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Insurgent & Secessionist movements in India

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Imphal: Two jawans of Assam Rifles were killed when insurgents ambushed them at a border village in Manipur's Churachandpur district bordering Myanmar, official reports said Tuesday.



Reports said the personnel of 39th battalion were patrolling the border village of Zoukhonuam, close to border pillar number 46 yesterday when the insurgents attacked them.

In the ensuing encounter, the jawans were killed, reports said adding that although the encounter lasted for more than hal-an-hour, the para-military forces were able to repulse the insurgents who wanted to infiltrate the state for disturbing the forthcoming assembly polls in Manipur on January 28.

Sources said security personnel posted at Indo-Myanmar border areas have been alerted to prevent entry of any militants into Manipur so that the polls could be held without fear and favour.
 
Two bomb blasts reported in Manipur:

IMPHAL, January 20: Following the series of bomb related incidents happening in the state with regard to the forthcoming Assembly Elections, an IED was found near the residence of National People Party candidate, A. R. Khan (Kshetrigao AC) on Jan 19th, at 11.30 pm. A team of Porompat police and Manipur bomb squad later took away the IED.
A bomb blast took place at 12.10 am today at Khongman Zone 5, after unidentified persons lobbed a bomb at the residence of Kshetrimayum Aken. The blast left some partial damage to the roof of his residence and other parts of the house but no casualties took place. Aken is said to be Congress worker for the INC Thongju AC. Later, an unexploded grenade was found after a subsequent search within his residential complex.

Other incidences of bombs being found happened at the residences of Wangjam Premjit (35) s/o Koba of Ucheckon Takhok Mapan of Thongju constituency; Thokchom Kala of Sawombung Thongkhomg Awang Leikai of Lamlai AC and Yanglem Bismo of Khurai Chingambam Leikai, Khurai AC. On the other hand, hand grenades were lobbed into the residence areas of Md. Haji Ayaj, said to be Congress worker of Lilong Turel Ahanbi of Khellakhong; Telem Kirankumar of Khurai Chaithabi Leikai a worker of INC Ng. Bijoy (Khurai AC); Ngairangbam Meghachandra of Khurai Konsam Leikai; Chandam Manimohon of Khurai Konsam Leikai; Takhellambam Kenedy (25) s/o Buddha of Khurai Chingambam Leikai and Soibam Ibomcha of Sagolband Khamnam Leirak. residence hand grenade lobbed. S. Ibomcha is said to be a Congress worker of Patsoi AC. All the bombs were collected safely by the respective police station teams.

Bomb attack spree remains unabated | Kanglaonline
 
Explosives recovered in Assam:

GUWAHATI, Jan 18 – Security has been beefed up by the Northeast Frontier Railway in parts of Assam, following the discovery of a sizeable quantity of explosive materials at Lumding station this morning and also because of threat perceptions in the run-up to the Republic Day.

Today around 9.30 in the morning, a patrol party of the GRP came across four unclaimed bags at platform number 2 of Lumding Railway Station. With no attendants in sight, the personnel opened the bags, and found 600 gelatin sticks, 600 detonators and 360 feet of fuse wire. Soon after, the station was sealed off and security personnel put on alert. The Up Janashatabdi had left for Dimapur some time before the recovery was made.

It is suspected that the consignment could have been brought to Lumding for transshipment to some other place. According to sources in the NFR at Maligaon, no arrests have been made till the time of filing this report.

Soon after the discovery, the NFR sounded the alarm and raised the level of security in all the major stations across the State.

The Assam Tribune Online
 
13 policemen killed in Jharkhand landmine blast:

Thirteen policemen were killed and two others injured on Saturday when their vehicle was blown up by Maoists in the jungles of Bariganwa in Garhwa district of Jharkhand.

According to sources in Bhandaria police station, about 50 Maoists waiting for the police party triggered the blast around 11 am.

“Thirteen policemen were killed and two policemen were injured in the blast,” Director General of Police G.S. Rath told PTI.

On December 3, Maoists had triggered landmine blast in Latehar, killing 10 policemen and a child.

