'KKBN Division': Maoists Fizzle Out
on July 23, 2020, two Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, including a woman, were killed in an exchange of fire with the Security Forces (SFs) in the Sirla Reserve Forest area under Tumudibandha Police limits in the Kandhamal District of Odisha. Director General of Police (DGP) Abhay disclosed, “The Police Forces fired in self-defense. After the exchange of fire ended, the SOG [Special Operations Group] and DVF [District Voluntary Force] spotted two bodies – a male and a female. Both were in Maoist uniforms. We also recovered one INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle, one carbine, and two country-made firearms.” The identities of the slain Maoists are yet to be ascertained.
The draft of the 14th Amendment Bill to the 1974 Interim Constitution of the Pakistan-Administered and so-called ‘Azad’ (Free) Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), which has been accessed by EFSAS and can be seen here, has served as a grim reminder of just how suppressed and occupied ‘Azad’ J&K actually is.
Maharashtra: Gadchiroli: Strategic Restraint
On May 17, 2020, two Police personnel, Sub-Inspector Dhannaji Honmane and constable Kishore Atram, were killed and another three were injured in an exchange of fire with Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres in the Poyerkothi-Koparshi forested area under Bhamragarh Tehsil (revenue unit) in Gadchiroli District. Superintendent of Police (SP) Shailesh Balkawade disclosed that the gun-battle took place when Maoists opened fire at a Quick Response Team (QRT) from Bhamragarh and C-60 commandos of Gadchiroli Police, who were out on a joint anti-Naxal [Left Wing Extremism, LWE] operation.
Jammu and Kashmir: TRF: The New 'Front'
The Resistance Front (TRF) is the product of one of the several efforts, often repeated over the past two decades by Rawalpindi, to give terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) an ‘indigenous’ face, and to provide Pakistan’s deep state, an alibi. According to intelligence sources, the outfit emerged as an online virtual identity, acting as a mouthpiece for major Pakistan-based terror outfits such as Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Thereafter, it has sought to claim a number of terrorist attacks executed by cadres of these groupings.
On March 11, 2020, a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadre, identified as P. Srimathi (27), was arrested by the personnel of Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ Branch near Attappady forests in Palakkad District. According to a Police Official, Srimathi was a member of the Kabani and Bhavani Dalam (armed squad) of the CPI-Maoist. She was wanted in over 20 cases registered both in Kerala and Karnataka, and was on the watchlist of Police of both the States for long.
On February 22, 2020, in response to reports of an attempted terror attack, the Maldives Police raided three houses on the Naifaru island of Lhaviyani Atoll. According to the Police, the residences were of three individuals accused of planning to set off an explosive device on the island.
A Policeman, identified as Rehman Bangash, was killed by unidentified assailants outside his residence in the Pehlwan Goth area of Gulistan-e-Johar in Gulshan Town, Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, on February 5, 2020.
Assam: Balancing Ethnic Antagonisms
On January 30, 2020, at least 1,615 cadres of four factions of the Bodo militant formation, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), surrendered arms at a ceremony held in Guwahati in Kamrup (Metro) District. Those who surrendered included 836 from the Dhiren Bodo faction of NDFB (NDFB-DB), and the Gobinda Basumatary led Pro-Talks faction (NDFB-PTF); 579 from the Ranjan Daimary faction (NDFB-RD); and 200 from the Saoraigwra faction (NDFB-S). Significantly, the 1,615 surrendered militants deposited just 178 weapons and 4,803 rounds of live ammunition.
On December 29, 2019, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested five cadres of Allah’r Dal (The Army of Allah) while they were holding a clandestine meeting in the Labanchora area of Khulna District. RAB recovered some leaflets of the organisation from their possession.
Tribal leader Malik Khan Gull and his son were killed in an explosion in the Tank area of Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on November 25, 2019. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack thus far.
On October 25, 2019, an Ahmadi place of worship located in Chak 161 Murad in Hasilpur village of Bahawalpur District in Punjab was demolished by the Police. The ‘operation’ was led by the Assistant Commissioner of Hasilpur, Mohammad Tayyab.
On October 11, 2019, a doctor, identified as Mohammad Ali, was assassinated by Taliban terrorists in the Payencha region of Dolina District in Afghanistan’s Ghor Province. Taliban terrorists have been repeatedly targeting health workers, including doctors and nurses, as well as medical facilities across Afghanistan. Facing constant threat, intimidation and harassment from the Taliban, several healthcare practitioners have resigned and health centres have been shut down, depriving civilians of access to healthcare.
In the intervening night of February 1 and 2, 2019, two villagers, identified as Nirmal Goswami and Samru Kosmi, were shot dead by Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, over suspicion of being ‘Police informers’, near Markegaon village in Dhanora Tehsil (revenue unit) in Gadchiroli District. Superintendent of Police (SP) Shailesh Balkawade disclosed,
Jharkhand: Visible Improvement
On January 4, 2019, the Security Forces (SFs) killed an ‘area commander’ of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Chander Singh Bhokta aka Ganju, in an encounter in the Kurkheta forest area under Zori-Hunterganj Police Station limits in the Chatra District of Jharkhand. Ganju, a native of Birlutudag village under the Rajgir Police Station of the District, was operating in the Koleshwari zone along the Jharkhand-Bihar border. SFs recovered one INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle from the encounter spot.
34 days after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena plunged the country into an unprecedented political crisis by dissolving the Parliament on November 9, 2018, the Supreme Court (SC) of Sri Lanka ruled, on December 13, 2018, that President Sirisena's decision was illegal and unconstitutional. The verdict was delivered by a seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Nalin Perera.