Terrorist Activities in Pakistan
Bomb Blast
A bomb on October 30 killed five Pakistani soldiers in a village near the Afghan border in the South Waziristan Agency, reports Dawn. “Number of martyred soldiers due to IED explosion in South Waziristan has risen up to five,” a senior security official said.
At least five people were killed and 17 others were injured in a bomb explosion at a crowded car repair market on Double Road near Zarghoon Road in Quetta on October 30. Separately, unidentified militants on October 30 attacked a house where rescue teams were stationed located in Awaran District, reports Dawn. According to military sources, two rockets were fired at a house located three kilometres away from Awaran. However, no casualty was reported.
Three persons sustained injuries when an explosive device went off in a bargain centre of vehicles in Mamond tehsil (revenue unit) of Bajaur Agency on October 31, reports The News. The sources said unidentified persons had placed an explosive device on the rooftop of the bargain centre of tribal elder Malik Taj and triggered the explosion with a remote-control. Three persons Siraj, Fazle Rehman and Tariq sustained injuries in the blast.
Two shops were damaged in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion at a market in the limits of the Maidan Lal Qila Police Station in Lower Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the wee hours of November 1, reports Daily Times. The bomb was planted near the shop owned by Hussain Amjad exploded at about 2am. As a result, two shops and a vehicle were damaged. However, no casualty was reported. The police said that half kilogramme explosives were used in the bomb.
At least two people were injured in an explosion inside a seminary in Eastern Bypass area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan on November 3, reported Dawn. The blast left two people injured and destroyed five mud-walled rooms inside the madrassa (religious school). Superintendent of Police (SP) Sariab, Bashir Ahmed Brahvi said that the seminary was being used by terrorists to carry out subversive activities in the city, already plagued by attacks of Baloch separatists and violent sectarian attacks. “Afghans were preparing explosive materials inside the seminary,” Brahvi said without naming any faction of the Afghan Taliban. “The madrassa had no sign board and it was not registered,” he added. Police recovered huge quantity of explosives, acid, detonators and literature in foreign languages from the madrassa.
However, another Police official who requested anonymity said that the blast has caused casualties. “The terrorists managed to shift the dead bodies and injured before the arrival of Police,” he said. “You can see blood and destruction everywhere,” he added.
Separately, unidentified militants hurled a hand-held bomb at a house partially damaging a house in Hazara Town area of Quetta on November 3, reported Dawn. However, no casualties were reported.
Two powerful and simultaneous explosions in the Ancholi area of Karachi killed at least five persons, including an associate producer of Geo News and a child, and injured more than 20 on the night of Nov 22, police and hospital sources said. Explosions coincided with a protest day called by the Ahle-Sunnat Wal-Jamaat and Wifaqul Madaris throughout the country against the clashes in Rawalpindi on the 10th of Muharram but the protests remained largely peaceful in Karachi. The explosions took place in the densely-crowded area of the city in the Federal B Area, Block 20, and damaged vehicles parked on the road. Apparently the bombs were planted in motorcycles that were parked in the crowded area. Eyewitnesses of the twin explosions said first blast took place in a motorcycle parked near a crowded tea shop where dozens of persons were having tea, while the other was placed in another bike, parked outside a confectionery shop.
An official of the Bomb Disposal Squad said both the explosions were carried out through Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) weighing around 5 to 6 kilograms containing nails and ball bearings.
Targeted Killings
At least three persons were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on October 28, reports Daily Times. A worker associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), identified as Asif (30), was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Orangi Town.
In another incident, a volunteer of an NGO, Seraiki Health Association, identified as Nazeer Hussain (45), was shot dead at his office in Ahsanabad, within the precincts of Sohrab Goth Police Station on October 28, reports Daily Times.
Meanwhile, the body of a young man was found in a gunny bag in Pir Baksh Goth, within the jurisdiction of Gulshan-e-Maymar Police Station on October 28, reports Daily Times.
A trader, identified as Ejaz and his friend Shahid Ahmed, were shot dead near Islam Chowk in Orangi Town of Karachi on October 29, reported The News.
Elsewhere, a Police informer, identified as Kashif Khan (40), was shot dead near Bashir Chowk on MPR Road in Qasba Colony of Orangi Town on October 29, reports The News. Orangi Town Superintendent of Police (SP) Chaudhry Asad said that Khan was a Police informer.
In another incident, a former area representative of the Awami National Party (ANP), identified as Qamar Shah (38), was shot dead in Mehmoodabad area of Jamshed Town on October 29, reported The News. Shah had formerly been associated with the ANP but later joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Currently, he was not associated with any political party.
Elsewhere, unidentified assailants shot dead a man, identified as Allahdad Magsi (40), in Quaidabad area of Bin Qasim Town on October 29, reports The News.
Also, a man, identified as Muhammad Yaseen (60), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Ghazi Town area within the limits of Malir City Police Station in Malir Town on October 29, reports The News.
In a separate incident, an unidentified man was shot dead by unidentified assailants near garbage dumping point of Lyari General Hospital in Lyari Town on October 29, reported The News.
At least nine persons were killed in separate incidents of violence across Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, on October 31, reports Daily Times.
Unidentified militants shot dead at least six Hazara Shia coal miners and injured another in a sectarian attack in Mach town of Bolan District on November 1, reported Dawn. Waheed Shah, Deputy Commissioner in Kach, said that the seven men were on their way back from Mach bazaar when they were attacked by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle. “The victims were Hazara labourers and Shia Muslims,” confirmed Shah. “It is clearly a targeted killing on sectarian basis,” he added. Shah explained that every Friday the miners would go to the bazaar for grocery shopping. The victims were identified as Ali Nigar, Zaamen, Hakeem, Bolan Misteri and Ibrahim. The injured miner was identified as, Juma Khan. No outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.
Separately, unidentified armed assailants shot dead Waqar Naseer Baloch, the son of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) leader, after pulling him down from a passenger bus in Wadh area of Khuzdar District on October 30. The party alleged that the Security Forces were behind the murder and announced a shutter down strike.
A man belonging to the Ahmadi community, identified as Bashir Ahmed (50), was killed while four others were injured in a sectarian attack within the jurisdiction of Mominabad Police Station in Orangi Town of Karachi on November 1, reported Daily Times. The injured were identified as Mohammad Ahmed, Asad Fazal, Wajid and Ovais. According to the Ahmadi community spokesperson, Bashir Ahmed, the victims were returning to their homes after offering Friday prayers, when armed men targeted them on sectarian basis. He added that six people belonging to the Ahmadi community had so far been killed in 2013.
Separately, two people were killed and two others were injured when unidentified armed assailants entered a cafe and opened indiscriminate fire in Quaidabad area of Landhi Town on November 1, reports Daily Times. Police said that one of the victims was identified as Waqar Ishaq (17), and another is yet to be recognised. The injured men were identified as, Imran and Tayyab.
In another incident, a Policeman, identified as Shehzada Khan (53), posted to the Crime Branch was shot dead at Napier Road on November 1, reports Daily Times.
Meanwhile, Police on November 1 carried out targeted operation in Dhobi Ghat area of Lyari Town and arrested five accused affiliated with Asif Lyari group, reported The News.
Two people, including a tailor from the Shia community, identified as Nadeem Raza, was shot dead along with his friend, Shoaib, while three others were injured in an attack in the FC Area of Liaquatabad Town of Karachi on November 4, reports Daily Times. The victims were present inside Nadeem’s shop when at least four unidentified armed militants opened fire on them and escaped.
Separately, a medical technician at the Leprosy Hospital, identified as Sher Ali, was shot dead in a sectarian attack in the Garam Chashma area of Manghopir in Gadap Town on November 4, reports Daily Times. Initial investigation suggests it was a sectarian attack and an outlawed organisation was behind the attack, said Station House Officer (SHO) Ghulam Hussain Korai.
In another incident, a Shia doctor, identified as Doctor Naseem Abbas, was shot dead near Liberty Chowk on Tariq Road in the Jamshed Town on November 4, reports Daily Times.
Another Shia man, identified as Muhammad Shan, was shot dead in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Gulshan Town on November 4, reports Daily Times. The Provincial Deputy Secretary General of the Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Allama Sadiq Raza Taqvi said, “The frequent target killings of innocent Shias before the Muharram is worrisome, adding, “The killings are the result of the Government’s initiative to talk to the Taliban. The Government instead should launch an operation against the militants and say no to dialogue.”
Elsewhere, a man, identified as Mansoor, was shot dead near Dabba Mor in Orangi Town on November 4, reports Daily Times.
Four cadres and two supporters of the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jama’at (ASWJ) were shot dead on November 5 in tit-for-tat killings a day after four Shia community members were shot dead on November 4, 2013, in Karachi, reported The News. Two cadres belonging to ASWJ, identified as Mufti Tariq Shah (30), and Yar Muhammad (34), were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Akhtar Colony of Mehmoodabad.
Separately, another activist of ASWJ, identified as Muhammad Jan (24), was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Defence Phase 1 near Gold Mark Mall. The victim was a seminary teacher and taught Quran at a mosque and at homes, said the Defence Police.
In another incident, a cadre of the ASWJ, identified as Muhammad Riaz (32), and a party supporter, identified as Muhammad Ramzan were shot dead near the Driving Licence Branch Korangi Town.
Elsewhere, a supporter of ASWJ was shot dead near Ali Mosque
In another attack, a van driver and an ASWJ cadre, identified as Abdur Razzaq, in Korangi Town. A passerby, identified as Noor Hashim, was also injured in the attack. ASWJ Karachi chief Aurangzeb Farooqi said the ASWJ activists were killed due to their affiliation with the religious party. He strongly condemned the ongoing killings in Karachi and warned that the violence could lead to a bigger security issue.
In addition, an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Nadeem Jameel alias Sunny (22), was shot dead while his friend, Farhan, was injured in Peerabad area of Qasba Colony.
Seven people were killed in separate incidents of violence in Karachi District on November 6, reports Daily Times.
At least eight persons, including six gangsters, were shot dead in Lyari Town of Karachi on November 7, reported The News. Gang war in Lyari Town was intensified as seven people were shot dead on November 6, 2013 after an aide and brother-in-law of gangster Baba Ladla, Gul Hassan, was found dead in Lyari Town.
An unidentified man was killed and another injured when unidentified militants opened indiscriminate fire at Pasni Bazaar in Gwadar District on November 7, reported Dawn. Separately, another person was killed in a firing incident at Panjgur bazaar in Panjgur District on November 7, reported Dawn.
At least three armed militants and a Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed in a clash in Kech District on November 8, reported Dawn. Khan Wasey, the spokesman FC said that armed militants attacked the FC convoy in Mand tehsil (revenue unit) of Kech. He said one personnel was killed in the attack. Two FC personnel also sustained bullet wounds. FC personnel recovered a large quantity of ammunition from the house where the clash took place.
Separately, on November 8 unidentified armed militants opened indiscriminate fire on two people in Eastern Bypass area of Quetta killing them on the spot, reports Dawn.
In another incident, two people were killed in Chaman town of Qilla Abdullah District on November 8, reported Dawn. A levies official, who did not want to be named, said that armed men opened fire and killed the two people in Guldara, Baghicha area of Chaman.
Elsewhere, a man was killed and another was injured when militants opened fire at a shop in Khuzdar Bazaar on November 8, reports Dawn. Police official Muhammad Riaz said that armed motorcyclists opened fire at the shop speeding away after the incident.
Seven people were killed in separate incidents of violence across the city on November 9, reports Daily Times.
