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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 12, No. 41, April 14, 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


ASSESSMENT

INDIA
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Maoists: Disrupting Democracy
Fakir Mohan Pradhan
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) appears to be trying to stare down the ‘critical situation’ facing the movement, exploiting the vulnerabilities of the security arrangements to perpetrate violence in the heightened atmosphere of the ongoing General Elections. Despite increased Security Force (SF) presence to secure free and fair polls, the Maoists have hit multiple States in the areas where elections were held on April 10, 2014, in the second of the nine-phase election declared by the Election Commission.

In Chhattisgarh, the CPI-Maoist struck twice in an hour on April 12, killing 14 people, including seven polling officials and five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, as they blew up a bus and an ambulance, respectively, in the Bijapur and Bastar Districts.

Maoists first triggered a powerful blast, targeting a bus when a polling party was returning, between Kutru and Gudma in Bijapur District. Seven members of the polling party were killed in the explosion and subsequent firing, which also left five persons injured. Sources indicate that 75 to 100 armed Maoists were involved in the ambush.

Within an hour, Maoists struck again and blew up an ambulance, killing five CRPF personnel, a medical attendant and the driver on the spot, in Darbha on the Jagdalpur-Sukma national highway in the Bastar District.

On April 9, 2014, three personnel of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the CRPF were killed and another three were injured in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma District. The incident occurred near the Chintagufa village, when a team of the CoBRA and Sukma Police was returning after escorting a poll party. In another incident on the same day, three personnel of the 85th battalion of the CRPF were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near Kikler village in Bijapur District.  

On April 10, 2014, in Bihar, two CRPF troopers were killed and seven others were injured when the Maoists triggered an IED planted under a bridge targeting a team of the paramilitary force and Bihar Police personnel in two jeeps on their way to a polling station in the Jamui parliamentary constituency. The incident occurred near Sawa Lakh Baba Mandir (temple) on the fringes of the Bhimbandh Forest in Munger District, just four hours before polling commenced.

Three days earlier, on April 7, 2014, at least three CRPF personnel were killed and eight others, including Station House Officer (SHO) Amar Kumar of the Bihar Police, were injured in a landmine blast near Baranda Mor under the Dhibra Police Station limits in Aurangabad District. The deceased included a CRPF Deputy Commandant. The explosion occurred when the troopers were attempting to defuse the mine.

In Maharashtra, one Policeman was killed and five were seriously injured when the Maoists opened fire on a police team in the Gadchiroli District on April 11. The incident took place when a Police team of the Jimalgatta Police Station, was providing security to the polling party of the Dambrancha polling booth.

While things remained relatively peaceful in Odisha, Maoists snatched Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) from polling personnel at Jodamba in Malkangiri’s cut-off area (150-odd villages of Kudumulu Gumma Block, separated from the rest of the Block by the Balimela Reservoir), after the polling ended on April 10. The Maoists also snatched one EVM from a polling party while it was returning from Kanshariput under the Mathili Police Station limits in the District. Earlier, during the night of April 9, Maoists set ablaze a vehicle carrying EVMs and other polling materials near Mahupadar within the Mathili Police Station limits. The Maoists detained a polling party on April 10 and released them on the next day, asking them to hand over a letter to the Government demanding operations against them be halted.

Surprisingly, areas of Jharkhand that went to poll on April 10 saw a relatively peaceful process, though the State had been placed on high alert, as Police believed SFs in the State could be targeted, especially trains transporting troops.

Security forces seized about 400 kilograms of explosives in the form of IEDs from Maoist-hit Districts across four States where polling was held on April 10. The biggest recovery was from Bihar where the CRPF seized 225 kilograms of IEDs —135 kg from Gaya and 90 kg from Aurangabad. Further, about 90 kilograms explosives were recovered from different locations in Bastar in south Chhattisgarh, about 52 kilograms from Jharkhand and 20 kilograms from Odisha.

