According to a February 15, 2018, report, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) is likely is to include two Districts from Kerala – Palakkad and Malappuram – in its list of Districts affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the country. Never in the past, has any District from Kerala been included in such a list. The last such list, released on July 18, 2017, included 106 Districts across 10 States, but made no mention of Kerala.
A local Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) leader, Malik Tufail, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Mughalkhel area of Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on February 4, 2018.
Meghalaya: Undercapitalized Gains
On January 11, 2018, Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) ‘deputy commander in chief’ Matchallang M. Sangma aka Vietnam was killed in an encounter with Meghalaya Police at Bawe Duragre village in East Garo Hills District. No other insurgency-linked killing has been reported from the State in 2018 so far (data till January 28, 2018).
At least two civilians were killed and another injured when a terrorist attacked a 'checkpost' of the peace committee in the Wana area of South Waziristan Agency (SWA) in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) on December 14, 2017. No group has, so far, claimed responsibility for the attack.
A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper, Ashish Patra (29), was killed during an exchange of fire between Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres and Security Force (SF) personnel in the Chakarbandha Hills near Balthar village under Barachatti Tehsil (revenue unit) in Gaya District on January 2, 2018. According to sources, on January 1, after receiving specific intelligence regarding Maoists' movement in the area, a search operation was launched by the SFs. On the next day (January 2), at around 3.30pm, an exchange of fire took place between the two sides in which the CRPF trooper sustained injuries and died later.
After a gap of 18 years, the first phase of Provincial and Parliamentary Elections was held across 32 Hill Districts in six Provinces on November 26, 2017. 65 per cent of the 3.19 million voters cast their votes. Elections in the first phase took place for 37 federal Parliamentary and 74 Provincial Assembly seats. There are 165 seats in the House of Representatives and 330 in the Provincial Assemblies in total. The remaining seats are scheduled for elections on December 7, 2017, in the second phase covering 45 Districts, including Kathmandu valley and the southern plains of Nepal known as the Terai. The country must conduct the elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies by the constitutional deadline of January 21, 2017. This is for the first time that elections for the Parliament and Provincial Assemblies are being conducted under the new Constitution adopted on September 20, 2015. The last parliamentary poll was held in 1999.
On October 21, 2017, 40 Islamic State (IS, formerly, Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham, also Daesh) terrorists, including two trainers and 38 suicide bombers, were killed in a deadly United States (US) airstrike targeting a training camp for the suicide bombers in the Achin District of eastern Nangarhar Province. Police identified the two Daesh trainers killed in the attack as Qari Quran and Qari Fida. A significant cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives belonging to the terror group were also destroyed in the airstrike.
On September 18, 2017, the third and final phase of local level elections was held for 136 local units including one metropolitan city, three sub-metropolii, 73 municipalities and 59 rural municipalities in the eight Districts of Province 2 in Nepal. Of the 2,664,950 registered voters, 73 per cent cast their votes. The voting concluded peacefully though there were some reports of pre-poll and post-poll violence. Pre-poll violence included:
In the morning of September 2, 2017, two terrorists carried out an attack targeting Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader, Khwaja Izharul Hassan, killing two persons, including one of his guards and a child in the vicinity, and injuring another two in the Buffer Zone area of Karachi (Karachi District), the provincial capital of Sindh. Khwaja Hassan, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly, survived the assassination attempt unhurt. According to details the assailants clad in Police uniforms and riding on a motorcycle opened fire on Hassan when he was leaving a mosque after offering Eid-ul-Adha [Islamic festival of sacrifice] prayers. Ansar-ul-Shariah Pakistan (ASP) in a Tweet on September 3 claiming responsibility for the attack, alleged that Khawaja Hassan was a "pro-American MQM leader".
With the United States exerting more pressure, there seems to be urgency among terrorist formations/individual leaders operating out of Pakistani soil to gain 'political legitimacy' to counter any further existential threat. On September 30, 2014, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, founder of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) which operates in Indian Jammu & Kashmir, reportedly decided to form his own political party. Khalil was declared a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" by the US on September 30, 2014. Khalil confirmed this decision in an August 25, 2017, report:
Manipur: Churachandpur: The Heart of 'Kukiland'
On August 2, 2017, unidentified militants killed Kuki National Liberation Front (KNLF) 'general secretary', Lalmoi Haokip aka Tonglenlal, at Tuibong Bazar in Churachandpur District. KNLF is one of fifteen constituents of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), which is maintaining a Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with both the Union and State Governments since August 22, 2008.
Are we denying our children their first food and medicine?
Every year, an entire week in the beginning of August is dedicated to spread awareness about the importance of breastfeeding. Organisations working with issues of child health and nutrition along with doctors and medical practitioners have always stressed upon the critical role colostrums, the first milk, plays in boosting the natural immunity of a newborn to give it the right start to its life. The question is, where do we stand as a nation in terms of awareness and implementation of the process that can help give our children a solid foundation to a healthy childhood? A process, that is as natural as it can get.
Maharashtra: Maoists Struggle to Survive
An 'area committee member' of the Aheri Dalam (armed squad) of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Mangru aka Ram Chinna Portet (48), was killed during an encounter with personnel of C-60, the Maharashtra Police counter-insurgency commando unit, in the forest area of Kopewancha near Rajaram Khanla village under Aheri taluka (administrative division) in Gadchiroli District on July 23, 2017. One 12 bore gun and some Naxal [Left Wing Extremism (LWE)]-related literatures were recovered from the encounter site. Portet had been involved in the 'movement' for more than two decades and had more than 40 offences registered against him. He carried a reward of INR 600,000 on his head. Portet was shifted to Aheri (he had earlier been working in the 'medical unit' of the outfit elsewhere) in Gadchiroli as a 'doctor' a couple of years ago by senior Maoist leaders in order to help strengthen the base of the party in his home taluka.
Northeast: Talks and Some Troubles
The Union Government is considering the partial removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA)-1958 from the States of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Media reports cited an unnamed Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) official as stating, "The notification extending AFSPA in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is issued for six months after a review twice a year. We have reduced this duration to three months and see if it could be withdrawn completely from certain areas. For the time being, the proposal is only for the two States but we are also looking for a similar solution in Manipur."
According to the latest Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) report released in March 2017, the number of Counterfeit Currency Reports (CCRs) in India's banking channels was 353,837 in Financial Year (FY) 2014-15. The number of such instances stood at 8,580 CCRs in 2007-08; 35,730 in 2008-09; 127,781 in 2009-10; 251,448 in 2010-11; 327,382 in 2011-12; 62371 in 2012-13; and 301,804 in 2013-14. FIU began compiling this data in 2007-08, when the Government mandated it to receive such reports from banks under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). [CCR is defined as the usage of a forged or counterfeit currency notes or bank notes as genuine or where any forgery of a valuable security or a document has taken place during a cash transaction at a bank.] The amount of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) detected were not specified in the report.