Four dead bodies of alleged gangsters found separately in Lyari Town of Karachi on November 9, 2013, were identified as, Nisar alias Captain Nisari, his brother Riaz Niazi, and two of their aides, Abdullah alias Pathan and Waseem. According to Police officials, the deceased gangsters were associated with the Uzair Baloch group. Nisar was the operational ‘commander’ for Baloch in Baldia Town, they added. The criminals had been summoned by Baloch in Lyari to fight against his rival, but Ladla and his accomplices kidnapped them and after killing them dumped their bodies.
Further, four people were killed as gun battles between two gangster groups continued for the fourth consecutive day despite continuous operations by the law enforcers in Lyari Town of Karachi District, the provincial capital of Sindh on November 10, reports The News. According to details, one unidentified man was killed and four others were injured in clashes between Faisal Pathan and Baba Ladla gangs in Chakiwara area of Lyari Town. The atmosphere was tense in Gulistan Colony, Bihar Colony, Mirza Adam Khan Road and Al-Falah Road, where the rival gangsters used sophisticated weapons against each other.
Two political workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement were shot dead and another injured in an act of target killing in Karachi District, the provincial capital of Sindh, on November 11, reports Daily Times. Unidentified armed riders intercepted and targeted them in the New Mianwali Colony area of SITE Town.
An activist of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, a policeman and an alleged Lyari gangster were among five people murdered in Karachi on Saturday, Nov 23. Besides, seven people were injured in a gun battle between the gangsters in Lyari. The ASWJ activist, 30-year-old Hamid Zaman and his friend, Adnan, were on the National Highway in Saudabad heading towards Bakra Piri riding a motorcycle in the afternoon when two men, also riding a two-wheeler, fired gunshots at them. Zaman, Adnan and a passer-by, Shahidullah, suffered bullet wound and were taken to the Jinnah Hospital where the ASWJ activist expired. Saudabad SHO Aftab Rind said the attackers had used a 9mm pistol. Zaman had suffered multiple bullet wounds to the chest. He added that Zaman and Adnan both lived in Quaidabad and the latter was a senior activist of the party.
Further, an assistant sub-inspector of the Tipu Sultan police station was gunned down on Shaheed-e-Millat Flyover when he was returning to work after offering Isha prayers at a nearby mosque. Police said 50-year-old Jamaluddin was attacked by two men riding a motorcycle. Gulshan-e-Iqbal SP Muqadas Haider told The News that ASI was shot five times.
Miscellaneous
At least two soldiers were killed when car bomb hit a Frontier Corps (FC) van escorting a bus of Shia pilgrims in Dringarh area on the main Quetta-Taftan Highway of Mastung District on October 26. Frontier Corps and Balochistan Levies convoys were escorting five passenger buses of Shia pilgrims on the highway when they found a suspected car parked on the road. “The buses were stopped from proceeding and two FC personnel got off and went near to search the car. As they got closer to the car, a huge explosion took place killing both on the spot,” Assistant Commissioner Mastung Shafqat Anwar said, adding, that it was a remotely-controlled bomb, apparently targeting the Shia pilgrims. However, all the pilgrims on the bus, who were on their way to Iran, were safe but several security personnel were wounded by the remotely triggered bomb, Syed Mehrab Shah, a Senior Government Official in Mastung said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
Separately, at least two Pakistani nationals, identified as Muhammad Ibrahim and Muhammad Saleem, were killed and three others, identified as Obaidullah, Shamsul Haq and Badaruddin, were wounded when Iranian Security Forces opened fire in the Chagai District on October 26, reports Daily Times. Chagai administration sources said the incident took place in the buffer zone near the Washab area adjacent to the border. The sources said that the Iranian authorities had told Pakistani officials that the killed had entered their territory illegally and drugs were recovered from them. “The Pakistani authorities were given no evidence of recovery of narcotics,” the sources added.
Unidentified armed militants killed nine persons, including three women and two children, in an attack at the residence of a local tribal leader in Loti Zain area of Dera Bugti District on October 29, reports Dawn. A levies official, who requested not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that the house belonged to a pro-government tribesman.
Unidentified militants launched three rocket attacks at a camp of Security Forces (SFs) in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency on November 1, reports Dawn. According to military sources, the rocket attacks were carried out at 1 am in the morning. However, no loss of life or damage was reported.
While the Government is preparing a roadmap for peace talks with militants, a faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan asked people living near Miranshah to move their families to safe areas by November 1, Dawn reported on November 2. The Shura Mujahideen North Waziristan, led by Commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, also directed shopkeepers in Miranshah town to shift their expensive goods to other areas. The warning was issued in the wake of recent shelling by SFs of civilian targets in the area. A pamphlet distributed in Miranshah after Friday prayers asked residents of Darpakhel, Dattakhel, Toolkhel, Tabbai, Dandy and Matchus to shift their women and children to other places in North Waziristan. Residents of villages along main roads have been directed to vacate their homes. “The Shura has tried to respect a peace agreement which is still intact but the Army has resorted to fierce shelling over the past few days which has killed and wounded children, women and elders,” said the statement in Urdu.
A child was killed and six persons were injured when a powerful bomb went off in Khalid Bin Waleed Town in the limits of Yakatoot Police Station in Peshawar in the evening of November 4, reports Dawn. An unnamed official said that suspected militants had planted the explosive device beneath a power transformer.
Separately, a Policeman was killed in exchange of fire with militants in the Elum Ghar area of Buner District on November 4, reports Dawn. A Police party was on routine patrol when it came under attack. During exchange of fire, a constable identified as Inamur Rehman, a resident of Chinglai village, was killed. The attackers managed to escape after the incident.
Meanwhile, suspected militants blew up the building of a telephone exchange at Milli Khel area under Badbher Police Station of Peshawar on November 4, reports Dawn. The building was blown up by planting four bombs, each of the bombs weighing five kilograms.
The Faisalabad Police on November 4 arrested four high-profile Tehreek-e-Taliban terrorists, who had planned the abduction of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Malik Mohammad Nawaz and a businessman Shahnawaz alias Shahnawaz Ferrari for swapping them with the TTP’s top convicted terrorists housed in the Central Jail in Faisalabad District, reports The News. Faisalabad City Police Officer (CPO) Doctor Haider Ashraf confirmed having these four terrorists in custody. Two among them are named Usman, while the names of the other two could not be confirmed. They all belong to Qari Imran Group of the TTP based in Miranshah area of North Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
According to details, it was revealed that the said MPA was in contact with the TTP activists in Miranshah. The Counter Terrorism Force picked up some important names during the MPA’s conversation with the members of the Qari Imran Group. Having these names with them, the Force started zeroing in on these terrorists, operating in Faisalabad. Two important members of the group were picked up some time back. The other two were picked up later when their names were revealed by the already arrested terror suspects.
A Police constable, identified as Sher Nawaz Khan, was killed when a group of militants attacked Suripull Police check post in Lakki Marwat District on November 5, reports Daily Times. However, the attackers escaped from the scene by taking advantage of darkness. Police rushed to the spot and started a search operation. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The driver of a NATO supply vehicle got injured when unidentified militants opened fire on it at bypass road of Jamrud tehsil (revenue unit) in Khyber Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on November 7, reports Daily Times. The sources said an Afghanistan-bound trailer bearing registration no. GLT-4086 loaded with NATO supply assignments was on its way to its destination in Afghanistan, as it was intercepted by unidentified militants who opened indiscriminate fire on it. Resultantly, the driver of the truck identified as Wali Mohammad, resident of Landi Kotal got injured.
Twin explosions blew up two railway tracks in Hyderabad and Khairpur Districts on November 5, reported Dawn. However, no casualty was reported. A locally-made bomb damaged upcountry track between Karachi and Hyderabad minutes before the arrival of a Lahore-bound Business Express in Hyderabad District near Hussainabad subway. The train was about to reach Hyderabad railway station after leaving the Kotri Station when the track was damaged. Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) officials arrived at the site to collect evidence. According to BDS official Saleem Vistro, the locally-made bomb weighed two to three pounds. “We only found a shopping bag in which the miscreants had brought explosives that was fitted with a fuse”, he said.
Another bomb exploded on the track a kilometre from the Gambat Railway Station in the Khairpur District. Police and eyewitnesses said that about two-foot-long railway track was destroyed when the locally-made bomb exploded some time after the departure of the Shalimar Express to Karachi via Gambat Railway Station.
At least three people were killed early on November 9 when gunmen opened fire on two Imambargahs in Gujranwala, sparking protests from mourners and enraged members of the Shia community, reports Daily Times. According to Police reports, the first incident took place close to dawn when unidentified gunmen opened fire as Muhammad Yousuf, the prayer leader of the Qasr-i-Abu Talib Imambargah in Mominpura area, had just finished leading Fajr prayers. Yousuf and another person present at the mosque died on the spot.
A short while later, gunmen entered the Qasr-i-Zainabiya Imambargah in Shahrukh Colony located a short distance from the first mosque and opened indiscriminate firing, killing worshiper Syed Javed on the spot. According to initial investigation reports by police, the attackers had come on motorcycles and managed to escape. A police officer said the attacks appeared to be sectarian in nature.
Unidentified militants opened fire on November 9 on two trucks carrying NATO vehicles in Jamrud area of Khyber Agency near the Afghan border in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), wounding two drivers, reports Daily Times. “The two trailers were on their way to Karachi when gunmen attacked them at different locations in Jamrud and opened fire on them, wounding their drivers,” a local intelligence official told AFP. A senior local administration official, Jehangir Azam Wazir, confirmed the incident and said the attackers had fled. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Frontier Corps (FC) personnel on November 9 arrested four suspects and recovered Improvised Explosives Device concealed in a car at Balili Check post on outskirts of Quetta, reported The News. A spokesman for FC said that on a tip off FC personnel deployed on the check post searched a car coming from Kuchlak town to Quetta and recovered IEDs and other material concealed beneath the seat of the vehicle.
A potential terror bid was averted with the arrest of three suspected militants, identified as Zaman, Ali Haider and Shahzad Hussain, and seizure of a huge quantity of explosives during a covert operation by law enforcers in a house in Sector 10/2 of Islamabad on the night of November 10, reported Daily Times. A Police official familiar with the details of the raid said on the condition of anonymity that the arrested suspects were linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The official said that the arrested suspects –– had been shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. The official said that the suspects were planning to carry out attacks on Imambargahs in Islamabad.
At least nine people, including a Policeman, were injured in a grenade attack on the office of a returning officer, who is an Assistant Commissioner of Pasni, in Pasni area of Gwadar District on November 11, reported Dawn. “The returning officer remained unhurt,” Police sources said. The banned Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) claimed responsibility for the attack. Calling from an unspecified place, BLF ‘spokesman’ Gohram Baloch said that his organisation had carried out the attack and warned of more attacks. According to official sources the returning officer was busy in scrutiny of nomination papers of intending candidates in Pasni when a grenade was hurled into his office. It exploded in the courtyard and injured some people, including candidates and their supporters.
Three Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants and one Rangers person were killed when a shootout occurred during a targeted operation conducted by the paramilitary force in Gulshan-i-Buner area of Landhi Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh on November 13 (today), reported Dawn. The report quoted Rangers spokesperson as saying that the suspected militants were plotting terrorist activities to be carried out during Muharram and opened fire when the Rangers team arrived in their vicinity to conduct a targeted operation. He further said that the three suspects were killed in retaliatory fire by the raiding team. The spokesperson confirmed that one of the Rangers personnel was killed during the clash and added that a huge quantity of weapons, including hand grenades, were also recovered from their possession.
