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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 14, No. 51, June 20, 2016

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

NEPAL
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Dilemmas of Transitional Justice
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On June 16, 2016, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which had started recording testimonies regarding insurgency-era rights’ violations and crimes from April 17, 2016, at District Peace Committee offices in all 75 Districts, and was supposed to wrap up the collection of complaints on June 16, 2016, decided to continue complaint collection until July 16, 2016, after it learnt that hundreds of victims are yet to lodge their complaints related to the war-era. The TRC had distributed 40,000 forms to victims and, as of June 15, 2016, had received 33,592 complaints.

Earlier, on June 13, 2016, another transitional justice mechanism, the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP), which started receiving complaints on April 14, 2016, extended the time period for registering cases related to conflict-era disappearances by another month, as complaints continue to pour in. As many as 4,000 forms were circulated in all 75 Districts, where disappearance incidents occurred during the decade-long Maoist insurgency. The Commission had received 2,084 complaints as of June 12, 2016.

TRC and CIEDP were formed in February 2015 in the spirit of the Interim Constitution of 2007 and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2006, to probe instances of the serious violation of human rights and find the status of those who were disappeared in the course of the armed conflict between the State and the then Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) from February 13, 1996, to November 21, 2006. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Nepal Conflict Report 2012, between February 1996 and November 2006, the conflict between the Government of Nepal and the CPN-Maoist left over 13,000 people dead and 1,300 missing.

On May 19, 2016, in a major development in Nepal’s prolonged process of transitional justice, TRC started preliminary investigation on complaints received from conflict victims. TRC commissioner Madhavi Bhatta, stated on the occasion, "We have distributed 14,581 complaint forms from our office and the local peace committees and received 7,789 complaints so far. Therefore going through all the complaints is a crucial step toward investigation."

However, at a time when the victims and international human rights agencies have been urging the Government to bring the Transitional Justice Act on par with international standards, five Maoist parties – New Force Nepal led by Baburam Bhattarai, CPN-Revolutionary Maoist led by Mohan Baidya, CPN (Maoist) led by Matrika Yadav and Revolutionary Communist Party Nepal led by Mani Chandra Thapa, besides ruling Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal – in a joint statement on April 21, 2016, called on the Government to scrap conflict-era cases, claiming that such cases violated the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) of November 12, 2006. Further, a group of Maoist cadres, who were either convicted or are under prosecution in various courts for war-era crimes, on April 25, 2016, formed the ‘Association of Court Victims on People's War Cases’ at a press conference in Kathmandu and announced plans to protest against court verdicts and ongoing prosecutions.

Significantly, on May 19, 2016, ten Maoist parties at a joint convention in Kathmandu united to form a new force under the former rebel commander Pushpa Kamal Dahal to give birth to what they have decided to call the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-Maoist Centre). Addressing the function organized to announce the unification, Chairman Dahal declared, “The days of conspiracy against the revolutionary agenda of republic, secularism and proportional representation are over. This unification is a message loud and clear that the days of people’s victory are here. This unification guarantees that the transitional justice mechanisms will function in line with the CPA.” Urging Baburam Bhattarai, former UCPN-M leader and Coordinator of Naya Shakti Nepal to come within the unified party, Dahal said “Baburam Bhattarai was head of the people’s government during the war and his orders were behind people’s sacrifices and the changes in the country. So, he will not be free of accountability just by saying that he has now taken another path. Therefore, I urge him to join the new Maoist force rather than promoting the bourgeoisies.”

Earlier, on May 5, 2016, UCPN-M signed a pre-emptive nine-point agreement with the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), the senior partner in the ruling alliance. The fact that five of the nine points in the agreement address issues of transitional justice shows just how worried the Maoists are about having to answer for the crimes they committed between 1996 and 2006. One of the points of the agreement obliges CPN-UML and the Maoists to amend the laws on transitional justice within 15 days, so that they ‘reflect the spirit of the CPA’. The two leaders also agreed to register the ownership of the lands that were transacted on the strength of household papers during the conflict era on the basis of those same documents. They also agreed to immediately initiate the process to withdraw or give clemency on insurgency-era cases and other ‘politically-motivated’ cases filed on various occasions.

