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SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW
Weekly Assessments & Briefings
Volume 9, No. 15, October 18, 2010
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
|
An Education
in Terror
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
Doctor
Muhammad Farooq Khan, a renowned religious scholar and
Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Swat Islamic University,
was shot dead on October 2, 2010, by Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) militants at his private clinic in the
Defence Colony area of Mardan town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KP,
formerly Known as North West Frontier Province). Claiming
responsibility for the assassination, the spokesman
of the Swat chapter of TTP, Umar Hassan Erabi, on October
3, declared, "Dr. Farooq was propagating against
the TTP and had written anti-Taliban books." Farooq
was also running a rehabilitation centre for 175 rescued
suicide bombers who had been trained by the TTP in the
Swat District.
Earlier,
on September 7, 2010, the VC of the Islamia College
University in the KP provincial capital, Peshawar, and
cousin of Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar
Wali Khan, Doctor Ajmal Khan, was abducted by TTP militants
along with his driver, from the Professors’ Colony area
of the University campus, while on his way to office.
The TTP claimed responsibility for Doctor Ajmal Khan’s
abduction. Umar Farooq, the spokesperson of the Abdullah
Azzam Brigade, a TTP sub-group, later claimed responsibility
for the incident. On October 14, the TTP released a
video in which the VC appealed to the Government to
accept the rebels' demands to secure his release. An
unnamed intelligence official in Peshawar said the Professor
was being held hostage in one of the lawless tribal
areas, where authorities had no access. At the time
of writing, Professor Khan remained in captivity.
On November
6, 2009, the VC of Kohat University of Science and Technology
(KUST), Doctor Lutfullah Kakakhel, was abducted from
Darra Adam Khel in KP. He was, however, released on
June 22, 2010 after the Government, according to unconfirmed
reports, released three militant ‘commanders’, including
a close aide of Tariq Afridi. Earlier, the Tariq Afridi
group of TTP, Darra Adamkhel chapter, claiming responsibility
for the abduction, had demanded the release of 60 militants
then in the custody of the Armed Forces. After some
time, the TTP, alleging that 27 of the militants had
been killed in custody and their dead bodies thrown
in a graveyard in Darra Adamkhel, demanded PKR 50 million
and the release of four top ‘commanders’ to free the
VC.
These
incidents are only indicative of a wider TTP campaign
to destroy institutions that propagate any ideas opposed
to their own across KP and the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA),
with the intimidation extended, not only to institutions
of higher education, but to all schools as well. The
apparent justification advanced is that these institutions
are being targeted to counter the Army’s operations
against the militants. Maulvi Omar, spokesman of the
TTP, Bajaur chapter, on February 19, 2009, thus warned,
"We would take action and destroy all the buildings
of educational institutions if Security Forces continued
their operation against our fighters." In reality, however,
the targeting of educational institutions touches the
very core of the TTP’s drive for radicalization across
areas of their disruptive dominance.
Unsurprisingly,
TTP militants have targeted schools across KP and FATA.
An October 6 Dawn report quoted official sources
as saying that 700 schools, most of them for girls,
were targeted and damaged in different parts of KP over
the past two years. Militants destroyed some 400 schools
in the Swat Valley alone. In the latest of a series
of such attacks, unidentified militants blew up a girls'
primary school at Mashokhel and a boys' primary school
at Shaikhan villages of Peshawar in the night of October
8, 2010. Media reports also indicate that at least 240
schools were destroyed during this period in the three
agencies of FATA – Bajaur Agency (98), Khyber Agency
(86) and Mohmand Agency (56). In a single series of
such incidents, on October 9, 2010, unidentified militants
blew up three Government-run schools in the Safi tehsil
of Mohmand Agency (FATA).
Partial
data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal
(SATP) documents at least 52 schools – 25
for Girls and 17 for boys – destroyed in 33 incidents
in 2009; and 28 – 13 for girls and 15 for boys – in
22 such incidents in 2010. Similarly, in FATA, a total
of 28 schools – 14 each for girls and boys - were destroyed
in 25 incidents in 2009; and 44 – 31 for boys and 13
for girls – in 44 such incidents in 2010.
