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.
Balochistan: CPEC - Escalating Threat
On December 10, 2018, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Cell, in its briefing to Balochistan Cabinet, revealed that Balochistan’s share in the USD 62 Billion CPEC project was a miniscule nine percent, about USD 5.6 Billion. It was also disclosed that, out of this committed sum, less than USD one Billion had been spent in over five years, since May 22, 2013, when CPEC was launched. The stunned Cabinet members reportedly described CPEC spending in Balochistan thus far, as “a joke”.
NSCN K Widening Rift and an Opportunity
On December 6, 2018, the Khango Konyak-led faction of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K-Konyak) announced the decision to revoke the 2015 pronouncement of unilateral abrogation of the cease-fire agreement (CFA) with immediate effect. ‘President’ and ‘Chairman’ Khango Konyak and ‘general secretary’ Isak Sumi, in a joint statement, called upon Union Government to respond,
On November 26, 2018, the Maldives’ Minister of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Abdullah Shahid, after his meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj, tweeted, “A new era of enhanced cooperation emerging in Maldives-India relationship under President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih”. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had, earlier in the day, tweeted, “Harmonious synergy of India's 'Neighbourhood First' & Maldives’ 'India First' policy”. The two foreign ministers, meanwhile, during the meeting agreed that the State Visit of Maldives’ newly elected President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to India would take place on December 17, 2018.
Has World Water Council become hostage to Water mafia?
Marseille, France, 29 November: Set up in 1996 after a proposal to this effect at the United Nations' International Conference on Environment and Development in Dublin in 1992, the World Water Council is in the eye of a storm. With accusations from its very own members of succumbing to the greed of water mafia, the world’s apex body on water is of late mired in controversies.
On October 7, 2018, Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli at a book launching ceremony in Kathmandu promised, “If someone had committed crime in the name of Maoist War, then they will be punished: there will be no amnesty for serious crimes. We are going to follow the international conventions we have signed.” Earlier, addressing the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on September 27, 2018, Prime Minister Oli had observed
On September 30, 2018, at least 21 Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) terrorists were killed in a United States (US) drone strike in the Sikanar area of Wazir Tang in the Khogyani District of Nangarhar Province.
On September 30, 2018, a Policeman was killed and his rifle was snatched when suspected Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) militants attacked Police Station Shopian in Shopian District The slain Policeman, identified as Saqib Mohiudin, was manning the entry gate of the Police Station when the attack took place at around 6 am [IST].
Chhattisgarh: Narayanpur: Tightening Vice
On September 2, 2018, at least four cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), including a Local Organization Squad (LOS) ‘commander’, were killed in an encounter with District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel in a forest near the Gumiyabeda village under Maad Police Station limits in Narayanpur District. During a subsequent search of the spot, four bodies, including one of a woman cadre, were recovered, of which two were identified; one of the these as Somlu, the Nelnar ‘area committee member (ACM)’; the other, a woman cadre, identified as Ratti, the ‘commander’ of the Jhara LOS. DRG personnel recovered four weapons, including one INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle, one .303 rifle and two 12-bore guns.