to
the
Prime
Minister
on
National
Affairs
Irfan
Siddiqui:
Adviser
to
Prime
Minister
on
National
Affairs,
Irfan
Siddiqui,
on
March
13
said
that
the
talks
with
the
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan
(TTP)
had
entered
a
crucial
stage
and
the-two
member
TTP
talks
committee
would
give
a
report
about
its
talks
with
the
Taliban
leadership
after
its
return
from
Miranshah
in
North
Waziristan
Agency
of
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
within
two
days.
He
said
that
after
the
report
from
the
Taliban
committee,
a
decision
would
be
taken
on
how
to
take
forward
the
talks
process.
Daily
Times,
March
14,
2014.
No
Pakistani
civilians
killed
by
US
drones
in
2013,
says
UN
Investigator
Ben
Emmerson:
No
Pakistani
civilian
was
killed
by
United
States
(US)
drones
in
2013,
said
United
Nations
(UN)
Investigator
Ben
Emmerson
while
presenting
his
latest
report
on
drone
strikes
to
the
UN
Human
Rights
Council
(UNHRC)
in
Geneva
on
March
12.
The
total
number
of
recorded
strikes
in
2013
was
down
to
27
from
a
peak
of
128
in
2010,
he
said,
adding,
"But
perhaps
most
significantly,
for
the
first
time
in
nine
years
there
were
no
reports
of
civilian
casualties
during
2013
in
the
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
area
of
Pakistan..
Tribune,
March
13,
2014.
SRI
LANKA
We
only
fought
brutal
LTTE
not
Tamils,
says
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa:
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
said
on
March
12,
"The
war
was
not
against
the
Tamils.
We
only
fought
a
brutal
terrorist
outfit
that
was
the
LTTE".
"If
our
war
was
against
Tamils
how
could
the
Tamils
live
happily
and
peacefully
among
the
Sinhalese
in
the
south
of
the
country,"
Rajapaksa
added.
Times
of
India,
March
14,
2014.
New
video
clip
released
by
Channel
4
accuses
Sri
Lankan
Armed
Forces
of
having
'underlying
culture
of
systematic
brutality
and
sexual
violence':
A
new
video
clip
released
on
March
10
by
British
public-service
television
broadcaster
Channel
4
has
accused
the
Sri
Lankan
Armed
Forces
of
having
an
"underlying
culture
of
systematic
brutality
and
sexual
violence".
Channel
4
journalist
Callum
Macra
said,
"On
the
new
visual
that
has
emerged,
it
was
unclear
when
the
video
was
filmed
but
suggests
it
was
at
some
point
in
the
last
two
or
three
years
of
the
war,
possibly
by
a
soldier
using
a
mobile
phone.
The
Hindu,
March
11,
2014.
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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