Separately, two extortionists and land grabbers, identified as Niaz Gul and Pathan Khan, were shot dead in Muslim Town area of New Karachi Town on November 12, reported The News. Manghopir Sub-Divisional Police Officer Shaukat Ali Shahani said a third person, Akhtar Khan suffered injuries, adding, “They were wanted by the Gulshan-e-Maymar Police in many extortion and land grabbing cases.” He said Taliban could be responsible for the attack.
In a separate incident, an unidentified man was killed and another was injured in gun firing incident in Kalapul area of Saddar Town on November 13, reports Dawn.
In another incident, an unidentified man died of gunshot wounds near Five Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad Town on November 13, reported Dawn.
Security Forces killed a militant and arrested seven others in Barshore area of Pishin District on November 12, reported Dawn. An intelligence official, on condition of anonymity said that SFs conducted the operation against the militants upon intelligence of their presence in the area. He said a militant was killed during exchange of fire that did not last for too long. “The forces effectively conducted operation and arrested seven terrorists alive,” he said. All detained militants were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. “They belong to a banned religious organisation,” he said, without disclosing the name of the outfit. “The militants were preparing to carry out subversive activities in Balochistan,” he added.
Taliban militants abducted 11 teachers, involved in a polio vaccination campaign for school children, from the private Hira Public School in the Bara (District) area of the Khyber Agency on November 23, reports Daily Times. Local official, Khyali Gul said the armed militants took the teachers to an area controlled by militant leader Mangal Bagh and his Taliban-affiliated Lashkar-e-Islam group.
At least three persons, including two students, were killed and one other injured on November 24 in two separate explosions that took place in Kurram Agency, reports Dawn. According to the political administration of the area, a roadside bomb was detonated near a car in the Shablan area of Upper Kurram Agency. Subsequently, two people were killed whereas one person sustained injuries. The second explosion occurred in the Dal area of Upper Kurram Agency, killing one person.
Meanwhile, two soldiers were killed and five others injured on November 24 when a roadside bomb was detonated near a Security Forces’ convoy on the road near Karamkot in Mir Ali tehsil (revenue unit) of North Waziristan Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), reports Dawn. According to sources, a remote-controlled bomb, planted along the road near Karamkot, was detonated when the SFs’ convoy was travelling from Miranshah to Mir Ali. Subsequently, two soldiers were killed on the spot whereas five others were injured.
Two gangsters affiliated with Uzair Jan Group, identified as Ijaz and Dilshad, were killed in an alleged encounter with the Rangers and the Police in Rangi Wara area within the limits of Chakiwara Police Station in Lyari Town of Karachi on November 24, reported The News. According to police official, the accused were were involved in heinous crimes and several cases were already registered in various Police Stations of Lyari.
Separately, two escaped Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants, identified as Abdullah and Wahabullah, were killed in an encounter in Baldia Town on November 23, reports Daily Times. According to details, the militants were arrested by Rangers a week ago and were handed over to the Police. The encounter came about after the alleged terrorists, detained in Mochko Police Station lockup managed to escape by breaking the windows. The suspects, as per investigators had killed at least 16 police officials and four police informers in SITE and its adjoining areas.
In another incident, two Policemen, identified as Gulzar and Fahim, were injured when unidentified militants hurled a locally made Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at a Police mobile on routine patrol in SITE Industrial Area on November 24, reports Daily Times. According to SHO Atiq ur Rehman and other Police officials, members of banned militant groups like the banned TTP are behind most attacks. According to a senior police official, the attack could have been a reaction prompted by the killing of two TTP terrorists on November 23, 2013.
In addition, Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of Karachi Police Department and Citizen-Police Liason Committee in a joint action on November 23 arrested a TTP Karachi Chapter Chief, identified as Abdul Qadir, and two of his henchmen from Gulshan Town, reported The News. “The militants were arrested during a raid on a house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Colony”, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SIU), Farooq Awan said. The action was taken following credible intelligence that terrorists were holed up in a building in the said area, said he. Abdul Qadir, and his two comrades are Orakzai tribesmen, the SSP added. “We have recovered Jihadi literature, stack of TTP letterhead pads, and weapons in the raid”, Awan said. He also revealed that these terrorists were involved in extorting millions from various industrialists telling them that this money was going to Osama bin Laden and slain TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud.
Pakistan
PM Nawaz Sharif seeks support to legislate new anti-terrorism ordinance
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on October 26 wrote a letter to the heads of all political parties, seeking their support for passage of “Protection of Pakistan Ordinance 2013” from the Parliament, reports Dawn. In the new ordinance, the minimum punishment for terrorists involved in various crimes has been set at 10-year imprisonment. The ordinance is aimed at strengthening the hands of law enforcement agencies against terrorists and ensuring speedy disposal of cases by the courts. In the letter, the Prime Minister said the proposed legislation was meant to give a strong message to the organised crime and anti-state elements regarding the will and determination of the state and the people to face and eliminate all challenges to the national integrity and sovereignty. “I am sure that you will spare some time to give it a reading and support the government in its passage through the Parliament in due course with the same spirit and determination that you exhibited during recent All Parties Conference (APC).”
However, a lawyer had challenged the newly-promulgated ordinance in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on October 24, 2013, saying some of its sections are against the fundamental rights of the citizens as enshrined in the constitution. The main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had also rejected the new ordinance a day earlier on October 23, 2013 terming it “an assault on the fundamental rights” of citizens.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also directed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to take all parties into confidence on peace talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Nawaz Sharif said that all political parties of the country had given the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Government the mandate to hold talks with the TTP at the September 9, 2013 APC meeting.
Drone strikes to end tomorrow if Pakistan chooses, says US Congressman Alan Grayson
US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee member Congressman Alan Grayson speaking with the BBC has said that drone strikes in Pakistan could end tomorrow if the country wanted to and that no such attacks take place without the approval of Pakistan, Dawn quoting BBC Urdu reported on October 30. The Democrat Congressman from Florida also said that he received no evidence from the Obama administration to suggest that there would be drop a in drone strikes conducted in Pakistan by the end of this year. He said that had Pakistan wanted, drone attacks on its territory could end tomorrow if the country stopped facilitating the US strikes.
Two militants belonging to new outfit Amarat-e-Islamia Afghanistan arrested from Karachi
During a raid, the Anti-Terrorist Wing of Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested two suspects, identified as Altaf Baloch and Zubair Baloch, belonging to a new outfit, Amarat-e-Islamia Afghanistan (Emirates of Islamic Afghanistan), from Ghani Chowrangi area in SITE Town on October 30, reports The News. Raja Umer Khattab said that these suspects were trained for bomb making and terrorist activities in Qilla Abdullah District of Balochistan. Security officials said that the accused had formed a new organization in Lyari Town, whose amir (chief) is Ismail Pathan. Khattab said the group was also planning to target Imambargahs and Rangers offices in Lyari using Improvised Explosive Devices. According to interrogations, the Amarat-e-Islamia Afghanistan is operating in Afghanistan, Balochistan and Karachi.
Video of two abducted Czech women released
Relatives of two abducted Czech women, identified as Hana Humpalova and Antonie Chrastecka, released a new video on October 30 showing them looking exhausted, speaking of death and begging Czech authorities to take action to free them, reports The News. The video was made in late August 2013 and had been delivered to the Czech embassy in Islamabad, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Johana Grohova said. The women were abducted on March 13, 2013, while being escorted by a tribal Policeman after crossing into Pakistan from Iran on a holiday.
Humpalova is heard saying that she is “concerned about my friend who was with me as I am not sure if she is dead or alive,” breaking into sobs and complaining about her poor health. “In case of my death I would like to be buried and put down in the grave of my father’s family,” she said. “I don’t know how much time I have left because when these guys take their final action you will not hear from me again,” said Humpalova, who wore a black headscarf.
Chrastecka begs the Czech Government to “make the biggest pressure to the Pakistani Government to cooperate with my kidnappers. Please give them what they want. Please help me to go home soon.”
Karachi can be saved only if drugs and arms smuggling is reined in, says Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on October 31 observed that Karachi can be saved only if the drugs and arms’ menace that plagues the city is reined in, reports Daily Times. While hearing the Karachi law and order case, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry sought a detailed report by today (November 1) from Customs officials about import of arms through sea ports during the last three years. The bench remarked that extraordinary steps and measures are required to maintain peace in the city and that all government functionaries are responsible for it. It observed that the “black money” from narcotics and smuggling of different items has a major role in disturbance of peace in the city and is affecting economic activities in the commercial hub of the country. The court ordered indiscriminate action against the elements involved in disturbing peace in the city. It observed that during raids police and Rangers have recovered a huge quantity of illegal weapons from the city, and noted that back-up support from federal institutions like Customs, Anti-Narcotics Force, Coast Guards and Federal Board of Revenue is required for bringing further improvement in the situation.
Drones killed 67 civilians in five years, says Ministry of Defence report
The Government on October 30 claimed that more than two thousand suspected terrorists have been killed in 317 drone strikes in the past five years while only 67 innocent civilians have died in these attacks, reports Dawn. The Ministry of Defence furnished a written reply in the Senate detailing the number of US drone strikes in the past five years. Surprisingly the Ministry of Defence data also claims that no innocent civilian was struck by the drone strikes since January 2012 while more than three hundred terrorists were targeted in the strikes. The official data negates the claims by local political and religious parties that US drone strikes in Pakistan have mostly killed innocent civilians, including women and children. According to the official data, this year has witnessed the lowest number of drone strikes which are 14 as compared to 2010 when the US hit Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) 115 times through drone attacks. Only three percent of 2,227 people killed in US drone strikes since 2008 were civilians, a surprisingly low figure that sparked criticism from groups that have investigated deaths from the attacks. The number is much lower than past Government calculations and estimates by independent organizations that have gone as high as 300. The Ministry said 317 drone strikes have killed 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians since 2008.
However, the Foreign Office said on October 31 that the Government was convinced that drone attacks were counter-productive and it (FO) had sought details from the Ministry of Defence about the low non-combatant casualty figure reported in Senate. “Our position on the drone strikes is very clear. We are convinced that drone strikes are counter-productive,” Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Chaudhry said at the weekly media briefing.
Meanwhile, Federal Defence Production Minister Rana Tanvir Hussain thinks it will not be prudent to shoot down drones though the country has the capability to do so, Dawn reported on November 1. “Pakistan has the capability to shoot down US drones but such decisions need thorough deliberation and it is not prudent to take the action (downing drones) right now,” he told the media after visiting a wireless communication equipment production unit in Lahore.
TTP ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud killed in US drone attack in FATA
Hakimullah Mehsud, the ‘chief’ of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was killed in a US drone strike in Dandy Darpakhel area, five kilometres (three miles) north of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on November 1, reports Dawn. Intelligence officials said Hakimullah was leaving from a meeting at a mosque in Dandy Darpakhel area when the drone targeted their vehicle. Five militants, including Abdullah Bahar Mehsud and Tariq Mehsud, both key militant commanders and close aides of the TTP chief, were also killed with two others injured in the drone strike, multiple sources confirmed.
On November 2-morning (Today), Hakimullah Mehsud along with other militants killed in the drone strike, was buried in NWA, reports The News. Sources said that besides Hakimullah Mehsud, his uncle, driver and other aides buried at different places NWA.
The Government has not yet confirmed the death of Hakimullah, reports The News. However, it has stopped the delegation from visiting NWA to hold peace talks following the reports of TTP chief’s death. Strongly condemning the US drone attack in North Waziristan, Pakistan Government reiterated that these strikes are a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. Foreign Office Spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry in a statement said that there was an across the board consensus in Pakistan that these drone strikes must end.