Expectedly, slamming the deal between ruling parties, UCPN-M and CPN-UML, Human Rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on May 13, 2016, in a joint statement accused the two parties of attempting to ‘wash away the crimes of the conflict’ with the new agreement. Expressing the same view, on May 27, 2016, Nepali Congress (NC) President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba declared, "We cannot stop taking action against those accused of heinous crimes with only excuse (sic). They can be punished under different international laws too. So action should be taken against them." Further, TRC Chairperson Surya Kiran Gurung noted, on June 4, 2016, “Though there are talks about granting amnesty at the political level, cases related to serious human rights breach bear significance in wider international scenario, and there is no way amnesty will be granted in each case.” Earlier, on January 7, 2016, a five member Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha asserted that there should not be any amnesty or clemency to murder convicts.

Expressing their fear at a discussion programme held at Mahendranagar of Kanchanpur District on June 16, 2016, conflict survivors said that they were still fearful of lodging complaints, as no assurance of maintaining confidentiality of personal information had been given. The participants claimed that most the families of conflict victims had not yet registered their complaints after it was found that the responsible agencies were disclosing the names of the complainants.  Conflict Victim Society Kanchanpur Chairperson Dharma Singh Chaudhary noted, “Many victim families have not come to lodge their complaints with the rise in threats and intimidations after the disclosure of confidentialities of personal information of complainant (sic).”

However, on June 7, 2016, Professor Bishnu Pathak, spokesperson of CIEDP, claimed, "Initially, there were fears among victims and human rights defenders that the commissions might not be victim-centric. There was mistrust initially but we have overcome that situation. The way we are receiving complaints has encouraged us." Similarly, TRC Chairperson Surya Kiran Gurung noted, "Political comments on transitional justice could create some confusion for the victims but TRC is firm in its intention of carrying out its tasks as per the provisions of the CIEDP and TRC Act. TRC is clear that any amendment to the existing act should be only for meeting international standards and adhering to court verdicts. We are not bothered by politicians' comments or actions as we are governed by the laws."

Combatants are not the only ones under the scanner of transitional justice mechanisms; complaints have also been filed against various high ranking officials, including former Prime Ministers. On May 26, 2016, family members of 17 laborers who were killed in Kotwada, Kalikot District, on February 23, 2002, on suspicion of being Maoist combatants, filed a complaint at the TRC against the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and the then Royal Nepal Army Chief, General Rookmangud Katawal. Similarly, on June 12, 2016, Krishna KC, a permanent resident of Baglung Municipality Ward No. 3, lodged a complaint at the TRC against former King Gyanendra Shah and five former Prime Ministers including Girija Prasad Koirala, Surya Bahadur Thapa, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Sher Bahadur Deuba, seeking justice for his detention by the Nepal Army (NA) for 810 days during the insurgency; and on June 16, 2016, a woman from Taplejung District, who received deep injuries to her thigh and knees [the identity of the victim and other information regarding this case have not been reported in any open source] during the Maoist insurgency, registered a complaint against former King Gyanendra Shah and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli at the TRC through local peace committee in Jhapa District, saying she had not received relief till date and demanded justice.

Despite the political developments in the country, CIEDP Chairman Lokendra Mallick, speaking at a function organized by the Social Justice and Human Rights Committee of Parliament  on June 17, 2016, claimed that the Commission will try to complete all the investigations in the remaining eight months before its deadline. Speaking at the same function TRC Chairperson Gurung observed, “A situation might arise tomorrow when our leaders cannot visit foreign countries freely if conflict-era cases are internationalized by the victims.”

Since the end of the internal conflict in Nepal, there have been demands for transitional justice measures in the country. However, despite the establishment of the TRC and CIEDP, impunity for violations committed both during the conflict and in the post-conflict era remains entrenched in the country’s political culture. It remains to be seen whether Nepal is able to reconcile the demands of political stability and continuity, on the one hand, and of justice for war era excesses, on the other, to establish an enduring constitutional and political order that will meet the demands of equity and governance.

PAKISTAN
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Ahmadi Apartheid
Ambreen Agha
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

The Ordinance promulgated by the President (of Pakistan) on April 26, 1984, goes a long way in accepting the most extreme demands and transforms much of the daily life of the Community into a criminal offence.
-Yohanan Friedman, Prophecy Continuous (1989)

On June 4, 2016, an Ahmadi doctor, identified as Dr. Hameed Ahmed (65), was shot dead by unidentified militants in the Islam Colony area of Attock District of Punjab. Dr Hameed had been facing threats and intimidation on account of being an Ahmadi. In 2014, his clinic had survived an attempted arson attack.

