Suicide Bombings
On 4 December 10 persons, including five Policemen, sustained injuries when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into an abandoned house near the building of Haved Police Station in Bannu District, reports The News. The sources said the Policemen guarding the Police Station opened fire on the vehicle. The suicide bomber, the sources said, panicked and drove his vehicle into the abandoned house situated near the building of the Police Station in Haved village. The boundary wall of the police station, building of the Veterinary Hospital and some houses in the surrounding area were damaged in the blast. Five cops including Station House Officer Gul Nawaz Khan, driver Aurangzeb, Elite Force officials Liaqat Ali and Aurangzeb, Frontier Constabulary personnel Azizullah and five civilians identified as Abdul Baqi, Ziaullah, Mirjana Bibi, Jehan Noor Bibi and a minor, whose identity could not be confirmed, sustained injuries. The officials of BDS said about 600 kilos explosives had been used in the explosion. Talking to reporters by phone from an undisclosed location, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack. “The TTP would continue attacks on the police as they are the main hurdle in our way,” he stressed.
Three soldiers were killed and 20 others sustained injuries in a suicide blast on Dec 5 near the Ziari Noor Camp on the Angoor Adda Road in South Waziristan Agency. The sources said that two suicide bombers detonated their explosive-laden vehicle after they were stopped for checking by the soldiers at the checkpoint, some 100 meters away from Ziari Noor Camp on Angoor Adda Road. Three soldiers were killed and 20 others sustained injuries in the blast, the sources said, adding that 16 soldiers were injured when some of the residential quarters collapsed due to the intensity of the blast.
Nine persons – three Policemen, a soldier, two civilians and three suicide bombers – were killed while five others, including a Station House Officer (SHO), sustained injuries in a suicide attack targeting the Kakki Police Station in Bannu District on December 10, reports The News. The sources said three suicide bombers tried to enter the Police Station, 17 kilometers away from the Bannu city. When the guard at the entrance resisted, one of them blew himself up while another bomber went to hide in the nearby mosque and the third one was killed by the Policemen. Hearing the blast, armed civilians in the area reached the spot to assist the Police. The bomber, who was hiding in the mosque, attacked the civilians with a hand-grenade and then opened fire, killing three Policemen, two civilians and a soldier. In the retaliatory fire, the Police killed the bomber inside the mosque. Those killed included Police constables Imranullah, Bashir Khan and Ziauddin, Pakistan Army soldier Naeemullah Khan and civilians Hayatullah and Balqiaz Khan. The injured included SHO of the Police Station, Abdul Hameed Marwat, Police constables Aqib, Naeemullah and Said Rehman and civilian Noor Ali Khan.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters by phone from an undisclosed location, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack on the Kakki Police Station. “We wanted to avenge the recent killing of late TTP ‘chief’ Baitullah Mehsud’s nephew Ibrahim Mehsud by the Police.” Ibrahim Mehsud was killed in Bannu.
Bomb Blasts
At least two persons, identified as Qaisir Shah and Younus Khan, were killed and another was injured in a landmine explosion in Shuran area of Bolan District on November 26, reports Daily Times.
Three Policemen received minor injuries on November 26 after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle at Sarband area of Peshawar, reports Daily Times. The bomb was planted on a small bridge and detonated when the police vehicle was crossing it.
Two brothers, Rehmat Khan and Rahimdad Khan, were killed in a roadside explosion on Mamad Gat Road in Kuz Chamarkand area in Safi tehsil (revenue unit) of Mohmand Agency on November 30, reports Dawn. Mohmand Rifles soldier Taj Hussain and child Mujahid injured in the blast. Assistant Political Agent of Ghallanai Jamshed Khan told reporters that miscreants had planted an improvised explosive device on Mamad Gat Road that went off when a double-cabin vehicle hit it.
Separately, five Levies personnel were injured in a roadside blast on the main Peshawar-Torkham Highway in Zakhakhel area under Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber Agency. “One device exploded when a vehicle carrying khasadar official Abbas Ali and his subordinates passed by. They all escaped unhurt but their vehicle suffered damage,” he said. The official said the second blast occurred at the same place minutes later when levies personnel were busy removing the damaged vehicle. He said the second explosion was of mild intensity but caused minor injuries to five levies personnel.
Policemen remained unhurt though their van was hit by a roadside bomb on Inqilab Road in the suburbs of Peshawar on November 30, reports Dawn. “The van was damaged, but the policemen remained unhurt,” said an official of Badaber Police Station. He informed that the Police party was on its routine patrol when the blast at about 9 am. He added that the Police party was the actual target, but it escaped unhurt. An official of bomb disposal unit said that the improvised explosive device weighing about three kilogrammes was packed in a canister and planted at a water pipeline on a roadside which went off as the police van reached the spot.
Meanwhile, a two kilogram explosive device planted by unknown miscreants in front of Behram Shopping Centre at Jehangira Road of Nowshera was defused. Police said watchman of the plaza informed the Police after finding suspicious object lying in a plastic box in front of the market. The Police cordoned off the area and called personnel of bomb disposal unit to neutralise the explosive device.
The remote-controlled bomb targeted a Police patrol on December 3, killing two officers and injuring two others in Shahabkhel village on the Badaber suburb of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reports Daily Times. “The bomb destroyed the police van and killed two policemen,” Imran Shahid, a Senior Police Official said. Zarshed Khan, a bomb disposal expert, said two kilogrammes of explosives were used in the device and that two policemen were also wounded.
Targeted Killings
A supporter of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, identified as Haider Abbas was shot dead by two unidentified armed assailants in Nazimabad area of Karachi on November 26, reports The News.
Separately, a person, identified as Noor Mohammad was killed and three others were injured in an attack by armed assailants, outside an Imambargah in Kolab Jeeal town of Khairpur District on November 25, reports Dawn.
At least two activists of the People’s Youth Wing of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), identified as Barkat and Danish, were found dead in Ghazi Goth of Manghopir Police Station on November 27, reports The News. Both had been abducted a day earlier, said Police.
Meanwhile, a labourer, identified as Irfan Baloch was killed by unidentified armed assailants in the Jama Cloth Market.
At least six persons, including a trustee of an Imambargah, were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on November 28, reports Daily Times. A trustee of a Jamia Imamia Imambargah from Shiite community, identified as Hassan Mohsin (70), was shot dead by two unidentified armed assailants in Nazimabad area within the precincts of Gulbahar Police Station.
A Hazara Shia, identified as Hussain Ali Hazara, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants on Circular Road in Quetta on November 28, reports Daily Times. No group claimed responsibility of the incident.
In another incident, a man, identified as Nadeem Jan, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Barkhan District.
At least seven persons, including four Shia men, were killed in separate incidents of violence in the Karachi on November 30, reports Daily Times.
A Shia man, identified as Nazar Abbas (45), was killed and his daughter was injured by unidentified armed assailants near Jail Chowrangi in Karachi.
In another incident, two Shia persons, a father, identified as Ghulam Qadir (63), and his son, identified as Ghulam Abbas (32), were shot dead in Yousuf Goth, Baldia Town, within the limits of Saeedabad Police Station in Karachi.
Separately, a Shia person, identified as Riaz Hussain was killed and another identified as Mehdi Shah was injured near an Imambargah in Green Town.
Also, a person, identified as Sohail was shot dead at Mawach Goth of Baldia Town in Karachi.
Meanwhile, the decomposed body of an unidentified woman was found from bushes in Block 19, Gulistan-e-Jauhar in Karachi.
Also, Crime Investigation Department (CID) official was killed in targeted attack at Hazara Chowk in Frontier Colony.
Elsewhere, Personnel of Sindh rangers, in a pre-dawn operation, arrested over 50 suspects, including five wanted suspects and recovered heavy weapons from their possession in the Manghopir area.
A local leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F), Ubaidur Rehman, was shot dead outside his house in Gilgit on the morning of November 30, reports Dawn. According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Wasal Khan, unidentified men opened fire on Ubaidur Rehman when he came out of his house to go to work, killing him on the spot. The SP said the murder appeared to be an incident of terrorism, adding that exact motive of the attack could be determined only after the investigation which had been started.
An activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, identified ad Mohammad Adnan (25), was shot dead in Garden area of Karachi on December 2, reported Dawn. Separately, an unidentified dead body of a man was found on a garbage dump near the boundary wall of a Girls’ school in Landhi area within the remit of the Awami Colony Police Station.
At least nine persons, including four activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and a Policeman, were killed in separate incidents of target killing in Karachi on December 3, reports Daily Times. A District Graveyard Officer, identified as Muhammad Aleem (42) and his nephew, an activist of MQM, identified as Jaseem (26), were killed by unidentified assailants within the precincts of Iqbal Market Police Station in Orangi Town.
Separately, a Policeman was shot dead by two unidentified pillion riders in Bilal Colony within the jurisdiction of Korangi Industrial Area Police Station, reported Daily Times.
In a separate incident, dead bodies of two MQM activists, identified as Mehmood (26) and Tayyab (25), were found in a gunny bag near Al-Asif Police check post within the jurisdiction of Sachal Police Station.
Also, a man, identified as Usman (32), was shot dead near Habib Chowrangi within the remits of SITE-A Police Station.
In addition, a Special Branch Police Officer, identified as Murad Khan (40) was shot dead in the Frontier Colony within the limits of Peerabad Police Station in Madin Basti.
Elsewhere, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) have arrested several key suspected leaders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in a crackdown on militants in and around the Manghopir area in Karachi on December 1, reports Central Asia Online. Rangers detained more than 70 people, 10 of whom are suspected of being linked with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP).The team also seized a car loaded with more than 100kg of explosives, two suicide jackets with about 8kg of explosives and three water coolers filled with explosives weighing more than 5kg.
An activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), identified ad Mohammad Adnan was shot dead in Garden area of Karachi on December 2, reported Dawn.