Talks with ‘US slaves’ not possible, says TTP
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on November 3 ruled out the possibility of holding a dialogue with the Pakistan Government, saying talks with the ‘US slaves’ were no longer possible, reports The News. “The (Pakistan) government has given us the present of Hakimullah Mehsud’s dead body,” said Shahidullah Shahid, ‘spokesman’ of the TTP, in a media statement which has come amid optimistic statements from the Pakistan Government regarding the fate of the proposed peace talks. He further said that “Nobody in history has ever negotiated with slaves,” he said. “We were waiting for a meeting, while the Pakistan Army and government were sitting with the US finalising deals to sell us.” Shahid stopped short of vowing revenge for Hakimullah. “Time will tell whether we take revenge of his martyrdom or not,” he added. “Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, the head of the supreme shura, has been appointed as temporary head of the TTP,” Shahid said, adding that prayers for Mehsud were still going on.
Meanwhile, the Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said a group of religious scholars had been ready to go and meet the TTP to initiate talks, which have been backed by all major political parties, when the drone struck.
Separately, the United States (US) insisted it has a shared interest with Pakistan in ending extremist violence after Islamabad accused it of scuttling efforts towards peace talks by killing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone strike. “The United States and Pakistan continue to have a vital, shared strategic interest in ending extremist violence so as to build a more prosperous, stable and peaceful region,” the official said.
Further, a US Congressman Mike Rogers on November 3 defended the drone strike and said it would help keep American troops safe, reports The News. Rogers, whose committee oversees the intelligence community, said the slain militant, Hakimullah Mehsud, was a “bad guy” who was connected to attacks against Pakistani soldiers and to the Taliban in Afghanistan, which has forced closures of many schools for girls. “This was a bad guy,” Rogers said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “There’s some information recently that concerned us about the safety of our troops. I feel a little better for our troops today than I did before this event happened.”
Effective monitoring of ISI by Parliament recommended by the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights
The Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights recommended an effective role of Parliament in monitoring the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Agency and putting it under civilian control, reports Dawn on November 4. A report unanimously adopted by the Committee was presented in the house on October 30, 2013 but couldn’t be taken up for discussion because of opposition’s boycott of the session. The Committee unanimously approved on September 5, 2013 the recommendations which call for setting up a bicameral intelligence and security committee to suggest ways of addressing the issue of enforced disappearance of citizens. The report is a follow-up of resolutions unanimously endorsed by the Senate on March 7, 2013 and National Assembly on March 12, 2012 on the issue of enforced disappearances.
A Parliamentary oversight of the ISI will be possible if the committee’s recommendations are included in a proposed Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (Functions, Powers and Regulation) Bill and if approved by Parliament. Although on paper the ISI operates under the administrative control of the Prime Minister, civilian Governments have in the past struggled to bring the Agency under their control, but without success.
Keeping in view the ISI’s role as a secret agency, the Senate committee has suggested that the Prime Minister, in consultation with the committee, may exclude from the report any matter prejudicial to national security. The committee will not go into the intelligence sources of the agency, but through policy decisions will guide it in carrying out its work.
Going one step forward, the committee has proposed the option of appointment of a retired civil servant of BS22 or equivalent rank in the armed forces by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The ISI Director General (DG), according to the recommendations, will hold office for four years, extendable by another year, unless he resigns or is removed during his term on grounds of inefficiency, misconduct or physical or mental disability. If approved by Parliament, no DG would be able to get a full-term extension.
Peace cant come through through ‘senseless force’, says Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif on November 4 warned peace could not be achieved “by unleashing senseless force”, in his first public speech since a US drone strike killed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud, reports Daily Times. “My government is firmly resolved to bringing the cycle of bloodshed and violence to an end. “But it cannot be done overnight, nor can it be done by unleashing senseless force against our citizens, without first making every effort to bring the misguided and confused elements of society, back to the mainstream,” he said in a speech after Army exercises near Bahawalpur.
Further, calling the drone strike that killed TTP ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud “an attack on regional peace by America,” Federal Minister of Interior Nisar Ali Khan said every aspect of bilateral ties with the US will now be reviewed. Speaking to a press conference after concluding a high level meeting at the Federal Interior Ministry, he vowed to raise the matter at international forums including the United Nations. The Minister said that five permanent members of the UN Security Council will also be contacted on the issue. He said an urgent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security (CCNS) has been called to review bilateral cooperation and ties with the US.
Meanwhile, Government told the National Assembly on November 4 that the dialogue process with the TTP has come to a standstill and will remain so until the appointment of its new chief, reports Daily Times. Federal Minister of Interior Nisar Ali Khan opened the debate and announced that dialogue process could not be initiated until the new chief of TTP takes over the charge of the terrorist outfit
Mullah Fazlullah named new TTP chief
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ruled out the possibility of peace talks with Pakistan as Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of the Swat Taliban, was named the new chief on November 7, reports The Express Tribune. Fazlullah was elected by the supreme shura (supreme council) a week after Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike on November 1. Sheikh Khalid Haqqani was chosen as his deputy. The TTP leaders from as far afield as Kurram Agency, Orakzai Agency, Bajaur Agency, Tank and South Waziristan participated in the meeting. Fazlullah is the first TTP chief who is not from Waziristan. His deputy, Khalid Haqqani, hails from Swabi. It is for the first time that the TTP leadership comprises men from urban areas and not from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Meanwhile, Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, who was appointed interim chief of the TTP, ruled out the possibility of any peace talks, accusing the Pakistan Government of ‘wielding no authority as it is under the US yoke’, reports The Express Tribune. Bhittani told journalists that TTP would continue their struggle for implementation of Shariah, adding that negotiations with the Government would only be possible if it is freed of US slavery and has its own authority. Bhittani said that TTP is not a political organisation. “The government had struck a deal with the United States and, under the garb of peace talks, it is selling out our fighters,” he said, adding, “The talks were merely a political stunt.” TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid also spoke to reporters from an undisclosed location and discounting the possibility of negotiations, said, “Pakistan government is playing a double-game with us.”
TTP vows wave of avenge attacks
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan announced on November 16 that they would orchestrate a wave of revenge attacks against the Government, reports Daily Times. “We will target security forces, government installations, political leaders and police,” said Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, the interim chief of the TTP. He said the TTP’s main target included army and government installations in Punjab. “We have a plan. But I want to make one thing clear. We will not target civilians, bazaars or public places. People do not need to be afraid,” Shaheen added. “Pakistan has full information about drone attacks,” said Shaheen. “Pakistan is a slave of America. It is an American colony.”
Meanwhile, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a conglomerate of organizations of Braveli school of thought, came down hard on elements those who declared former TTP ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud as a Shaheed, The News reported on November 9. In a statement issued on November 8 in Lahore, it said that branding the killing of Mehsud as Shahadat was against teachings of the Quran and an Sunnah. It noted that the former TTP ‘amir’ was a murderer and a criminal. The statement also termed the US drone attacks in country’s north-western tribal region as illegal, immoral, inhuman and atrocity. It termed “innocent people including children man and women” as martyrs. SIC Chairman Hamid Raza Rizvi announced that the collective opinion from all Muftis said calling a man responsible for the loss of so many lives, a ‘martyr’ went against the teachings of Quran and Sunnah.
Attack on army convoy kills two soldiers in NWA
Two Pakistan Army soldiers were killed and five others were injured in a roadside bomb explosion in Mir Ali tehsil in North Waziristan Agency on Sunday, Nov 24 official sources said. A military official said the soldiers were on their way to Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, from Bannu when they were attacked with an improvised explosive device (IED). “The terrorists of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had planted an IED on the main Mir Ali-Miranshah Road to target a military convoy that was scheduled to pass through the area,” a military official said.
Pleading anonymity, he said two soldiers were killed and five sustained injuries when their vehicle was struck by an IED. The injured soldiers were rushed to a military hospital at the Miranshah Army camp. The slain soldiers were taken to Peshawar where their funeral prayers were offered at the 11 Corps Headquarters. Senior military officials attended the funeral prayers of the fallen soldiers. Later, their bodies were dispatched to their respective villages for burial.
PTI-led Peshawar drone protesters block NATO supply route
Thousands of people protesting United States (US) drone strikes blocked a road in Peshawar on November 23 used to truck NATO troop supplies and equipment in and out of Afghanistan, reports The News. The protest, Imran Khan, had more symbolic value than practical impact as there is normally little NATO supply traffic on the road. The blocked route in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province leads to one of two border crossings used to send supplies overland from Pakistan to neighbouring Afghanistan. Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party runs the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government, called on Federal officials to take a firmer stance to force the US to end drone attacks and block NATO supplies across the country. “We will put pressure on America, and our protest will continue if drone attacks are not stopped,” Khan told the protesters.
Meanwhile, the PTI’s decision to choke NATO supply routes could deprive Pakistan of billions of dollars it receives from the US in financial aid, according to experts and Government officials. Under the Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC) agreement with the US, Pakistan receives an estimated USD 1,500-1,800 for every truck that carries supplies for NATO forces through the country, Government officials said. The bill amounts to roughly USD one million per day, they added. In addition to depriving Pakistan of the direct payment it receives for allowing NATO supplies to pass through its territory, violating the GLOC agreement may also prompt the US to withhold the USD 1.2 billion Pakistan hopes to receive under the Coalition Support Fund, the officials said. The amount has already been included in the country’s budget for the current fiscal year.
REGIONAL
Bangladesh – Internal Dynamics
One person killed and many others injured in country wide violence
One person was killed and 116 others injured when scores of crude bombs exploded in at least 50 places including the houses of a Supreme Court judge, law minister, environment minister and chief election commissioner, and the offices of a Police high-up, a Police station, and Ekattor TV in Dhaka city on October 26, reports The Daily Star. 71 people were arrested from different areas of the city. The attacks came a day after anonymous callers issued threats to kill several Police officials and their family members.
Three persons killed in street violence across country
A trucker was killed as his vehicle overturned after pickets threw brick chips at him in Satkania sub-District of Chittagong District during the second day of the 60-hour hartal (shutdown) on October 28, reports The Daily Star. Police identified the deceased as Mohammad Wasim (32). Wasim’s truck came under attack when he was passing through Chhadaha in Satkania sub-District. After being attacked, panicked Wasim lost control over the steering and his vehicle overturned on the road. Wasim died on the spot.
Meanwhile, an Awami League (AL) activist was stab in Islampur sub-District of Jamalpur District on the second day of the opposition-sponsored 60-hour hartal (shutdown) on October 28. Police confirmed the death of Shahzada (40).
Separately, a sub-District unit president of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was bombed and knifed to death in Jhenaidah District on the second day of the 60-hour opposition enforced hartal (shutdown) on October 28. The deceased identified as Muhamad Abul Hossain (60), was BNP president of Harinakunda sub-District unit and also acting chairman of Doulatpur union.
JCD Activist killed in clash with BCL activists in Noakhali District
An activist of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was killed and five others were injured in a clash with the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student front of Awami League (AL) at Amishapara Bazar under Sonaimuri sub-District in Noakhali District on October 31, reports New Age. The deceased was identified as Muhamad Parvej (18), a student of Amishapara Khalilur Rahman Kamil Madrassah.
PBCP cadre killed in Jhenaidah District
Police recovered the body of a cadre of Purbo Banglar Communist Party Janayuddha faction from Charatala area in Harinakundu sub-District of Jhenaidah District on November 2, reports The Daily Star. The deceased was identified as Ziaur Rahman. Police said that local people found body of Zia lying in a field. Police suspected that rivals might have picked up Zia from another place and killed him in the field. He was wanted in a number of cases.
