Terrorist Activities in Pakistan
Bomb Blasts
At least 45 persons were killed and another 70 were injured in a huge explosion that ripped through a Shia-majority neighbourhood in Karachi (Karachi District), the provincial capital of Sindh, on March 3, reports The News. Three relatives of Sindh Assembly Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza and several women and children were among the victims. Worshippers were offering Maghribain prayers at an Imambargah (Shia place of worship) in Abbas town when the bomb went off. Militants used a remote-controlled, vehicle-based Improvised Explosive Device (IED) weighing about 150 kilogrammes, which also contained ball bearings, Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Fayyaz Leghari told. The IGP suspected the involvement of banned outfits the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in collaboration with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Since last year, Police have foiled several terrorist attempts in Karachi and around 245 IED were defused, including another vehicle-based IED and a bomb planted in a rickshaw, Leghari said.
After the explosion, members of the Shia-community took to the streets against the law enforcers and the Government, demanding the arrest of the killers. Mourners gathered at M.A Jinnah Road, Ancholi, Rizvia Society and Abbas Town. A bus was set ablaze on M.A Jinnah Road. The situation in many areas was tense as investigators started collecting evidence from the site. They found the engine of the car used in the attack.
A bomb blast injured a polio lady health worker, identified as Sameea Zaib in the Jamrud Civil Hospital of Jamrud District in Khyber Agency on March 5, reports Daily Times.
Two persons were reportedly injured in a roadside explosion in Gilgit city of Gilgit-Baltistan province on March 8. Following the blast, panic gripped the town as the regional Government had hinted that it may be an act of terrorism.
At least people were killed and 30 others injured in a remote-controlled blast inside Jamia Hanfia Chishtia Mosque in Meena Bazaar of Peshawar on March 10, reports Daily Times. The bomb was planted just near the mehrab (space for the prayer leader), and the explosion took place right when Zuhr (prayer performed at noon) prayers were being offered, SP Imran Shahid told reporters. Bomb Disposal Squad Chief Shafqat Malik said three to four kilogrammes of explosives were used in the device. Ruling out the chances of it being a suicide attack, he said a remote control was used to trigger the explosives.
On March 10 a ten-year-old boy was killed and another was injured in a blast at the Asraf Khel link road in Landi Kotal town of Khyber Agency, reports Daily Times. During the site inspection, another bomb that was planted near the blast site was recovered and was disposed off by the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), sources said. A massive search operation was launched in the area and twenty suspected tribesmen were arrested and sent to the cantonment for interrogation, according to sources.
Meanwhile, two persons were injured when a pickup truck was targeted with an explosive device planted by unidentified militants on roadside near Parao Chinar in lower Kurram Agency, reports The News. The injured were identified as Afzal Hanan and Mir Khan. No group claimed responsibility for the incident so far.
At least three soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a roadside blast in Dogar area of Kurram Agency on March 11, reports The News. Captain Abbas, Lance Naik Rizwan and a soldier Waseem died and two other soldiers, Qayyum and Omar, were injured in the blast.
Two persons, a father and son were killed, while a dozen were injured when a remote controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off in Khurramabad, within Landhi Police Station of Karachi on March 11, reports Daily Times.
A man and his son were killed and 20 people, two of them Policemen, were injured as a bomb triggered by a remote control exploded in Bannu bazaar (Bannu District) on March 12, reports Dawn.
Meanwhile, a Bomb Disposal officer was killed on the outskirts of Peshawar while defusing a roadside bomb.
Separately, six persons were injured in a blast just 60 metres from the home of Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pabbi town, reports Daily Times.
A bomb exploded near Levies Force office in Chaman town of Qilla Abdullah District on March 18, reports Daily Times. According to Levies sources, the explosives were planted in the sewerage pipeline system passing through the Levies force office and were detonated through a remote control device. No loss of life was reported.
Targeted Killings
At least four persons were killed in separate incidents in Karachi) on February 26, reports Daily Times. A person, identified as Muhammad Imran (32), a cadre of Ahle-Sunnat-Wal-Jama’at (ASWJ), was killed near Shahabuddin Market opposite Saddar Parking Plaza within the precincts of Brigade Police Station.
Separately, a Sunni Tehreek (ST) cadre, identified as Muhammad Majid (40), was killed outside Sobhraj Hospital within the jurisdiction of Aram Bagh Police Station.
In a separate incident, a trader, identified as Khalid Hussain (30), was killed in sector 4-B of Surjani town within the jurisdiction of Surjani Police Station.
Also, the dead body was found from a graveyard in Saeedabad of Baldia town within the precincts of Saeedabad Police Station.
At least six persons, including a cousin of a Former Prime Minister (PM) Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on February 27, reports Daily Times. Ameer Ullah Jamali (58), a cousin of a Former PM Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants at block 15 Gulistan-e-Jauhar within the precincts of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station.
Separately, a person, identified as Shabbir Ahmed (34), a cadre of Ahle-Sunnat-Wal-Jama’at (ASWJ), was killed at A B Saniya Lines Bazaar within the limits of Brigade Police Station.
In a separate incident, a Shia man, identified as Wajid Ali (46), was killed near Baba Morr of North Karachi within the precincts of Khawaja Ajmer Nagri Police Station.
Further, a cadre of Jaish-e-Muhammad, identified as Khalid Hussain (32), was shot dead near Mustafa Cottage in sector L-1, Sajani town within the jurisdiction of Sarjani Police Station.
Also, a Security Guard Ashraf Khan (43) was shot dead and a customer was injured at a Haleem shop in Block-18, FB Area within the precincts of Samanabad Police Station.
Meanwhile, the dead body was found from bushes near Raees Goth within the limits of Maripur Police Station.
At least four persons were killed in separate incidents in Sindh province on February 28, reports Daily Times. A person, identified as Syed Danish Abbas Zaidi (30), affiliated with Shia Ulema Council (SUC), was killed outside his house located in Ancholi Block 20 of FB Area within the precincts of Samanabad Police Station in Karachi.
At least four persons, including activists of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were killed in separate incidents in Karachi Sindh on March 1, reports The News. Qari Abdul Razzaq (40), an activist of the JUI-F, was shot dead at Hussainiya Madrassah in Mansoor Nagar.
Separately, armed assailants shot dead an MQM activist, Shafqat in Orangi Town.
In a separate incident, a trader of garments was shot dead near Liberty Chowk of Tariq Road in Firozabad area.
Also, the dead body of a man was found near Sattar Kabari Shop of Sonaar Bazaar in Kharadar area within the limits of Kharadar Police Station.
Unidentified assailants killed a Shia trader and injured another at a shop in Kochi Bazaar in Peshawar in the evening of March 1, reports Dawn. An official of local Police said two people riding a motorcyclist stopped in front of the shop, opened fire at Akbar Ali Mir and Mukhtar Hussain and managed to escape. When contacted, spokesman for Imamia Students Organisation Waseem Abbas declared the terrorist attack sectarian, saying the trader had no enmity towards anyone.
At least 12 persons, including activists of the Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on March 2, reports Daily Times.
At least seven persons killed in separate incidents in Karachi on March 4, reports Daily Times. A person, identified as Asif (27), was shot dead in Sector 89 of Landhi area within the jurisdiction of Sharafi Goth Police Station.
Unidentified militants shot dead a tailor, Ghulam Farid in the Gandaw area of Jhal Magsi District on March 5, reports Daily Times.
At least six persons, including two activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on March 6, reports Daily Times. An MQM activist, identified as Rashid Khan was killed near his house in Sector 36-B of Landhi area within the precinct of Landhi Police Station.
At least seven persons, including an Awami National Party (ANP) worker, were killed in separate incidents of target killings in Karachi (Karachi District), the provincial capital of Sindh on March 7, reports Daily Times. A local leader of Awami National Party (ANP), identified as Mujahideen Khan Afridi (52), was shot dead, while two passersby were injured near Umer Farooq Mosque.
A person, identified as Haji Luqman, was killed and another was injured by unidentified assailants on Adalat Road in Quetta (Quetta District), the provincial capital of Balochistan on March 6, reports The Express Tribune. In another incident, unidentified armed assailants opened fire in Jam colony of Hub District and killed a person identified as Khuda Bakhsh.
An activist of MQM, identified as Irshad was killed inside his shop situated at Sector 5J of New Karachi within the precincts of Korangi Industrial Area Police Station on March 8. Separately, a man, identified as Waqar Naseem (43), was killed near Fauji Fertilizer hospital of Shah Faisal Colony within the limits of Shah Faisal Police Station.
Quetta District Election Commissioner Zia ullah Qasmi was killed by unidentified assailants in Chandni Chowk area of Quetta on March 12, reports Daily Times.
Abductions
Unidentified assailants abducted an Awami National Party (ANP) member, Malik Sultan Tareen from Bostan area of Pishin District on March 5. Tareen, who was elected on PB-22 Harnai area of Sibi District seat of Balochistan Assembly, was former minister for prisons.
Separately, on the same day unidentified assailants abducted a man from Bancha area of Kalat District. Levies Force said that the victim was on way home when Assailants took him away to an unknown location on gunpoint.
At least five persons were abducted at gunpoint from Turbat town of Kech District in Balochistan on March 11, reports Dawn. The victims were identified as Shah Mohammad, Shahzeb, Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Aslam and Mohibullah.
Drone Attacks
A US drone strike on March 10, killed two suspected militants in Degan village of Dattakhel tehsil (revenue unit) of North Waziristan Agency, reports Dawn.
Miscellaneous
At least eight militants were killed and 12 suffered injuries as jet fighters pounded militant hideouts in Jendri and Shah Wali villages of Mamozai tehsil (revenue unit) in Orakzai Agency on February 28, reports Dawn. Sources said jets targeted militant positions in Jendri and Shah Wali villages of Mamozai tehsil at 4:50pm.
Separately, unidentified militants blew up two primary and two middle schools in the Kandaroo area of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency, reports The News. The buildings were empty during the explosions. Militants have blown up 117 schools in Mohmand Agency during the past few years.
The Balochistan Levies recovered three dead bodies from Gazba Road area on Chaman bypass in Qilla Abdullah District on February 28, reports Daily Times. The deceased were identified as Hayat Khan, Haji Ata Wali and Mehmood. A Levies official said that the murdered persons were abducted some 20 days ago from the bypass area.
The bomb disposal unit (BDU) personnel diffused an eight kilogram of improvised explosive device (IED) planted by militants under a bridge at Sarokhel in the limits of Doaba Police Station in Hangu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on February 28, reports The News. Talking to reporters, District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Mian Saeed Ahmad said the explosives were planted by the militants to target the convoys of the Thall Scouts who often use the same route during their movement between Thall and Kohat.
Ten militants were killed in an operation by Security Forces (SFs) at Lando Qamar, Arghanjoo and Adamkhel areas of the Orakzai Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on March 3, reports Daily Times. Two hideouts of the militants were also destroyed.