Keeping Maoist and other insurgent violence in various states in mind the, the Election Commission had declared a nine-phase election. The worst-affected areas in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh were scheduled for voting in a single phase (the second), with other affected areas in these States to go to polls in subsequent phases. This was done to prevent Maoists from moving from one area to another to disrupt polls, and also to ensure a maximum saturation of SFs in the polling areas during the election process.  

The Union Home Ministry and the Election Commission had, while planning the approach of polling personnel to booths in Maoist-hit villages, taken care to minesweep the areas and also to weave in an element of surprise by breaking the journey of the contingents a little short of the polling stations. The polling parties and troops covered the last few miles only after dark, to minimize chances of an ambush. Also, some polling stations were relocated to a nearby area at the last minute to derail any Maoist plans to target them during voting.

Anticipating communal clashes and heavy violence by Maoists, in different areas, including violence potentially targeting politicians, the Centre had agreed to provide 200 battalions of armed security personnel to the Election Commission for the smooth conduct of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2009 General Elections, by comparison, the Election Commission had deployed 120 battalions of armed security personnel. In the current process, 175 battalions are drawn from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and about 25 battalions from the State Armed Police Forces. In addition, Police forces from the States District Police apparatus also supplement the presence of the armed contingents provided to the Election Commission. Sources indicated that, in addition to the 90 battalions of CAPFs already deployed in Maoist-affected states, another 700 companies of Central Forces were being deployed in the Naxalite-affected Districts, thus taking the total presence up to 160 battalions.

In the 2004 and 2009 General Elections, the six Left Wing Extremist (LWE)-affected states had accounted for 108 and 124 violent incidents, resulting in 9 and 24 deaths, respectively. In the present process, the main focus area for security deployment are the 33 Districts worst affected by Maoist violence, which have been designated as 'A' category Districts. Of these, 13 are in Jharkhand, eight in Chhattisgarh, five in Bihar, four in Odisha, two in Andhra Pradesh and one in Maharashtra.

In keeping with their practice before almost every election now, the Maoists had called for a boycott of the Lok Sabha polls across the country and also of the Assembly Elections being held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

In a statement issued by the CPI-Maoist Central Committee (CC) spokesperson Abhay, the outfit asked people not to vote for any of the national or regional parties and also included the new entity, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in its list to be boycotted. The Maoists called the elections a "sham", since the condition of the poor and the downtrodden remained unchanged even after past changes in regime. Abhay argued:
The great Marxist teacher Lenin stated in his 'State and Revolution - "Elections are held to decide once every few years which member of the ruling class is to repress and crush the people through parliament-such is the real essence of bourgeois parliamentarism, not only in parliamentary-constitutional monarchies, but also in the most democratic republics." This is more applicable to our semi-colonial, semi-feudal country that claims itself to be the 'biggest democracy in the world.'

On other occasions, the Maoists also slammed the introduction of the 'none of the above' (NOTA) option in ballot papers, declaring that its "purpose is to give validity to a system that is fast losing relevance." They demanded that the citizens' right to boycott polls - considering it an expression of opinion - be legalized. In Jharkhand, Sanket, spokesperson of the Eastern Regional Bureau of the CPI-Maoist, issued an 'alternative manifesto' in the form of a "short-term vision" document, appealing to the masses to decide if they wanted "real democracy", or preferred to reinforce the existing "pseudo-democratic system" by casting their vote for the 16th Lok Sabha.

The Union Home Ministry had earlier sounded an alert to the Governments of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh warning that the Maoists intended to disrupt the General Elections by extensively mining their stronghold areas to target political leaders and security forces as a 'bounce-back strategy', after their failure to enforce their poll-boycott in Chhattisgarh during the Assembly Elections in November 2013. The advisory document claimed that the intelligence was based on specific disclosures by a leader of the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), indicating that the outfit planned to mine areas in the Narayanpatna, Bandhugaon and Laxmipur areas of Odisha.