Separately, an unidentified dead body of a man was found on a garbage dump near the boundary wall of a Girls’ school in Landhi area within the remit of the Awami Colony Police Station.
Unidentified militants shot dead a man, identified as Doctor Shamsuddin, in Jaffarabad District on December 2, reported Daily Times.
Separately, three people, including a Policeman, sustained injuries in an explosion in Babu Market outside NADRA office in Kalat District.
In another incident, two rockets were fired from surrounding mountains at the camp of a private firm, exploring oil and gas reserves in Barkahn District. The Law Enforcement Agencies cordoned off the area for tracing the terrorists.
At least four persons, including two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists and a Pakistan Sunni Tehreek (PST) cadre, were killed in separate acts of violence in Karachi on December 4, reports Daily Times.
A senior advocate, Masood Abid Naqvi was shot at by some unidentified armed assailants on Farid Kot Road in Mozang Police Station in Lahore on December 4, reports Daily Times.
A prayer leader, identified as Peshimam Ahsanullah was shot dead by three armed assailants inside a mosque in Sector 5-C within the remit of the Bilal Colony Police Station of New Karachi on December 5, reports Dawn. One of the assailants, identified as Mohammad Kashif alias Bilal, was caught by area people when trying to flee told Police. He worked for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and killed the Peshimam because the latter was an ‘informer’. The suspect told Police that he had undergone 21-day militant training at a camp in Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and was getting PKR 15,000 a month.
Two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists were shot dead in the remit of the Napier Police Station in Karachi on Dec 5, reports Dawn. Police said that the two men were passing through the Old Haji Camp on Syed Mehmood Shah Road on a motorbike when they were targeted in a drive-by shooting. The victims were identified as Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Owais, MQM activists of the party’s Lyari sector.
A Police Constable was shot dead on Gachero link road in Karachi in the night of December 5. Police said one Nisar Ahmed Bughio and his son were going in a car to their native Phull Bhugio village. When they reached Gachero link road, near the Moro bypass, four gunmen tried to stop their car and opened fire on it. On hearing the gunshot, constables Ghulam Mohammad Korie, resident of Moro, and Yaqeen Ali Mangenhar posted on the bypass rushed to the spot. In the ensuing encounter, Constable Ghulam Muhammad and Nisar Ahmed Bhugio were wounded. Ghulam Mohammad died later.
A Police official, Sub-Inspector (SI) Manzoor Hussain, was killed in Pishin and three people suffered bullet injuries near Sub-jail of Pishin town of same District in Balochistan on December 7, reports Dawn. Gunmen riding a motorcycle attacked Sub-Inspector Manzoor Hussain near Sub-jail Pishin. He received several bullets and died while being taken to hospital. “It could be an incident of targeted killing on sectarian grounds as the deceased belonged to Shia community,” a Police official said. The slain official is a native of Kabirwala in Punjab. Last month, Sub-Inspector Mujahid Hussain was gunned down in Pishin.
Separately, three persons, Mohammad Islam, Mohammad Hussain and Sajjad, were injured when armed men on a motorbike opened fire on them in Panjgur town of same District.
At least 10 persons, including two Rangers personnel, a Bomb Disposal Squad Official and a Policeman, were killed in separate acts of violence on December 10, reports Daily Times. Two Rangers personnel, identified as Hatim and Enayat were killed while two traffic constables and a passerby were injured by two unidentified armed assailants at a temporary check post situated at Super Highway in the precincts of Sachal Police Station.
At least 15 persons, including political workers and a Police Inspector were killed in separate act of violence on December 12, reports Daily Times. At least two persons included a local leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Sadiq Shah and a Policeman, Zahid, were killed and eight others were injured when a three-kilogramme Improvised Explosive Device (IED), planted near a makeshift restaurant in Muzafarabad Colony Landhi, exploded within the precincts of Quaidabad Police Station in Karachi. Police officials suspected the involvement of terrorist outfits, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and an extortion mafia behind the incident. Also, two blasts were reported within a couple of hours in Mianwali Colony, Manghopir area.
At least seven persons, including a Policeman and a Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist, were killed in separate incidents in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh on December23, reports Daily Times. An activist of MQM, identified as Muhammad Amir (25) was shot dead near Shoe Market in Garden area within the precincts of Garden Police Station.
Separately, a Policeman, Muhammad Aslam was shot dead near Napier Road within the limits of Napier Police Station.
Sectarian and targeted violence claimed twelve more lives in separate acts of violence in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, on December 24, reports Daily Times. Three Shia traders were killed within a couple of minutes in Nazimabad No 2. An official said that two pillion riders fired at a shop, injuring two men, 50-year-old Hasnain Hussain and his younger brother, 45-year-old Qamar Hussain. The assailants then fired at a shop in another street and killed a man before escaping.
Separately, unidentified assailants fired in Rizvia, Golimar, Gulbahar, Incholi and other Shia-dominated areas. Armed men forced shopkeepers to shut down their businesses. Miscreants pelted stones on passing vehicles, hampering flow of traffic for hours.
Miscellaneous
Security Forces on November 27 killed four militants during a clash at Zawa area in Bara tehsil (revenue unit) of Khyber Agency, reports Dawn. Two of them were identified as Mohammad Asim, a resident of Charsadda, and Shah Faisal, who hailed from Darra Adamkhel of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Four militants were killed when a clash erupted between Security Forces (SFs) and militants on November 28 in Akkakhel area of Bara sub-division in Khyber Agency, reports The Express Tribune. SFs recovered bodies of all the four slain militants. While two were identified as Shah Faisal, a resident of Darra Adamkhel town in Kohat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Muhammad Asim, a resident of Charsadda District, while the identity of the other two militants could not be confirmed.
Separately, militants blew up a check post of Khasadar force in Cheegalar area of Frontier Region (FR) Lakki Marwat on the night of November 27, reports Dawn. However, no casualties were reported.
Seven militants were killed and 15 others, including Mullah Nazir, who is considered a pro-Government local Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ‘chief’, sustained injuries when a suicide bomber riding a motorbike blew himself up near the vehicle of the militant commander in Rustam Adda in South Waziristan Agency on November 29, reports The News. Sources said that in the attack, apparently targeting Mullah Nazir, his two key ‘commanders’ were killed besides five others on the spot. Mullah Nazir, leading a large faction of militants in South Waziristan Agency, also sustained injuries in the blast. Soon after the incident, militants of the Mullah Nazir fraction besieged the area and closed Rustam Adda. Mullah Nazir, dubbed as a pro-Government Taliban leader, became prominent when he organised and led a Lashkar (militia) to dislodge the foreign militants, particularly of the Uzbek origin from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan tribal region, a few years ago. “The tribesmen then asked Mullah Nazir to expel foreign militants and Pakistani militants who are opposed to the Pakistani forces. Mullah Nazir promised to do this but sought some time,” a tribal elder familiar with these developments said. Mullah Nazir had also signed a peace accord with the government in 2007.
Separately, four suspected militants were killed in a US drone attack in the Sheen Warsak area of Wana town, reports Daily Times. Three missiles were fired in the Sheen Warsak area, which is the main town of South Waziristan. According to local sources, the attack came late afternoon and the drone targeted a house, resulting in the death of four suspected militants. Other sources said a vehicle was targeted in the drone strike.
The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Police arrested three militants of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan near Minar-i-Pakistan (monument) in Lahore District on December 1, and thwarted their plans of targeting Shia processions, reports Dawn. The arrestees are identified as Arshid Ali, Umer Zaib and Amjad. The Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Tariq Ilyas Kayani said that a special team of CIA conducted the raid in Minar-i-Pakistan area and recovered seven kilogram of explosive material, four hand grenades, a rifle, INR 150,000 in cash and bullets from their possession.
At least six militants were killed and eight others sustained bullet injuries when Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants attacked pro-government Lashkar (militia) Tauheedul Islam (TI) post in Bukar area of Zakhakhel in Khyber Agency, on December 5, reports The News. The sources said that dozens of LI militants attacked the Satani bunker with heavy and automatic weapons post situated on the Bukar hills top. The gun battle was continued for hours long in which both sides used heavy and automatic weapons. TI volunteers repulsed the attack and killed six LI militants. Eight TI volunteers also sustained injuries.
Four suspected militants were killed when a US drone fired two missiles at a house in Mir Ali tehsil(revenue unit) of North Waziristan Agency on December 6, reports Dawn. Local people said missiles hit the house of one Shaheedullah in the Mubarak Shahi village at around 5am, killing four suspects. The house was destroyed. A security official in Miranshah confirmed the air strike and casualties. The identities of the militants remain unclear, but the area is dominated by militant ‘commander’ Hafiz Gul Bahadur.
A US drone attack killed four militants, including a senior al Qaeda ‘commander’ Muhammad Ahmed Almansoor, in Tappi village in the North Waziristan Agency on December 9, reports Daily Times. The drone fired missiles at a house with Almansoor inside, destroying two rooms and a car. Four drones were seen flying over the area during the attack, residents and Government officials said. Military intelligence official sources said that it’s the second al Qaeda leader to be killed in strikes by the unmanned aircraft in three days. A similar attack on December 6 in North Waziristan killed another senior al Qaeda commander, Abu Zaid, who replaced Abu Yahya al-Libi as one of the militant group’s most powerful figures, intelligence sources said.
Unidentified militants blew up a Government girls’ primary school in the Aka Khel area of Bara Tehsil (revenue unit) in Khyber Agency on December 11, reports Daily Times. The total number of the destroyed Government schools in Khyber Agency has gone beyond 80.
PAKISTAN
Senior journalist and anchor Hamid Mir escapes attempt on his life
Senior journalist and anchor Hamid Mir escaped an assassination bid on November 26 when Police defused a bomb planted under his car in Islamabad, reports The Express Tribune. Mir, who hosts the Capital Talk evening show on Geo TV and writes a column for Jang, was criticised by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan last month in the wake of the shooting of teenage activist Malala Yusufzai. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the device was found stuck under the front passenger seat of his car. “There was half a kilo of explosives fitted with a detonator,” Islamabad City Police Chief Bani Amin said adding that officers had defused the bomb and were gathering evidence.