Separately, seven militants, a ‘commander’ among them, were killed when PAF jets targeted their hideouts in Sandana and Speen Dhand areas of Sipah area in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency, reports Dawn. Independent and official sources said the seven militants belonged to the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI). The area is considered to be a stronghold of LI with its leader Mangal Bagh frequently changing his hideout to escape shelling.
Qari Asad Irfan, the District president of Ahle-Sunnat-wal-Jama’at (ASWJ), and a cadre, Moreed Hussain, were arrested in Chakwal area (Chakwal District) and sent to the Jhelum prison on March 4, reports Dawn. The Police said that Moreed Hussain was involved in the Lal Masjid incident and many blasts while Qari Irfan was accused of involvement in a number of ‘untoward incidents’.
Police defused two Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) bombs at Maiamzai area in the vicinity of Matni Police Station in suburbs of Peshawar on March 5, reports Dawn. Police said that each bomb weighed about 12 kilogram which had been packed in pressure cookers.
At least nine militants were killed in a clash with Security Forces in Mondan area of Mamozai in upper Orakzai Agency on March 6, reports Dawn. SFs officials said that a group of militants attacked a bunker of SFs in Mondan area with light and heavy weapons. The SFs backed by artillery and tanks retaliated and repulsed the attack, they added. SFs claimed that over 92 percent area of the volatile Orakzai Agency was under their control.
In a separate incident, five soldiers were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in Frontier Region (FR) Bannu, reports The News. However, no group claimed responsibility for the incident.
Meanwhile, unidentified assailants tortured a polio worker in Landi Kotal town and warned him and others involved in the anti-polio campaign to quit the campaign or be ready to be killed, reports Daily Times. They tortured the worker and snatched his vaccine kits, and gave him and all other polio workers the last warning to give up polio campaigns or be ready for consequences.
At least 12 militants were killed and several others were injured during an operation by the Security Forces (SFs) in different areas of Orakzai Agency on March 7, reports Daily Times.
Meanwhile, four militants were killed and six others were injured in renewed clashes between Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Ansar ul Islam (AI) in Theerak Sangar and Zeerak Kandaw areas of Tirah valley in Khyber Agency, reports Dawn.
Punjab Police, on March 7 recovered arms and ammunition, including two German MP5 guns, one .32 bore revolver and 200 live cartridges from Tarn Taran District on the basis of information provided by Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militant Narain Singh Chaura, according to The Times of India. According to Punjab Police officials, this is probably the first instance of the recovery of German guns from a terrorist in India. A top Punjab Police official said, “The MP5 gun is deadlier than AK 47. There are few security agencies in the country, which have this weapon.”
At least 20 militants and a volunteer of peace lashkar were killed in a joint operation carried out by Security Forces and Zakha khel tribal lashkar against the banned Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in various areas of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency on March 8, reports The News. Three hideouts of militants were also destroyed in the military offensive.
Meanwhile, five militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and three from Ansarul Islam (AI) were killed in clashes in Khwajalee Tambu area of Tirah valley.
Elsewhere, three persons were shot dead and another was injured by unidentified assailants in Garigal village of Mamond tehsil (revenue unit) in Bajaur Agency.
Unidentified assailants shot dead two Afghan nationals in the limits of Shabqadar Police Station in Charsadda town of same District on March 17, reports The News. Sources said that an Afghan column writer Sarwar Hazratyar along with a friend Abdal Lala was on his way home located in Manda area in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from Shabqadar bazaar when unidentified opened fire at them, killing them on the spot.
PAKISTAN
Policeman killed while protecting polio vaccination team in KP
A Policeman was shot dead on February 26 while protecting a polio vaccination team at Ghalla Dher on the outskirts of Mardan town of same District, reports Central Asia Online. “The female vaccinators went inside a house to administer the polio drops,” Mardan District Police Chief Danishwar Khan told AFP. “A police guard accompanying the team was waiting outside. Two people came on a motorbike. They opened fire and shot the policeman dead,” he added. No one has claimed responsibility for the killings. But the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in 2012 had ‘banned’ polio vaccinations in the tribal region of Waziristan, alleging the campaign was a cover for espionage.
Meanwhile, three journalists survived attempt on their lives as they were fired at outside the Swat Press Club in Mingora, the headquarter of Swat District. Senior journalists Fayyaz Zafar, Shahzad Alam and Murad Ali said that armed men travelling in a white car opened fire on them. The journalists told reporters that their guards retaliated and fired on the attackers to force them to flee the area. The Police registered case against the militant ‘commander’, Raja Liaqat Ali, and his brother Muhammad Ali and two unknown persons on the complaint of the journalists.
TTP responsible for Karachi violence: Interior Minister
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and foreign elements are involved in subversive activities in Karachi, Federal State Minister for Interior Imtiaz Safdar Warraich told the National Assembly on February 26, reports Central Asia Online. The TTP, driven out of Swat Valley in 2009, has fled to hideouts in Karachi, he said, adding that the group was pursuing “heinous” activities to avenge its defeat in Swat. In the past year, authorities have registered 67 bombings in Karachi, while making 61 arrests and recovering 209 kilogrammes of explosives. “At least 33 cases of explosives were registered in January and 31 of the accused were nabbed and 85 kilogrammes of explosives were recovered,” Warraich said. Authorities are working to purge the port city of all criminals, including TTP and anti-state elements, he said.
Three persons including a journalist shot dead in FATA
Unidentified assailants shot dead two brothers on Ghundi Road in Jamrud tehsil (revenue unit) of Khyber Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on February 27, reports The News. The sources said that Mir Wali along with his brother Mir Ahmed was on his way to Pabbi to attend a Jirga (tribal council of elders) when unidentified assailants opened fire on them on Ghundi Road. The sources said that the deceased, belonging to Pabbi tehsil in Nowshera District.
Meanwhile, a journalist Malik Mumtaz Khan was shot dead in Miranshah town of North Waziristan Agency, reports Daily Times. Mumtaz Khan was working for a private news channel and had 15-year journalistic experience. He is the fourth journalist to be killed in 2013 and the second to be killed in North Waziristan since Hayatullah Khan was found dead in June 2006. “He was fired on by gunmen near Miranshah town,” the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ) said. No group has claimed responsibility for the murder of the senior tribal journalist. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said “He was a good reporter and was serving tribal people, we condemn his killing and salute his services for tribal people”.
57 suicide attacks took place in KP in three years, Senate told
The Senate was informed on February 27 that a majority of suicide attacks in the country took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and that Punjab was particularly vulnerable to crimes against property, reports Dawn. In reply to a question put by Senator Colonel (retd) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the house that 57 suicide attacks took place in KP from 2010 to 2012. He said that 32 suicide attacks took place in 2010, 24 in 2011 and 21 in 2012 across the country. Over 8,560 incidents of dacoity took place in Punjab, 4,690 in Sindh, 218 in KP, 281 in Balochistan, 86 in Islamabad and 16 in Gilgit-Baltistan. About 55,225 robberies were committed in Punjab, 4,690 in Sindh, 1,257 in KP, 493 in Balochistan, 819 in Islamabad and 86 in Gilgit-Baltistan. Over 98,495 incidents of theft took place in Punjab, 7,786 in Sindh, 4,278 in KP, 2,387 in Balochistan, 1,030 in Islamabad and 593 in Gilgit-Baltistan during the past three years.
Pakistan seeks to import explosive scanner vehicles
The Government is moving to import 10 advanced explosive scanner vehicles, The News reported on February 28. The mobile scanning vans will cost PKR 10 billion (US $101.9m) and will be able to trace explosive materials to prevent terrorism. The Federal Ministry of Interior has sent a request to Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf that the officials will purchase the vehicles if and when Ashraf approves the request. Islamabad, Punjab Province and Sindh Province will receive two vehicles each if they are purchased. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are to receive one vehicle each.
236 Police encounters in two months, says a report of the performance of Karachi Zonal Police
During last two months at least 236 Police encounters were held in Karachi (Karachi District), the provincial capital of Sindh and 53 gangs of criminals were busted, said a report of the performance of Karachi zonal Police. The report said that from the January 1 to February 28, 2013 Karachi Police arrested 3862 accused including 2465 absconders and 300 proclaimed offenders. The Police during this period was engaged in 236 encounters during which 53 gangs were busted. During these two months the Police recovered from the arrested accused 24 submachine guns, 7 shotguns, 15 rifles, 21 repeaters, 23 revolvers, 999 pistols, 11 mousers, 25 daggers, 19 hand grenades and 205 mobile phones.
230 drone strikes carried out in past five years, says JUI-S leader Ikramullah Shahid
Activists of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul Haq (JUI-S) along with tribal leaders held a protest outside the Peshawar Press Club (PPC) on March 4 against increasing drone strikes in Waziristan of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) reports The Express Tribune. The protesters, led by Maulana Abdul Haq Haqqani, marched from the PPC, crossed the provincial assembly, and later convened at the Governor House. Addressing the gathering, JUI-S leader and former legislator, Ikramullah Shahid said that nine drone attacks occurred during Pervez Musharraf’s regime from 2002 to 2008, whereas 230 drone strikes have been carried out in Waziristan during the current Government’s tenure, killing more than 3,500 innocent people.”The rising number of drone strikes is a tactic of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s government to obtain more funds from America,” alleged Shahid. He maintained drones are a strict violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and should be shot down. Maulana Haqqani said that the undeclared war in Waziristan has not only affected lives of people, but has also affected their mental well-being as they continue to live under constant fear of attacks. He claimed there are no foreign fighters living in FATA.
Anti Terrorism Amendment Bill 2013 passed with majority in Senate
The Senate on March 5 passed, with majority, the Anti-Terrorism Amendment Bill 2013, which would enable the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) to take effective action against financiers of terrorism in the country, reports Daily Times. Law Minister Farooq H Naek presented the bill, which was opposed by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Senator Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, who sought deferment of the bill so that some necessary amendments could be made to make it more effective. However, JUI-F leaders staged a walkout when the bill was voted upon and was passed. The bill amends the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. It now needs to be signed by President Asif Ali Zardari to become law. The bill empowers the Government authorities to take action against elements involved in financing terrorism in the country, confiscation of property owned by financiers of terrorist elements. Previously, the National Assembly had unanimously passed the Anti-Terrorism Bill 2013 on February 20, 2013 aiming to remove the shortcomings in provisions against terrorism-financing.
Mob attack on Christian colony over an alleged blasphemy incident in Lahore
Hundreds of angry protesters turned into arsonists, attacking around 160 houses and 80 shops of Christians on March 9, just a day after allegations of blasphemy were leveled against a man in a predominantly Christian colony of the Badami Bagh area of Lahore (Lahore District), reports Daily Times. The violence began on March 8, when a man accused a Christian, Sawan Masih, of committing blasphemy by making offensive comments about the Holy Prophet and defiling pages of the holy Quran. Several Policemen, including Police officials were injured when the angry mob pelted stones on them during a clash. The Saint Joseph Colony and its surrounding areas turned into a battlefield when angry protesters started torching the houses and shops.