During
these attacks, TTP militants have also killed school
children and teachers. In one such incident on September
2, 2010, a female teacher was killed and two of her
colleagues were wounded, when masked militants opened
fire in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. On April 19, 2010,
a bomb explosion outside a school run by a Police welfare
foundation in Peshawar killed a boy and injured eight
others. Earlier, on April 27, 2009, 12 children were
killed when a bomb hidden in a football, left near the
compound wall of a girls' school in Dir District (KP),
exploded. On April 6, 2009, two female teachers, an
education aid worker and their driver, were shot dead
in Mansehra District (KP).
Such
is the fear that at least 205 primary schools for girls
have shut down in different parts of KP, sources in
the Elementary and Secondary Education (E&SE) department
told Dawn: "Most of the closed schools are
in the militancy-hit Districts, Frontier Regions (FR)
and the areas located adjacent to the tribal belt."
The schools that have been closed down include 21 in
Peshawar, 36 in Thor Ghar, 54 in Swat, 16 in Bannu,
56 in Shangla, 16 in Hangu, five in Dera Ismail Khan
and one in Kohat. The closure of these schools has deprived
thousands of girl students of education.
The militants
have openly declared themselves to be against the education
of girls. In a campaign led by Maulana Fazlullah, the
Swat TTP chief, the TTP exhorted people to stop sending
their daughters to schools, which "inculcate Western
values". Hundreds of girls and women teachers quit
schools as a result. The TTP Swat chapter, on December
25, 2008, ordered the closure of all girls’ schools
in the District and warned parents and teachers of dire
consequences if the ban was flouted. In an announcement
made in mosques and broadcast over their illegal radio
FM channels (popularly known as "Radio Mullah")
the militants set a deadline of January 15, 2009, for
its order to be obeyed, failing which they would blow
up school buildings and attack schoolgirls. "Female
education is against Islamic teachings and spreads vulgarity
in society," Shah Dauran, second in command of
TTP’s Swat Chapter, declared. Unsurprisingly, some 400
private schools in Swat announced the termination of
girls’ education in their institutions, depriving more
than 40,000 students of this basic right. Moreover,
84,248 girl students of State-run schools also faced
difficulty in attending schools due to the fear of attack,
despite attempts by the local administration to keep
the system running.
Meanwhile,
reports indicate that the Swat District, where the militants
had complete control some time ago, and where they are
again re-grouping, has 842 boys’ and 490 girls’ State
schools for 300,000 children aged 3 to 9. Only 163,645
boys and 67,606 girls are actually enrolled at State
and private establishments in the District, according
to official figures. The February 2010 United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report said that,
three years ago, more than 120,000 girls attended schools
and colleges in the region, which has a population of
1.8 million. Now only about 40,000 are enrolled. According
to an official in the Swat education department, who
asked not to be named to avoid becoming a target for
militants, "More than 30 percent [of the] girls dropped
out of educational institutions in 2006 and 2007 due
to speeches of [militant leader] Mullah Fazlullah on
his FM radio, against girls' education... Half of the
remaining girls dropped out or could not attend their
studies due to attacks on their schools and colleges.
Most of these schools are totally destroyed. Only 15
or 16 among them were partially damaged and could be
repaired."
The destruction
of education system also serves the extremists’ objective
of widening the recruitment pool for their jihad.
The Times in a July 27, 2009, report, stated
that Pakistan's Army believes that up to 1,500 boys
as young as 11 years old were abducted from schools
and madrassas (seminaries) and trained in Swat
by the TTP to become suicide bombers. Many were also
used to carry out attacks on United States and NATO
forces in neighbouring Afghanistan. Of two rescued recruits
interviewed by The Times, one Murad Ali, aged
13, said he was studying in class five when he was abducted;
the other, Abdul Wahab, aged 15, said he had been lured
from classes in a madrassa. Both were taken from
Mingora in Swat Valley, to a mountain base in Chuprial,
where they underwent 16 hours a day of physical exercise
and psychological indoctrination. They were rescued
when Army operations forced the Taliban to abandon their
camps. A Reuters report in July 28, 2009, indicated
that 12 boys had been rescued from suicide training
camps in KP. Another report by Press TV the same
month claimed that as many as 200 boys aged 6 to 13
had been rescued. US and Pakistani officials said children
as young as 7 were being sold by the TTP to other militants
and armed groups, for use as suicide bombers. The rate
quoted was USD 7,000 to USD 14,000.