On May 25, 2016, another Ahmadi, identified as Daud Ahmad (55), was killed in a targeted attack while he was waiting for his friend outside his house in the Gulzar-e Hijri area of Gulshan Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh.

On March 2, 2016, in another such attack, an Ahmadi, identified as Qamarul Zia (35), was killed for his faith in the Kot Abdul Malik city of the Sheikhupura District of Punjab. Zia was killed while he was leaving his house to fetch his children from school. Zia's murder marked the first killing of an Ahmadi in 2016.  Zia had survived several attacks in the past. Six months ago, he was attacked by cadres of the Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nubuwwat (MTKN/Organization for the Preservation of the End of Prophethood. Zia had also been attacked by some religious clerics in 2012.

According to Persecution of Ahmadis, an organization that documents violence against Ahamdis in Pakistan and rest of the world, at least 194 Ahmadis have been killed in Pakistan since 2001 [data till 2015]. Two Ahmadis were killed in 2015, 11 in 2014, seven in 2013, 10 in 2012, five in 2011, 99 in 2010, 11 in 2009, six in 2008, five in 2007, three in 2006, 11 in 2005, one in 2004, three in 2003, nine in 2002 and 11 in 2001.

According to South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) data, at least three Ahmadis have been killed in targeted attacks in 2016, thus far (Data till June 19, 2016).

In the worst ever attack on the Ahmadis, at least 86 worshippers of the community were killed and another 98 were severely injured in a suicide attack at Darul Zikr and Baitul Noor mosques in the Model Town and Garhi Shahu areas of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, on May 28, 2010. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack and congratulated Pakistanis, calling people of the Ahmadiyya community “enemies of Islam and common people”. The outfit urged Pakistanis to take the “initiative” and kill every such person in “rage”.

Ahmadis differ with other Muslim sects over the finality of Prophet Muhammad as the last Prophet. The Ahmadi branch of Islam was founded on March 23, 1889, by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian town of pre-partition Punjab. They believe in the Prophethood of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and have endured discrimination and violent persecution for holding this belief. An estimated 10 to 20 million Ahmadis live all over the world, representing 1 per cent of the total Muslim population. The core community lives in Pakistan, mainly in Punjab and Sindh Provinces. The estimated population of Ahmadis in Pakistan is 2-4 million out of the total population of over 192 million, amounting to 3.1 per cent to 4.2 per cent of the total. 

The campaign against Ahmadis started soon after Independence in 1947, when religious clerics in the newly created Pakistan demanded that Ahmadis be declared a non-Muslim minority, and that Pakistan's first Ahmadi Foreign Minister, Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, be removed from the cabinet for adopting Articles 18 and 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), providing for the freedom of conscience and freedom to change one's religion. Khan had then argued that these articles were compatible with and recognized under Islamic Law (Shariah), and declared the adoption of the provisions of the UDHR as an "epoch making event." Article 18 of UDHR influenced Article 20 of the then Pakistan Constitution, which read:
Subject to law, public order and morality:- (a) every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice and propagate his religion; (b) every religious denomination and every sect thereof shall have the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions.

Violence against Ahmadis started in March 1953, engulfing Punjab to claim over a dozen lives. However, the persecution of Ahmadis was systematically institutionalized on September 6, 1974, when the Pakistan National Assembly under the leadership of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto declared them as a ‘non-Muslim minority’. The process to dilute the provisions of Article 20 was, in fact, initiated by Bhutto, in 1974. Later, in 1984, President General Zia-ul-Haq issued an ordinance to amend the Objectives Resolution of 1949, in an effort to placate Muslim clerics and establish the principal of religious conformity in Pakistan. Under this resolution, Pakistan was to be modeled on the ideology and democratic faith of Islam and all rules and regulations were to be framed in consonance with Islam, allowing a greater role to the Ulema, who felt emboldened by this recognition.

Thereafter, five Criminal Ordinances explicitly or principally targeting religious minorities were passed by Parliament in 1984. These new laws restricted the freedom of faith for Ahmadis, among others. The five ordinances included a law against blasphemy; a law punishing the defiling of the Qur’an; a prohibition against insulting the wives, family or companions of the Prophet of Islam; and two laws specifically restricting the activities of Ahmadis. Zia-ul-Haq issued the last two laws as part of Martial Law Ordinance XX, on April 26, 1984, suppressing the activities of religious minorities, specifically including the Ahmadis, by prohibiting them from “directly or indirectly posing as Muslims.” Since then, a number of Ahmadi Muslims have been jailed for either reciting the Qur’an, or praying like a Muslim, or identifying themselves as Muslims.