Pakistan Rangers arrest 104 target killers in 70 days in Sindh
Pakistan Rangers, Sindh on March 12 claimed to have arrested at least 896 suspects, 104 target killers and 39 extortionists and recovered over 782 weapons from their possession from January till March 12, 2013, reports Daily Times. Addressing a press conference at Muslim Jinnah Courts Building, Rangers headquarters in Karachi (Karachi District), Colonel Shafiq elaborated that during the current year Rangers personnel conducted at least 15 operations and 97 raids in separate parts of the Karachi. At least 569 culprits affiliated with banned and terrorist organisations were arrested in these operations and 620 weapons were recovered from their possession.
US drone strikes violate Pakistan sovereignty, says UN
The United States has violated Pakistan’s sovereignty and shattered tribal structures with unmanned drone strikes in its counterterrorism operations near the Afghan border, a UN human rights investigator said in a statement on March 15, reports Daily Times. UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson, visited Pakistan for three days this week as part of his investigation into the civilian impact of the use of drones and other forms of targeted killings. “As a matter of international law, the US drone campaign in Pakistan is being conducted without the consent of the elected representatives of the people, or the legitimate Government of the State,” Emmerson said in a statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. “It involves the use of force on the territory of another state without its consent and is therefore a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” he said. Emmerson said in January he would investigate 25 drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories. He is expected to present his final report to the UN General Assembly in October.
REGIONAL
Bangladesh – Internal Dynamics
JeI-ICS cadres hurl several bombs at Policemen in Dhaka city
Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) cadres on February 26 hurled several homemade bombs at law enforcers at different points of the Dhaka city as they tried to stage demonstrations and damage vehicles, reports The Daily Star. Around 200 JeI-ICS cadres brought out a procession, protesting the death of ICS leader Ali Asghar Khan Rahat on February 25. As they tried to launch an attack, Police chased them. Police arrested 10 JeI-ICS cadres from the city.
40 persons killed and 2000 injured as Jel-ICS cadres clash with law enforcers
At least 40 persons were killed as Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) cadres clashed with law enforcers across the country on February 28 centering on the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) verdict that sentenced JeI leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee to death penalty on February 28 on charges of war crimes he had committed in 1971, reports New Age. Seven were killed in Rangpur District, six including four Policemen in Gaibandha District, five in Satkhira District, four in Thakurgaon District, four including one Policeman in Chittagong District, two each in Sirajganj, Cox’s Bazar, Chapainawabganj and Noakhali Districts and one each in Dhaka, Dinajpur, Moulvibazar, Natore, Bogra and Rajshahi Districts. More than 2,000 people were also injured in the clashes according to the Police and hospital officials. Most of the casualties are reported to have been caused by firing by the Police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
Meanwhile, JeI-ICS cadres on February 28 wrecked havoc on the Hindu community across the country, reports The Daily Star. They damaged at least six temples, including one of Buddhists, and torched houses and business establishments of Hindu people in Noakhali, Gaibandha, Chittagong, Rangpur, Sylhet and Chapainawabganj Districts. During the attacks, the JeI-ICS cadres also threatened newsmen to keep from covering the incident and took away cameras of photojournalists.
Further, Detective Branch (DB) of Police arrested a local JeI leader on Station Road in Patgram town of Lalmonirhat District on February 27 on charge of instructing pickets to make February 28’s hartal (general strike) success. The arrestee was identified as Abu Hena Ershad Hossain Saju (50), former president of Patgram unit. Acting on a tip-off, a team of DB police raided the area and arrested Saju when he and others were planning to make the shutdown success.
Former cadre of PBCP killed in Jessore
A former member of outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) was killed at Tamaltola town of Jessore District on February 28, reports The Daily Star. The deceased was identified as Abbus Sheikh (45). Locals said a gang of 7/8 opened fire on Abbus, leaving him dead on the spot when he was having a shave at a saloon in the area
Death toll rises to 57 as violence rages
At least seventeen more people were killed taking the death toll to 57 as Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) cadres continued clashing with law enforcers across the country on March 1, reports New Age. In Gaibandha District, a rickshaw-puller and a tea-stall owner were killed as JeI-ICS cadres clashed with law enforcers at Bangsharhat town. In Chapai nawabganj District, JeI-ICS cadre Abdur Rahim (45) was killed and 20 other cadres were injured as fresh violence broke out at Shibganj town. In Noakhali District, Nur Uddin (17) of Khaliterhat village who was injured in the violence on February 28 succumbs to injuries on March 1. In Satkhira District, three people who were injured in clashes on February 28 succumb to their injuries on March 1.
29 people killed across the country
At least 29 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded as violence escalated on the first day of hartal (shut down) Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) enforced across the country on March 3, reports New Age.
Meanwhile, Police arrested Kendua sub-District unit ameer (president) of JeI from his relative’s house at Netrokona District on March 3, reports The Daily Star. The arrestee was identified as Shamsuddin.
Further, Different political parties and human rights organisations on March 3 condemned the ongoing mayhem created by the JeI-ICS alliance. Leaders of Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) said no new law is needed to ban JeI and ICS. Banning JeI-ICS is possible by using existing laws as they have already committed many terrorist activities, said a press release.
Meanwhile, JeI enforces a 48-hour countrywide general strike beginning March 3 demanding the release of its Nayeb-e-Amir (Vice President) Delwar Hossain Sayedee, and and the killing of JeI-ICS cadres in violence that followed the pronouncement of the verdict against Sayedee, reports New Age. The party alleged that the Government had planned to ‘kill Sayedee using court’ to ‘thwart Islamic movement.’ It said that the Government wanted to ‘eradicate Islam from Bangladesh by killing Sayedee.’ The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, Khaleda Zia, also the leader of the opposition in the parliament, on March 1 announced a countrywide dawn-to-dusk general strike for March 5 in protest at ‘genocide’ by law enforcers. She said ‘As the largest responsible political party, we cannot sit back and watch when the Government is pushing the country into a precarious situation and carrying out mass murder.’ Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), also a partner in BNP-led alliance, extended its support for the strikes JeI and the BNP called. ‘The IOJ extends its support for the general strike spanning three days in protest against mass murder,’ the party’s publicity secretary Abdullah Wasel told after a meeting of the party’s highest policy-making committee on March 2.
Further, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on March 2 in a rally at Madaripur District asked BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to stop trying to save the war criminals by announcing hartals and siding with them, reports The Daily Star. She said “Do not play with the fate of the people. You and your husband tried but in vain to save the killers of Bangabandhu.” She further said “I can firmly say no one will be able to stop the trial of war criminals. They will be executed on this soil.” “It is unfortunate that the leader of the opposition stood against the people’s aspiration when the whole country is raising its voice for the trial of war criminals, Khaleda is favouring the war criminals,” she mentioned.
Separately, leaders of the ruling AL-led 14-party alliance on March 2 urged the country’s people to resist BNP-JeI’s hartals and rise against war criminals, reports The Daily Star. Lambasting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for calling hartal for March 5, they said it has proved that she is against the trial of war criminals. AL Joint General Secretary Mahabub-Ul-Alam Hanif said attacks on law enforcers should not be a political programme, it is undoubtedly terrorism. Industries Minister Dilip Barua said the opposition chief is trying to save the war criminals, not democracy. Workers Party President Rashed Khan said the opposition leader is pushing the country toward mayhem.
2 militants killed in separate incidents
A militant was killed in a ‘shootout’ on March 3 while a cadre of another outfit was beaten to death by a mob on March 4, reports The Daily Star. In Chuadanga District, a member of Janajudhdha faction of outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) was killed in a gunfight with Police in Damurhuda sub-District on March 3. The deceased identified as Abdul Halim (39) was involved in various crimes, including extortion and robbery since 1996. Police recovered a revolver and two bullets from the spot. In Pabna District, an angry mob beat an outlaw dead in Hadal Doripara village in Faridpur sub-District on March 4. The deceased identified as Muhamad Sadek Ali (35) was an operative of outlawed PBCP Red Flag faction.
PBCP Red Flag cadre killed in Pabna District
An outlaw cadre Purba Banglar Communist Party Red Flag faction was murdered by rivals at Mongolgram Beel (water body) in Faridpur sub-District of Pabna District on March 4, reports The Daily Star. The deceased was identified as Lashkor Pramanik alias Jafar (35). According to the Police, Jafar was strangled by his rivals and dumped the body in Mongolgram Beel.
Policeman killed as JeI-ICS activists attack Police in Khulna District
A Policeman died and at least three other Policemen were injured when Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI)-Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) activists opened fire to snatch away one of their party men who had been arrested by the Police in Khulna in wee hours of March 10, reports bdnews24.com. A team of up to 12 Policemen arrested a JeI activist ‘Bonny’ over a strike-related case in Khulna during a raid conducted in Golkhali of Kaira’s South Bedkashi around 1:00am, Kaira Police Station Officer-in-Charge Fazlur Rahman said. “Soon Jamaat-Shibir activists launched a surprise attack on the Policemen and fired on them to snatch Bonny away, ” he said. Four Policemen were injured in the firing. One of them died later.
In a similar incident in Bagha sub-district of Rajshahi District, JeI-ICS activists assaulted Police officials on a drive to arrest Bagha Municipality JeI chief Nuhu Sarker and activist Nazrul Islam in a case filed over an earlier attack on Police. “At one stage of the attack, they snatched one pistol and the two arrestees,” sources said. Five constables were injured in the attack.
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia vows to try PM Hasina Wajed
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on March 13 said those responsible for the recent “genocide” in the country, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, would be tried if her party returns to power, reports The Daily Star. Khaleda while addressing a rally in front of BNP central office in the Dhaka city’s Nayapaltan area said “The Prime Minister is guilty of crimes against humanity. From the Government’s number one to all responsible for killing 170 people across the country would be tried for committing crimes against humanity.” She further said her Government would then form tribunals to try the Police personnel who had been involved in the genocide. She urged the Government to refrain from forming so-called platforms (manchas) and said “Government will not find the escape when people will form their own manchas.” Khaleda also demanded that the Government release all detained opposition leaders and called upon her party men to enforce hartals (general shut downs) on March 18 and 19 across the country if the leaders are not released.
India – Internal Dynamics
PLFI cadres kill two students in Jharkhand
Two tribal students, identified as Sandeep Lohra and Mangal Khadia, were killed by People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) cadres, a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, at Koda-Pahan Toli under Sisai Police Station limits in Gumla District, on February 25, reports Zee News. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) DK Pandey confirmed the incident.
Army trooper killed in IED triggered blast in Manipur
Kanglaonline reports that a powerful Improvise Explosive Device (IED) explosion at Churachandpur District in the morning of February 26 killed one Army trooper and a mine detector dog of the Army and left three persons injured. The IED was planted on the roadside at a place located between Khiang zang and Tollen village.