Worse,
Pakistan's poor public education system helps stoke
militancy, while the religious schools often cited as
a cause of extremism appear to present a limited risk
factor, according to a report by the Brookings Institution,
a Washington think tank. "The way the education system
is set up is contributing to support militancy," states
Rebecca Winthrop of the Centre for Universal Education
at Brookings. Education statistics in Pakistan are "sobering"
– just 54 per cent of the population is able to read
and 6.8 million children between the ages of 5 and 9
are not in school. Less than a quarter of girl’s complete
elementary school and only one-third of Pakistani children
get a secondary education, with many dropping out. Corinne
Graff, the conflict specialist at Brookings Institution,
notes, "The data shows that lack of access to schooling
is a risk factor for conflict or militancy. We know
that Pakistan has extremely limited access (to education)."
Conspicuously,
the education system which is under militant fire needs
to be strengthened. Rajiv Shah, who heads the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) observes, "… Improvements
in education are critical to reducing violence." USAID's
total education budget in Pakistan for fiscal year 2010
is USD 335 million – with USD 265 million for basic
education and the remainder for higher education. USAID
is helping to rebuild damaged schools in the conflict-affected
areas of FATA and KP. Since 2002, USAID has invested
USD 682 million for education projects in Pakistan.
The US has also promised to put more money into improving
education in Pakistan and has made it a focus of the
US 1.5 billion in non-military aid allocated annually
by Congress for Pakistan over the next five years. Unfortunately,
reports suggest that a substantial proportion of these
funds are diverted by corrupt officials, or are wasted
in the prevailing anarchy of these regions. In any event,
it will always take much longer to build or rebuild
a school, than it takes to blow it up.
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Manipur
Senapati – Insurgent Sanctuary
Sandipani Dash
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
Manipur
remains the most violent State in India’s troubled Northeast,
with all its nine Districts (four in the Valley and five
in the Hills ) marred by varying degrees of extremist
activities. The Senapati District, located in the Hills
region, has been a focus of continuous subversion and
violence in the multiple insurgencies that have engulfed
the whole of Manipur for the past 46 years.
The South
Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database records that
at least 128 persons have been killed in 110 militancy-related
incidents in Senapati over the period 2001-2010 (till
October 17). This includes 88 insurgents, 31 civilians
and nine Security Force (SF) personnel. The past five
years have seen a substantial spurt in fatalities, particularly
among insurgents, and significantly as a result of fratricidal
turf wars.
Insurgency
related Fatalities in Senapati: 2001–2010
Year
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
Insurgents
|
Total
|
Incidents
|
2001
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
3
|
2002
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
2
|
2003
|
0
|
0
|
10
|
10
|
2
|
2004
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
3
|
2005
|
4
|
0
|
4
|
8
|
8
|
2006
|
8
|
1
|
7
|
16
|
14
|
2007
|
4
|
7
|
22
|
33
|
25
|
2008
|
0
|
1
|
27
|
28
|
20
|
2009
|
6
|
0
|
8
|
14
|
16
|
2010*
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
17
|
*Data till October 17
Source: SATP
Located
in the northern part of Manipur, the Senapati District
is surrounded on the east by Ukhrul, on the west by Tamenglong,
on the north by the Phek District of Nagaland, and on
the south by Imphal East and Imphal West Districts. 80
percent of its 3,271 square kilometer area is covered
by forests. The District’s landscape consists of blue
hills, green valleys, serpentine streams and rivers flowing
through mountains, and deep gorges. The District is inhabited
by Kuki, Tangkhul Naga, Mao, Maram, Poumai, Thangal, Zemai,
Liangmai, Roungmei, Metei, Nepalese, Vaiphei, Chothe,
Chiru and Maring communities. Its population of 379,214
is administered under six Sub-Divisions, five Police Stations
and two Police Outposts.
With its
substantial Kuki population, the Kuki insurgency constitutes
the principal facet of the conflict dynamic in Senapati.
19 Kuki outfits under two umbrella organizations – the
Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s
Front (UPF) – have signed a Suspension of Operations (SoO)
agreement with the Union Government since August 2005.
However, there has been little progress in containing
the Kuki
militancy in the Manipur Hills, and
Senapati is no exception. ‘Area domination’ exercise carried
out by warring Kuki groups have resulted in relentless
internecine clashes. At least 42 cadres of the Kuki armed
groups were killed and 14 others injured in as many as
16 internecine
clashes in Senapati District in 2005-2010
(till October 14).