A 'two-pronged strategy' devised by the CPI-Maoist Jharkhand Regional Committee also came to light following the seizure of a document by SFs in the Jamui area of Bihar on February 2, 2014. Titled “Chunao Bahishkar (Election Boycott)”, the paper purportedly outlined plans to disrupt the Lok Sabha polls in certain Districts of Bihar and Jharkhand through boycott campaigns coupled with attacks targeting security forces and political leaders, especially those belonging to the Congress, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha. The seized document indicated that Maoist cadres had been instructed to arrange explosives to carry out strikes, including the targeting of vehicles used in election campaigns, abduction or elimination of political leaders, and ambushing security personnel.

As noted earlier in SAIR , the Maoists have 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 [emphasis added] 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.

The susceptibilities of the polling process and personnel have been heightened by the fact that the kind of saturation of Force that could be achieved, for instance, in the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections in November 2013, and that ensured a relatively peaceful poll with an extraordinarily high voter turnout, has not been possible in the far more dispersed processes of a General Election. Thus, during the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections, 564 additional companies of CAPFs were provided to the State, to contain Maoist activities during the election process. During the ongoing General Election, Chhattisgarh has been provided just 143 additional Companies of CAPFs, as against a request by the State Police of at least 400 additional companies. Inevitably, vulnerabilities across the Maoist afflicted regions in the affected States will be greater than the case during the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls. This is already visible in the attacks and fatalities during the early phases of elections, and can be expected to be compounded, in some measure, by continuing Maoist strikes over the coming weeks.

INDIA
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J&K: Kupwara: Gateway of Terror
Anurag Tripathi
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On April 7, 2014, five persons, including one Junior Commissioned Officer of the Army, two Policemen and two terrorists, were killed and six Security Force (SF) personnel were injured in a gun battle in the Zunreshi area of Chowkibal in Kupwara District of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The exchange of fire ensued when an SF unit, on receiving information about the presence of a group of four or five Lashkar-e-Toiba ( LeT) terrorists in the area, launched an operation. The remaining terrorists managed to escape.

Earlier, on March 10, 2013, a 'divisional commander' of LeT, identified as Abu Huraira, and his associate, identified as Abu Talha, were killed, and an Army officer of the counter-insurgency Kilo Force was injured in a gun battle between terrorists and SFs in the Handwara area of Kupwara District.

On February 24, 2014, at least seven LeT terrorists were killed by SFs in the Lolab forests of Kupwara District. A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including seven AK-47 rifles, 28 magazines and one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL), were recovered.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP), Kupwara District has witnessed a total of 332 fatalities, including 279 terrorists and 53 SF personnel since 2006. There had been no fatalities in the District between March 2000, when the SATP database commenced compiling data on terrorism-related fatalities in J&K, and 2005]. In the first three months and 13 days of 2014, J&K has already recorded 34 fatalities, including 25 terrorists, six SF personnel and three civilians; of which Kupwara alone accounted for 14 deaths, including 11 terrorists and three SF personnel. In 2013, out of 181 total fatalities in the State, Kupwara alone accounted for 58 (32 per cent) including 53 terrorists and five SF personnel. Significantly, no civilian fatalities have been recorded in terrorism-related incidents in this District since March 2000.

Fatalities in Kupwara District: 2006-2014*

Years

SFs
Terrorists
Total

2006

3
33
36

2007

13
58
71

2008

12
46
58

2009

3
16
19

2010

4
27
31

2011

6
17
23

2012

4
18
22

2013

5
53
58

2014

3
11
14

Total

53
279
332
*Data till April 13, 2014, Source: SATP

The reason for this somewhat unique pattern of violence in Kupwara is that the District is used by the terrorists as a ‘gateway’ to enter J&K and then move into other parts of the State to execute attacks, rather than as a target in itself. Indeed, of the 192 infiltration attempts into J&K since January 1, 2006, recorded by SATP, Kupwara has accounted for 66 (about 34.37 per cent) resulting in 183 fatalities in the District (164 terrorists and 19 SF personnel).