Meanwhile, the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), the political wing of People’s Revolutionary Army, in a press statement claimed the bomb attack saying that it was carried out by the “Special Warfare Team” of PLA. The statement signed by the ‘Chief of department of publicity’, RPF, Bangkim further claimed responsibility for an attack at the 24 Assam Rifles camp near Soibol Khul in Chandel District on February 21 at around 10pm and said that it was carried out by “Tactical Command” of PLA
Two SFs injured in grenade blast in Assam
An Anti-talks faction of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-ATF) militant lobbed a grenade at a Police team at Kenduguri bypass area in Jorhat in Jorhat District on February 26, injuring two Security Force (SF) personnel, reports The Telegraph. The injured were identified as Constable Keshab Gogoi and home guard Bolin Sonowal. Constable Gogoi managed to snatch a bag containing a bottle grenade and 28 rounds of live ammunition of AK-47 rifle from the militants. Police have picked up four persons, identified as Pankaj Bora, Ranjit Dutta, Mintu Bora and Arpan Jyoti Lahon, for questioning.
Meanwhile, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) recovered an improvised explosive device (IED) during a normal security drill near Noonmati Refinery in Guwahati under Kamrup (metro) District. The explosives containing ammonium nitrate and ball bearings placed in a tin can, a detonator and some fuse wires were found inside a bag just outside the refinery’s boundary wall.
‘Oil refineries, shipyards on terrorists’ radar’, asserts Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran
Vital installations, including oil refineries and shipyards, have constantly been on terrorists’ radar, with the Government on February 26 admitting inputs to this effect, according to The Times of India. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran said in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament), “The government has received reports/threat inputs indicating plans of terrorists to target important vital installations, including oil refineries and shipyards”. He further said, “State police and managements of such installations are sensitized to coordinate security measures and strengthen security to counter these threats. Besides, many such vital installations have been provided with security by CISF”. Replying to another question, the minister said both heavy water plants at Hazira (Surat District) and Vadodara (Vadodara District) in Gujarat were under security audit purview of central security agencies.
Maoists trying to establish base in Bangalore
After establishing their bases in rural areas of the country, including some places in Karnataka, Communist Party of India-Maoist is trying to move into the urban areas — in line with the objectives of 2007 Urban Perspective Plan (UPP), reports The Deccan Herald. Even as the State’s anti-Maoist force remains busy in some of the ‘Maoist-affected areas’, mostly in and around the Malnad region, the CPI-Maoist is spreading its tentacles in cities and semi-urban areas, including Bangalore. Confirming this, a Senior Intelligence officer said, “It is true that we are observing activity by left wing extremists groups in Bangalore. They are indulging in some over-ground operations and we are aware that certain people are involved in this.” He added that such groups, going by their modus operandi, use colleges and certain sections of the society to expand their cadre. “This is part of their overall strategy,” he said.
Three policemen injured in blast in Chhattisgarh
Three Policemen, including a Station House Officer (SHO), were injured in a landmine blast carried out by the Communist Party of India-Maoist in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada District, on February 27, reports The Business Standard. Commenting on the incident, Superintendent of Police (SP), Narendra Khare said “SHO of Barsoor Police Station Manish Praihar and two other Police personnel were injured in the landmine blast triggered by ultras near Lotpal village that (also) damaged the Police vehicle”. The blast took place as the Police team, deployed at Lotpal to ensure Security during the annual fair on February 26, was returning in the morning.
Suicides and desertions in police force
In the last seven years, as many as 26 Police Personnel posted in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region committed suicide and 226 officials quit the force, the Government said, on February 27, reports The Twocicles.net. In a written reply to Congress legislator Kawasi Lakhma, Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar said eight officers of the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces resigned from their jobs while five officers and 75 constables from the District Force quit between January 2006 – January, 2013. He said three officers and 20 constables of District Force and three constables of Chhattisgarh Armed Forces killed themselves since 2006 in Bastar.
170 people killed in LWE violence in last six months
A total of 170 people have been killed in incidents of Naxal [Left Wing Extremism (LWE)] violence in the last six months, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, R P N Singh told the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) in a written reply on February 27, reports The Business Standard. While 127 civilians were killed between the period August last year and January 2013, 43 Security Force (SF) personnel also were killed in the same period which saw 533 such incidents in various parts of the country. The Minister further added that while 30 Communist Party of India (CPI-Maoist) cadres were killed, 871 were arrested. He also said “The government is implementing the Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected states with a view to cater to critical security infrastructure gaps”. Singh said “It is proposed to continue the scheme in 12th plan with an added objective of funding upgradation of Special Forces in some of the LWE-affected states in order to effectively combat the LWE,”
Four killed in blast in Odisha
Four persons were reportedly killed following a blast at Patana village in the proposed POSCO steel project area in Jagatsinghpur District on March 2, reports The Telegraph. The deceased persons, according to the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti ‘spokesman’, Prasant Paikray, are Manas Jena (32), Nabanu Mandal (35), Narahari Sahu (38), and Laxman Pramanik (35). Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police Satyabrata Bhoi said: “We have received report of four casualties following the explosion. The blast occurred at the backyard of a house at Patana village. The police forces have rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. As per the preliminary investigation, the blast took place during the course of making of country-made bombs.” The POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, (PPSS), the outfit spearheading the resistance movement against the steel venture charged that members of a pro-Posco outfit lobbed bombs at their activists.
Quack beheaded in Jharkhand
The Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres beheaded a quack, identified as Vijay Kumar Dey at Hudagada village in Seraikela-Kharswan District of Jharkhand, on March 2, reports Zee News. The torso of the victim and the severed head were found lying within a distance of 15 m of each other. Commenting on the matter, Superintendent of Police (SP), Upendra Kumar, said Dey had a link with the Maoists, as he used to provide treatment to its cadres and supply medicines to them. He said a Maoist poster owning responsibility for Dey’s killing was recovered from the spot. Prima facie it seemed to be the handiwork of the Maoists, “but we cannot rule out outright that it could be a ploy of the culprits to misguide the Police,” he added.
Bomb blast reported in Manipur
Suspected militants exploded a powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near an under-construction building of the regional centre of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University at Makhan village in under Saparmeina Police Station in Senapati District on March 3, reports The Telegraph. Nobody was injured in the explosion and no one claimed responsibility for the attack.
In another incident, police bomb experts recovered a powerful IED outside the northern fence of Hijam Yaicham Pat from Yaiskul in Imphal on March 4.
3 Bihar districts account for 50% of SWE violence
Raising concern over Bihar’s efforts to tackle Naxalism [Left Wing Extremism (LWE)], the Centre revealed that three of its districts — Gaya, Jamui and Aurangabad — accounted for more than 60 percent of Communist Party of India-Maoist violence in 2012. The Union Home Ministry (MHA) has written to Bihar Chief Secretary, Ashok Kumar Sinha, to take immediate steps to counter the Maoists, reports The Indian Express, on March 6. Gaya, the Ministry noted, was the most affected. The contribution of anti-Maoist Special Forces is not visible in Bihar, a senior official said. This could have serious repercussions as the Maoists would attempt to regain areas they have been driven out of over the years. In its letter to Sinha, the Ministry also complained that the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), alleged to be a Maoist front organisation, enjoyed a free run. It was allowed to hold a rally at Muzaffarpur in December 2012 though the Centre was against it, sources said. The rally, organised under the banner of Janata Par Yudh Virodhi Manch and attended by more than 1,000 people, has not gone down well with the central forces fighting the Maoists.
Meanwhile, Bihar Government has started construction of buildings of 82 Police Stations in Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)-hit districts of Bihar at an estimated cost of INR 1.7 billion under a centrally-sponsored Police modernization scheme, reports The Business Standard, on March 4. The buildings of all 82 Police Stations in the Maoist-affected Districts will be completed within the next 16 months, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav informed the legislative assembly.
Assam Rifles recovered 100 Kg of explosives
Kanglaonline reports that 27 Assam Rifles recovered 100 kilograms (kg) of explosives (ammonium nitrate) on the intervening night of March 5 and 6 from a vehicle. A Press Information Bureau (PIB) – Defence Wing press release said, the civil vehicle was searched and 100 kg of explosive (ammonium nitrate), three pistols with live ammunition and 1290 detonators were recovered. “The explosives would have killed hundreds of innocent Manipuris and Indians in various areas of India where this dangerous consignment was intended to be transported”, it said. Preliminary investigation revealed that this dangerous consignment started from Aizawl (Mizoram) and was heading for Thinghat (Churachandpur District) where it was to be handed over to some valley based insurgents groups. The suspected militants from whom the explosives were seized have been identified as H Vantal Biak and Thangzalunmang.
Maoists set ablaze PFLI leader’s house in Jharkhand
Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres set ablaze the house of a top leader of rival outfit, People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a splinter group of the CPI-Maoist, at Talkasmar village in Palamu District of Jharkhand, on March 7, reports The Outlook. Over 20 Maoist cadres went to the house of PLFI’s ‘self-styled zonal commander’ Baijnath Yadav and asked his family members to vacate it before setting it on fire.
Women Maoists in Andhra Pradesh give call from jail to keep movement alive
Two Communist Party of India-Maoist women cadres who are serving sentences at the Visakhapatnam central jail in Andhra Pradesh, in a note released, on March 6, on the eve of the International Women’s Day, said that women have played a far more strategic role in keeping many revolutionary and path-breaking movements alive by giving them a feminine and human touch, reports The Times of India. In a note to all women, the two convicted Maoists, identified as Potluri Kranti alias Bhavani and Kamala, on behalf of the Maoist Political Prisoners, termed International Women’s Day as a historic day, saying that women are one half of the cosmos and without them the cosmos itself would not exist. The Maoists highlighted the role played by women in keeping the civil rights movement alive at the grassroots level especially against MNCs, which are forever encroaching on the fundamental rights of the have-nots.
Four outfits in Kerala under watch for alleged links with CPI-Maoist
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) has asked the Kerala Government to closely observe the activities of four organizations whose activities allegedly reflect the Communist Party of India-Maoist influence, The Times of India reported on March 10. The organizations are Adivasi Vimochana Munnani, Janakiya Vimochana Munnani, Revolutionary Democratic Front and Revolutionary People’s Front. The Centre has also alerted the State about the activities of some organizations that are campaigning on issues such as the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.
A letter sent by the Centre to the State government says that the CPI-Maoist and all its formations and front organizations are included in the schedule of terrorist organizations under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA), but no legal action is being initiated against them due to the difficulty in gathering evidence to prove that a particular organization is a front organization of CPI-Maoist.
As reported earlier, presence of five cadres, including a woman, of CPI-Maoist in Kanjirakolly and Chittari area of Kannur District was confirmed by top Police officials in the month of February.
DHD disbanded and its ‘chief’ Dilip Nunisa floats new political party
The Times of India reports that the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), a southern Assam-based militant outfit, was disbanded on March 9. At the same time, Dilip Nunisa, the chief of the outfit, announced the formation of a new political party called Halali Progressive Groups (HPG) at a home-coming ceremony in Haflong, the headquarters of Dima Hasao district. The DHD was officially disbanded during the day as part of a tripartite memorandum of settlement (MoS) between the Centre, the State Government and the surrendered DHD militants belonging to the Nunisa and Jewel Garlosa factions signed on October 8, 2012. It paved the way for creation of a territorial council for Dima Hasao District, which is yet to be implemented. According to the MoS, the DHD was supposed to dissolve itself within six months from the signing of the accord.
