Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management On July 3, 2014, Security Forces (SFs) foiled an infiltration bid across the Line of Control (LoC), killing at least three terrorists. The incident took place in the Balnoi area of the Mendhar Sector in Poonch District, along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty/Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management On July 7, 2014,Security Forces (SFs) involved in the ongoing military operation, Zarb-e-Azb [Sword of the Prophet], in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), have so far killed a total of 391 alleged terrorists. 19 troopers have also lost their lives during the Operation that began at 01:30am [PST] on June 15, 2014. A total of 61 terrorist hideouts have been neutralized.
On June 25, 2014, a US State Department media note announced amendments to the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity designations of Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) to add the following aliases: Jama'at ud Dawa (JuD), Al-Anfal Trust, Tehrik e Hurmat e Rasool, and Tehrik e Tahafuz Qibla Awwal. In conjunction with these actions, the Department of the Treasury also designated two LeT senior members as SDGTs Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry and Muhammad Hussein Gill. Ahmad has been a senior leader of LeT since the early 2000s, and has served as its 'vice-president', and a member of its central leadership. Hussein Gill, one of the group's founders, has been an accountant for the LeT for more than ten years and, more specifically, has served as the outfit's 'chief financial officer' and headed its accounts department for several years.
Jammu & Kashmir: Malignant Spectre
On June 8, 2014, two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants, including one 'divisional commander', identified as Bilal Ahmad Bhat alias Bilal Lelhari, and his associate, identified as Mudasir Sheikh, were killed by Security Forces (SFs) in the Reshipora village of Pulwama District in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).
In a second incident of a counter-insurgency (CI) operational fatality of a senior Police officer in 2014, Superintendent of Police (SP) Nityananda Goswami of Hamren Police District in central Assam's Karbi Anglong Hill District and his Personal Security Officer (PSO), Ratul Nunisa, were killed in an ambush by suspected Karbi Peoples Liberation Tigers (KPLT) at Rongfu, the outfit's stronghold along the Assam-Meghalaya border, in the night of June 5, 2014.
Of Item numbers and Male Chauvinism
The inherent chauvinism, be it in the average Indian male, politician et al pops up in expected and sometimes unexpected, ways. Sometimes it sounds so absurd that is almost hilarious. Take for example, the comments by Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray comparing Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader and now CM of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, as the ‘item girl’ of politics and that item number prima donna Rakhi Sawant would do a better of it in Delhi. In retaliation, AAP’s Maharashtra convener Anjali Damania suggested that Shiv Sena then should choose Sawant their CM candidate.