Two killed in acts of violence
Monir Ali, a 14-year-old boy set on fire by pro-hartal (general strike) pickets during the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led 18-party alliance’s 60-hour hartal on November 4 succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in Dhaka city on November 7, reports The Daily Star. The boy suffered severe burns over 95 percent of his body when pro-hartal rowdies torched his father, Ramjan Ali’s covered van on the first day of the BNP-led 18-party alliance’s 60-hour hartal.
Meanwhile, a leader of the ruling Awami League (AL) party was stabbed to death by unknown miscreants at Dhaka city’s Motijheel, on November 7, reports The Daily Star. The deceased Khairul Mollah (45), organising secretary of Demra thana AL, came under attack as he came out of the office of the chairman of Bangladesh Samabaya Bank Ltd. The witnesses said a gang of four to five attackers fired blank shots to create panic among people and stabbed the AL leader indiscriminately.
BCL leader killed in Chittagong
A leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of the ruling Awami League (AL) was killed by unidentified criminals in Lohagara sub-District of Chittagong District on November 10, reports The Daily Star. The deceased, Mahbubur Rahman Bappi (24), was the president of BCL unit of Bar Awlia Degree College in Lohagara. Police said Bappi along with two other BCL activists — Rubel and Nabil — were attacked by a gang of about six criminals. However, locals and BCL activists claimed Bappi had a brawl with cadres of Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) on November 9.
Meanwhile, Police recovered 167 crude bombs, one kg of gunpowder and 15 kg of marbles after raiding a house in Dhaka city’s Azimpur area on November 11, reports The Daily Star. They also seized some 240 crackers from the room. However, nobody was arrested in this connection. Kamal Hossain, caretaker of the house, said two youths rented one room of the three-room house in April this year, but they did not reside there regularly. On November 10, boarders of an adjacent room saw the cocktails through holes in the corrugated iron sheet wall of the room, and informed the house owner of the matter.
India – Internal Dynamics
Five persons killed in six serial bomb blasts in Patna in Bihar
Five people were killed and another 66 were injured in six serial bomb blasts near Gandhi Maidan, the venue of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s rally in Patna on October 27 (today) minutes before he reached there to address a huge gathering, reports The Times of India. Five low intensity blasts occurred on the outer periphery of the Gandhi Maidan, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami said in Delhi. One bomb went off before the Eliphistine cinema hall on the western side of the rally venue, Police said.
Hours before the multiple explosions, a crude bomb went off in a newly constructed toilet at the Patna railway station, two kilometres from the BJP’s ‘Hunkar rally’ venue. Bomb disposal swept the area and recovered two more crude bombs, Railway Superintendent of Police Upendra Kumar Sinha said. One security personnel was injured while defusing a bomb recovered from the toilet, he said.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs R P N Singh said, “I can’t say whether it was a terror attack or political conspiracy. Only after the investigation, we will be able to tell anything.”
Businessman shot dead in Assam
Unknown miscreants on October 25 shot dead a businessman, Debasish Saha (45), at Bhaoraguri under Gossaigaon sub–division of Kokrajhar District reports The Sentinel on October 26. Though no organization has claimed the responsibility, the militant group of IK Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland is suspected behind this act. The Spokesman of the NDFB-IKS, BR Ferengga in a press statement said that the outfit was not involved in the killing of Debasish Saha and warned not to blame the NDFB without justifying the fact.
Also, the body of Independent faction of United liberation Front of Asom ‘commandant’ Rajib Das alias Pradip Baruah (49), mastermind behind the abduction of social worker Sanjoy Ghosh, was recovered by Police from Sreeram Dawauri village under Garmur Police Station of Majuli in Jorhat District, reports The Assam Tribune. Sanjoy Ghosh was abducted on July 8, 1997 and subsequently killed by ULFA militants.
Assam Rifles trooper injured
Nagaland Post reports that a powerful improvised explosive device (IED), suspected to have been planted by rebels, exploded near Northern Gate of Kangla fort in the heart of Imphal city in the morning of October 26, leaving a jawan of Assam Rifles (AR) with splinter injury. Injured jawan has been identified as Bijay Pal (30). Soon after the blast, additional force of Assam Rifles, State Police including female personnel rushed to the area and conducted search operation. At least 17 persons were picked up during the operation for verification.
Meanwhile, the United National Liberation Front said that Achom Anil alias Ibomcha alias Mutu who was arrested on October 25 was a deserter who deserted the outfit in 2012 and that he is no more related with the outfit.
Two persons killed in Manipur
Two persons were killed and seven others critically injured when a powerful bomb, suspected to be planted by militants, exploded at Yaiskul area bus stand in Imphal West District on October 30, reports Times of India.
Also, unidentified militants triggered an (IED) blast injuring five persons, including two students at Marwari Dharamshala in Imphal on October 29, reports The Sangai Express. The injured were identified as Abujam Arun (21), Raghunath Manto (35),and Shambhu Shaha (40), both from Sitamarhi District in Bihar, Kishan Chakraborty and Rajdweep Sharma. Superintendent of Police (SP) of Imphal West, K Jayenta said “We don’t think today’s explosion was a target on migrant workers. It could be connected with monetary demanded slapped by underground organizations on the business community in Dharamsala area, “There have been reports of hefty demands served on the traders in the area and the blast could be a warning to them to cough up the money soon, the SP said and added that the police, nevertheless, have begun a probe to ascertain the motive behind the blast.“With the militants relying on explosive devices we have also changed our operational strategy to check their subversive activities in the city area in view of the rising number of shoppers for the upcoming festivals including Kut, Ningol Chak-kouba and Diwali etc,” the SP said.
Bomb explosion in Manipur
The Sangai Express reports that a joint team of Assam Rifles (AR) and Police had a close shave as a bomb planted by unknown miscreants suddenly exploded at Moidangpok (Imphal West District) under Patsoi Police Station in the morning of October 30. The team was waiting for a bomb disposal squad after a foot patrol party of 40 AR detected the RDX powered improvised explosive device (IED) at around 10 am at a paddy field. However, no one was injured in the incident. Police sources said that the bomb was suspected to have planted to target AR troops as they often stand guard at the area.
Meanwhile, while denying involvement in the blasts at Thangal Keithel (October 29) and Moirangkhom Moreh van parking (October 30), the CorCom, a Coordination Committee of six valley based militant groups contended that Indian security forces plotting the explosions cannot be ruled out.
Tripura’s tribals party to protest for separate state
Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), a tribal- political party in Tripura on October 30 announced an agitation from November 11 to demand a separate state by upgrading the Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council (TTADC), reports Tripurainfo on October 30.”We would organise a 72-hours hunger strike here from Nov 11. After that our leaders and members would go to New Delhi to launch an indefinite hunger strike there Dec 10,” Budhu Debbarma, IPFT’s ‘vice-president’ told reporters. Debbarma said they want the Tribal Autonomous District Council to be upgraded and a new separate state be formed out of Tripura.
Meanwhile, amidst political turmoil in neighbouring Bangladesh, the Tripura government has sealed the entire stretch of Indo-Bangla border and imposed section-144 in bordering areas of the state, reports Tripurainfo on October 27. Official sources said, the Border security Force (BSF) has been asked to intensify their surveillance in bordering areas along with increase of night patrolling in border roads. The West Tripura District administration sources said section-144 has been imposed in bordering areas of the District and it will continue up to January 2014.
2 policemen injured in Maoist bomb
Two Police personnel – Assistant constables Munna Madkam and Anil Samrat – were injured when a bomb laid by Communist Party of India-Maoist exploded in Sukma District on October 31, reports Zee News. The incident took place when the Police were on an area domination exercise under Chintagufa Police Station limits.
Maoists threaten to stop banks from recovering farm loans in Kerala
The Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres have threatened that they will block any attempt by banks to initiate recovery proceedings against farmers in Wayanad District who have failed to repay loans, reports The Times of India October 30. The Maoists also warned of people’s trial against illegal moneylenders in the District who are responsible for the farmer suicides in the District. Kattuthee (Forest Fire), the bulletin issued by Kabani dalam (armed squad) of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) of the Maoist, also threatened to eliminate the loan sharks and the resort mafia operating in the district.
Five security personnel injured in encounter with Maoists in Jharkhand
Five Security personnel were injured during an encounter with the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres in Kumandih Jungle of Latehar District on November 1, reports Zee News. “One jawan of the CoBRA [Commando Battalion for Resolute Action] and four personnel of the Jharkhand Jaguar were injured in the encounter with the Maoists,” Superintendent of Police Michael S Raj said. Security Forces launched the anti-Maoist operation from October 30 and the Maoists exploded landmines and opened fire around 10am on November 1, resulting in the encounter, he said.
Separately, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have claimed that they have killed 46 Left Wing Extremists (LWEs) and apprehended 174 of them including Maoists from different parts of the State so far this year (2013), reports The Times of India. They have also found a haul of 1,730kg explosives, 298 landmines, 100 regular weapons and 1,700 ammunition from the extremists from different parts of Jharkhand. CRPF IG (operations) M V Rao revealed the numbers in an official press release at a press conference. A total of 22 battalions of CRPF and two battalions of CoBRA are engaged in the war against LWEs in Jharkhand.
Seven civilians killed in militant attack in Assam
Seven people were killed and 10 others seriously injured when suspected Garo National Liberation Army militants fired on a group of people at Gendapara village under Agia Police Station in Goalpara District on November 3, reports Zee News. The killed civilians were identified as Bholanath Rabha, Amarendra Rabha, Jayanta Rabha, Puran Rabha, Kalpanath Rabha and Lulu Rabha, who died on the spot. Another person reportedly succumbed to injuries on November 4 (today).
Meanwhile, Security Forces (SFs) recovered a 1.5 kilogram bomb packed in a tiffin box from the bus stand area of Golakganj town of Dhubri District on November 2, reports The Telegraph.
Separately, the Anakarbi Adhikar Suraksha Mancha (AASM), an association of Non-Karbi people, demanded the Government to discuss the issues of non–Karbis in the tripartite talks which will be held on November 6 between State, Central Government and the Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (JACAS), reports The Sentinel on November 3.
Jharkhand Armed Police trooper killed in IED blast in Jharkhand
A Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP-I) trooper was killed and another injured in a landmine explosion suspected to have been triggered by the Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres in the Gurabanda Police Station area on November 2, reports The Times of India. The two motorcycle-borne troopers were on patrolling duty in the forest cover of Fukrogora village under Ghatshila sub division when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded. “Prashant Rai died on the spot while Devan Pradhan sustained moderate injuries in the explosion,” said rural police superintendent Devendra Thakur. A team of 12 JAP jawans were on patrolling duty in the morning hours when the landmine explosion was triggered by the Maoists, at a little distance from the main road.
PLFI extremists kill three persons in Jharkhand
Suspected cadres of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a breakaway faction of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) killed three persons, including a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party worker and a student of Industrial Training Institute (ITI), in separate incidents at Basia and Kamdara in Gumla District late on November 2, reports The Times of India. Bodies of Laxman Kansari (40), a JMM worker from Ramjadi village under Sisai Police Station, and Ashif Ansari, a resident of Ahmadnagar in Sisai, were recovered from Porangtoli near Kumhari village. They also found a pamphlet in which PLFI claimed responsibility. Both of them were drunk, said Police. According to information, a squad of PLFI activists called Kansari and Ansari to Porangtoli on November 2. They were fish farmers who used to deal in spawns. They were treated well and served liquor. The extremists then demanded INR 50,000 in levy from both. PLFI men shot them when they allegedly failed to pay the amount.