Even as the persecution of Ahmadis was legalized and institutionalized in Pakistan, the hard-line Islamist clergy demanded a systematic purge of the Ahmadis. Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) aggressively pushed this agenda and its leaders boasted of the anti-Ahmadi initiatives as the Party’s most noteworthy achievement. Indeed, even today, former Prime Minister and PPP leader Raja Parvez Ashraf, speaking at a political rally in Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, on April 29, 2016, declared,
No one has been able to compete with Pakistan People's Party, if someone has served Islam! Only the Government of Martyr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto did it. 90 Year Old Problem, the Problem of Qadianis [Ahmadis] who challenged the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, (PPP) shut them up, broke their neck and buried the [Ahmadi] Problem (sic).

The rally was also attended by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and another former PPP Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani. Such statements by a former Prime Minister reek of hate and intolerance and are a demonstration of the dangers of religious prejudice and persecution that are nurtured by the Pakistani establishment and that have now travelled beyond Pakistan’s borders.

The ideology of intolerance and hate, which triggered the growth of extremism in Pakistan, also operates within the Pakistani Diaspora. The hatred for the Ahmadi has thus been exported to western countries as well. Recently, in an unprecedented anti-Ahmadi incident in the UK, an Ahmadi shopkeeper, identified as Asad Shah (40), was stabbed to death by another British Muslim in Scotland on March 24, 2016. Shah’s killer was identified as Tanveer Ahmad, a 32-year old Pakistani Muslim. Ahmad expressed no regrets for killing Shah and claimed that he had committed the act because Shah had “disrespected Islam,” and was a blasphemer. Significantly, Ahmad received praise from radical Sunni groups for this “courageous act”. The Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e- Nubuwwat (AMTKN / International Organization for the Preservation of the End of Prophethood), the sister organization of the MTKN, congratulated all Muslims on Asad’s cold-blooded murder on its Facebook page, in a gloating message “congratulation to All Muslims.”

Further, on April 10, 2016, leaflets calling for the killing of members of the Ahmadi sect were found in the Stockwell Green Mosque located in south London. The leaflets warned Ahmadis to either convert to ‘mainstream Islam’ within three days or face “capital punishment” [death].

Back in Pakistan, a Canadian cardiologist, identified as Mehdi Ali Qamar (51), was shot dead on his return to his home in the Chenab Nagar town (also known as Rabwah) of Chiniot District in the Punjab Province on May 24, 2014. Qamar had come to Pakistan on a short visit to render voluntary service to the Tahir Cardiac Hospital and was killed outside the Ahmadi graveyard located in Rabwah. 

Shah’s murder in Glasgow and the targeted sectarian killings in Pakistan bring an embedded culture of sectarian hatred to the forefront. This culture is fostered by organizations like MTKN that have gained political, legal and constitutional legitimacy in the ‘Land of the Pure’.

MTKN was established by its mother organization, Majlis Ahrar Islam Pakistan (Organization for the freedom of Islam in Pakistan) prior to the 1953 anti-Ahmadi riots and soon after the partition of the sub-continent. It declares on its website,
Its sole aim has been and is to unite all the Muslims of the world to safeguard the sanctity of Prophethood and the finality of Prophethood and to refute the repudiators of the belief in the finality of Prophethood of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad.

The MTKN cult of violence against the Ahmadis, which includes endured discrimination, violent persecution, criminalization of identity, vandalizing of mosques and homes; and desecration of graves, has been transported to the west. A 2010 AMTKN calendar read, “The only cure of Qadianis (Ahmadis): Al Jihad, Al Jihad.”