Nunisa was spearheading an armed struggle for the creation of Dimaraji, a separate Dimasa State comprising Dimasa-inhabited areas of Assam and Nagaland, till his outfit signed a ceasefire agreement with the Centre on January 1, 2003. He said his new party will contest in the coming election to the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council. He said the HPG will work for a peaceful, developed and progressive Dima Hasao.
Two injured in explosion in Assam
Two persons were injured in a bomb blast at a weekly market in Disangmukh weekly market in Kheroni area of Karbi Anglong District on March 11 morning, reports The Times of India. Police have detained 15 persons for interrogation in connection with the blast and confirmed it as the handiwork of militants.
Meanwhile, a bomb weighing one kilogram was recovered from a public bus at Bongaigaon bus stand near Lower Assam Hospital and Research Centre in Bongaigaon District. No one has been arrested yet in this connection and investigation is on. The bomb was defused later.
Maoists kill Special Task Force trooper
A Special Task Force (STF) trooper was killed and another injured in a gun fight with Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres in Sukma District, on March 12, reports ibnlive.in.com. A Police official said “Special Task Force trooper Angad Kumar was killed and another trooper Yashwant injured in an exchange of fire between a joint party of Security Forces and ultras in the forests of Chintagufa and Dornapal Police Station area”. He further said “The joint contingent of District Force, STF and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was on a combing operation in the area, when Naxals [Left-Wing Extremists (LWEs)] opened indiscriminate firing on them. When Security Forces opened retaliatory fire, LWEs fled into deep jungle.”
“We are here” claim Kerala Maoists
The Communist Party of India-Maoist leader Roopesh has, in an article in the new edition of Mathrubhumi weekly, confirmed that the rebels have formed a new guerrilla zone (special zonal committee) in south India, reports The Times of India on March 20. The former State Secretary of the Maoists also says in the article that the members of the Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army had visited villages in Kannur following the party’s decision to interact with the local people as part of political activities and propaganda work. The article says the Maoist guerrillas interacted with the people of Mankundu and Payyavoor in Kannur for hours on socio-political issues. Roopesh claims that it was a cordial interaction and the people had turned emotional when the squad left the place. “The houses in Kanjirakolli are only a few kilometres away from Payyavoor police station,’ he says.
Monthly Fatalities
The following deaths related to ongoing insurgencies and acts of terrorism occurred during the period Feb 26, 2013 to Mar 25, 2013:
| Civilian | Indian Security Personnel | Militant | Total | |
| Assam | 00 | 00 | 02 | 02 |
| Manipur | 00 | 02 | 02 | 04 |
| Meghalaya | 00 | 00 | 04 | 04 |
| Nagaland | 01 | 00 | 03 | 04 |
| Left wing | 14 | 09 | 07 | 30 |
| Total | 15 | 11 | 18 | 44 |
Nepal – Internal Dynamics
Three bombs defused in three separate occasions
Security Forces (SFs) defused three bombs, allegedly planted by Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Revolutionary (CPN-M Revolutionary), at three different places in Butwal city of Rupandehi District, Biratnagar city of Morang District and Bankatuwa village of Banke District on February 26, reports Nepalnews.com. Police said they found leaflets of CPN-M Revolutionary from the recovery sites.
Meanwhile, a second writ petition challenging the preparations to form an Election Government headed by the Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was filed at the Supreme Court on February 26. The writ filed by Om Prakash Aryal states that the sitting Chief Justice cannot head the Government, and demands an interim order to stop the process until court gives its final decision on the previous writ filed by Bharat Jangam, which is to be heard by the court on March 7. The writ also says the statement issued by Supreme Court deputy spokesperson Hemanta Rawal on behalf of the Chief Justice on February 25 was uncalled for.
Separately, the Nepal Bar Association (NBA), an umbrella organisation of lawyers, said on February 26 that Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi should not continue dispensing justice as that would be against the code of conduct given that he has publicly accepted presiding over the election Government, reports Kantipuronline.com. NBA Vice-chairman Tika Ram Bhattarai said, “Chief Justice Regmi should neither assign cases nor preside over benches as his morality is under question.” The NBA also raised questions on the authenticity of statement, calling on the full apex court to make its position clear. “It needs to be clear whether the statement has institutional backing or is the opinion of an individual,” said NBA Chairman Hari Krishna Karki.
Leaders fail to settle contentious issues
Leaders from major political parties failed to settle contentious issues related to Government formation, election and peace process as all the sides remained stuck to their respective stances, reports Myrepublica.com on March 1. Top leaders of Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) held talks on March 1 (today) on issues such as ensuring basic democratic principle of separation of powers and judicial independence. The leaders want to reach a package deal on all the three issues before forming an election government under the leadership of chief justice. The parties also couldn´t settle differences over a major provision on the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the criteria related to voters list and some conditions related to determining the rank of former UCPN-M combatants who have joined Nepal Army (NA).
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on March 1 (today) rejected a contempt of court case brought against Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi, saying that the petitioner made a subjective interpretation of the Chief Justice’s press statement in which the Chief Justice had said he was positive about accepting four political forces’ offer to lead an interim council of ministers, reports The Himalayan Times. Joint-registrar Nahakul Subedi passed the rejection order.
Further, UCPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda on February 28 apologized for the tragic Badarmude incident in Chitwan District which is considered one of the worst attacks on innocent civilians during the Maoist insurgency, reports Nepalnews.com. A total of 39 passengers including three NA personnel were killed and 72 injured in an ambush planted by the former rebels of the then Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) on June 6, 2005. He also announced a relief package of Rs 6 million for the victims of the attack, adding that the relief package was prepared by consulting with different Government bodies.
FDF nationwide strike disrupts normal life for second day
The second day of nationwide strike called by the Federal Democratic Front (FDF) led by Madhesi Janadhikar Forum crippled normal life in the country on March 7, reports Kantipuronline. The Front, that includes Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, Madhesh Samajwadi Party, among others, has called the shutdown calling for the election of the Constituent Assembly (CA) and formation of election Government at the earliest. Educational institutions, industries and offices remained shutting, while vehicles stayed off the roads. Ambulances, vehicles belonging to hospitals, press, security personnel, and those carrying tourists were seen plying the roads.
CPN-M cadres vandalize Ncell head office in Kathmandu
A group of people affiliated with the Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M-Baidya) vandalised the head office of Ncell, the biggest private sector telecommunication company in Nepal, located at Naya Baneshwor in Kathmandu on March 19, reports Nepalnews.com. Police guarding the head office of Ncell said that the cadres pelted stones at the Ncell building, smashing several windowpanes. Five persons were arrested from the scene. Some 87 members of the All Nepal Trade Union Federation affiliated with CPN-M-Baidya, who were earlier working with Hello Nepal, a private telecommunication company that was acquired by Ncell few months earlier, had been agitating for some time demanding reinstatement in their previous positions. However, the Ncell has refused to take them in, saying that it has no liability towards the workers who were working on contract basis at Hello Nepal.
Meanwhile, United Nations Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman who arrived in Kathmandu on March 19 said that the United Nations supports the Nepal’s electoral process and constitutional roadmap, reports Kantipuronline.com. During his four day visit, Feltman will meet senior officials of the Government and political parties, and representatives of the diplomatic corps and civil society to discuss the peace process. “Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has asked me to come to Nepal and talk to Nepali officials, representatives of political leaders about the election and way forward. We are delighted to see Interim Election Council in place and we very much look forward to helping as much as we can to electoral process and re-election of Constituent Assembly,” he told reporters upon his arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu.
Sri Lanka – Internal Dynamics
Undue pressure exerted by external parties on accountability, Minister
Plantations Minister and President’s Special Envoy on Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe addressing the 22nd United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva on February 27 said “Undue pressure exerted by external parties on the issue of ‘retributive justice and accountability’, is not helpful in the resolution of these issues”, reports Daily News. He said “This is not to state that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations on accountability have been ignored. A Court of Inquiry was established by the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army to inquire into the observations made by the LLRC in its report as to alleged civilian casualties during the final phase of the Humanitarian Operation and the Channel-4 video footage irrespective of its authenticity or otherwise. The Court of Inquiry will now proceed to investigate the second part of their mandate – to examine the Channel 4 allegations.”
Meanwhile, Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s former Army Commander and the leader of unregistered Democratic Party, said in a press conference in Colombo on February 27 that he was ready to answer any alleged war crime charges brought by international investigators, reports Colombo Page. He said that the United Nations was preparing to bring a resolution to enforce an international war crime investigation on Sri Lanka and pointed out that the resolution might give powers to an international council to come to Sri Lanka for a probe even without visa. Fonseka recently dismissed the allegation that the minor son of Tamil rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed by Sri Lanka Army.
Sri Lanka has not initiated a credible investigation into rights violence: US State Dept
Patrick Ventrell, acting deputy spokesperson of U.S. Department of State said at the daily press briefing on February 28 that the Government of Sri Lanka to date has not initiated any kind of investigation into the alleged rights violations yet, reports Colombo Page. He was responding to media inquiries about the reports released by the United Nations and the Human Rights Watch accusing Sri Lanka of human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law.
Meanwhile, Voice Against Corruption, a group backed by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), in Sri Lanka has called on the Government on March 1 to reveal details of the wealth and assets that were seized from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the war. Co-convener of Voice Against Corruption Wasantha Samarasinghe said that the Government had taken into custody large stocks of gold, vast amounts of money and ships belonging to the LTTE during the war. He observed that whenever the Government acquired any LTTE asset it was given wide media publicity. “However, the Government has so far not presented any information regarding these goods and money seized nor have they been handed over to the Treasury,” Samarasinghe said.
President denies army killed Prabhakaran’s 12 yr old son
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on March 2 denied that the Army killed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son Balachandran, reports Daily Mirror. He told “Had it happened, I would have known it. It is obvious that if somebody from the armed forces had done that, I must take responsibility. We completely deny it. It can’t be.”
Activists hand over petition to UN against TNA for LTTE atrocities
A group of about 1,500 representatives of the organization called ‘Dead and Missing Persons Front’ representing the family members killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam handed over a petition to the United Nations (UN) on March 6 over their loved ones killed in LTTE attacks, reports Colombo Page. The petition, addressed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights draws attention to the thousands of Sri Lankans killed and disappeared in LTTE attacks throughout the island during the terror reign. The organization holds the major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the proxy party of LTTE before the end of the war, as equally responsible as the LTTE for the deaths of their family members and injustices claimed to have been committed to them.