Mir was on his way to his office and the bomb was apparently planted when he stopped at a market, said Geo’s Islamabad bureau chief Rana Jawad. “It’s a message to me as well as Geo and the journalist community in Pakistan,” Mir told the television channel. “They want to stop us from speaking the truth but I want to tell them that we will not be deterred.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik visited the residence of Hamid Mir in Islamabad and vowed to provide him effective and elaborate security. During his visit, the Interior Minister said that security personnel from Police and FC are being provided to the journalist while a Police Inspector of his own choice will be also deputed for his security. Malik also announced to constitute a fact-finding committee, including a magistrate, Police officials and two journalists, which will probe the incident. “An inquiry has been ordered and a reward of PKR 50 million is announced for providing any clues regarding the attack on Hamid Mir,” said Malik.
Militants threaten pro-govt peace supporters in Khyber Agency
The proscribed militant outfit Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) on November 26 asked residents of Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency to dissociate themselves from pro-Government peace committees and threatened attacks against those ignoring the warning, reports Dawn. The LI men distributed threatening leaflets among people and pasted posters in the area over the past two days. Most of the areas where the pamphlets were distributed are under curfew for quite some time. The pamphlets have been distributed at a time when the local administration has announced reinstatement of 600 Khasadars who had resigned after they received similar warnings a week after the start of a military operation in the area in September 2009. In some places, the posters were hanged in trees, apparently to attract maximum attention.
The pamphlets warned people of dire consequences if they were found ‘guilty’ of supporting, patronising and helping pro-Government Lashkars or peace committees. “All the so-called peace activists are on our target list and they will be attacked in due course of time,” the pamphlet warned, saying people of Bara should voluntarily sever contacts with peace committees.
US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson supports Pakistan’s peace talks with Afghan Taliban
The United States (US) ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson, on November 27 said that the US Government supported Pakistan’s peace talks with the Afghan Taliban and the release of some Afghan Taliban prisoners, reports The Express Tribune. He expressed concern over the security situation in North Waziristan Agency and affirmed that the US considers the operation against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in North Waziristan to be an internal matter for Pakistan. Both Pakistan and the US acknowledge extremism to be a common problem which should be addressed properly, added Olson.
Four suspects including three would-be suicid bombers arrested in KP
Police on November 28 arrested a suspect, identified as Yahya, from Naurang town in Lakki Marwat District while he was taking three boys, identified as Shah Hussain, Rehan and Mukhtiar Ahmad, to North Waziristan Agency allegedly for training as suicide bombers, reports Dawn. Police officials claimed that Yahya belongs to Wazirgai Mehsud area of South Waziristan Agency was currently living Sultanabad Colony of Karachi in Sindh. An official said that Police had learnt during interrogation that Yahya belonged to a terrorist group, which consisted of some Mehsud tribesmen settled in Karachi. The official said members of the group kidnapped boys before shifting them to North Waziristan Agency for training as suicide bombers.
US-Islamabad ties fully repaired: FM Khar
Pakistan and the United States (US) have restored full military and intelligence ties after relations hit a low point last year, and Islamabad will take further steps to support a nascent Afghan peace process, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on November 28, reports Daily Times. “There was a fairly difficult patch and I think we’ve moved away from that into a positive trajectory,” Khar said, adding, “We are coming closer to developing what could be common positions. We wish to see a responsible transition in Afghanistan.” Relations between the uneasy allies were severely strained by a series of incidents in 2011. Now, Khar said, relations were fully repaired, including military and intelligence contacts. “We are having very useful, deep conversations with the US,” she said, as the two countries try to find common ground on Afghanistan ahead of the scheduled 2014 pullout.
Further, she said the Afghan and Pakistan Governments were discussing ways to strengthen military cooperation. Currently, relations are strained. Afghanistan still suspects elements in Pakistan of supporting the Taliban, despite denials from Islamabad. The Pakistan military, pursing Pakistani insurgents, has also shelled villages across the border in Afghanistan, prompting protests.
In addition to improving ties with Afghanistan, Khar said Pakistan also wanted to pursue closer ties with arch-rival India. “The Pakistani leadership has shown a great willingness to move forward, sometimes at the cost of losing some political capital, because sometimes improving ties with India might not be the most popular thing to do,” said Khar.
Balochistan Governor denies operation in province
Balochistan Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob, informed a parliamentary panel that no military operation was being carried out in the province as not single personnel of Army is deputed anywhere in Balochistan on November 30, reports Daily Times. Some members of the panel pointed out that the situation in the province had become so dangerous that it resembled that of the pre-independence Bangladesh.
Giving an overview of trouble in the province, the Chief Secretary told the committee that five districts of Balochistan are of utmost concern for the administration. “Dera Bugti, Khuzdar, Awaran, Panjgur and Turbat are the most troubled areas with regards to the law and order situation, whereas Quetta is facing another kind of violence that is sectarian,” Yaqoob pointed out.
He opined that meetings of this committee would provide strength to the provincial administration just like the hearings of the Supreme Court on unrest in Balochistan. He also sought the federation’s help, asking it to depute more officials in the province to meet the shortage, which has badly affected the administrative structure.
Senator Hasil Bazenjo said that people of the province have been sandwiched between insurgents and security forces, and cited the example of district Khuzdar, which has been giving a deserted look for the last few months. He disclosed that 40-45 people were killed in target killings in Khuzdar in the last few months with the city coming to a standstill because of deep fear. “What to talk about the rest of the city when the press club has been shut down due to this situation,” he remarked. He said that although some normalcy had returned following the action of administration but by and large the people of Khuzdar are still living in fear. He also expressed concern over the fight between insurgents and “establishment-backed armed groups”, which Maulana Ghafoor Haideri later on termed an attempt to push the province to further anarchy and civil war.
Pakistan agrees to free more Afghan Taliban
Pakistan on November 30 agreed to release another batch of Afghan Taliban prisoners in a bid to facilitate peace talks between insurgents and the Afghanistan Government, Daily Times reported quoting a joint Foreign Ministry statement. The announcement came after talks in Islamabad between visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul and his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. The number of prisoners to be released was not specified but is not thought to include the Afghan Taliban’s former deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was captured in 2010. A senior Pakistani security official earlier told AFP that “no decision” had been taken on his release. The joint statement said both sides agreed the “release of more prisoners, facilitating contacts and urging the Taliban to renounce ties to al Qaeda”. It was the second high-level delegation to visit Pakistan this month to press for the release of Afghan Taliban prisoners in a bid to kick start peace efforts. Talks two weeks ago between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s High Peace Council resulted in the release of nine Afghan Taliban.
Supreme Court forms commission to probe Lal Masjid incident
The Supreme Court has formed a commission, headed by Federal Shariat Court Justice Shahzado Sheikh, for fixing the responsibility of Lal Masjid 2007 incident and asked to submit recommendations within 45 days, reports Daily Times. The legal experts believe that the SC move to probe the Lal Masjid assault, may also irk Pakistan Army, which conducted the operation in 2007. A three member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry, has asked the commission to probe the reasons of Lal Masjid incident, how many people including men, women and from law enforcement agencies were killed. It also said that whether the state had paid the compensation to the heirs of killed people, whether the dead bodies were identified and handed over to their heirs, whether the action has been taken against the people who are responsible for the tragedy, whether the people who are responsible for the tragedy could be marked with the available evidences and facts.
During the hearing, Islamabad Police officer Tahir Alam submitted a report pertaining to the operation in the court. He said that 103 people were killed in the operation, in which 11 law enforcement agencies, four innocents and 88 terrorists were murdered. To which, the CJP questioned that how Capital Police could declare the 88 deceased as terrorists as it was a one-sided version and no one had proved them terrorists. He said that it should be open in the public that who was the responsible of this incident and if the state could not handle that small issue than what would be the benefit of it.
Parties with militant wings behind unrest in Karachi: Nawaz Sharif
Stressing on a collective effort for peace in Karachi, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif said that the political parties with militant wings are involved in unrest of the city and are also part of the Government on December 5, reports Daily Times.
Answering different queries regarding daily bases target killing in Karachi, Nawaz Sharif said that the Supreme Court (SC) in its verdict had named the parties having militant wings but these parties are sitting in the coalition Government so how the situation of Karachi could improve under these conditions.
Bomb neutralized in KP
Police and the Bomb Disposable Squad on December 7 foiling an attempt of terrorist attack, defused a seven-kilogramme bomb planted near Oskai check post in Lower Dir area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), reports Daily Times. The Police officials said that remote control bomb was prepared locally, as the explosive material was packed in a bucket, concealed in a sack and planted near the check post. The Police taking action on a tip off reached on the spot along with bomb disposable squad and defused it successfully.
Meanwhile, Police recovered 6,000kg of chemicals being used in making explosives as well as illegal wireless devices during a raid on a warehouse in Chamkani area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of KP, reports Central Asia Online. Police raided the godown while acting on a tip and found the explosives in a truck, Deputy Superintendent of Police Waqar Ahmad said. The officers also recovered a wireless base set, 52 receivers, prima cord (wire) and safety fuses in the truck, he said. Police arrested the owner of the warehouse, but the individual running the warehouse escaped.
TTP offers media jobs via Facebook
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has set up a page on Facebook to recruit enthusiasts to write for a quarterly magazine and to edit video, spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan confirmed on December 7, reports Daily Times. The Umar Media TTP page, which has more than 270 likes, appears to have been created in September and have just a handful of messages written in English. “Umar Media is proud to announce online jobs opportunities (sic),” says the first post on the networking website, written on October 25. “Job description (sic) is video editing, translations, sharing, uploading, downloading and collection of required data,” it says, giving an email address and asking readers to “plz spread it. This Facebook account may be deleted.” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan confirmed to AFP by telephone that the faction was “temporarily” using the page “to fulfill its requirements” before launching its own website. US-based organisation SITE Intelligence Group says the TTP uses Facebook as “a recruitment centre”. “Through its official media arm, Umar Media, the TTP has taken to Facebook to recruit contributors for their media work and the group’s forthcoming publication ‘Ayah-E-Khilafat’ (Sign of the Caliphate),” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile Facebook over the weekend deleted the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)’s recruiting page, Central Asia Online reported December 10. The TTP had been using the social media outlet to seek contributors for a new quarterly magazine. Facebook’s reason for deleting the page was not reported.