PLFI extremists also killed a student of ITI, Rourkela in Odisha, by axing him and then chopping his body into three parts on Monday. Police recovered the pieces from Kamdara-Redwa road near Murumkela forest under Kamdara Police Station in Gumla District. The deceased was Kulan Barla (26), a resident of Budhi-Bartoli village under Lapung Police Station of Ranchi District. According to police, Barla had gone to a friend’s house at Viterkera village to pay the price of a goat. He was possibly killed while returning home. After hacking him to death, assailants took away his motorcycle and mobile phone.
Five security force
The Shillong Times reports that Garo Hills Police suffered one of its biggest casualties in its fight against militancy with five State security personnel killed in an ambush laid by a heavily armed group of Garo National Liberation Army militants in remote South Garo Hills Districts in the morning of October 5. Armed GNLA militants believed to number over two dozen ambushed a Police gypsy with five occupants that was proceeding from Baghmara to Tura in West Garo Hills. Police informed that the militants lobbed two grenades from atop a small hillock onto the vehicle when one of the grenades reportedly exploded, damaging the vehicle and bringing it to a halt while militants perched on higher ground opened up in a hail of fire on the five occupants of the vehicle. The militants took away three AK rifles and a carbine machine gun from the slain Police personnel along with a sizeable number of ammunition. Three of the deceased belonged to 3rd MLP Battalion while another deceased belonged to South Garo Hills District Executive Force (DEF) and the driver of the vehicle who was also killed in the ambush was Driver Lekichyne Ryngkhlem of the Fire and Emergency Services wing.
The attack comes a week after the GNLA militant ‘chief’ Sohan D Shira had threatened retaliation in a big way for the Police raid on his private residence at Chachatgre village, 3 kilometres from Williamnagar town, on October 27. That operation yielded INR 334,000 Indian currency, 63,000 Bangladeshi taka along with a powerful satellite phone together with IED bombs, claymore mine boxes and more than three dozen explosive detonators.
22 landmines found in Jharkhand
The special Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along with Jharkhand Police late on November 4 found 22 huge landmines planted at 18 places underneath a 100-metre stretch in Latehar’s (Latehar District) Kumundih forest, reports The Times of India. Each bomb contained explosives weighing five kilograms and was packed in tins. The total weight of the explosives was over 100 kilograms. Referring to the landmines, an unnamed Policeman said, “It was enough to blow up an entire company of forces.” The landmines were planted to kill Security Force (SF) personnel combing forests in search of the Communist Party of India-Maoist leader Arvindji who is suspected to be hiding in Kumandih. Around 10 companies of SFs are patrolling the forests since past one week.
One migrant worker killed and six persons injured in twin blasts in Manipur
The Hindu reports that one migrant worker from Punjab was killed and six others were injured in a twin bomb blast in the night of October 7 at Pallel Lamkhai in Thoubal District. Sources said that suspected militants activated two powerful bombs around 10.40 pm near the shacks where migrant workers engaged in the construction of a private house were sleeping. Lalit Kumar from Ambala died on the spot and six other labourers, all from Silchar in Assam, sustained serious injuries. Police rushed to the spot late in night. However no arrest has been made. Police have beefed up security measures to avoid further such attacks. The blasts occur two months after one such shack of migrant workers was attacked killing 9 and injuring 11 others.
AVNC-B kill two security force personnel
The Shillong Times reports that suspected Breakaway faction of Achik National Volunteers Council militants, who entered from the porous Bangladesh border, shot dead two Border Security Force (BSF) constables and snatched away their INSAS rifles at around 10.20 am on November 8 near Kaithakona outpost in South West Garo Hills District. The slain BSF constables have been identified as Sushish Biswas and Papu Kumar Yadav. The fresh killing comes at a time when security had already been beefed up after the Garo National Liberation Army militants killed five policemen in the same district on November 5. A BSF official said that inputs suggest that it was the ANVC-B militants who were involved in the attack. However, the ANVC-B was quick to react denying its role in the killing of BSF personnel while asserting that GNLA militants were involved in the crime. According to the ANVC-B, the GNLA is not alone but is being backed by foreign elements including ULFA.
Two BSF personnel and a civilian driver killed as Maoists trigger IED blast in Chhattisgarh
A day after the first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar zone, two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and a civilian driver were killed in a landmine explosion triggered by Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres in Sukma District on November 12, reports Hindustantimes. The troopers were returning from poll duties when their vehicle was targeted at Kerpal. A BSF doctor on board sustained injuries. Another BSF vehicle in the convoy had a miraculous escape.
Earlier in the morning, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deputy commandant was injured in an encounter with Maoists in Dornapal in Sukma District.
Meanwhile, polling in Maoist areas of Bastar and Rajnandgaon has now touched a record 72.8 per cent, as against the November 11 estimate of 67 per cent, reports The Indian Express. As polling parties returned from interior areas — some of them are still to reach — the Election Commission on November 13 evening revised the figures and noted that several constituencies recorded much higher polling percentage than initially believed.
Further, according to a in post.jagran.com, a total of 14 encounters between Security Forces and Maoists took place on November 11, the polling day.
The Indian Express reports the Centre is concerned over a large quantity of explosives and IEDs being seized during the first phase of the Chhattisgarh elections held on November 11. As many as 40 IEDs with detonators and explosives were seized by security forces in the last one week in the run-up to the elections. While most of the IEDs weigh 2-5 kg, some were even found to weigh 30 kg, claimed officials. According to reports, the maximum number of IEDs (11) were found in Dantewada, followed by Bijapur and Kanker.
Monthly Fatalities
The following deaths related to ongoing insurgencies and acts of terrorism occurred during the period Oct 26 to Nov 25, 2013:
| Civilian | Indian Security Personnel | Militant | Total | |
| Assam | 12 | 00 | 06 | 18 |
| Bihar | 10 | 00 | 01 | 11 |
| Manipur | 04 | 00 | 03 | 07 |
| Meghalaya | 00 | 07 | 01 | 08 |
| Nagaland | 01 | 00 | 01 | 02 |
| Left wing | 17 | 05 | 07 | 29 |
| Total | 44 | 12 | 19 | 75 |
Nepal – Internal Dynamics
UCPN-N candidate Prahlad Lamichhane’s jeep sets ablaze in Makwanpur District
A jeep owned by Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist candidate from Constituency No.3 Prahlad Lamichhane was set ablaze at Hetauda town in the Makwanpur District on October 26, reports Nepal News. UCPN-M sources said the Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist-Baidya) cadres set the vehicle used for election campaign on fire to disrupt the Constituent Assembly (CA) election. The arson completely destroyed the jeep.
Meanwhile, Police arrested three CPN-Maoist-Baidya cadres for their alleged involvement in anti-poll activities in different parts of Udayapur District on October 26, reports Kantipuronline.com. The Police arrested Parshu Ram Pokharel, a District leader of CPN-Maoist-Baidya from Katari, two other district level leaders, Min Prasad Pokharel and Babu Ram Subedi, from Boltar bazaar while they were in a bid to disrupt election campaign of UCPN-M.
Bomb recovered in Dolakha district
A bomb was found in the Charanga area of Dolakha District in the morning of October 30, coinciding with Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda’s campaign visit to the District, reports Nepal News. “CPN-Maoist [Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist-Baidya (CPN-Maoist-Baidya] has called a bandh in the district today [October 30],” Dolakha’s CDO Pralad Pokharel said, adding, “But no one has claimed responsibility for the incident yet.”
Six persons injured in clashes between cadres of CPN-UML and UCPN-M in Bajura District
Six persons were injured on October 31 when cadres of Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist–Leninist (CPN-UML) and Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist clashed in Kotila Village Development Committee (VDC) of Bajura District when they came across each other during an electoral campaign of each other, reports Nepal News. The clash is believed to have occurred ahead of UCPN-M senior leader Baburam Bhattarai’s visit to the far-west District.
Meanwhile, in Tanahun District, a bomb attack was reported on Nepali Congress (NC) Vice-president and Tanahun constituency No-2 candidate Ramchandra Paudel on October 30, reports The Himalayan Times. The bomb went off at a house in Ramjakot VDC where Paudel was staying. No human casualty was reported though Paudel’s vehicle was damaged. Police found four unexploded improvised petrol bombs near the site.
UCPN-M candidates’ vehicles set on fire in Sunsari and Dhading Districts
A vehicle owned by Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist candidate from Sunsari District Constituency No. 2 Ram Kumari Chaudhari was set ablaze on November 1, reports Nepal News. The vehicle was parked at her own house. UCPN-M (Sunsari) accused the Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist-Baidya) of the arson incident.
Meanwhile, two masked youth on November 1 set afire a jeep that UCPN-M Dhading District Constituency No. 1 candidate Pushpa Bikram Malla was using for his election publicity campaign, reports The Himalayan Times. The driver and owner of the hired vehicle were inside the vehicle during the arson but managed to jump off the burning vehicle, which was destroyed in the incident. UCPN-M (Dhading) blamed the CPN-Maoist-Baidya for the arson.
Six policemen injured in clash with YCL cadres in Dolpa District
Six Police constables were injured in a clash that took place between Police and cadres of Young Communist League, the youth wing of Unified Communist Party Nepal-Maoist in Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa District on November 2, reports Republica. The clash reportedly took place after the YCL cadres were asked by the Police to not move around in groups at night. Following the clash, Police arrested 49 YCL cadres
Bomb recovered near Durgamandu VDC office in Doti District
An unidentified group planted a bomb on November 8 at the site near Durgamandu Village Development Committee (VDC) office in Doti District where the Nepali Congress (NC) had planned to conduct its election mass meeting, reports The Himalayan Times. The bomb was detected and later defused by a squad of the Nepali Army. The incident delayed the NC meeting by two-and-a-half hours, which was addressed by constituency-2 candidate Yogendra Shahi.
Sri Lanka – Internal Dynamics
US court sentences Canadian LTTE operative to two years for abetting LTTE
A New York court in United States (U.S.) on October 29 sentenced a Canadian Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam operative, who was extradited to the US pleaded guilty to charges of supporting the LTTE to two years in prison, reports Daily Mirror. Suresh Sriskandarajah, who pleaded guilty in July to conspiring to provide material support to the LTTE, has already been in custody for about 10 months. Sriskandarajah was arrested in 2006 and freed on bail three years later before his extradition to the U.S. in 2012. While in Canada, Sriskandarajah helped research and acquire aviation equipment, submarine and warship design software, night vision equipment and communications technology for the LTTE.
Meanwhile, President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the 23rd convocation ceremony of the Sri John Kothalawala Defence University (KDU) in Colombo on October 29 stressed that the demands for removal of army camps from the North made by some elements will never be a reality, reports Colombo Page. Rajapaksa said “There are demands that we remove the troops from the north. This is not a practical thing to do and it will not be done.” The President, pointing out that the Government has implemented a massive development drive throughout the island as a measure to eliminate all root causes of terrorism, requested the peace loving public to support the Government to defeat the conspiring elements at the very outset.
Separately, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on October 26 decided to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo from November 15 to 17, reports Colombo Page. Mavai Senathirajah, a senior TNA legislator said “We will not take part in CHOGM. But our staying away does not mean we are protesting against the participating nations. We will be eager to meet them.”