The anti-Ahmadi culture and sentiment thrives with the unchecked circulation of hate literature. The anti-Ahmadi text ‘Tohfa Qadianiat’ written by Maulvi Yusuf Ludhianvi, in which he urges ‘ true Muslims’ to “not to leave a single Qadiani alive on earth”, is openly sold across Pakistan. Significantly, on June 10, 2011, the All Pakistan Students Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Federation, the student wing of the MTKN, issued pamphlets branding members of the Ahmadiyya community as “wajib-ul-qatl” (obligatory to be killed). The pamphlet, circulated in the Faisalabad District of Punjab Province, read, “To shoot such people is an act of jihad and to kill such people is an act of sawab (blessing).” Worse, in an outrageous attempt to further restrict the religious freedom of Ahmadis, the Government of Punjab on May 10, 2015, banned more than 90 books and publications by the members of the Ahmadi community. These books primarily include the whole body of work by the founder of the community.

Such state-backed religious zealotry has cost many innocent Ahmadi lives. Anti-Ahmadi violence persists inside Pakistan, with little to no effective Pakistani Government response at Federal, Provincial, or local levels. While the claims of “success against the militants” in tribal areas continue to resound at high decibels, attacks on Ahmadis occur unchecked. On November 13, 2013, Mehboob Qadir, a retired Brigadier of the Pakistan Army, wrote in Daily Times “The state has lost its sense of responsibility, control, direction, leaving the field open to all sorts of rogues, ruffians and assassins from all over the world in the name of jihad.” Regrettably, there is little evidence that the Pakistani state is now prepared to abandaon this long-standing policy of employing terrorism as an instrument of state policy and for domestic political management.


NEWS BRIEFS

Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
June 13-19, 2016

 

Civilians

Security Force Personnel

Terrorists/Insurgents

Total

BANGLADESH

 

Islamist Terrorism

0
0
2
2

INDIA

 

Jammu and Kashmir

1
2
11
14

Meghalaya

1
0
0
1

Left-Wing Extremism

 

Bihar

0
1
0
1

Chhattisgarh

1
0
1
2

Jharkhand

0
1
0
1

Maharashtra

0
0
3
3

Total (INDIA)

3
4
15
22

PAKISTAN

 

Balochistan

4
0
9
13

FATA

0
1
0
1

KP

0
0
3
3

Sindh

5
0
0
5

Total (PAKISTAN)

9
1
12
22
Provisional data compiled from English language media sources.


BANGLADESH

Prime Minister urges US President to work together to fight terrorism: Strongly condemning the deadly terrorist attack on a Florida community club in the US, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 13 urged US President Barack Obama to work together to fight terrorism. "I condemn this dastardly act of terror in the strongest possible term and reiterate my government's 'zero tolerance' policy against any form of terrorism and violent extremism. Let's redouble our collective efforts to eradicate these hateful menaces from our peace-loving societies," she said in a message sent to Barack Obama. New Age, June 14, 2016.


INDIA

Terrorists planning 26/11 like attack on islands and ports across India, state Intelligence agencies: Intelligence agencies have warned the government about terror threat to port and small islands spread across the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, as according to intelligence inputs, terrorists are on the lookout for launching an attack similar to the 26/11 (November 26, 2008) Mumbai attack on these vulnerable targets. Sources in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) said that about 180 small ports and islands are on the hit list of terror organisations active in the region. Militants may take advantage of slack security at these locations to strike, intelligence reports said. India Today, June 18, 2016.

India's coastal security vulnerable, need to make it impregnable, states UHM Rajnath Singh: Union Home Minister (UHM) Rajnath Singh on June 16 (today) insisted on the need to make India's coastal security fool proof and impregnable. During his meeting with top officials of nine coastal states and four Union Territories to review coastal security, Singh said the vulnerability of India's coasts was exposed in 1993 when explosives were smuggled to Raigadh (Maharashtra) and then in 2008 when terrorists attacked Mumbai. He, however, underlined that a number of initiatives have been taken to strengthen the coastal security after terror struck Mumbai in 2008. Zee News, June 16, 2016.

ISI paid IM operative Riyaz Bhatkal INR 26 crore to bomb India, says report: Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had paid Riyaz Bhatkal INR 26 crore to carry out blasts in India, investigations have revealed. Riyaz Bhatkal also got a bungalow in Karachi, Pakistan security investigations have also revealed. This now appears to be the source of the problem which led to such a major split in the Indian Mujahideen (IM). Yasin Bhatkal had always complained that he had to do the dirty work on the field while Riyaz and his brother Iqbal enjoyed life in a secure bungalow. One India, June 16, 2016.