Talks with Haqqani group possible: US ambassador
Richard G. Olson, US Ambassador to Pakistan, on December 12 said in an interview with the BBC that talks with Haqqani Group could also be initiated, reports The News. He also expressed the strong possibility that US latest reconciliation policy could be applied to all extremist groups, and as such Haqqani Group also stood a chance to benefit. However, regarding the Pakistani chapter of Haqqani Group, he said that taking any further action against the ‘most bothersome’ Haqqani network was the responsibility of Pakistan’s Government. “We understand that Pakistan faces challenges similar to America in fight against terrorism, besides the challenge of terrorism tackling which was the foremost duty of Government and masses of Pakistan, added Olson.
TTP threat forced MQM to discard referendum plan
There are clear indications to suggest that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) abandoned its much trumpeted plan of holding a countrywide referendum to determine whose Pakistan the people wanted, Quaid-e-Azam’s or Taliban’s, following a threat by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to target MQM in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, reports The News. MQM circles close to Altaf Hussain claim that the plan had only been put off and not discarded. The referendum idea was floated by Altaf Hussain in a telephonic speech from London on October 14, 2012 following the failed assassination attempt on Malala Yusufzai by a TTP shooter.
The MQM chief had asked the people of Pakistan to decide whether they wanted to live in a Pakistan being run by the Taliban or the one that was envisioned by the Quaid-i-Azam. The MQM subsequently announced on October 18 that it would hold a national referendum after Eidul Azha. Days after the speech, the question was also featured on billboards across Karachi. Almost two weeks later, on November 1 Altaf Hussain announced in another address to his workers that he has directed the MQM’s Coordination Committee to give an earliest possible date for holding the referendum.
Five TTP militants and two civilians killed in terrorist attack on PAF base in Peshawar
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) base inside the Bacha Khan International Airport of Peshawar (provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) was attacked by militants, with a simultaneous rocket barrage, resulting in the killing of seven people, including five militants, and injuries to 40 others on December 15, reports Dawn. Spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Ehsanullah Ehsan, accepted responsibility of the attack, saying that the target was the Air Force base. He further said all 10 militants who attacked the base were suicide bombers. Five of them had managed to get inside the base.
Five rockets were fired at the airport. Two of them landed inside the premises, which also house the Army aviation and Air Force base used against militants in the adjoining tribal areas.
Five more attackers killed as Peshawar airport closed
Security forces on December 16 killed five more militants – said to be Uzbeks – in a fierce encounter in Pawaki village, just one kilometer from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) airbase in Peshawar (provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), clearing the area off miscreants after the December 15 night’s attack on the Bacha Khan International Airport and PAF base, reports The News. All together 10 militants, two civilians and two SFs were killed in the two days operation. The airport was cleared 16 hours after the assault. Officials said that 10 militants armed with suicide jackets, two explosive-laden vehicles, hand-grenades, rocket launchers and automatic weapons stormed the airbase at around 8:15pm and tried to enter the airport building on Saturday night.
KP Senior Minister Bashir Bilour and eight others killed in suicide attack
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour and at least eight other persons were killed and 17 injured in a suicide bomb explosion in Qissa Khawani Bazaar area of Peshawar, reports Dawn. The dead also included Station House Officer (SHO) of Kabali Police Station, Sattar Khan, and the late minister’s personal secretary Noor Muhammad. Police said around 100 people had gathered at the place when the bomber detonated his suicide vest. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack on Bashir Ahmed Bilour whose outspokenness had made him a lot of enemies among the militants. TTP’s ‘spokesman’ for Dara Adamkhel and Khyber Agency, Mohammad Afridi, said over phone that the suicide bomber belonging to his group. He said the TTP had set up a new ‘revenge wing’ that had carried out the attack. Afridi warned that leaders of the ANP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were the prime targets of his group.
REGIONAL
Bangladesh – Internal Dynamics
Regional leader of PBCP killed in Pabna
One regional leader of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party was killed at Debottar village under Atghori sub-District of Pabna District on November 27, reports The Daily Star. The outlaw was identified as Md Abdur Rashid (45). Police said Rashid was stabbed to death and the body was dumped in a pond. Police said Rashid was wanted in three criminal cases.
Meanwhile, a Rajshahi District court on November 28 sentenced seven cadres of banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh to 10 years rigorous imprisonment in an August 17, 2005 synchronised bomb attacks case. JMB carried out the attacks in some 500 places across the country, including Rajshahi city. Of the convicts, Toriqul Islam, Shafiullah Tarek, Abu Isa and Johurul Islam have been arrested while Korban Ali, Enamul Hoque and Amanullah are on the run. They were found guilty of exploding bombs on Rajshahi Judges Court premises, in front of Advocate Bar and Deputy Commissioner’s office, and Laxmipur intersection.
Four militants of PBCP including one regional leader killed in Pabna
Four suspected outlaws of Purbo Banglar Communist Party – Janajuddha (PBCP-Janajuddha) were killed in a mob-lynch attack at Beelkaliani village in Faridpur sub-District of Pabna District on November 29, reports UNB Connect. One of the deceased was identified as Khalilur Rahman (32), a regional leader of the outfit. Police said some 12-13 militants, led by Khalilur went to a house of the village reportedly to extort money on November 28 night, but the inmates of the house requested them to come on November 29 morning as a plan to trap them. As the militants arrived again for the toll, local people of Beelkaliani village caught four of them and took them to a nearby field. The villagers then gave them a tremendous thrashing, leaving them dead on the spot. The rest of the extortionists managed to flee the scene. Police also recovered a locally-made weapon and two mobile phone sets from the spot.
5 JMB militants arrested in Dhaka
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on December 2, arrested five top-level militants of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Dhaka city’s Mirpur area on charges of allegedly plotting to foil the ongoing War Crimes Trial by destabilising law and order, reports Daily Star. One of the arrestees Shaik Rahamat Ullah alias Masum, is a member of Majlish-e-Sura, the highest decision making body of the JMB. The other detainees are ehsar (full-time) members Shahinuzzaman Shahin alias Shafique, Amit Hossain alias Ajmeri and Shariful Islam Shohag alias Milton and gayeri ehsar (part-time) member Saidur Rahman.
A senior intelligence official of the RAB said that JMB militants regrouped, targeting to kill Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Awami League (AL) leader Suranjit Sengupta and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni.A good number of books, leaflets, CDs and pen drives containing the party’s organisational directives were seized from the possessions of five arrestees.
5 bombs recovered in Jhenidah district
Police recovered five bombs from beside a canal at Dakhalpara village in Harinakundu sub-district of Jhenidah District on December 3, reports Daily Star. Abul Khayer, officer in-charge of Harinakundu Police Station said, acting on secret information, a team of police raided the area and recovered the bombs in a bag and three sharp billhooks in the morning.
5 JMB militants arrested in Dhaka city
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on December 2, arrested five top-level militants of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Dhaka city’s Mirpur area on charges of allegedly plotting to foil the ongoing War Crimes Trial by destabilising law and order, reports Daily Star. One of the arrestees Shaik Rahamat Ullah alias Masum, is a member of Majlish-e-Sura, the highest decision making body of the JMB. The other detainees are ehsar (full-time) members Shahinuzzaman Shahin alias Shafique, Amit Hossainalias Ajmeri and Shariful Islam Shohag alias Milton and gayeri ehsar (part-time) member Saidur Rahman.
A senior intelligence official of the RAB said that JMB militants regrouped, targeting to kill Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Awami League (AL) leader Suranjit Sengupta and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni.A good number of books, leaflets, CDs and pen drives containing the party’s organisational directives were seized from the possessions of five arrestees.
2 JEL leaders and 2 ICS cadres arrested
Police arrested Maulana Abdul Mannan, ameer (chief) of Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JeI) Mirzaganj upazila (sub-district) unit on December 1, from Pashchim Subidkhali area of Mirzaganj in Patuakhali District, reportsDaily Star. According to Police, Mannan was arrested as he was planning to commit sabotage in the area. He was held while holding a secret meeting with the party activists.
Earlier, in Jessore District, Police arrested three leaders and activists of JeI and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) from Basundia area in Sadar sub-district on November 30. The arrestees were identified as Motiar Rahman, ‘president’ of the union unit of JeI, Maulana Saifur Rahman, ‘general secretary’ of the union unit of ICS and Alamgir Hossain, an ICS activist.
2 PCJSS members killed in Khagrachari District
Unidentified assailants shot dead two Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) members in Fatikchhari sub-district of Khagrachari District on December 4, reports Daily Star. The victims were identified as 25-year-old Kripasukh Chakma alias Saikat, of Suknachhari area, and 32-year-old Debabrata Chakma, of Laxmichhari area.
Quoting locals, M.S. Sobur, officer-in-charge of Fatikchhari Police Station, said armed criminals opened fire on Saikat and Debabrata around 12:30pm on their way back from Kanchan Nagar bazar area, leaving them dead. However, Dhiman Chakma, convener of PCJSS Laxmichhari sub-district unit, blamed the armed cadres of United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) for the killing of their activists. The victims went there for a party purpose. Denying the murder allegation, Niran Chakma, ‘press and information secretary’ of UPDF, blamed the internal conflict of PCJSS for the double murder.
