On June 26, 2021, four Districts were captured by the Taliban. These Districts include Shor Tapa in Balkh Province, Chak and Sayed Abad in Maidan Wardak Province, and Rustaq in Takhar Province.
On June 15, 2021, Security Forces (SFs) recovered explosives, including Improvised Explosive Device (IED) making materials, and a huge cache of arms, following an exchange of fire with Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres at a forest near Kulabeda village in Malkangiri District in Odisha. No casualty was reported.
World View: The Real Iranian Elections
Forget about the Iranian presidential elections on 18 June. Actually don’t completely dismiss them. They do have some importance. The key one being how many actually turn out to vote. If the figure is low—as expected—then the regime knows that it is in trouble.
NSCN-KYA: Collaborating to Survive
On May 31, 2021, a heavy gun battle broke out between Assam Rifles troopers and suspected militants of the Yung Aung faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-KYA) at Nogolo village in Tirap District. However, no casualty was reported in the incident.
India and Pakistan Ceasefire Agreement: What does it mean for India and Kashmir?
For a few months now, there is peace across the LOC as the guns have fallen silent from both sides of the divide. It is a reprieve time for those unfortunate ones who live within a radius of a few kilometres from LOC on both sides as they no longer need fear for their lives and properties. How short/ long lived will this scenario be? Why did Pakistan go in for a ceasefire? What can be expected of Pakistan in near and distant future, given its past misdemeanours? If an answer is to be sought for the stated questions then one needs to understand the psyche of Pakistan as a Nation, with regard to India.
Many layers of Israel-Hamas fighting
The violent conflict between Israel and Hamas has come to an end with a ceasefire, thanks to intense diplomatic efforts from Egypt, Qatar and a number of Western countries including the United States. In this latest episode of violent conflagration between the Israelis and the Palestinians, both sides have gained little, and lost much.
Ending the Forever War in Afghanistan: Implications and Options for India
The announcement of Joe Biden to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, starting May 1, 2021 has given rise to uncertainties in the region. This analysis by Ayush S Shankar and Arpita Basu Roy attempts a scenario-building of a post-withdrawal situation in Afghanistan and suggests policy options for India.
New Delhi: The Prime Minister addressed a workshop on "Covid-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward” with health leaders, experts and officials of 10 neighbouring countries viz Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka along with Indian officials and experts, on Thursday.
On January 30, 2021, Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres killed two civilians in the Belghar area of Kandhamal District. In a handwritten note found near the bodies of the slain villagers, the Maoists of the ‘Bansadhara-Ghumusar-Nagabali (BGN) Division’ claimed that the two were among those who had tipped off the Security Forces (SFs) about the presence of rebels in the Belghar area, which had resulted in the September 9, 2020, encounter in which five Maoists were killed. The Maoists warned other ‘informers’ to surrender before their ‘Jan Adalat’ (People’s/ Kangaroo Court organized by the Maoists) within 15 days or else, they would be sentenced to death. They also warned that the State Government, Director General of Police (DGP) Abhay, and Inspector General of Police (IGP), Intelligence, R.K. Sharma. would be held responsible for the loss of lives.
Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Lashkar-e-Taiba: Know their modus operandi in South Asia and Europe
Terrorism has emerged as one of the key features defining national and regional security discourses and practices in recent decades, reflecting the shift from ‘traditional’ security issues such as inter-State conflict and nuclear war to ‘non-traditional’ threats embodied by non-State actors, the impact of climate change and issues connected to economic and human development.
Arunachal Pradesh: Peripheral Problems
On January 20, 2021, militants released a video of two abducted employees, Pranab Kumar Gogoi and Ram Kumar, of Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited, an oil drilling company, appeared, in which the duo appealed to the Chief Ministers of Assam and Bihar to secure their release. On December 21, 2020, the duo was abducted by the terrorists of the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) and the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland – Khaplang (NSCN-K), from the company’s drilling location in Diyun in the Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh. The militants have demanded INR 200 million for their release.
Almost 31 months after the merger, the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) suffered a vertical split on December 22, 2020, with the rival factions of the party led by the two Co-Chairmen claiming their faction to be the authentic NCP in two separate Central Committee meetings held in the capital, Kathmandu. The faction led by Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal removed K.P. Sharma Oli from the post of party Co-chair and unanimously nominated senior party leader Madhav Kumar Nepal as the new party Co-chair. On the other hand, Oli told his faction leaders that his faction was the authentic NCP and Dahal faction had no authority to call party meetings.
The killing of Pakistani dissidents abroad is a dangerous trend that urgently needs to be arrested
The untimely and unexplained death this week of Karima Baloch, the 37-year-old Baloch activist who had fled to Canada to escape persecution at the hands of Pakistani security agencies and was living as a refugee there, has sent shock waves across the sizeable community of Pakistani refugees who have been forced out of their hearths and homes with little option other than to seek shelter in perceptibly safer lands.
Jharkhand: PLFI's Fading Footprints
On December 22, 2020, an ‘area commander’ of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Punai Oran, was killed in an exchange of fire with the Security Forces (SFs) at Chete village near Lodhma under Nagri Police Station limits in Ranchi District. Punai, carrying a reward of INR 200,000 on his head, was active in Ranchi, Gumla and Khunti, and had about 14 cases pending against him in Ranchi and other Districts. PLFI ‘chief’ Dinesh Gope had reportedly given one AK-47 rifle to Oraon, who used to extort money from businessmen and estate traders.
Chhattisgrah: Bastar: Violence Escalates
On December 4, 2020, a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadre was killed in an exchange of fire with the Security Forces (SFs) in a forested area near Hakwa village under Gangaloor Police Station limits in Bijapur District, Chhattisgarh. The body of the Maoist, identified as Arjun, a ‘platoon commander’ of the Gangaloor ‘area committee’ of the Maoists, was recovered along with a firearm and explosives.