Cyber Crimes up 19 times over 10 years, says report: Cyber crimes reported in India rose 19 times over the last 10 years (2005 to 2014), from 481 in 2005 to 9,622 in 2014. India is now ranked third - after the US and China - as a source of "malicious activity" on the internet, second as a source of "malicious code" and fourth and eight as a source or origin for web attacks and network attacks. Arrests involving cyber crimes also rose nine times from 569 in 2005 to 5,752 in 2014, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, even as more Indians logged on to the internet. Internet subscribers in India crossed the 400 million mark, and are expected to reach 462 million by June 2016. Sme Times, June 16, 2016.


NEPAL

Government will strictly follow time-bound action plan to implementation of new Constitution, says Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli addressing an interaction 'Implementation of Constitution: Challenge and Accountability' organized by the High Level Administration Reforms and Implementation Committee in Kathmandu on June 17 said that the Government will strictly follow time-bound action plan to implementation of the new Constitution. He also urged the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) party to cooperate with the Government in this endeavor. The Himalayan Times, June 18, 2016.

Government unveils plan for implementation of new Constitution: The Government on June 16 unveiled its time-bound work plan to hold three elections by 2017-end for the implementation of the new Constitution. The Cabinet meeting endorsed the action plan to implement the Constitution by January 24, 2018, including the ambitious plan to hold local, federal and parliamentary elections. The Himalayan Times, June 18, 2016


PAKISTAN

‘Existence of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan affects relationship with US, says Pentagon report: The continued existence of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and its inability to take action against them affect the United States (US)-Pakistan bilateral ties, including security assistance, the Pentagon said in its six-monthly report on Afghanistan sent to the Congress on June 17. According to the report, "The US continues to be clear with Pakistan about steps it should take to improve the security environment and deny safe haven to terrorist and extremist groups". The Indian Express, June 19, 2016.

JeM handler who directed Pathankot attack flees to Afghanistan: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) handler who gave directions over phone to the terrorists during the attack on the Pathankot airbase has reportedly managed to flee to Afghanistan from Pakistan, said an unnamed official on June 16. "The alleged JeM handler who communicated by telephone more than two-dozen times with the terrorists in Pathankot before they carried out the attack on the airbase on January 2, 2016, has managed to cross into Afghan border," a member of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the attack said. Times of India, June 17, 2016.

Afghan border will be fenced off, says FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria: During the weekly press briefing in Islamabad on June 16, the Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that border management was part of Pakistan's strategy to counter terrorism and the border with Afghanistan would be fenced off while more gates will be constructed. "Other than Torkham, gates would also be installed at other border crossings and there would be no going back in this regard," Zakaria said. The News, June 17, 2016.

490 soldiers killed in line of duty, work still left to do in Zarb-i-Azb, says ISPR: The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said on June 15 that 490 soldiers of the Pakistan Army have died in the line of duty during Operation Zarb-i-Azb and work is still left to do - including improving the border management mechanism with Afghanistan as well as clearing restive pockets in areas of Swat. The ISPR DG Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa was addressing a press conference on the two-year anniversary of Operation Zarb-i-Azb and presented major achievements of the operation so far - listing progress made on various fronts. Dawn, June 17, 2016.

US Senate passes USD 800 million NDA Bill for Pakistan: The United States (US) Senate on June 15 passed its USD 800 million draft of the National Defence Authorisation Bill, including a provision to set up a new fund to reimburse Pakistan for its efforts in the war against terrorism. The Senate version that authorises USD 800 million is called the `Pakistan Security Enhancement Authorisation'. It also fences USD 300 million behind a similar Haqqani Network provision that has existed in the Annual Defence Authorisation Acts since the Fiscal Year 2015. Dawn, June 16, 2016.


SRI LANKA

Human Rights Commission releases its proposals on constitutional reforms to public: The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka released its proposals on constitutional reforms to the public. The Commission presented its proposals on constitutional reform to the Prime Minister, the Speaker and the Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform in March 2016. The Commission said the need to release the proposals in three languages caused an undue delay for releasing them to the public. Colombo Page, June 17, 2016.

Conflict-affected people in Sri Lanka still struggling to regain economic stability, says ICRC: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a report said that Conflict-affected people in Sri Lanka still struggling to regain economic stability. "We support vulnerable households in the north and east of the country to start a small business of their choice through our Micro Economic Initiatives program, which is carried out in line with the Sri Lankan government's community empowerment program," the ICRC said. Colombo Page, June 14, 2016.


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]

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Editor
Dr. Ajai Sahni


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