Pro-LTTE groups using international forces for regime change in the country, says Minister of Investment Promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena
Minister of Investment Promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena on March 11 said the groups supporting Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who could not defeat Sri Lanka through war are now trying to attack the country by creating conflicts using international forces. Addressing a public meeting in Colombo the Minister alleged that international forces envious of Sri Lanka’s rapid development process are exerting pressure on Sri Lanka and hatching conspiracies to make a regime change in the country. “Despite all this, the Sri Lankan Government will not be shaken by such allegations and will instead continue with its policies for the country,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration on March 9 said that Sri Lanka will conduct a census on people died and injured during the civil war with the LTTE and the Marxist insurrection in the 80’s. The Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs in collaboration with the Census and Statistics Department will carry out the census. The census will cover the period of the terrorist war since 1983 including the unrest prevailed in the country in 1983 and the insurrection of the Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in the years of 1988 and 89. There is no data relating to the people dead and injured due to the atrocities committed by the two groups during these periods. The Ministry plans to complete the census before the end of this year.
Canada reiterates call for an independent investigation into Sri Lanka’s human rights violations
Canada reiterated its call for an independent investigation into Sri Lanka’s human right violations at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions on March 12 at Geneva, reports Colombo Page. Delivering a statement at the General Debate, Canada urged the Sri Lankan Government to implement without delay the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and reconciliation Commission (LLRC) through its National Action Plan (NAP). Ireland, speaking on behalf of the European Union (EU) said given the very limited progress of the last year, the EU believes that the current human rights situation in Sri Lanka, and accountability and reconciliation, should remain on the agenda of the UNHRC. The United Kingdom also expressed its concern about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and welcomed the opportunity to discuss it at the general debate.
Parents of dead and missing call on UN for justice
The parents of the dead and missing persons during the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam war in Sri Lanka due to the atrocities committed by the terrorists questioned the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on March 13 why the UN doses not look into the activities of the terror outfit, reports Colombo Page. Addressing a media briefing in Colombo, the convener of the ‘Dead and Missing Persons Front’ Ananda Perera questioned why the UNHRC is silent about the atrocities committed by the LTTE during the three decades of terror. Perera accused the UNHRC of not looking into the plight of the people who became destitute due to the brutal activities of the terrorist organization. He further said the UNHRC should also focus its attention on Sri Lanka’s major Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which was the proxy party of the LTTE during the war and assisted the terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, Vavuniya prison authorities said on March 13 that no LTTE suspects were located in the Vavuniya prison due to security reasons, reports Daily Mirror. All the LTTE prisoners were at the Anuradhapura prison while Tamil civilian suspects were at the Vavuniya prison as usual. The Vavuniya prison was opened on March 12 after being refurbished and the relocating of prisoners would be carried out gradually.
Sri Lanka even rehabilitated suicide bombers of LTTE, says Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN Palitha Kohona
Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Dr. Palitha Kohona, on March 15 said that Sri Lanka undertook a task never undertaken by any country that faced terrorism, by even rehabilitating suicide bombers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and releasing them to the Sri Lankan community, reports Daily News. He said, “LTTE suicide bombers struck over 230 times, killing thousands of civilians. They targeted men, women and children indiscriminately and left thousands dead and maimed. They created a massive wave of terror in the country.” He further said, “LTTE combatants including trained suicide bombers have now been rehabilitated and released to the community as part of the Government’s programme to restore the lives of the people who would otherwise have been sacrificed as human cannon fodder.”
TNA leader R. Sampanthan accuses Government of changing demographics in north east
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan on March 17 accused the Government of changing demographics in north east, reports Colombo Page. He said, “Most regrettably, the time and space that the Government seeks is not to fulfill its commitments and obligations but rather to fulfill its own agenda, which is to change the demographic composition of the North and East Provinces further and dilute and alter the cultural and linguistic identity of those areas.” He further said the Government seems to think that by persistently engaging in denials and adopting tactics of delay and evasion it could avoid the fulfillment of its commitments and obligations.
Meanwhile, the United States on March 16 expressed its disappointment over Sri Lanka’s rejection of all Universal Periodic Review (UPR) recommendations from States that called upon it to implement the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations. Delivering a statement, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe said the U.S. is disappointed that Sri Lankan Government rejected all UPR recommendations from States that called upon it to implement the LLRC recommendations and called on the government to expeditiously implement both the UPR and LLRC recommendations.
Pro LTTE-Tamils in Tamil Nadu attack Sri Lankan Buddhist monk
Tamil activists in Tamil Nadu supporting Sri Lanka’s defeated Tamil Tiger terrorist outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have assaulted Sri Lankan Buddhist monk in Chennai on March 18, reports Colombo Page. The Sri Lankan monk identified as Bandara, who was part of a group of Sri Lankan pilgrims, was attacked at the Central railway station. The group of pilgrims arrived in Chennai on the way back home after visiting various Buddhist sites including Gaya. The Tamil Nadu Police said the Buddhist priest was repeatedly assaulted by unidentified attackers and the Police launched a search to arrest them.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Prasada Kariyawasam on March 18 said, “Resolution on Sri Lanka in UN is uncalled for. We don’t think there is a need for international community to get involved in Sri Lanka at this point”, reports Daily Mirror.
Further, the United States presented the revised version of its resolution ‘Promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka’ at the 22nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on March 18, reports Colombo Page. The U.S. tabled a toned down version of the resolution co-sponsored by 32 countries including the U.S. to the UNHRC expecting the less demanding resolution to get adopted by the Council without much resistance. The final draft welcomes and acknowledges the progress made by the Government of Sri Lanka in rebuilding infrastructure, demining, resettling the majority of internally displaced persons, while noting that considerable work need to be done in the areas of justice, reconciliation and resumption of livelihoods. It welcomed the announcement by the Sri Lankan government to hold elections to the Provincial Council in the Northern Province in September 2013.
Sri Lanka requests a vote on the resolution at the UNHRC
Sri Lanka on March 19 said it intends to request for a vote when the United States sponsored draft resolution is taken up at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on March 21, reports Colombo Page. In letters addressed to Foreign Ministers of Human Rights Council member (HRC) countries, Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris rejecting the new resolution has said, that Sri Lanka seeks the understanding and the support of HRC member states at the vote on this resolution.
The External Affairs Minister has written “Just as the Government of Sri Lanka did not recognize the last HRC resolution, it rejects the new resolution. Sri Lanka intends to request a vote when the draft resolution is taken up at the Human Rights Council on 21st March 2013.” “Government of Sri Lanka believes that drawing disproportionate attention to Sri Lanka’s situation and introducing a resolution that seeks to discredit, single out the country and name and shame are unhelpful and counterproductive to Sri Lanka’s current reconciliation process,” the Minister emphasized.
Sri Lanka expresses strong reservations on the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights Navanethem Pillay’ report on the country
Sri Lanka on March 20 expressed ‘strongest’ reservations on the content of the report prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights Navanetham Pillay on Sri Lanka following a technical mission to the country, reports Colombo Page. Participating in the general debate on country specific reports at the 22nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Sri Lanka’s special envoy Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the report has been formulated pursuant to the last year’s resolution against Sri Lanka which Sri Lanka has rejected. The envoy questioned how a technical mission after a visit of just over a week to the island could have produced such a document claimed to be a comprehensive report.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Tamils from the North joined a rally in Jaffna city of the Northern Province on March 20 to condemn a US sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva, reports Daily News. The protestors said undue pressure on Sri Lanka will harm the hard won peace and ongoing development. Protestors described the US led resolution as an attempt to undermine Sri Lanka’s post-war reconciliation and development and an ‘infringement on Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.’ Some banners by protestors stated: ‘Hands off Sri Lanka, do not disturb our unity, we want time and space to develop and sustain peace’. One of the organizers of the protest, political activist Angajan Ramanathan said such resolutions will not benefit the people in the former conflict affected North and East. Ramanathan said the Government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa had been able to restore normalcy and rebuild the conflict affected areas which had not enjoyed such comforts for more than three decades.
INTERNATIONAL
Syrian government missiles kill 140 in Aleppo
At least 141 people, half of them children, were killed when the Syrian military fired at least four missiles into the northern city of Aleppo last week, Human Rights Watch confirmed Tuesday (Feb 26, 2013) after a researcher visited the area. The international rights group said the strikes hit residential areas and called them an “escalation of unlawful attacks against Syria’s civilian population.”
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the civil war pitting President Bashar Assad’s regime against rebels fighting to oust him. Rebels quickly seized several neighborhoods in an offensive on the city in July, but the government still controls some districts and the battle has developed into a bloody stalemate, with heavy street fighting that has ruined neighborhoods and forced thousands to flee.
A Human Rights Watch researcher who visited Aleppo last week to inspect the targeted sites, said up to 20 buildings were destroyed in each area hit by a missile. There were no signs of any military targets in the residential districts, located in rebel-held parts of Aleppo, said Ole Solvang, the HRW’s researcher “Just when you think things can’t get any worse, the Syrian government finds ways to escalate its killing tactics,” Solvang said.
Human rights watch said 71 children were among the 141 people killed in the four missile strikes on three opposition-controlled neighborhoods in eastern Aleppo. It listed the names of the targeted neighborhoods as Jabal Badro, Tariq al-Bab and Ard al-Hamra. The fourth strike documented by the group was in Tel Rifat, north of Aleppo.
Syrian anti-regime activists first reported the attacks last week, saying they involved ground-to-ground missiles, and killed dozens of people. The reports could not be independently confirmed because Syrian authorities severely restrict access to media. Human Rights Watch said it compiled a list of those killed in the missile strikes from cemetery burial records, interviews with relatives and neighbors, and information from the Aleppo Media Center and the Violations Documentation Center, a network of local activists.
Gaza fired rocket explodes in Ashkelon town
A rocket fired from Gaza exploded in Israel on Tuesday, Feb 26, the first such attack since a November truce and an apparent show of solidarity with West Bank protests after the death of a Palestinian in an Israeli jail.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s West Bank-based Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the rocket strike, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency said. No casualties were reported. Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, said it was investigating. There was no military response from Israel, hours after the rocket slammed into a road near its southern city of Ashkelon.
The rocket was the first to hit Israel since a November 21 truce brokered by Egypt that ended eight days of cross-border air strikes and missile attacks in which 175 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed. Tuesday’s strike came after a surge of unrest in the occupied West Bank, that has raised fears in Israel of a new Palestinian Intifada (uprising).
On Monday, thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank turned out for the funeral of Arafat Jaradat, 30, who died in disputed circumstances in an Israeli prison. Israeli police shot and wounded five Palestinian youths during confrontations in Bethlehem and outside a West Bank prison later the same day, leaving a 15-year-old boy in critical condition, Israeli and Palestinian medical sources said. An Israeli military spokeswoman, commenting on the incident, said troops had opened fire at Palestinians who threw homemade hand grenades at a Jewish holy site called Rachel’s Tomb, in the Bethlehem area. Before the rocket attack from Gaza, media reports said Israeli officials had hoped the Palestinian protests were winding down a week after they were launched in sympathy with four prisoners on intermittent hunger strikes.