Bangladesh least affected by terrorism in South Asia
Bangladesh has been ranked as the least terrorism-affected nation among the South Asian countries, according to a report of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) which was published on December 4, reports Daily Star. Overall, Bangladesh ranked 39 among 158 countries in the first ever Global Terrorism Index (GTI). The indicators include the number of terrorist incidents, fatalities, injuries and property damage. The GTI analysed many other factors and found intergroup cohesion, human rights, group grievances, corruption and governance to be associated with terrorism. The study also observed that terrorist attacks had risen steadily in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 to 2007, and peaked between 2005 and 2007, coinciding with the Iraq War
JEL a terrorist party asserts Information Minister
Branding Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI)as a terrorist and militant party, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu on December 7, said it was the people who would judge whether the party would remain or not in Bangladesh’s democracy, reports Daily Star. Inu, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) President, said, “They (Jamaat) want to provide compensation for the vandalism to an American embassy car. But who will provide compensation for the damaged vehicles of citizens”
10 HT cadres arrested in Chandpur
Police arrested 10 cadres of Hizb ut Tawhid (HT) in Toragargh area of Chandpur District on December 10, reports Daily Star. Books, leaflets and CDs on jihad (Islamic uprising) were also recovered from their possession.
GNLA ‘foreign secretary’ arrested
The Shillong Times reports that in a setback to the Garo Hills-based Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), the outfit’s ‘foreign secretary’ was arrested by Bangladesh Security Forces on December 15 from Madhupur area of Bangladesh and was forwarded to a jail there. According to an Intelligence official, the GNLA leader identified as Briansim Marak alias Bikdot Nikjang was arrested by the Bangladesh Police based on the inputs from Meghalaya Police. Nikjang had earlier acted as both political and publicity secretary of the GNLA.
Meanwhile, in another setback, Police, on December 16, arrested GNLA ‘area commander’ of Ranikor, Pollop Sangma and another cadre Lakshmon Sangma, both hailing from Upper Puksora, following a raid.
Two HT cadres arrested in Chittagong
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on December 23, arrested two operatives, identified as Mojibur Rahman and Belal Khan of banned Hizb-ut-Tawhid (HT) organisation from Bakalia in Chittagong city, reports Daily Star. They also recovered 820 copies of leaflets, nine books and 2 DVD disks on Jihad from Shahid Basiruzzaman circle adjoining the third Karnaphuli Bridge.
India – Internal Dynamics
Villager killed in crossfire between Maoists and SFs in Jharkhand
A villager, identified as Dasrath Malhar, was killed in crossfire between the Communist Party of India-Maoist and Security Forces (SFs) in Bhalmara forest of Upperghat area under Nawadih Police Station in Bokaro District on November 26, reports post.jagran.com. The encounter took place during an anti-Maoist operation in the wake of the CPI-Maoist observing “martyrdom week” to coincide with the death anniversary of Maoist politburo meber Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishanji.
Meanwhile, armed Maoists set ablaze six heavy vehicles, including a road-roller and dumper, involved in the road construction work under Saranda Action Plan (SAP) in Chota Nagra Police Station area in West Singhbhum District on November 25, reports The Times of India. “About 30 Maoist rebels arrived at the construction site and set fire to the vehicles,” said Kiriburu Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Arvind Kumar Singh. The SDPO said the contractor carrying out the works never sought for security cover despite the District Police assuring him of safety on many occasions. However, no casualty has been reported in the incident.
Three GNLA militants arrested
Security Forces on November 25 arrested three Garo National Liberation Army militants including ‘area commander’ of GNLA Haiderson Sangma in Assam-Meghalaya border in Murgidara of South West Khasi Hills District, reports Shillong Times. Sangma is alleged to have involved in transhipment of arms and ammunition to GNLA from Nagaland. The other two militants arrested from south West Khasi Hills were identified as Aket N Marak (18) and George D Shira (25). Demand notes, a mobile phone handset and three SIM cards were also seized from their possession, police said.
Meanwhile, State Chief Secretary WMS Pariat on November 26 said that the Government is collecting all the details of the attack on the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Working President Deborah Marak on November 24 .He informed that the discussions were on with the Election Commission and Union Home Ministry with regard to deployment of forces in Garo Hills and the state as a whole.
Maoists ambush a CRPF patrol party
The Communist Party of India-Maoist ambushed a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) patrol party by exploding a dozen Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Murangal forest near Bhamragarh under Lahiri Police Station in Gadchiroli District near the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border on November 27, reported The Statesman. However, no causalities have been reported on the side of Security Forces, security sources said. The encounter comes during the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) week being observed by the Naxals [Left Wing Extremists (LWEs)].
Militants kill three JPC cadres
Cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist killed three cadres of the Jharkhand Prastuti Committee (JPC), a breakaway faction of CPI-Maoist, in a gun-battle in Palamau District on November 28, reported The Telegraph. The dead bodies of the trio identified as Babulal Bhuiyan alias Avinash, the local JPC ‘zonal commander’, and ‘area commanders’ Pradip Bhuiyan alias Prashant and Butan alias Vikram, were recovered the next day, from a dense forest near Tal village under Panki Police Station in the District. Five more JPC cadres in the platoon are reportedly missing. Police suspect that either they managed to flee or they had been abducted, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) Praveen Singh said.
PLFI cadres kill woman in Jharkhand
The cadres of People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a breakaway faction of the Communist Party of India-Maoist killed a woman identified as Jiten Devi (48), and manhandled her two daughters, accusing them of being Police informers at Kombakera Devatoli under Koelibera Police Station in Simdega District on November 29, reported news.webindia123.com quoting UNI. Police said the deceased along with her daughters was sleeping at her home when the ultras attacked them killing her on the spot.
Meanwhile, 30 to 35 Maoist cadres attacked the office of a private company involved in road construction work and set ablaze eight vehicles including dumpers and tractors of the company near Jamni village in Dumka District, reports The Times of India.
Maoist posters ask people to join PLGA in Odisha
The Communist Party of India-Maoist has put up posters in Koraput and Malkangiri Districts ahead of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) week starting December 2, reports The Times of India on December 1. The posters, urged people to cooperate during PLGA week, was found in Boipariguda, Ramagiri, Lamataput and Onakadelli in Koraput District and Govindpalli and Kalimela in Malkangiri District. “Join PLGA and form local militia to fight against the exploitation of tribals,” read a poster pasted at Boipariguda. “We are keeping strict vigil along Odisha’s border with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to ensure that Maoists do not get a chance to enter our state. The posters are being removed,” said (south-west range) Deputy Inspector General (DIG) S Devadutta Singh.
PLFI cadres kill five villagers in Jharkhand
Cadres of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a break away faction of the Communist Party of India-Maoist killed five villagers at Kulbir-Ambatoli Village in Gumla District on December 1, reports The Times of India. The PLFI cadres also assaulted the wives of the victims who were admitted to Gumla Sadar Hospital. According to Birendra Toppo, Officer in Charge (OIC) of Palkot Police Station, PLFI cadres carried out the attack. The Sanjay Tiger group of PLFI is suspected to be involved in the killing, a Police officer added.
PJACBM warns of indefinite blockade demanding separate Bodoland State
Peoples’ Joint Action Committee for Bodoland Movement (PJACBM), an umbrella body of 47 organisations, in an executive meeting on December 1 decided to intensify the demand for separate State of Bodoland, reports The Sentinel. The PJACBM also threatened that it would call an economic blockade from January 1, 2013 for indefinite period beginning with a 72 hours economic blockade from December 10, 2012. The main demands of the PJACBM are expedition of Pro-Talks faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Central Government peace talks and creation of a separate State of Bodoland.
Maoists ask people to join their military wing in Andhra Pradesh
The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) urged the people to join Peoples’ Liberation Guerilla Army week (PLGA), the military wing of the Maoists, to protect the natural resources of the forests, through many posters and leaflets pasted at Sapparla in the GK Veedhi mandal (administrative unit) in the name of Galikonda Area Committee in Vishakhapatnam District on December 1, reports The Times of India. The Maoists urged the people to make success of the PLGA Week starting from December 2. Police attacks on the villages are nothing but a move to displace tribals so that they can loot the natural resources, the Maoists alleged.
PJACBM warns of indefinite blockade demanding separate Bodoland State
Peoples’ Joint Action Committee for Bodoland Movement (PJACBM), an umbrella body of 47 organisations, in an executive meeting on December 1 decided to intensify the demand for separate State of Bodoland, reports The Sentinel. The PJACBM also threatened that it would call an economic blockade from January 1, 2013 for indefinite period beginning with a 72 hours economic blockade from December 10, 2012. The main demands of the PJACBM are expedition of Pro-Talks faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-PTF)-Central Government peace talks and creation of a separate State of Bodoland.
Suspected PLFI cadres kill BJP leader
Suspected cadres of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a break-away faction of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) killed Sambal Pradhan (52), the secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Khunti District committee on December 5, near a weekly market in Sondari village under Torpa police station, reports DNA. The PLFI cadres also set ablaze two vehicles parked in the vicinity, the sources said. Ranchi Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Sheetal Oraon said according to prima facie evidence, the incident seemed to be a handiwork of PLFI, a splinter group of the Maoists.
ANVC-B justifies attack on Congress leader
The Breakaway faction of Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC-B) on December 8 justified the attack on Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) working president, Deborah Marak by saying that the politicians should first work for uplifting Garo Hills throughout their tenure instead of projecting themselves during the elections, reports Shillong Times. Further, according to the ANVC-B ‘Chairman’ Rimpu Marak, his order is applicable to every politician and not limited only to Deborah.
Meanwhile, members of the High Level Committee (HLC) on Influx have rejected the figures furnished by the Police and Labour departments respectively on the number of illegal foreign immigrants and Indian migrant workers detected in the State since 2001. Labour department has registered a total number of 5,432 migrant labourers in the past 11 years even as 103 work permits were issued during this period as per the final report of the HLC on Influx. Further, the Police has detected a total number of 12,957 foreign illegal immigrants who attempted to enter into the State from 2001 till August 2012 and the department managed to prosecute 689 foreign illegal immigrants during the period while 12,268 were pushed back directly.