Government dismisses Channel 4 ‘fake’ video of LTTE media woman killing
The Government on November 2 summarily dismissed a video documentary released by the Britain’s Channel 4 just ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that is to take place in two weeks, reports Colombo Page. The Government dismissed the Channel 4 video which shows the killing of a Tamil woman who was said to be a television presenter for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as “fake” and said the Channel 4 as usual is making another attempt to discredit Sri Lanka as the Commonwealth Summit approaches. The Government said Isaipriya alias Shoba, the Tamil woman whose killing by army troops is shown in the Channel 4 video, is a “Lieutenant Colonel” of the LTTE and actually died in the final battle with the Sri Lankan Army. Channel 4 on November 4 telecast the video footage showing Isaipriya being captured alive and taken away by army troops, with hands tied behind her back. The video claimed that Isaipriya was raped and executed after being captured by the troops and not during the final battle as claimed by the Government.
Police recover C4 explosives
Police recovered a cache of explosives suspected to be used in a subversive act from Vavuniya District in Tamil dominated Northern Province on November 6, reports, Colombo Page. The explosives cache of 13 kilos of C-4 explosives was found hidden in a lorry which had been abandoned near a vehicle check point in the District. Police media spokesman Ajith Rohana said that the recovery was made when the lorry was thoroughly inspected at an Army camp in the District. The search also discovered 36 detonators. Terrorist Investigation Department of Police is conducting further investigations.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron on November 7 wrote in an article for a London-based Tamil newspaper “I will demand that the Sri Lankan government independently and transparently investigates alleged war crimes and allegations of continuing human rights abuses” reports Daily Mirror. Cameron further wrote “Four years after the conflict, no one has been held to account for grave allegations of war crimes and sexual violence, journalists are routinely intimidated and thousands of people have yet to find out what has happened to their missing relatives.”
Separately, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which formed the Northern Provincial Council Government recently, say they are not opposed to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Sri Lanka, especially if it includes a trip to Jaffna District, reports The Hindu on November 7. Speaking to The Hindu on condition of anonymity, a TNA member — who earlier publicly sought a boycott — said “The benefits of Dr. Singh’s meetings with TNA leaders in Jaffna are bound to accrue over time.” Echoing the sentiment, another member said “Dr. Singh’s visit may be helpful and give India more leverage, but we just cannot antagonise Tamil Nadu.”
Commonwealth Secretariat will assist Sri Lanka in setting up a National Inquiry on Torture, says Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma
The Commonwealth Secretariat will assist Sri Lanka in setting up a National Inquiry on Torture, its Secretary-General Mr. Kamalesh Sharma said in an interview to The Hindu at the Secretariat headquarters at Marlborough House in London on the eve of his departure to Colombo to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), reports The Hindu on November 9 (today). To be set up under the aegis of the Sri Lanka National Human Rights Commission and to be assisted and monitored by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the inquiry will investigate all allegations of torture committed by Government agencies or arms of the state from 2009 (the final stages of the civil war) to the present, he said. The inquiry would take 18 months to complete its work, Mr. Sharma said.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Ministry Additional Secretary Rodney Perera said international participation at CHOGM 2013 in Sri Lanka at summit level will be no less in comparison to the level of participation at any previously held CHOGM summits, reports Daily News on November 9 (today). Perera said “The participation at CHOGM 2013 will be no different from any other previously held summit. Who will want to be isolated and who will not be, by not participating is a matter to be discerned later. As of today, confirmed international participation at the summit is 3,000. More than 1,600 delegates have confirmed participation from the Commonwealth countries, including Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers. More than 1,800 business leaders have confirmed participation at the summit’s Business Forum and 500 for the People’s Forum so far. Over 850 journalists, including Channel Four director of controversial “Sri Lanka Killing Fields” will cover the summit.”
Separately, India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, facing strong opposition within his own party as well as from the Tamil political parties, is unlikely to attend the CHOGM, reports Colombo Page on November 8. The Prime Minister and the Congress Party core group headed by party president Sonia Gandhi had deliberated the pros and cons of PM’s participation in the summit for over an hour but the discussions had not produced any conclusive result. The Prime Minister is in a dilemma as some of his party members suggest Singh to attend the summit while Tamil members of the congress and Tamil political parties in Tamil Nadu urge the PM to boycott the event in protest of Sri Lanka’s alleged treatment of Tamils.
‘SL shutting down war scrutiny’
An Australian senator briefly detained in Sri Lanka returned home Monday, Nov 11 and accused Colombo of trying to “shut down” scrutiny of war crimes before a Commonwealth summit. Sri Lanka is facing international censure over alleged war crimes, and its hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this week has become mired in controversy as demands mount for it to address the allegations.
Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon was picked up by authorities in Colombo and interrogated on Sunday, and said she believed it was because the Sri Lankan government “does not want scrutiny of what is happening in that country”. “The war crimes need to be investigated; the crimes against humanity clearly continue, the evidence is very strong,” she said. “The Sri Lankan government want to shut down those messages. “Rhiannon urged Australia’s conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott not to attend CHOGM, saying: “Surely they should take a leaf from the Canadians.
“Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is boycotting the summit to protest at Sri Lanka’s failure to investigate its troops over allegations they killed up to 40,000 civilians in 2009 in the final stages of the civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also pulled out.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron plans to attend but has promised to push for an international probe into the alleged war crimes and human rights abuses. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key will attend, but has said this does not imply support for the Sri Lankan government.
Abbott on Monday reaffirmed his intention to go to the November 15-17 meet, saying he respected the Commonwealth and did not want Australia “to trash one of the very longstanding and important bodies that we are a senior member of”.
Asked about alleged rights abuses, he said he was “not inclined to go overseas and give other countries lectures”. He said Sri Lanka had endured an horrific civil war in which the Tamil Tigers — “an absolutely vicious outfit” which invented suicide bombing — fought the Sri Lankan army.
“Now, that’s not to say that the atrocities were all on one side. I don’t pretend that for a second,” Abbott told Sydney radio station 2GB.”I don’t say everything is perfect there for a second, but I think things are getting better and while, yes, I will be urging the Sri Lankan government to respect everyone’s rights, I think I will also be acknowledging that a lot of progress has been made and in the end the most important civil right is the right to live without the threat of death or horrific violence through some civil war.
Rhiannon, who was detained while preparing to host a media conference with New Zealand Green Party MP Jan Logie on Sunday, had been in Sri Lanka on a four-day fact-finding mission into alleged human rights abuses and press freedom.
Sri Lanka bans remembrance of Tamil Tigers
Sri Lanka’s military on Monday, Nov 25 announced a ban on commemorations of the islands defeated Tamil Tiger rebels following reports that sections of the ethnic Tamil minority were planning to hold events.
The military said any event was banned because the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was still a proscribed organisation, four years after the army defeated the group to end a decades-long separatist war.
Small and low-key ceremonies are usually held at this time every year to commemorate rebels killed during the conflict, a so-called “heroes week” that coincides with the anniversary of the death of the first rebel. Local media have reported that more organised events were planned this year in the islands former northern war zone after the main Tamil party won local elections there in September.
“Promoting and propagating separatist ideology within Sri Lanka directly or indirectly, even by using media freedom, and attempting to commemorate or glorify terrorists that belonged to a proscribed organisation would be illegal,” the military spokesman said in a statement.
The week also coincides with the anniversary of the birth of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in 2009 in the final bloody offensive against the rebels in the northeastern district of Mullaitivu. Authorities have been keen to erase any symbol of the Tamil Tigers, removing rebel war cemeteries and dismantling monuments set up by the guerrillas in the former war zones.
However, the military had turned a bunker used by Prabhakaran into a war trophy and a popular tourist stop, mainly for members of the majority Sinhalese community. In a sudden decision last month, the military dismantled Prabhakaran’s bunker and declared it off limits for visitors.
At least 100,000 people were killed in the separatist campaign from 1972 to 2009, according to UN estimates. There have been no attacks blamed on the guerrillas since 2009 although the government has repeatedly said it fears rebel remnants may try to regroup.
INTERNATIONAL
US catch Afghanistan ‘red handed’ in plotting with TTP, says report
The United States has caught the Afghanistan Government secretly conniving with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in an attempt to acquire a stronger position in a regional power game, The Express Tribune quoting The New York Times reported on October 29. According to the report, the “disrupted plan involved Afghan intelligence trying to work with the Pakistan Taliban, allies of al Qaeda, in order to find a trump card in a baroque regional power game that is likely to intensify after the American withdrawal next year, the officials said. And what started the hard feelings was that the Americans caught them red-handed.” The article comes just as a tripartite meeting between Nawaz Sharif, Hamid Karzai and David Cameron got underway in London, a meeting in which Karzai reportedly planned to push Pakistan into revealing the locations for Mullah Baradar. Afghan Government caught transporting Latif Mehsud to Kabul.
Tipped off to the plan, United States Special Forces “raided an Afghan convoy that was ushering a senior TTP militant, Latif Mehsud, to Kabul for secret talks last month, and now have Mehsud in custody. “Publicly, the Afghan Government has described Mehsud as an insurgent peace emissary. But according to Afghan officials, the ultimate plan was to take revenge on the Pakistani military.” The New York Times further reported that a “favorite complaint of Afghan officials is how Pakistani military intelligence has sheltered and nurtured the Taliban and supported their insurgency against the Afghan Government.
New clashes in Libya as death toll tops 40
Fresh clashes erupted in Tripoli on Saturday, Nov 16 as the death toll from a shootout at an anti-militia protest rose to 43 and the weak, post-revolutionary government appealed for restraint.
More than 450 people were wounded when Friday’s protest sparked clashes in the capital between rival militias that continued through the night, Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani said. Prime Minister Ali Zeidan appealed for “restraint and a halt to the clashes”, warning that the entry of more armed groups into the volatile city could only “further complicate the situation”.
“The coming hours and days will be decisive for the history of Libya and the success of the revolution,” stressed Zeidan, who was himself abducted by militiamen and held for several hours last month. Libya has seen a surge in unrest as former rebels who helped end Muammar Gaddafi’s four decades of dictatorship have scoffed at government demands to lay down their arms or join the security forces.
The latest violence erupted when protesters carrying white flags marched on a cluster of villas that serve as the Tripoli base of the Misrata brigade — made up of battle-hardened fighters from the western city of the same name — and demanded that they leave the capital.
Somali police station attacked
At least 27 people were killed when Somalia’s Shebab insurgents attacked a police station on Tuesday, Nov 19 with a suicide car bomber blasting open the compound before commandos entered spraying gunfire, an army officer said.
Witnesses reported bodies strewn around the blast site, the latest in a string of bombs and shootings in the central Somali town of Beledweyne claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked Shebab. “We have confirmed 27 people dead including soldiers and civilians, while others were injured, some seriously,” senior Somali army officer Abdi Mohamed Ali told AFP, adding that four Shabab gunmen had also been killed.
The Shabab boasted of killing 20 soldiers, including Somali forces and Djiboutian troops with the African Union force and Ethiopian soldiers based at the police compound.
S Arabia rules out contact with Israel on Iran
Saudi Arabia on Monday, Nov 18 ruled out any contact with Israel, with which it has no diplomatic ties, after a British newspaper reported that the two countries could coordinate efforts against Iran.
The kingdom, which is Iran’s chief regional rival, “has no relations or contacts with Israel of any kind or at any level,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, quoted by state news agency SPA.
Under the headline “Two old foes unite against Tehran,” Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper said Israel and Saudi Arabia were working together on “contingency plans for a possible attack on Iran if its nuclear programme is not significantly curbed.”
“As part of the growing cooperation, Riyadh is understood already to have given the go-ahead for Israeli planes to use its airspace in the event of an attack on Iran,” it said. The Saudi spokesman said the report was “completely unfounded”.