France rejects talks with hostage-takers
France will not negotiate with gunmen claiming to be from Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram who have taken a French family of seven hostage, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday, Feb 26. The three adults and four children were seized in Cameroon’s far north near the Nigerian border last week. In a video posted online on Monday, the gunmen threatened to kill them unless authorities in Nigeria and Cameroon released Muslim militants held there.
“We do not negotiate on that kind of basis, with these kind of groups,” Le Drian told RTL radio. “We will use all (other) possible means to ensure that these and other (French) hostages are freed.” “We do not play this bidding game because that’s terrorism,” he said, deploring the fact that children were involved.
The kidnapping has brought to 15 the number of French citizens being held in the region, with the risk heightened since Paris sent thousands of troops into Mali last month to help the country oust Islamists operating in the north. Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people in an attempt to establish an Islamist state in Nigeria.—Reuters
Kurdish rebel leader warns of disaster if no Turkey peace
Emerging briefly from solitary confinement in his island prison near Istanbul, Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan said Turkey could become as troubled as Syria or Iraq if it does not take steps to end his group’s decades-old insurgency. A paunchy and greying Ocalan, cut off from the world since his capture in 1999, told a delegation of pro-Kurdish MPs visiting him at the weekend of his plans to end a 28-year conflict that has killed 40,000 people.
Ocalan has been negotiating the outlines of a peace deal with Turkey’s government from his cell since he intervened to end a hunger strike by jailed Kurdish militants last year. With a Turkish intelligence official listening in the background, he spoke for two hours on Feb 23 about Turkey, the changing Middle East and his political beliefs, relishing attention he has long been denied.
“We must establish a new democratic republic in line with the new world and the new Middle East. The Kurdish problem can only be solved with Turkey’s democratisation,” the 63-year-old Ocalan said, his words relayed to Reuters by parliamentarian Altan Tan.—AP
‘Backers of Syrian rebels endanger Iraq’
Turkish and Qatari support for Syrian insurgents is tantamount to a declaration of war against Iraq, which will suffer from the fallout of an increasingly sectarian conflict next door, an Iraqi Shi’ite politician said on Feb 27. Hadi al-Amiri, transport minister and head of the formerly armed Badr Organisation, said Sunni Muslim Turkey and Qatar had stymied all efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict peacefully.
Iraq is calmer than in the communal bloodletting that killed tens of thousands in 2006-2007, but the war in neighbouring Syria is straining its precarious sectarian balance. Amiri accused Ankara and Doha, which support the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, of arming jihadi groups in Syria, where many Sunni militants are fighting, including the Qaeda-approved Nusra Front, which has links to al Qaeda in Iraq.
“Presenting money and weapons to al Qaeda (in Syria) by Qatar and Turkey is a declaration of armed action against Iraq,” Amiri told Reuters in an interview this week. “These weapons will reach Iraqi chests for sure.” Sectarian-tinged unrest has been on the rise in Iraq.—Reuters
Thai govt, Muslim insurgents reach rapprochement
Thailand’s government signed a breakthrough deal with Muslim insurgents for the first time ever Thursday, Feb 28 agreeing to hold talks to ease nearly a decade of violence in the country’s southern provinces that has killed more than 5,000 people. The agreement was announced in Malaysia’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur, between Thai authorities and the militant National Revolution Front, also known by its Malay-language initials, BRN. It is seen as a positive step, but is unlikely to immediately end the conflict because several other shadowy guerrilla movements also fighting in southern Thailand have yet to agree to talks.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who met with his Thai counterpart, Yingluck Shinawatra, later Thursday, said Thai officials and the insurgent representatives would hold their first meeting in Malaysia within two weeks. Najib described the signing as “merely the starting point of a long process” because many issues have to be resolved, but added that it was a “solid demonstration of the common resolve to find and establish an enduring peace in southern Thailand.”
The first round of talks will focus on how both sides can cooperate, said Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab of Malaysia’s National Security Council. Violence has occurred nearly every day in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces since the insurgency erupted in 2004.
The militants have mainly targeted security forces and teachers, who are seen as representatives of the government of the Buddhist-dominated nation. Muslims in the border region, which was an independent Islamic sultanate until it was annexed by Thailand in the early 20th century, have long complained of discrimination by the central government in Bangkok, and the insurgents are thought to be fighting for autonomy. But the insurgency remains murky, with militants making no public pronouncements on their goals.
Govt formation collapses, snap polls likely
Deadlocked talks with potential coalition partners have forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek more time to build a new government and avert a possible snap election, officials said on Friday, March 1. They said Netanyahu would meet President Shimon Peres on Saturday to ask for a two-week extension after his right-wing party, the narrow victor in Israel’s January 22 ballot, exhausted the standard four weeks allotted to build a coalition. Peres is expected to accept Netanyahu’s request. However, should Netanyahu fail to win enough allies for a parliamentary majority by March 16 and a third term as premier, Peres could hand the task to a rival party leader. If no government emerged then, Israelis must return to the polls. U.S. President Barack Obama is due to visit Israel at the end of March to discuss the stalemate in Palestinian statehood talks and other regional challenges like Iran and Syria. But he would likely cancel if Netanyahu failed to form a coalition. Washington has not published dates for Obama’s trip, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, has said it would take place only after the Israelis had a new government. Netanyahu’s Likud-Beitenu ticket won 31 of the Knesset’s 120 seats in the January vote – an eroded lead that required he cast a wide net for partners while juggling their disparate demands. He has faced unified resistance from the parties that placed second and fourth, Yesh Atid (There is a Future) and Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home), which insist Israel scale back the mass exemptions from military conscription and the welfare stipends it provides to ultra-Orthodox Jews. The third-biggest Israeli party, center-left Labour, has ruled out entering a government under Netanyahu. Likud Beiteinu has tried without success to drive a wedge between the centrist Yesh Atid and the ultranationalist Bayit Yehudi, which differ on other major issues such as how – and if – Israel should revive peacemaking with the Palestinians.—Reuters
US, S Arabia build united front on Syria, Iran
The United States and Saudi Arabia on Monday, Monday 4 presented a united front to Iran and Syria. They warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that they will boost support to rebels fighting to oust him unless he steps down and put Iran’s leadership on notice that time is running out for a diplomatic resolution to concerns about its nuclear program.
After a series of meetings in the Riyadh, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters at a joint news conference that Assad must understand that recent scud missile attacks on regime foes in the city of Aleppo would not be tolerated by the international community and that he had lost all claim to be Syria’s legitimate leader.
Saud, whose country along with other Gulf states is widely believed to be supplying weapons to the Syrian rebels, said Saudi Arabia could not ignore the brutality Assad is inflicting on his people, even after two years of escalating violence that has claimed 70,000 lives. He said that history had never seen a government use strategic missiles against its own people. “This cannot go on,” he said. “He has lost all authority.”
In his discussions with Kerry, Saud said he had “stressed the importance of enabling the Syrian people to exercise its legitimate right to defend itself against the regime’s killing machine.” Saud also decried the fact that the Assad continued to get weapons from “third parties,” a veiled reference to Russia and Iran, which have backed the regime through the conflict.
Kerry sidestepped a question about whether the arms reportedly being supplied to the rebels by Saudi Arabia and others were a concern. Instead, he criticized Iran, Hezbollah and Russia by name for giving weaponry to the Assad regime. Kerry did announce last week that the U.S. would for the first time provide rebel fighters in the Free Syrian Army with non-lethal assistance — rations and medical assistance. European nations like Britain and France are expected to soon send the rebels defensive military equipment and Kerry has said the totality of the aid could be enough to change the situation on the ground.
No guarantee Iran nukes peaceful: IAEA chief
The head of the UN nuclear agency said March 4 he cannot guarantee that all of Iran’s nuclear activities are peaceful unless Tehran provides more cooperation with his organization.
Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency is also urging Tehran to grant his inspectors access to a site where the IAEA thinks Tehran may have carried out experiments linked to nuclear weapons development.
Iran denies any work on, or interest in nuclear weapons. The agency has tried for more than a year to visit the Parchin site, to follow up suspicions that Tehran worked there on conventional explosives triggers for a nuclear weapon.
Amano told the 35-nation IAEA board Monday that without more Iranian cooperation, his agency “cannot conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”—Reuters
One million refugees have fled Syria: UN
One million people have fled Syria’s civil war, piling pressure on the country’s neighbors who are struggling to support them, the United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday, March 6. Around half the refugees are children, most of them aged under 11, and the numbers leaving are mounting every week, UNHCR added.
Nearly two years ago, Syrians started trickling out of the country when President Bashar al-Assad’s forces started shooting at pro-democracy protests. The uprising has since turned into an increasingly sectarian struggle between armed rebels and government soldiers and militias. An estimated 70,000 people have been killed.
UNHCR said the number of Syrians quitting their country has increased dramatically since the beginning of the year with more than 400,000 – nearly half the total figure – since January 1st. They arrive traumatized, without possessions and having lost members of their families, it added. Most have fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt and some arrive in North Africa and Europe.
But despite pledges of $1.5 billion by international donors for a U.N. response plan to help Syria’s displaced, only 25 per cent has been funded, UNHCR said.
North Korea warns US of preemptive nuclear strike
North Korea threatened the United States on Thursday, March 7 with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric while the U.N. Security Council considers new sanctions against the reclusive country. North Korea has accused the United States of using military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war and has scrapped the armistice with Washington that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea, which has one major ally, neighboring China, threatens the United States and its “puppet”, South Korea, on an almost daily basis.
North Korea conducted a third nuclear test on February 12, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, and declared it had achieved progress in securing a functioning atomic arsenal. It is widely believed the North does not have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the mainland United States. The North’s unnamed foreign ministry spokesman also said it would be entitled to take military action as of March 11 when U.S.-South Korea military drills move into a full-scale phase as it had declared the truce invalid.
It is the latest in an escalation of tough words from both sides of the armed Korean border this week as the U.N. Security Council deliberates a resolution to tighten financial sanctions and a naval blockade against the North.
Rebels, troops clashes intensify, 21 UN peacekeepers abducted
Syrian activists say new clashes have erupted between government troops and rebels near an area where gunmen fighting President Bashar Assad’s forces abducted 21 U.N. peacekeepers. Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the army is battling opposition fighters in the southern province of Daraa, the birthplace of the 2-year-old revolt against Assad.
Thursday’s (March 7) fighting is concentrated on the edge of the Syrian village of Jamlah, where gunmen took hostage 21 U.N. peacekeepers from the Philippines on Wednesday.