Irrigation project manager arrested in Maharashtra over Maoist links
The Pranhita-Chevella Irrigation Project, a joint venture of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, came under the scanner of Security Force (SF) personnel following the arrest of a manager of one of the private companies on December 22 engaged in the work for close links with Communist Party of India-Maoist, reports The Times of India. Venkatramma Reddy, the manager of Hyderabad’s Sushee Infrastructure Private Limited, was nabbed by Jimulgatta Police in Aheri tehsil (revenue unit) along with two others in Devalmari jungle of Gadchiroli. The trio was headed to meet a group of Maoists to provide logistics and financial support. They were also in possession of incriminating material brought as an aid for Maoists.
Abduction and extortion on the rise in Assam
Assam has witnessed a steady increase in kidnapping and extortion cases over the past few years. According to the latest figures compiled by the State Crime Records Bureau, there has been a spurt in kidnapping and extortion cases in the state since 2004, The Telegraph reports on December 26.
The total number of abduction cases registered in different Police Stations across Assam has gone up from 1,659 in 2004 to 3,785 in 2011. This year (2012) up to October, altogether 3,229 kidnapping cases have been registered so far and it is likely to cross last year’s figure by the end of the year. The crime figures for November are still under compilation.
Like kidnapping, extortion cases have also shown a rising trend. Compared to 388 extortion cases registered in 2004, the figure has jumped to 992 in 2011. Till 2012, October 879 extortion cases have been registered in the state.
Things have reached such a stage that even legislators are not being spared by the extortionists. Many MLAs, from different political parties, have reportedly received extortion demand from the United Liberation Front of Assam -Anti-Talks Faction (ULFA-ATF) in the past few months. The legislators who received extortion demands are Bolin Chetia from Sadiya Assembly constituency, Rupjyoti Kurmi from Mariani, Debabrata Saikia from Nazira and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Doomdooma constituency, Dilip Maran. They were all allegedly asked to pay INR 20, 00, 000 each.
Most of the kidnappings and extortions are taking place in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, the four BTAD Districts and in their adjoining areas.
In addition, the number of breach of trust cases registered was 802 in 2009, 992 in 2010, 933 in 2011 and 1,060 up to October, 2012. Similarly, the number of cheating cases registered was 1,098 in 2009, 1,326 in 2010, 1,453 in 2011 and 1,404 up to October, 20.
| Monthly Fatalities The following deaths, related to ongoing insurgencies and acts of terrorism, occurred during the period Nov 26, 2012 to Dec 25, 2012: | ||||
| Civilians | Indian Security | Militant | Total | |
| Assam | 02 | 02 | 05 | 12 |
| Manipur | 00 | 00 | 02 | 03 |
| Meghalaya | 00 | 00 | 00 | 02 |
| Nagaland | 00 | 00 | 07 | 09 |
| Left Wing | 02 | 02 | 16 | 32 |
| Total | 24 | 04 | 30 | 58 |
Nepal – Internal Dynamics
The ruling Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist on November 27 decided to convert the present Baburam Bhattarai-led Government into a National consensus Government, reports myrepublica.com. It rejected proposal of any Government led by Nepali Congress (NC) or Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML).
UCPN-M, meanwhile, proposed a new unity Government offering political rivals the pick of the top cabinet posts in a bid to end the deadlock crippling, reports The Hindu. UCPN-M chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda said that he would let his rivals in the two largest opposition parties – NC and CPN-UML – choose their ministries if they agreed to unite behind a Maoist premier in a cross-party administration.
Earlier, NC President Sushil Koirala had asked Dahal to support his candidacy for the Prime Minister (PM) of a consensus Government.
CPN-UML reiterated that it won´t accept Maoists leading the new Government. CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal said the party should not accept the leadership of the ultra-leftist force, which is bent on seizing state powers and imposing totalitarianism in the country.
Meanwhile, President Ram Baran Yadav has agreed to extend the deadline by one more week should the political parties failed to reach to an agreement on consensus prime ministerial candidate within the stipulated deadline that expires on November 29.
Opposition cadres clash with police
Nearly a dozen cadres of the opposition parties were injured in Police action on November 28, during their protest against Prime Minister (PM) Baburam Bhattarai in Baglung Bazaar at Baglung District, reports Nepal News. Police baton charged on the protesters as soon as the protesters started waving black flags and chanted slogans against PM Bhattarai. Nepal Student Union (NSU), All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) cadres were among those injured in the Police action.
Further, President Ram Baran Yadav has invited chiefs of four major political forces at the President´s office on November 29 to discuss the failure of political forces to nominate a prime ministerial candidate to head the new Government within a weeklong deadline, reports myrepublica.com.
Meanwhile, Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) leaders have agreed to urge the Head of the State to extend his seven-day deadline to form a Government of
national consensus.
Baidya led CPN-Maoist opposes its omission in the meetings of major political forces
Expressing serious objection over President Ram Baran Yadav not including the Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist-Baidya) in the meetings of major political parties, the party on November 30 warned that it would not accept any decision that the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) take without the involvement of the CPN-Maoist-Baidya, reports myrepublica.com.
Meanwhile, CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal has accused the current Government of being the main obstacle in forming a new Government, reports ekantipur.com. He claimed that the joint agitation was launched to unseat the current Government and replace it with a national unity Government.
Two UCPN-M members killed
Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Dhading district committee member, Bijay Tamang, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Gumdi Village Development Committee (VDC) of Dhading District in the morning of December 3, reports Nepal News. He was shot dead in the jungle near Satdobato area at around 8am, UCPN-M deputy in-charge in the District, Ram Bahadur Bhandari, told RSS.
Elsewhere in the District, a former UCPN-M activist, identified as Bhishan Simkhada, 30, was murdered by unidentified assailants following his abduction from his home in the night of December 3, District Police Office said. Simkhada’s body was later found at Ratmate of Darkha VDC the same night. Police said Simkhada had left the party just few days ago.
Meanwhile, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near Doorsanchar Chowk in Banepa area of Kavre District. The ‘pipe’ bomb was planted at an area used to dump garbage. However, no one was injured
in the blast.
NC and CPN-Maoist Baidya not to join government
Nepal Congress (NC) and Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist, Baidya) on December 2 made it clear that they will not join Baburam Bhattarai Government, as vaguely suggested by President Ram Baran Yadav, reports Nepal News. Their meeting came a day after President said at a public function that all the parties joining the current Government to conduct the elections would be the best option.
Similarly, Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) Chairman Jhalanath Khanal said that consensus Government is not possible under the leadership of PM Bhattarai, reports The Himalayan Times.
Major parties fail to reach consensus
A meeting of the four major political forces – Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), Nepal Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and United Democratic Madheshi Front (UDMF) – to forge consensus ended inconclusively on December 6 as the parties remained adamant on their respective stance, reports Nepal News. During the meeting, the NC and CPN-UML stressed on the need for the Prime Minister (PM) Babu Ram Bhattarai to step down and pave way for the formation of a Unity Government immediately, while the ruling parties UCPN-M and UDMF reiterated their earlier stance that there will be no Government change without package deal on contentious issues of constitution drafting.
Meanwhile, President Ram Baran Yadav has decided to extend the deadline only after holding discussion with the parties on December 7.
Separately, at least two dozen ‘disqualified’ combatants were injured when police disrupted a torch rally organized by them at UCPN-M officein Kathmandu on December 6, reports myrepublica.com.
Police arrest 5 cadres of UELF
The Metropolitan Police Range Office, Hanuman Dhoka, Kathmandu on December 24 arrested five cadres of the United Ethnic Liberation Front (UELF) along with explosives from different places in the capital, reports myrepublica.com. Police said the five were planning blasts in the capital after the Government refused to hold talks with the group labeling them a “criminal group”. The Home ministry said that it has been refusing to hold talks with such groups as many of them are carrying out criminal activities in the guise of a political group.
Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress (NC) on December 25 decided to launch a protest movement if the leadership of the proposed consensus Government is not given to the party, reports Nepal news. The party also concluded that the authoritarian intentions of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist led to the current political and constitutional crisis.
Sri Lanka – Internal Dynamics
Five persons with pro-LTTE hand bills arrested in Ampara
Five suspects distributing pro- Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam hand bills to mark the ‘LTTE war heroes’ day were arrested by the Police on November 27 (today) in Akkaraipattu from Ampara District,reports Daily Mirror. ‘LTTE war heroes’ day is commemorated on November 27.
Meanwhile, Some pro-LTTE posters which were pasted by an unidentified group in two places in Uppuweli area of Trincomalee city have been removed by the Security Forces (SF) on November 26. The posters had been pasted in view of the ‘LTTE war heroes’ day which falls on November 27.
TNA calls for release of political prisoners
Sri Lanka’s major Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on November 29 (today) said in the Parliament that steps should be taken to immediately release the political prisoners in the country, reports Colombo Page. The TNA says that there are 810 political prisoners in the country. “We have a minister here who was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam a Chief Minister who was also an active LTTE member and now Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) is living freely in Kilinochchi District. So, why can’t these people, who were arrested for minor offences like giving water or food to the LTTE cadres, be released” the TNA has questioned. Meanwhile, Prisons and Prison Reforms Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera in response said there are only 318 hardcore members of the terrorist group LTTE are remaining in the jails while around 1,600 have been sent for rehabilitation.
Students on a two day boycott after clashes with security forces in Jaffna University
Students at Jaffna University (Jaffna District) in Northern Province started a two-day boycott of classes after clashes with security forces (SFs) on November 28, reports BBC News. Students said that they do not feel safe after several were beaten and injured in the worst political disturbances since the civil war ended in 2009. Some staff at the university accused the security forces of starting the violence, saying they believe the police baton-charged a group of students who had begun a planned march through the streets marking a commemoration of dead rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters. The tensions arose as some students marked the death of LTTE guerrillas at small candle-lit memorials, while well-produced pro-Tiger posters appeared in various parts of the formerly Tiger-held territory. LTTE sympathizers in the Diaspora call November 27 “Martyrs’ Day”. Jaffna’s military commander, Major-General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, said that the students have been “categorically told not to” because “they would become violent”. Across the former war zone in northern and eastern Sri Lanka there is a higher military presence than usual.