Some of the major (resulting
in three or more than three killings) fratricidal clashes
among Kuki armed group in Senapati District include:
February
22, 2008: Five Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA)
militants were abducted and subsequently killed by suspected
militants of the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA)
at an unspecified place along the road leading to Thangal
Surung from Ekou Bazar under Saikul Police Station.
May 25,
2008: Four KLA militants and one KRA cadre were killed
during an internecine clash at New Saikhul under Saikhul
Police Station.
June 9,
2008: Two Kuki National Army (KNA)
cadres and one KRA cadre were killed during a factional
clash between the two outfits at Molkon village under
Saikul Police Station.
June 12,
2008: Three KNA cadres were killed during a factional
clash with the KRA at Molkon village under Saikul Police
Station. An India Reserve Battalion (IRB) trooper was
also killed in the crossfire.
December
18, 2007: Three suspected Kuki National Front (KNF)
cadres belonging to the Prithvi faction were killed and
five others wounded by KLA militants during a factional
clash at Zoulen village under Saikul Police Station.
March 13,
2007: Six militants belonging to the KNA were killed while
one sustained injuries in a factional fight with the KNF
at Phaijang village.
October
21, 2006: Three suspected KNA cadres were killed in an
attack by militants belonging to the KRA at Ekou under
Saikul Police Station.
December
15, 2005: Four militants were killed in a clash between
the KNA and the Prithvi faction of the KNF at the Koubru
Hill Range under Gamnom Sapermeina Police Station.
Since Senapati
is abutted by the two Valley Districts, Imphal West and
Imphal East, on the south, there has, at times, been an
overflow of its intra-Kuki fights beyond the District
border. On July 21, 2010, for instance, at least 18 militants
were killed and four were injured in a gun battle between
combined cadres of the KLA and KRA, on the one side, and
the Prithvi faction of the KNF, on the other, in the Seijang
Hill area in Imphal East, bordering the Senapati District.
Senapati
figures in the projected territory of Nagalim
conceived of by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland–Isak-Muivah
(NSCN-IM),
the principal militant formation that purports to champion
the Naga cause. Since the District has a sizable Tangkhul
Naga population and hosts several Naga community groups,
including the All Naga Students' Association Manipur (ANSAM)
and the United Naga People’s Council (UNPC), sympathetic
to the NSCN-IM’s agenda, the area has become a major operational
area for Naga insurgents. The NSCN-IM’s activities in
Senapati are easier since the Naga-inhabited areas are
located in the Hills, and the region that has remained
largely immune to the direct control of the Valley-centric
Manipur Government. An unauthorised camp of the NSCN-IM
– established prior to the 1997 cease-fire between the
Naga group and the Union Government in Nagaland – continues
to exist at Bonning in Senapati District. The NSCN-IM,
in fact, engages in a variety of insurgency-related offences,
including exortion, abduction, killing and the transfer
of men and material, across the District.
Some important
NSCN-IM related incidents in Senapati include:
May 18,
2010: A suspected NSCN-IM cadre was killed while the bomb
he was planting under a bridge along the stretch of the
Imphal-Mao section of the National Highway (NH)-39 in
Senapati District blew up.
February
17, 2009: The dead bodies of an Ukhrul District official
and two of his subordinates, who were killed by the NSCN-IM
cadres due to their failure to pay ransom, were recovered
in Senapati District.
January
2, 2009: 15 empty gas tankers on the way to Assam to collect
cooking gas were turned back by some self-proclaimed NSCN-IM
cadres at Maram in Senapati District, in connection with
extraction of ‘tax’.
July 17,
2008: The NSCN-IM in the Shepoumaramth region ‘decreed’
that no contractors or agencies from the Valley area would
be allowed to take up any work order in the Hill areas
of Senapati District, while contractors or agencies in
the hill areas should not seek any work order in the Valley
area.
May 8,
2008: Many Manipur Government offices under the Deputy
Commissioner of Senapati District closed down and some
staff of other offices stopped attending office following
a NSCN-IM diktat.
December
14, 2006: Two school children were abducted and subsequently
killed by the NSCN-IM militants in Senapati District.
September
14, 2005: A NSCN-IM 'deputy secretary' was arrested along
with three other persons following the recovery of 15,000
kilograms of narcotics, estimated at INR 150 million in
the international market, which were procured from Senapati
District and ferried to Dimapur in Nagaland.
March 27,
2002: Five SFs and a civilian were injured in an NSCN-IM
attack at a place between Lairou and Karong villages in
Senapati District on the NH-39.