Saudi Arabia has been locked in a decades-long rivalry with Iran, while Israel suspects Tehran is covertly pursuing a nuclear weapons programme and has not ruled out the use of military force.
Iran unveils its ‘biggest’ drone
Iran unveiled a new aircraft on Monday, Nov 18 that it says is the biggest drone yet to be developed in the Islamic Republic, capable of staying aloft for up to 30 hours. Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said the reconnaissance and combat drone Fotros has a range of 2,000-km. That would cover much of the Middle East, including Israel. The earlier Shahed-129 (Witness-129) drone is reported to have a similar range, but can only stay aloft 24 hours.
“This drone is able to carry out reconnaissance missions and carry air-to-surface rockets for combat operations,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Dehghan as saying. Dehghan said scientists at Iranian Aircraft Manufacturing Industries, affiliated to Iran’s Defence Ministry, have designed and developed the drone.
He said the country has achieved self-sufficiency in building drones, but didn’t elaborate. Iran has pursued a military self-sufficiency programme since 1980s, and frequently announces technological breakthroughs including the building of jet fighters, tanks, missile, submarines, torpedoes and drones. Most cannot be independently confirmed.
He said the new drone is a key strategic addition to Iran’s military capabilities, and was developed despite tough sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program. “Sanctions by enemies cant create an obstacle in the path of progress for our defense industries,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
The sanctions were imposed on Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a programme that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for a warhead. The country says it is fighting an intelligence battle with the US and Israel, which accuse Tehran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies the charges, saying its nuclear programme is peaceful and geared toward generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.
Bomber kills 11 soldiers in Egypt
A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into one of two buses carrying off-duty soldiers in Egypt’s turbulent region of northern Sinai on Nov 22, killing 11 and wounding 37, security and military officials said. They said the suicide bomber struck when the two buses traveled on the road between the border town of Rafah and the coastal city of el-Arish. The explosion damaged both buses, the officials said.
The soldiers belong to the 2nd Field Army, which is doing most of the fighting against Islamic militants waging an insurgency against security forces in Sinai.
The buses were on their way to Cairo, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorised to release the information.
Col. Mohammed Ahmed Ali, a military spokesman, said the wounded were being treated in military hospitals. “The precious blood of our sons strengthens our resolve to cleanse Egypt and shield its sons from violence and treacherous terrorism,” Ali wrote on his Facebook page.
China tests first stealth combat drone
China has tested its first stealth combat drone, state media said on Friday, Nov 22 citing online photos of an aircraft resembling a shrunken US B2 bomber and hailing the advance toward Western-level technology. The test flight of the “Sharp Sword” unmanned aircraft is another step in China’s years-long military build-up, with its defence spending now the second highest in the world and growing by double-digit percentages each year. It comes weeks after Tokyo said a drone had flown near East China Sea islands claimed by both it and Beijing, ratcheting tensions between the rivals up another notch.
“The successful flight shows the nation has again narrowed the air-power disparity between itself and Western nations,” the China Daily newspaper said, adding the flight made China the “fourth power… capable of putting a stealth drone into the sky”. Images posted online showed a sleek grey delta-wing aircraft apparently powered by a jet engine and resembling an American combat drone.
Beijing is steadily building its military muscle and unveiled its first stealth fighter, the J-20, in early 2011, though it is not expected to enter service until 2018.
China’s first aircraft carrier — a refurbished vessel purchased from Ukraine and named the Liaoning — went into service in September 2012, but is not expected to be fully operational for several years. The Sharp Sword might be intended for eventual use with the aircraft carrier and for “long endurance” surveillance missions, said Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the US-based think tank International Assessment and Strategy Center.
A drone was at the centre of a recent spat between Beijing and Tokyo, whose dispute over islands known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese has raised concerns of conflict. An unidentified unmanned aircraft flew near the islands in September, where China routinely conducts maritime patrols, prompting Japan to scramble fighter jets. The aircraft came from the northwest and returned in that direction, a Japanese defence official said. Tokyo later threatened to shoot down any such aircraft, a move that Beijing warned would amount to an “act of war”.
Chinese state media widely reported the new aircraft in close detail, although they said the test-flight was first revealed by ordinary Internet users on a popular military web forum.
Egypt expels Turkish ambassador, scales back ties
Egypt downgraded diplomatic relations on Saturday, Nov 23 with Turkey and expelled its ambassador from Cairo, a sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries that mounted after a military coup ousted the country’s Islamist president this summer. In a quick reaction, Turkey reciprocated by declaring the Egyptian ambassador “persona non grata” and downgrading relations with Egypt to the same level. Egypt’s ambassador had not been in the country since August over the turmoil.
Saturday’s decisions, which fall short of closing diplomatic missions in the two countries, are a dramatic reversal of the warming relations between the two countries over the past year. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said it considered the Turkish envoy “persona non grata” and asked him to leave the country. The ministry said it will scale back its diplomatic relations with Turkey to the level of charge daffaires.
A Turkish ministry statement said Egypt’s interim government, “which came to power in exceptional circumstances,” was responsible for the deteriorating relations. “The deep-rooted ties and bonds of brotherhood between the people of Turkey and Egypt will remain,” the statement said. “We hope that stability and democracy in Egypt is restored as soon as possible and that relations between the two countries are normalized.
Since Egypt’s 2011 uprising against Mursi’s predecessor, autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Turkey sought to strengthen ties with the country’s new political order. The Turkish president was the first to visit Egypt after the fall of Mubarak in February 2011. Trade between the two countries increased by about 27 per cent in the following year to $3.8 billion in the first nine months of 2012. Turkey also increased its investment in Egypt and currently has some 26 development projects in Egypt. Turkey’s Islamic-rooted ruling party strongly backed toppled Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi a leading figure in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood as an example for the Arab world of a democratically elected Islamist leader.
Turkey criticised his popularly backed July 3 overthrow by Egypt’s military, while also criticizing the West for what it deemed as a weak response to the coup.
Turkey and Egypt previously recalled their ambassadors in August after Turkey condemned the ouster and a subsequent bloody crackdown on pro-Mursi protests. Turkey’s ambassador returned weeks later, but Egypt declined to return its envoy to Ankara.
Saturday’s decision comes after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his criticism of Egypt’s new leaders, dismissing the trial of Mursi on charges of inciting murder of his opponents while in office and describing the situation in Egypt as a “humanitarian drama.” He had previously called for the trial of Egypt’s new leaders for the crackdown. Speaking to thousands of people in a rally in the Black Sea coastal city of Trabzon on Saturday, Erdogan did not directly address the crisis with Egypt. He did make the four-finger gesture that refers to a sit-in near a mosque in Cairo where a bloody security crackdown killed hundreds of Mursi supporters in a show of solidarity with Islamists.
Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour has said that Turkey should have relations with “Egypt and its people and not with leaders of a certain group.
15 dead in Iraq bloodshed
Twin suicide bombings at a Shia mosque in north Iraq were the deadliest in attacks nationwide that killed 15 people on Saturday, Nov 23 amid a surge in bloodshed authorities have failed to quell.
\The violence, which has killed more than 200 people in the past week alone, has forced Iraq to appeal for international help in combatting militancy just months ahead of its first general election in four years. Officials have also voiced concern over a resurgent al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria which has provided the jihadist networks front groups in Iraq with increased room to plan operations.
Fighting near Damascus kills 160 in two days: NGO
At least 160 rebel fighters and Syrian troops have been killed in two days of clashes in the Eastern Ghouta region just outside Damascus, a monitoring group said on Sunday, Nov 24. The latest fighting comes against the backdrop of regime advances in Damascus province that have cut rebel supply lines to the capital and its southern districts.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting began on Friday when rebel forces, including Jihadist fighters, launched attacks against checkpoints and military stations in five areas in the Ghouta region.
“They are trying to break the siege imposed by the army on the region,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. The group said the dead included 55 rebel fighters, including seven battalion leaders, and 41 Jihadists from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Al-Nusra Front.
At least 36 Syrian regime troops were also killed, along with 20 members of a Shia Iraqi group fighting alongside the army, and eight members of a Syrian pro-regime militia.
The Observatory said the Lebanese group Hizbullah was also fighting alongside the Syrian army, but gave no details on casualties in its ranks.
The group, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground, also said five citizen journalists, including three who had fought alongside the rebels, were killed in the fighting.
Eastern Ghouta, a ring of suburbs besieged by the army for months, was one of the areas targeted in an August chemical attack that the US and other world powers blamed on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
As part of a deal to head off US military strikes, Damascus has agreed to destroy its entire chemical weapons arsenal. Syria is cooperating with the disarmament operation being carried out by international experts, who have reported that the entire chemical arsenal has been sealed, awaiting destruction. But despite the deal, Ghouta has remained under a tight siege and subjected to continued shelling by regime troops, with activists warning of a humanitarian disaster in the rebel stronghold.
In recent weeks, the Syrian army has recaptured a string of areas south of Damascus, turning its attention to both Ghouta and the strategic Qalamoun region north of the capital.
On Tuesday, the army captured Qara, a town on Qalamoun close to the Lebanese border. It hopes to further disrupt rebel supply lines to areas around the capital by cutting access to the Lebanese border, which food, weapons and fighters regularly cross.
The Syrian conflict, which began in March 2011, has killed more than 120,000 people and prompted millions to flee their homes.
Iran N-deal fuels anger, jitters
Israel’s prime minister harshly condemned the international community’s nuclear deal with Iran on Sunday, Nov 24 while Saudi Arabia remained conspicuously quiet, reflecting the jitters felt throughout the Middle East over Iran’s acceptance on the global stage. Elsewhere, many welcomed the agreement as an important first step toward curbing Iran’s suspect nuclear program.
Israel and Western-allied Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia have formed an unlikely alliance in their opposition to Sundays deal, joined together by shared concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran and the Tehran’s growing regional influence. While most Gulf countries remained silent in the first hours after the deal was reached in Geneva, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasted little time in criticising it, calling it a “historic mistake” and saying he was not bound by the agreement. Speaking to his Cabinet, Netanyahu said the world had become a “more dangerous place” as a result of the deal.
Sunday’s agreement is just the first stage of what is hoped to bring about a final deal ensuring that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Under the deal, Iran will curb many of its nuclear activities for six months in exchange for limited and gradual relief from painful economic sanctions. The six-month period will give diplomats time to negotiate a more sweeping agreement. The package includes freezing Iran’s ability to enrich uranium at a maximum 5 percent level, which is well below the threshold for weapons-grade material and is aimed at easing Western concerns that Tehran could one day seek nuclear arms. International monitors will oversee Iran’s compliance.
For Iran, keeping the enrichment program active was a critical goal. Iran’s leaders view the country’s ability to make nuclear fuel as a source of national pride and an essential part of nuclear self-sufficiency. But Israel views any enrichment as unacceptable, saying making low-level enriched uranium weapons grade is relatively simple. It demands all enrichment be halted, and that Iran’s abilities to produce uranium be rolled back. Netanyahu had also called for economic sanctions to be increased. Israel fears that Iran will use the diplomatic process as cover to trick the international community, much the way North Korea did in its march toward a nuclear bomb.”
Israeli officials acknowledged they would have to turn their focus toward affecting the outcome of the final negotiations. Israel is not part of the Geneva talks but remains in close touch with the U.S. and other participants. Israel feels especially threatened by Iran, given Tehran’s repeated references to destroying Israel, its support for hostile militant groups on Israel’s borders and its development of long-range missiles.
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 | ** |
| Lower 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.