TID arrests four Jaffna University students
The Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) of Sri Lanka on December 2 arrested four students of Jaffna University (Jaffna District), Northern Province on suspicions of terrorist activities while an unknown Jaffna-based Tamil movement planned to stage a massive demonstration on December 3 (today) against the Police, reports Colombo Page. The four students are being interrogated over a petrol bomb explosion at the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) political party office in Jaffna and over the pro- Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) activities carried out last week to commemorate the dead Tamil Tiger fighters on the birthday of the slain LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran.
Meanwhile, according to Sources from Jaffna University of Sri Lanka, students of the majority Sinhala community have begun to leave the tension stricken university in the Tamil dominated city. Teachers and students decided to continue their agitations demanding the release of student leaders arrested by the police, and Tamil students are planning to boycott classes until the arrested students will be released.
UN to set up review group on UN’s actions and inactions in Sri Lanka in 2009
The United Nations (UN) said that a group to review the finding of the UN’s actions and inactions in Sri Lanka in 2009 or known as Charles Petrie report is being set up, reports Dailymirror.lk. Spokesman for the UN Secretary General, Martin Nesirky on December 5 said “the review group is being set up under Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson.” Three weeks ago the Charles Petrie report was handed over to the UN Chief.
TID arrests 25 former LTTE cadres
Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) has arrested 25 former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres in Northern Province, BBC News reported on December 6. Police are also reportedly hunting several students.
Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said that 10 suspects, all of them accused of “terrorist activities” with the LTTE before 2009, were detained in the Jaffna District on December 5. But the head of the Police’s TID, Chandra Wakista said that as many as 20 to 25 had been detained. Separately, sources in Jaffna University say the Police have given them a list of 10 students they want to arrest.
Daily Mirror adds that 10 former LTTE cadres were taken into custody by the TID in Jaffna on the basis of intelligence reports. Most of the information was gathered from fellow cadres currently in custody with the Police.
TID arrest 45 former LTTE cadres in Northern Province
At least 45 former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres, who were hiding since long period without surrendering to the security forces, were arrested in the Jaffna peninsula (Northern Province) by the Terrorist Investigations Division (TID), reports Daily Mirror on December 26. According to officials, following several search operations covering the entire peninsula in the recent past, these former LTTE members were taken into custody.
Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said that it would make submissions at the next UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva in March 2013, reports Colombo Page on December 24. TNA Spokesperson and parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran has told that the party would make its submissions based on the non-implementation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations and the issues faced by residents of the Northern Province.
INTERNATIONAL
US opts to keep 10000 troops in Afghanistan
The administration of President Barack Obama aims to keep around 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan after formal combat operations in that country end in 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported late on Sunday, November 25.
Citing unnamed senior US officials, the newspaper said the plan was in line with recommendations presented by General John Allen, commander of US and international forces in Afghanistan, who has proposed a force between 6,000 and 15,000 US troops. This force will conduct training and counterterrorism operations after the NATO mission in Afghanistan formally concludes at the end of 2014, the report said.
About 67,000 US troops are currently deployed in Afghanistan alongside 37,000 coalition troops and 337,000 local soldiers and police that make up the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The United States and Afghanistan launched crucial talks on November 15 on the status of US forces remaining in Afghanistan after the NATO withdrawal of combat troops in 2014. The US has stressed that it is not seeking permanent bases in Afghanistan.
It is also considered likely to shy away from a security guarantee, which would require it to come to the nation’s assistance against aggressors. That, however, is seen as one of the targets of Afghan negotiators.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is said to be willing to accept a US troop presence post-2014 as long as his key demands are met. According to the Journal, his main request is that American forces come under the jurisdiction of Afghan courts.
However, the paper said, some defense analysts outside of the US government believe that the training and counterterrorism mission would require a much larger US presence — perhaps as many as 30,000 troops.—Online
Israeli defence minister quits, brewing new turmoil
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday, Nov 26 abruptly announced he was quitting politics, injecting new turmoil into the Israeli political system weeks ahead of general elections. Barak, Israel’s most-decorated soldier and one-time prime minister, said he would stay on in his current post until a new government is formed following the Jan. 22 balloting. His resignation could mean the departure of the most moderating influence on hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who holds a wide lead in polls and is expected to easily win re-election. Barak, who heads a small centrist faction in parliament, often served as Netanyahu’s unofficial envoy to Washington to smooth over differences with the Obama White House.
His impending departure comes at a key time for Israel, as the nation struggles to find its way in a region where the old order of Arab autocrats has been swept aside by the Arab Spring and the rise of Islamist political parties. Israel also faces a looming decision on whether to attack Iran’s nuclear program, which the Jewish state fears is designed to develop atomic weapons a charge Tehran denies. Less than a week ago, Barak led an eight-day military offensive against the Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. The fighting, aimed at ending rocket fire from the Palestinian territory ended in a fragile truce.
Barak, 70, made the surprise announcement even after polls showed his breakaway Independence Party gaining momentum after the Gaza campaign. Despite the bump in the polls, Barak still could have found himself fighting for his political survival once election day rolls around.
Hundreds of Thai schools closed over militant attacks
Teachers in insurgency-wracked southern Thailand decided on Nov 26 to suspend classes at hundreds of schools in the region over the killings of education workers by Muslim militants. “We want to put pressure on security forces and the government to take greater care of our safety,” Boonsom Thongsriply, chairman of the teachers association in the region, told AFP.
The move means 321 schools will temporarily shut from Nov 26 in Pattani, one of several southernmost provinces plagued by an eight-year-old insurgency. It is unclear when they will reopen. The unrest has claimed more than 5,300 lives, both Buddhist and Muslim, with near-daily bomb or gun attacks.
Teachers working in non-religious schools are frequently targeted because they are seen as a symbol of government authority.—AP
Twin car bombs in Damascus kill 24
Twin suicide car bombs ripped through a Damascus suburb minutes apart on Wednesday, Nov 28 killing at least 34 people, state media said, and rebels claimed they shot down a Syrian air force fighter jet. The state news agency, SANA, said suicide bombers detonated two cars packed with explosives early in the morning in the eastern suburb of Jaramana, a Christian and Druse area known as mostly loyal to President Bashar Assad.
Suicide bombings have struck regime targets in Damascus and elsewhere since last December. Such attacks are a trademark of radical Muslim groups fighting alongside other rebels units, raising concerns of growing influence of Islamic extremists among the forces seeking to topple the regime.
Wednesday’s bombs were detonated in a parking lot near a cluster of commercial buildings as groups of laborers and employees were arriving for work, killing 34 and injuring 83 people, SANA said. The blasts shattered windows, littering the street with glass and debris. Human remains were scattered on the pavement in pools of blood. Six commercial buildings were damaged in the attacks, and dozens of cars were destroyed, SANA said. After the first explosion, people rushed to help the injured, and then the second bomb went off, said Ismail Zlaiaa, 54, who lives in the neighborhood. “It is an area packed with rush-hour passengers,” he said. “God will not forgive the criminal perpetrators.”
Opposition fighters are predominantly members of the Sunni Muslim majority. In their push to take Damascus, they have frequently targeted state institutions and troops. They have also often hit districts around the capital with the country’s minority communities, perceived to be allied with Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Gunmen in Yemen kill Saudi army officer
Gunmen in Yemen opened fire on the car of a Saudi Arabian army officer working with his embassy’s military section on Wednesday, Nov 28 killing him and his Yemeni bodyguard, officials from both countries said. Yemeni officials said the Saudi officer, who had diplomatic status, was traveling to the embassy when he was shot by gunmen wearing army uniforms in another car. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
Saudi Arabia maintains close ties with Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world and home to an al-Qaida branch considered to be the terror network’s most dangerous. The militant group is active on the Yemeni side of the two countries’ border, and has drawn Saudi nationals into its ranks there. Saudi Arabia’s official news agency confirmed the attack and said an investigation had been launched. The Saudi officer was part of the security detail for the military attaché to Yemen, it said, adding that the gunmen who attacked him were wearing uniforms of the “central security forces”. Islamic militants took advantage of Yemen’s popular uprising last year to seize parts of the country’s south. Last summer, backed by U.S. advisers and drones, the Yemeni military reclaimed much of the area, driving militants from a series of strongholds.—AP
Twin blasts kill 28, scores injured in Iraq
Bombs in two majority Shi’ite Muslim cities in southern Iraq killed 28 people on Nov 29 police and hospital sources said. Scores were wounded in the blasts, which struck during a month Ashura, a holy month for Shi’ites who are often targeted by al Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate and other Sunni Muslim insurgents.
Two explosions near a restaurant in the city of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, killed 26 people. In the city of Kerbala, a car bomb near a bus terminal where Shi’ite pilgrims usually gather killed another two people, a spokesman for the local health office said.
Violence in Iraq has eased since the carnage of 2006-2007, but Sunni Islamists still launch frequent attacks, seeking to reignite sectarian strife and undermine the Shi’ite-led government’s efforts to provide security. On Tuesday, car bombs targeting Shi’ites in mourning processions killed 14 people in Baghdad.—Reuters
Kuwait opposition to boycott polls
Opposition supporters and political activists will march in Kuwait on Friday, Nov 30 to urge a voter boycott, one day ahead of a parliamentary election that looks unlikely to ease tensions in the U.S. ally and oil producer. Campaigners and opposition politicians, who have already said they will not stand, called the rally to protest against a change in voting rules which they argue would skew the poll in favor of pro-government candidates.
The Gulf Arab state has held four parliamentary elections since 2006, after a series of assemblies collapsed due to a power struggle between elected lawmakers and a government that is appointed by a prime minister chosen by the emir.
Ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah used emergency powers in October to cut the number of votes per citizen to one from four, saying the change would fix a flawed system and preserve security and stability.
Yemen says it has arrested al-Qaida leader
Yemen’s Interior Ministry says police have arrested an al-Qaida leader who is one of the country’s most wanted fugitives. The ministry, in a statement late Saturday, Dec 1 said Suleiman Hassan Mohammed Murshed Awad was arrested in Zinjibar, the capital of southern Abyan province, once an al-Qaida hotbed. It did notsay when he was arrested. Awad, also known as Abu Osama al-Abi, was “one of the most dangerous criminal elements in al-Qaida who is involved in killing security men and joining others in terrorist attacks on foreign targets in Sanaa.”
Washington, which considers Yemen’s al-Qaida branch the group’s most dangerous offshoot, helped Yemeni troops with airpower and advisers last summer. The offensive drove al-Qaida militants out of southern cities, including Zinjibar.—AP
UN defeat disappoints Israel
The margin of Israel’s defeat in a U.N. vote that granted de-facto statehood to Palestine has disappointed Israeli political leaders, whose attempts on Saturday, Dec 1 to play down the result could not disguise its significance. The United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday to upgrade the Palestinians’ status in the world body, making them a “non-member state”. There were external factors, but it is hard not to see this as a total failure for our diplomacy which will obviously have consequences,” said a senior official who declined to be named. Government spokesman Mark Regev said that although Israel was “disappointed” by the vote, it was not surprised. “The General Assembly can resemble the theatre of the absurd, which once a year automatically approves ludicrous, anti-Israeli resolutions.—Reuters
Israel facing unprecedented isolation
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert said on Saturday, Dec 8 that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu was taking Israel into unprecedented isolation with its policy on Jewish settlements. He singled out Israel’s recent announcement that it would build new settlement homes in the E1 corridor near Jerusalem. Olmert said such plans had been around for years. But making the announcement days after the United States sided with Israel against the Palestinians’ successful bid for de facto statehood recognition by the U.N. General Assembly was a slap in the face to the Jewish state’s main ally. “Bibi Netanyahu,” he said, using the prime minister’s nickname, “is isolating Israel from the entire world in an unprecedented way, and we will pay a high price in every facet of our lives, and the Israeli public should know it.” The settlement plans have provoked worldwide condemnation, with the United Nations, the United States and the European Union all voicing criticism of the project which they see as complicating any attempts at peace with Palestinians. In Berlin this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Netanyahu to avoid “one-sided moves”. Olmert, speaking on Israel’s “Meet the Press”, said he did not embark on a widely expected bid to run in Israel’s upcoming January election due to a lack of unity in the centre-left bloc, as well as lingering legal troubles.
US names Syria’s Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist group
The US State Department has designated the Jabhat al-Nusra militia fighting Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria a foreign terrorist organization. The speed with which the US government moved to designate a fairly new group that has never attacked US interests and is engaged in fighting a regime that successive administrations have demonized is evidence of the strange bedfellows and overlapping agendas that make the Syrian civil war so explosive.
The State Department says Jabhat al-Nusra (or the “Nusra Front”) is essentially a wing of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the jihadi group that flourished in Anbar Province after the US invaded to topple the Baathist regime of secular dictator Saddam Hussein. During the Iraq war, Sunni Arab tribesmen living along the Euphrates in eastern Syria flocked to fight with the friends and relatives in the towns along the Euphrates River in Anbar Province. The terrain, both actual and human, is similar on both sides of that border, and the rat lines that kept foreign fighters and money flowing into Iraq from Syria work just as well in reverse. Now, the jihadis who fought and largely lost against the Shiite political ascendancy in Iraq are flocking to eastern Syria to repay a debt of gratitude in a battle that looks more likely to succeed every day.
The Nusra Front has gone from victory to victory in eastern Syria and has shown signs of both significant funding and greater military prowess than the average citizens’ militia, with veterans of fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya among its numbers. The US of course aided the fight in Libya to bring down Muammar Qaddafi. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the chance to fight and kill Americans was the major drawing card. In Iraq, the US toppled a Baathist dictatorship dominated by Sunni Arabs, opening the door for the political dominance of Iraq’s Shiite Arab majority and the fury of the country’s Sunni jihadis. In Syria, a Baathist regime dominated by the tiny Alawite sect (a long-ago offshoot of Shiite Islam) risks being brought down by the Sunni majority. Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in the odd position of now rooting for a Baathist regime to survive, frightened that a religiously inspired Sunni regime may replace Assad and potentially destabilize parts of his country from Haditha in Anbar’s far west to the northern city of Mosul. For the US, the situation is more complicated still. The Obama administration appears eager for Assad to fall, but is also afraid of what might replace him, not least because of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile. If the regime collapses, the aftermath is sure to be chaotic, much as it was in Libya, where arms stores were looted throughout the country. The presence of VX and sarin nerve gas, and the fear of Al Qaeda aligned militants getting their hands on it, has the US considering sending in troops to secure the weapons. That’s the context in which the designation was made part of an overall effort to shape the Syrian opposition to US liking, and hopefully have influence in the political outcome if and when Assad’s regime collapses.
US sends missiles to Turkey
U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta signed an order on Dec 14 to send two Patriot missile batteries to Turkey with 400 American personnel to operate them, in a move by NATO members to bolster Turkey’s defences against the threat of Syrian missiles. The order was signed shortly before Panetta arrived on an unannounced visit to Turkey to meet American troops stationed at the Incirlik Air Base, the last stop on a week-long trip that took him to Afghanistan and Kuwait. “The purpose of this deployment is to signal very strongly that the United States, working closely with our NATO allies, is going to support the defence of Turkey, especially with potential threats emanating from Syria,” spokesman George Little said. NATO-member Turkey has repeatedly scrambled jets along the countries’ joint frontier and responded in kind when shells from the Syrian conflict came down inside its borders, fanning fears that the civil war could spread to destabilise the region. The widely expected U.S. move follows similar steps by Germany and the Netherlands, which also said they will send two Patriot batteries. The three countries are the only NATO nations with the most modern type of Patriots. Little declined to say where the U.S. batteries would be located and said the systems would be deployed to Turkey for an unspecified amount of time. “We expect them to be deployed in the coming weeks,” Little said.—Reuters
Suicide bombers hit cell phone firms in Nigeria
Two suicide car bombers attacked the offices of two mobile phone operators on Saturday, Dec 22 in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano, killing themselves but no civilians, police said. India’s Airtel and South Africa’s MTN were the targets.
Islamist sect Boko Haram has previously blown up telephone masts and offices of phone companies, saying they help the security forces catch its members. “The one who hit the Airtel office was shot by military men before the bomb exploded … at the MTN office the car rammed into the fence but no civilians were killed,” Ibrahim Idris, the chief of police in Kano, told Reuters. Both bombs went off.
A military source said one security guard was injured and has been taken to hospital. MTN and Airtel Nigeria’s parent company Bharti Airtel, India’s top cell phone operator, gave no immediate comment.
The national emergency agency confirmed the bombings and said it was not aware of any civilian casualties. The security forces have played down the death toll in previous bombings.—Reuters.
North Korea could have US missile within range
This month’s rocket launch by reclusive North Korea shows it has likely developed the technology, long suspected in the West, to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles), South Korean officials said on Sunday, December 23 putting the U.S. West Coast in range. North Korea said the December 12 launch put a weather satellite in orbit but critics say it was aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.
North Korea is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests and the U.N. Security Council condemned the launch. South Korea retrieved and analyzed parts of the first-stage rocket that dropped in the waters off its west coast.
“As a result of analyzing the material of Unha-3 (North Korea’s rocket), we judged North Korea had secured a range of more than 10,000 km in case the warhead is 500-600 kg,” a South Korean Defense Ministry official told a news briefing. North Korea’s previous missile tests ended in failure.
North Korea, which denounces the United States as the mother of all warmongers on an almost daily basis, has spent decades and scarce resources to try to develop technology capable of striking targets as far away as the United States and it is also working to build a nuclear arsenal.
But experts believe the North is still years away from mastering the technology needed to miniaturize a nuclear bomb to mount on a missile. South Korean defense officials also said there was no confirmation whether the North had the re-entry technology needed for a payload to survive the heat and vibration without disintegrating.
Despite international condemnation, the launch this month was seen as a major boost domestically to the credibility of the North’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, who took over power from his father who died last year. Apparently encouraged by the euphoria, the fledgling supreme leader called for the development.—Reuters
Current Threat Levels
| City/ Region | Threat | Level |
| Islamabad | Level 2 | ** |
| Karachi | Level 2 | ** |
| Lahore | Level 2 | ** |
| Punjab | Level 2 | ** |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | Level 3 | *** |
| Peshawar | Level 2 | ** |
| Quetta | Level 2 | ** |
| Upper Balochistan | Level 3 | *** |
| Lower Balochistan | Level 2 | ** |
| Upper / Rural Sindh | Level 2 | ** |
| Gilgit and Northern areas | Level 3 | *** |
| Tribal areas, close to Afghan border | Level 3 | *** |
Index to Threat Level Perceptions
Threat Level 1 *
Indicates there is no threat to foreigners although there may be isolated incidents involving petty crime. No security precautions are required
Threat Level 2 **
Indicates there is no specific threat to foreigners; however because of the overall general law & order situation, some security precautions are advised if traveling.
Threat Level 3 ***
Indicates that law and order situation is cause for concern and travel should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Level dictates that foreigners should rehearse plans for evacuation.
Threat Level 4 ****
Indicates complete breakdown of civil administration and law & order leading to anarchy. All foreigners advised to remain indoors and confined to their own city. Families and staff not required to be evacuated retaining only a skeleton staff.
Threat Level 5 *****
Indicates complete breakdown of law and order, enemy action/hostilities, invasion /occupation by enemy.