The NSCN-IM
has managed to keep its supremacy intact in Senapati by
taking advantage of its demographic susceptibilities.
On May 6, 2010, two students belonging to the Naga community
were killed and 80 were injured during clashes between
protestors and the Manipur Police at the Mao Gate area
in Senapati. The protestors were trying to break the Police
barricade to demand safe passage for the NSCN-IM ‘general
secretary’ Thuingaleng Muivah, who planned to visit his
native Somdal village in the neighbouring Ukhrul District,
passing through Mao Gate along the Manipur-Nagaland provincial
border. The Manipur Government constituted a magisterial
inquiry into the death of the two youth, but violent protests
and counter-protests had virtually paralysed normal life
across the State. NH-39 (92 kilometers of which pass through
Senapati, from the south end to the north end) and NH-53
were completely choked during a 68-day long economic blockade
orchestrated by ANSAM and UNPC at the instigation of the
NSCN-IM in April-June 2010, inflicting a loss of about
INR two billion per day.
Senapati
remains an easy space for mobilization by armed groups
operating in the Manipur Hills and beyond. Given the tricky
terrain, vulnerable demography and strategic location,
as well as the patchy presence of the administration and
SFs in the region, there is little scope of choking off
the operations of violent sub-national movements in the
District.
|
Weekly
Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia
October 11-17, 2010
|
Civilians
|
Security
Force Personnel
|
Terrorists/Insurgents
|
Total
|
BANGLADESH
|
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
5
|
INDIA
|
|
Assam
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Jammu and
Kashmir
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
Manipur
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
Left-wing
Extremism
|
|
Chhattisgarh
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
West Bengal
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
Total
(INDIA)
|
3
|
3
|
9
|
15
|
PAKISTAN
|
|
Balochistan
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
FATA
|
8
|
5
|
23
|
36
|
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
|
2
|
1
|
12
|
15
|
Total
(PAKISTAN)
|
12
|
6
|
35
|
53
|
Provisional
data compiled from English language media sources.
|
INDIA
Al
Qaeda and LeT had planned
attacks targeting CWG
village, venues and
a five-star hotel in
New Delhi on October
12 and 13, indicate
reports: The
al Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT) had planned to
carry out attacks through
‘multiple shoot-outs'
targeting the Commonwealth
Games (CWG) village,
sports venues and a
five-star hotel in New
Delhi specifically on
October 12 and 13.
Times of India,
October 16, 2010.
LeT
operative David Coleman
Headley's wives forewarned
FBI of 26/11: Two
of the three wives of
Pakistani-American David
Coleman Headley forewarned
the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI)
of the November 26,
2008, Mumbai terrorist
attacks (also known
as 26/11), the US media
reported. Headley's
American wife had given
the FBI in New York
a tip-off on his Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT) links in 2005,
while his Moroccan wife,
Faiza Outalha, had told
authorities in the US
embassy in Islamabad,
less than a year before
the Mumbai attacks,
that the Pakistani-American
was plotting a terror
strike.
The
Hindu,
October 18, 2010.
More
Districts of West Bengal
want LWE-affected status:
The
Police and local administrations
of Birbhum, Nadia and
Murshidabad Districts
submitted a report to
the State Home Department
requesting that some
Police Stations in their
Districts should be
brought under the ambit
of Left Wing Extremism
(LWE)-affected areas,
considering the increased
activities of the Communist
Party of India-Maoist
(CPI-Maoist) there.
Indian
Express,
October 15, 2010.
Centre
names three interlocutors
to hold sustained dialogue
with all sections of
people in Jammu and
Kashmir: The
Centre, on October 13,
named three interlocutors
to hold a sustained
dialogue with all sections
of people in Jammu
and Kashmir. Noted journalist
Dilip Padgaonkar, Information
Commissioner M. M. Ansari
and Delhi Policy Group
trustee Radha Kumar
have been entrusted
with undertaking a sustained
dialogue "to understand
their problems and chart
a course for the future,"
an official release
said.
Daily
Excelsior,
October 14, 2010.
NIA
to interrogate NSCN-IM
chief arms procurer
Anthony Shimray:
The
National Investigation
Agency (NIA) was allowed
by a Delhi Court to
interrogate National
Socialist Council of
Nagaland-Isak-Muivah’s
(NSCN-IM) chief arms
procurer Anthony Shimray,
who is in custody for
14 days. He was arrested
from Patna (Bihar) on
October 2.