The peacekeepers patrol the Israel-Syria cease-fire zone in the Golan Heights. They were abducted allegedly while they were near Jamlah. In an online video, a man identified as a spokesman for the Martyrs of Yarmouk Brigades said his group will hold the peacekeepers until Assad’s forces withdraw from Jamlah.—AP
Berlusconi sentenced in wiretap trial
An Italian court sentenced ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday, March 7 to one year in jail over the publication by his family’s newspaper of a transcript of a leaked wiretap connected to a banking scandal in 2006. Italian justice system rules mean that the 76-year-old media billionaire would not have to serve any jail time until the appeals process has been exhausted, and a higher court may still overturn the ruling. It came in the middle of a complex political impasse arising from an inconclusive election last week that left no party able to form a government on its own, although Berlusconi’s center-right formation emerged as the second strongest in parliament. Berlusconi is in the middle of a series of trials, with separate cases over charges of tax fraud and paying for sex with an underage prostitute due to wind up this month. He has denied any wrongdoing in the case and the verdict was immediately criticized by his lawyer Piero Longo, who has frequently criticized Milan judges over the long series of trials Berlusconi has faced over the years. “I’m not surprised, given that it’s Milan and it has to do with Berlusconi,” he told reporters after the verdict. “But I am concerned and shocked because I’m quite convinced that the charges against Berlusconi were weak and contradictory and even completely lacking.” Berlusconi’s brother Paolo, publisher of the family-owned Il Giornale daily, was sentenced to two years and three months over the same case, which centered on confidential wiretap transcripts related to a bank takeover which appeared in the newspaper.
Saudi accuses activists of lying to stir protests
Saudi Arabia on Thursday, March 7 accused online activists of using social media to stir up protests, banned in the kingdom, by distributing “false information” about the number of people detained by the security apparatus. Concern over the fate of the kingdom’s thousands of security detainees, who the government says are Islamist militants, has prompted demonstrations, culminating in the arrest of 161 people at a protest last week in the central city of Buraidah.
The accusation, delivered during a news conference in Buraidah, underscored the government’s concerns over the impact of reports distributed via social media that many long-term detainees have not been brought to trial, and that police treated women protesters disrespectfully. Last week’s protest was the latest in a string of demonstrations by relatives of detainees in the capital Riyadh and Qassim Province, heartland of the kingdom’s ultra-conservative Wahhabi school of Islam.
In January more than 100 Wahhabi clerics wrote to King Abdullah, pressing him to address the issue swiftly, a significant step given the paramount role of religion in Saudi society and top clerics’ backing of the protest ban.
Families of some detainees say their jailed relatives have been held for years without charge or trial, have been mistreated while in detention or continue to be held after their sentences were completed. Human rights activists say people who merely called for political change or elections have been jailed on the same grounds, something the authorities deny.
Al Qaeda launched a series of deadly attacks against foreigners and government targets from 2003-06, prompting a heavy crackdown on Islamist militants. —Reuters
Al-Qaeda rebels wanted Mali as base for global attacks: France
French forces in Mali have discovered tonnes of weapons stockpiled by al Qaeda-linked fighters who planned to use the country’s north as a base for international attacks, France’s defence minister said on Friday, March 8. France launched a ground and air operation on January 11 to break Islamist rebels’ hold on the northern two-thirds of Mali, saying the militants posed a risk to the security of West Africa and Europe.
While the rapid offensive has now taken back most of the territory seized by the militants nearly a year ago, French and allied Chadian forces have met heavy resistance from militants holed up in mountains near the Algerian border. Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Mali on Friday, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the Islamist rebels, many of whom have flooded in from abroad, had been well armed and hoped to make the impoverished, arid nation a “terrorist sanctuary”.—AP
Nigerian forces kill 52 Islamists, arrest 70
Nigerian security forces said on Saturday, March 9 they had killed 52 Islamist militants over 10 days of fighting in the northeasterly Borno state, at a cost of only two of their own men, with no civilian deaths. The announcement came a day after President Goodluck Jonathan paid a visit to the state in which he rejected the idea of an amnesty for the Islamist sect Boko Haram, which has killed hundreds in gun and bomb attacks in the past two years. Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan (C) arrives with other officials during a working visit to Borno state, northeast region. The Islamists are seen as the main security threat to Africa’s top energy producer, although their sphere of influence is far from the crucial oil fields in the south. Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for the mixed military and police joint task force (JTF) in Borno state, said in a statement that a series of operations had been conducted against Islamists over the past 10 days. “During these operations under the period stated, there were exchanges of fire that led to the death of 52 Boko Haram terrorists including 10 commanders of the sect,” he said. “Seventy terrorists were also arrested.” He said the JTF had also seized a number of weapons. It was not possible to verify the claims independently.
Nigerian forces often claim substantial successes against Boko Haram militants but rarely admit to significant losses on their own side or civilian casualties during their operations. Residents of Maiduguri, Borno’s largest city, say dozens of civilians die in military raids against Boko Haram, and rights groups accuse the JTF of heavy-handedness and extrajudicial killing. A Nigerian Islamist splinter group from Boko Haram, based in the northwest, said on Saturday it had killed seven foreign hostages seized last month from a construction firm’s compound in northern Nigeria. Nigerian authorities said they had no information on any such killing, and doubted the veracity of the statement.—Reuters
Kuwait annoyed over UN Iraq’s border mark
Kuwait has expressed dismay to the United Nations over a protest by stone-throwing Iraqis against the demarcation of the border, state media reported, underlining lingering tensions between the Arab neighbors a decade after Saddam Hussein was overthrown.
Iraq formally accepted a U.N.-demarcated border line in 1994 after the first Gulf War – when Iraqi strongman Saddam sent his troops into Kuwait in 1990 and was forced out by a U.S.-led coalition. But many Iraqis in the area remain opposed to it, saying the line robbed them of property and territory.
Iraqi police sources said the protesting crowd hurled stones at Iraqi security forces in the border town of Um Qasr on Monday, March 11 prompting the security forces to fire in the air to disperse them. The unrest was triggered by border signs maintenance work nearby, they said. Kuwaiti border guards, hearing the gunshots and believing they were being targeted, opened fire at Iraqi security forces in response, Kuwaiti media reported. There were no reports of casualties on either side.
Kuwait pulled its border guards out of the area after the incident “to calm the situation”, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported on its website. KUNA said some of the protesting Iraqis had obstructed U.N.-supervised border signs maintenance and removed the border fence between two signs.
An Iraqi police source told Reuters that one activist was injured in the border unrest. Leaders of both oil-producing countries have been working to improve ties in the past year, despite public wariness.—Reuters
Russian forces kill seven caucasus militants
Russian security forces killed seven suspected Islamist militants in the restive North Caucasus province of Kabardino-Balkaria on Tuesday, March 12 the Interfax news agency reported. Three suspected militants were killed when security forces fired on two cars whose drivers did not respond to demands to show identification documents, Interfax cited unidentified law enforcement officials as saying.
Separately, the agency also quoted Russia’s federal anti-terrorist committee as saying four more alleged militants, suspected of illegal arms sales, were killed in the same province on Tuesday and another eight people were arrested The reports made no mention of any casualties among security forces. Police could not immediately be reached for comment and the Interfax account of the violence could not be independently confirmed.
Deadly exchanges of gunfire between police and suspected militants are common at road checkpoints and elsewhere in Russia’s North Caucasus, a string of provinces hit by an Islamist insurgency rooted in two separatist wars in Chechnya. Kabardino-Balkaria, west of Chechnya, is mostly Muslim but has a sizable Christian minority.
President Vladimir Putin’s 13 years in power have been marred by violence in the North Caucasus, and attacks by the insurgents elsewhere, and he has called repeatedly for ethnic and religious peace during a new term that started last May. The region is in the spotlight before the 2014 Winter Olympics Russia will host in the Black Sea resort of Sochi at the western end of the Caucasus mountain range
Qaeda claims Iraq invasion anniversary attacks
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings and suicide attacks that killed around 60 people on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. A decade after U.S. and Western troops swept into Iraq to remove the Sunni strongman, Iraq still struggles to overcome violence, sectarian tensions and political instability that test the fragile unity among Shi’ites, Sunnis and ethnic Kurds.
Islamic State of Iraq, the country’s al Qaeda wing, is regaining strength, invigorated by the Sunni Muslim rebellion in next door Syria and has carried out dozens of high-profile attacks since the start of the year. Car bombs, roadside explosions and suicide attacks on Tuesday, March 19 hit mainly Shi’ite districts and security forces in Baghdad and other cities, including a bomber who detonated his blast inside a restaurant in the northern city of Mosul.
“What has reached you on Tuesday is just the first drop of rain, and a first phase, for by God’s will, after this we will have our revenge,” the al Qaeda statement posted on a jihadist website late on Tuesday said.
Sunni Islamists see Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government as oppressors of the country’s Sunni minority and target Shi’ites to try to provoke a sectarian confrontation like the inter-communal slaughter that killed thousands in 2006-7.
While violence is below the level of the Shi’ite on Sunni bloodshed that killed tens of thousands a few years ago, suicide bombers have struck nearly two times a week since January, a rate Iraq has not seen for several years.
The Iraq war began shortly before dawn in Baghdad on Thursday, March 20, 2003, with U.S. air strikes on the capital. Shortly afterwards, President George W. Bush, told Americans late on March 19 U.S. time that the offensive was under way.
Iraq’s sectarian and political rivalries are still raw, keeping the OPEC country vulnerable to the influence of its neighbors, especially Shi’ite Iran and Sunni power Turkey.
6 powers’ flesh out nuclear proposals in Iran talks
Six major powers gave Iran more details of their proposals to end a standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme in talks in Istanbul on Monday, March 18 the European Union (EU) said.
The EU’s short statement on the expert-level talks between the six powers and Iran offered no clue how the proposals were received by the Iranian experts or whether any progress had been made.
The two sides agreed to hold the technical discussions at a February 26-27 meeting between officials in the Kazakh city of Almaty, when the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany offered modest sanctions relief in return for Tehran curbing its most sensitive nuclear work. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful but Western powers suspect Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons capability.
The statement by Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, reaffirmed that Monday’s technical talks would be followed by another meeting at the political level in Almaty on April 5-6. Western diplomats have made clear they want to see a substantive response from Iran to the six powers’ proposals at the next meeting in Almaty. In Istanbul, experts from the six powers, led by nuclear expert Stephan Klement, gave Iran further details of the “revised confidence-building proposal” they put forward in Almaty, Mann said.
U.S. President Barack Obama insisted on Monday that “now is the time” for Iran to take meaningful steps to resolve its nuclear standoff with the West as he issued a direct appeal to the Iranian people before his first official trip to Israel. Obama will hold talks in Israel on Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who repeatedly has called for a “credible” military threat against Iran and hinted at the prospect of a unilateral Israeli attack.—Reuters
Al Qaeda likely unable to launch major attacks, says US national Intelligence Director James Clapper
The core of al Qaeda has been severely weakened and likely is unable to launch “large-scale” attacks on Western targets, the (United State) US national Intelligence Director James Clapper said on March 12, reports Daily Times. Al Qaeda has suffered steady losses among its senior ranks since 2008, diminishing the network’s central leadership “to a point that the group is probably unable to carry out complex, large-scale attacks in the West,” James Clapper added in an annual assessment presented to lawmakers. But the group has not abandoned its declaration of war against the United States, and its affiliates, particularly in Yemen, are plotting to attack America and its allies, Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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.