Significantly, the biggest ever incursion after the Kargil Sector intrusion in 1999, was engineered by Pakistan-backed terrorists at Shala Bhata village in the Keran Sector of Kupwara District in September 2013. As a result, the Army was forced to launch Operation Shala Bhata on September 24, 2013, during which at least 19 terrorists were killed, while five Army troopers also sustained injuries. The Operation continued for nearly two weeks, eventually to be called off on October 8, 2013. 

Kupwara District lies in the extreme north-west of the Kashmir Valley, and has been a traditional strategic route for terrorist infiltration from across the border. With a geographical area of 2,379 square kilometers, the District’s northern and western borders form the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, while the eastern and southern borders touch Bandipore and Baramulla Districts in J&K. Terrorist handlers in Pakistan have recognized the geo-strategic importance of Kupwara, and have used it as a principal route of infiltration into the Indian side for Pakistan-based terrorist formations, prominently including LeT, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen ( HM), Jaish-e-Muhammad ( JeM), Harkat-ul-Mujahiddeen among others.

Kupwara has been notified as a ‘Disturbed Area’ in 1990, along with Srinagar, Budgam, Anantnag, Pulwama and Baramulla Districts of the Srinagar Division, and Jammu, Kathua, Poonch, Udhampur, Rajouri and Doda Districts of the Jammu Division, under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act, 1990. The Act came into being in 1958 and was extended to Kashmir in 1990, and has remained in force since. Terrorism has afflicted Kupwara since 1988-89. The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front ( JKLF), the first extremist formation to go to Pakistan for arms training, started its activities from Kupwara. Most Kashmiri youth went across the border for training via Kupwara from the very outset.

Though the terrorists have not targeted civilians in the District, they have released several posters threatening them. In a latest of this series of threats, on February 8, 2013, hand written posters threatening Panches (members of Gram Panchayats - village level local self-Government institutions) and Sarpanches (heads of Gram Panchayats) and asking them to resign or face 'consequences', appeared in Kupwara’s Wadpora village. Nine Gram Panchayat members have been killed across J&K since the Panchayat Elections of 2011, though no such killing has yet occurred in Kupwara.

A significant circulation of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) printed in and brought in from Pakistan by an established network, has also been noticeable in the District. On April 17, 2013, Police arrested three Police personnel and a hotel owner on charges of running a FICN racket from the Lolab area.  Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, North Kashmir, J. P. Singh disclosed, "Investigations have revealed that fake currency notes had come from PaK (Pakistan administered Kashmir) via Keran area (Kupwara District)."

On December 13, 2013, Union Minister of Home Affairs (UMHA) Sushil Kumar Shinde stated that terrorist groups were currently principally operating in the Districts of Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipore, Anantnag and Pulwama in the Kashmir Division; and Poonch, Ramban and Rajouri Districts in the Jammu Division.

Not surprisingly, Pakistan, in its recurrent demands for withdrawal of Indian troops from J&K, has particularly emphasized on two Districts - Kupwara and Baramulla.  Thus, in a bid to re-open terror routes the then-President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, during the India-Pakistan dialogue on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly session in New York, in September 2006, specifically identified these two Districts for immediate troop withdrawal by India as a 'gesture' to help build the 'impetus for peace'.

The continued exploitation of the Kupwara District for infiltration of terrorist cadres into J&K demonstrates both the Pakistani intent to sustain terrorism in J&K as well as the centrality of this 'gateway' in the enduring terrorist campaigns in the State.


NEWS BRIEFS

Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
April 7-13, 2014

 

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

BANGLADESH

 

Islamist Terrorism

0
0
1
1

INDIA

 

Assam

0
0
1
1

Jammu and Kashmir

0
6
4
10

Manipur

0
0
2
2

Left-wing Extremism

 

Bihar

0
5
0
5

Chhattisgarh

9
8
0
17

Maharashtra

0
1
0
1

Total (INDIA)

9
20
7
36

PAKISTAN

 

Balochistan

21
0
30
51

FATA

1
0
40
41

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

0
0
5
5

Punjab

23
0
0
23

Sindh

9
0
4
13

Total (PAKISTAN)

54
0
79
133

SRI LANKA

0
1
3
4
Provisional data compiled from English language media sources.