Telegraph
India,
October 13, 2010.
NEPAL
UN
urges swift moves to
meet peace process deadline:
The
Under Secretary General
for Political Affairs
of the United Nations
(UN), B. Lynn Pascoe
urged on October 14
that swift action to
overcome Nepal’s political
impasse is required
if the Asian nation
is to meet the January
2011 deadline to wrap
up its stalled peace
process.
Kantipur
online,
October 16, 2010.
Prachanda
to head task force formed
to forge consensus on
statute-drafting:
The
Unified Communist Party
of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M)
chairman Pushpa Kamal
Dahal aka Prachanda
was appointed coordinator
of a seven-member task
force formed to iron
out differences on the
contentious issues that
remain in Constitution
drafting.
Nepal
News,
October 14, 2010.
PAKISTAN
23
militants and eight
civilians among 36 persons
killed during the week
in FATA: At
least nine militants
were killed when US
drones launched two
missile strikes in two
villages along the Afghanistan
border near Mir Ali
in the North Waziristan
Agency (NWA) of Federally
Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA) on October
15. In addition, four
members of a tribal
lashkar (militia)
and three Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) militants
were killed as clashes
broke out in the Kasha
area of Orakzai Agency.
Also, five soldiers
were killed in a TTP
attack on Talab check
post in mountainous
Sararogha area, some
50 kilometres northeast
of Wana, in South Waziristan
Agency.
US
drones launched four
missile strikes at a
house and two vehicles
in the Dattakhel area
of NWA near the Afghanistan
border in the evening
of October 13, killing
11 militants, including
three foreigners. Separately,
unidentified militants
killed three anti-TTP
tribal elders tasked
with protecting their
areas from insurgents
in the Bazai area of
Mohmand Agency. Dawn;
Daily
Times;
The
News,
12-18, 2010.
TTP
second-in-command Qari
Hussain killed in drone
attack in FATA: The
‘master trainer’ of
suicide bombers and
second-in-command of
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP), Qari Hussain
Mehsud, is reported
to have been killed
in the October 4 US
drone attack in Mir
Ali town of North Waziristan
Agency of Federally
Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA). However,
TTP spokesman Azam Tariq
on October 16 contradicted
news reports about Qari
Hussain’s death and
described it as part
of a campaign to demoralise
the TTP.
Daily
Times;
Dawn,
October 16-18, 2010.
Pakistan
‘frees’ Afghan Taliban
supremo Mullah Baradar:
Pakistan
freed the ‘Supreme commander’
of Taliban in Afghanistan,
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar,
to enable him to play
a pivotal role in back-channel
talks with the US, through
the Pakistani Army.
Dawn,
October 16, 2010.
TTP
plans poisonous gas
attacks, say intelligence
reports: Intelligence
reports suggest that
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
militants plan to use
poisonous gas in attacks.
Reports said that the
terrorists could target
sensitive installations,
important buildings,
busy shopping malls,
markets, public places,
mosques and other places
of worship.
Daily
Times,
October 16, 2010.
Strike
out terrorist safe havens
in North Waziristan,
says US Defence Secretary
Robert Gates to Pakistan:
The
US Defence Secretary
Robert Gates asked Pakistan
to take action against
the terrorist safe havens
in North Waziristan
Agency as soon as possible,
which is said to be
critical for the war
against terrorism in
Afghanistan.
Meanwhile
Pakistan, on October
15, made it clear that
a decision on "when,
how and what [should
be done]" would
be made by Islamabad.
Indian
Express;
The
Hindu,
October 14-16, 2010.
SRI LANKA
LLRC
calls for Terrorist
Investigation Department
report: The
Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation
Commission (LLRC) sought
a report from the Terrorist
Investigation Department
(TID) over the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) suspects in detention
in a week’s time.
Meanwhile,
over 500 former LTTE
cadres, who successfully
completed their rehabilitation
program at the Vavuniya
rehabilitation centre,
were handed over to
their parents on October
15. The Government plans
to release another 2,000
rehabilitated former
LTTE cadres next month.
Over 11,000 ex-LTTE
cadres surrendered to
the Security Forces
during the final stages
of the Eelam War IV
and they were being
rehabilitated at centres
in Vavuniya.
Daily
News,
October 16, 2010.
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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