INDIA

Seven polling officials and five CRPF personnel among 14 persons killed in twin Maoist attacks in Chhattisgarh: The Communist party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres struck twice in an hour on April 12, killing 14 people, including seven polling officials and five Central Reserve Police (CRPF) personnel, as they blew up a bus and an ambulance in Bijapur and Bastar Districts. Maoists first triggered a powerful blast, targeting a bus when a polling party was returning, between Kutru and Gudma in Bijapur District. Seven members of the polling party were killed in the blast and subsequent firing which also left five others injured. Sources said around 75-100 armed Maoists were involved in the ambush on the polling party. The Maoists fled to the forests after Security personnel launched a retaliatory attack. Within an hour, Maoists struck again and blew up an ambulance, killing five CRPF personnel, a medical attendant and the driver on the spot in Darbha on Jagdalpur-Sukma national highway in Bastar District. Times of India, April 13, 2014.

Five persons killed in Jammu and Kashmir: Five persons, including two Policemen, one Junior Commissioned Officer of Army and two militants were killed and six Security Force personnel were injured in a gun battle with militants in the Zunreshi area of Chowkibal in Kupwara District on April 7. Huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the encounter site. Daily Excelsior, April 8, 2014.

Yasin Bhatkal revealed about Dawood Ibrahim linkages and IM finances, says report: Arrested Indian Mujahideen 'Indian Operations Chief' Yasin Bhatkal revealed about Dawood lbrahim linkages before the Bangalore Police's Anti-Terrorist Cell and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Also, he told investigators that he collected hawala (illegal money transaction) money, sent from Dubai or Sharjah by another IM member, Hafeef Bhatkali, during the November 26, 2008 (26/11) terror attacks in Mumbai (Maharashtra). DNA, April 6, 2014.

Face value of confiscated FICNs surged by more than 440 per cent in past five years, says report: Counterfeit rackets are pumping more Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) into the Indian market than ever before. The face value of forged notes seized has surged by more than 440 per cent over five years, from INR 38,18,600 in 2008 to INR 1,69,46,970 in 2013, and investigators say confiscated notes represent only a small fraction of the amount of counterfeit notes in circulation at any given time. Times of India, April 10, 2014.

Coal India loses INR 6000 million a year due to CPI-Maoist insurgency, says official: The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres are illegally mining and selling coal from coalfields owned by Coal India Limited (CIL), causing revenue losses of up to INR 6000 million a year, according to a top executive. The illegal extraction and sale by the Maoists is impacting coal output to the tune of three million tonnes (metric tonne) at the state-run firm and hitting operations at its subsidiary Central Coalfields Limited. Live mint , April 8, 2014.

Withdraw poll boycott first, Centre tells CPI-Maoist: Responding to a truce offer by the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), the Central Government on April 7 asked the outfit to first withdraw its call for boycott of the ongoing Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) elections and shun violence to create conditions for peace talks. In a statement on April 6, the CPI-Maoist 'spokesperson' Abhay said it was not against peace talks with the Government. The Hindu, April 8, 2014.


NEPAL

Government tables reviewed bill on TRC and CED with special focus on reconciliation: The Government on April 9 tabled a reviewed bill on Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission on Enforced Disappearances (CED) with special focus on reconciliation. The bill has proposed a commission, which will have a status of a judicial commission with rights akin to a court. The commission will have tenure of two years. The bill, which provisions two separate commissions of inquiry, has incorporated some provisions of the previous ordinance regarding transitional justices, which were struck down by the Supreme Court. Ekantipur, April 10, 2014.


PAKISTAN

30 militants and 21 civilians among 51 persons killed during the week in Balochistan: At least 17 people, including a woman and five children, were killed and 44 others were wounded when a passenger train, Jaffar Express, was bombed at Sibi Railway Station in Sibi District on April 8.

Frontier Corps (FC) on April 7 claimed to have killed more than 30 militants in the Parodh area of Kalat District. Daily Times; Dawn;The News; Tribune;Central Asia; The Nation;The Frontierpost; Pakistan Today;Pakistan Observer , April 8-14, 2014.

40 militants and one civilian among 41 persons killed during the week in FATA: At least 10 militants were killed in the ongoing infighting in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the Shawal tehsil (revenue unit) of Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Three Haqqani Network militants were killed and two wounded when a vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the Dattakhel area of NWA on April 11.

Nine more persons were killed on April 9 in fighting between two feuding factions of the TTP in South Waziristan Agency (SWA).

At least 14 TTP militants were killed in clashes between two factions of the militant outfit on April 8 in SWA.

At least four TTP militants, including a local 'commander' of the Hakimullah Mehsud group, identified as Kashed Khan Mehsud, were killed and another was injured in Shaktoi area of SWA on April 7. Daily Times; Dawn; The News; Tribune;Central Asia; The Nation;The Frontierpost; Pakistan Today;Pakistan Observer , April 8-14, 2014.

23 people killed in bomb explosion in Punjab: At least 23 people were killed and many others were injured in a bomb explosion at Pir Wadhai area near Sabzi Mandi locality in Islamabad on April 9. Police said that the explosives were planted in a guava box, which at the time of auction exploded. The News, April 9, 2014.

TTP holds meeting to discuss ceasefire amid drone flights in FATA: A meeting of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TPP) Shura (council) was held at an undisclosed place in the North Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on April 11 to decide about extending or ending the ceasefire as United States (US) drones conducted low altitude flights in parts of the tribal region. At the beginning of peace talks with the Government, the TTP had announced a month-long ceasefire on March 1, 2014. Later, it extended it for 10 days until April 10, 2014, to give peace talks a chance. But no important development has taken place during the 10-day period. Dawn, April 12, 2014.

Anti-peace negotiation group Ansar-ul-Hind planning terrorist attacks in major cities, warn Intelligence Agencies: The proceeding in the November 26, 2008, Mumbai terror attacks case (26/11) has come to a standstill as the special judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Atiqur Rehman, has expressed his inability to conduct the trial of seven Pakistani suspects in the Adiala Jail of Rawalpindi District of Punjab due to security reasons. Sources close to the proceedings revealed that since March 3, 2014, when terrorists attacked the District Courts in Islamabad, there has been no progress on the trial with the ATC unable to complete the cross examination of even a single witness. Dawn, April 8, 2014.

National Assembly pass Protection of Pakistan Amendment Bill 2014: The National Assembly on April 7 passed Protection of Pakistan Amendment Bill 2014 amid strong protest from the opposition benches. The Protection of Pakistan Bill 2014 also contains provisions from the 2013 Bill. It states that Special Courts will be established for disposing of cases against terrorists while Joint Investigation Teams (JITs) will undertake probe into the terror-related cases. Under the new Bill, a person declared convict by a court could be kept in any prison of the country. The News, April 8, 2014.


SRI LANKA

Three LTTE leaders and one trooper killed in Vavuniya District: Four people were killed in a clash between Security Forces (SFs) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorists in the Nadunkarni area of Vavuniya District on April 10. The clash ensued when SFs launched a search operation for the wanted LTTE suspect Ponniah Selvanayagam alias Gopi. Gopi was among the three LTTE leaders killed. The other two killed LTTE leaders were identified as Sundaralingam Kajeepan alias Thevihan and Navarathnam Navaneethan alias Appan. ColomboPage, April 11, 2014.

'Second in command' of LTTE's Nediyavan Group arrested in Iran: Kapilan alias Nandhagopan, the 'second in command' of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)'s Nediyavan Group, was arrested at Tehran (Iran) Airport on March 6, 2014. Nandhagopan was arrested by Sri Lankan authorities with the help of Iranian and Malaysian authorities. Nandhagopan was transported to Colombo. www.dailymirror.lk, April 8, 2014. Dailymirror, April 8, 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.

South Asia Intelligence Review [SAIR]

Publisher
K. P. S. Gill

Editor
Dr. Ajai Sahni


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