The Hindu : States / Other States : 13 policemen killed in Jharkhand landmine blast
 
It seems according to the many reports coming out of Hind the insurgency is either stable or intensifying.
 
State slipping, PC tells Munda

New Delhi/Ranchi, Jan. 23: Jharkhand has become worse than Chhattisgarh in terms of Naxalite violence, Union home minister P. Chidambaram is understood to have told chief minister Arjun Munda last week, days before the January 21 landmine blast in Garhwa that left 13 security personnel dead.

In a letter written to the chief minister, the Union home minister expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance of Jharkhand government in combating Maoists.

The letter, according to sources, also contained an advisory pointing to the possibility of rebel-engineered attacks on police vehicles.

The January 21 landmine blast triggered by Maoists blew up a mine-protected vehicle killing 11 Jharkhand Armed Police jawans, their driver and the officer in charge of Bhandaria police station.

The state government played down the importance and timing of the letter, saying such communications were being sent to states regularly.

“The Union home ministry letter was nothing unusual. It followed Chidambaram’s assessment of Maoist violence at a meeting with the state government in November 2011. We had reacted to his worries at the meeting,” he said.

Chidambaram pointed out Jharkhand had not been able to prevent rampant extortion by, and violence among, Maoist splinter groups.

While Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee was a former MCC component that was against its merger into CPI(Maoist), People’s Liberation Front of India was highly criminalised. Others like Jan Mukti Parishad, Jharkhand Prastuti Committee (JPC) and Revolutionary Communist Centre were also operating in the state.

“The most number of jan adalats were held by Maoists in Jharkhand — 78 in the last year — showing that there is a parallel system running. The Jharkhand chief minister has been informed about this but there is no reply yet,” a Union government official said on Monday.

State slipping, PC tells Munda
 
GNLA guns down two gate-keepers:

NONGSTOIN: A group of seven GNLA cadres armed with AK-47 rifles and SLR rifles shot dead two gate-keeper of Songsak village, West Khasi Hills district on Thursday night at around 9:20 pm.

The two gate-keepers — Arbinius D Sangma (27) and Bahkan G Marak (21), both residents of Songsak village in West Khasi Hills district — were killed in cold blood inside their house.

The State police have launched a massive manhunt to arrest the gunmen involved in the killing.

“We have launched a massive manhunt to nab the perpetrators and we are hopeful of catching them soon,” West Khasi Hills district Superintendent of Police, R Muthu, said on Saturday.

He said the killings were related to extortion money demanded by the GNLA earlier and also to create fear psychosis among people, particularly the coal businessmen of the area.

Sources informed that the GNLA had earlier demanded an amount of Rs 20 lakh from the Songsak Mahari toll gate in West Khasi Hills district.

Meanwhile, Dr T Syiem of Shallang PHC, West Khasi Hills district, who conducted the post-mortem on the bodies, said that two bullets each had been pierced into the victims’ bodies.

The local police said that the dead bodies were handed over to the relatives of the deceased after the post mortem.

It may here be mentioned that the killing comes barely ten days after Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh, during his visit to Shallang police outpost, had promised the local people that the outpost would soon be upgraded into a full-fledged police station to provide full security to the coal traders and residents of the area. (With inputs from UNI)

GNLA guns down two gate-keepers | The Shillong Times

---------- Post added at 01:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 PM ----------

4 CRPF men killed in Chhattisgarh ambush:

RAIPUR: Four CRPF personnel, including Deputy Commandant Diwakar Mahapatra, were killed and two others injured in a landmine blast suspected to have been triggered by Maoists in Bastar in Chhattisgarh. They were on their way to Chitrakoot where President Pratibha Patil was to pay a visit, a CRPF spokesman said.

Fatwa on Zardari for ‘flirting’ with Palin

ISLAMABAD: Maulana Abdul Ghafar, prayer leader of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, has issued a fatwa against Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari for his “You’re gorgeous” compliment to US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Ghafar said Zardari shamed Pakistan with his “indecent” gestures.

China-made Cadbury chocolates recalled

HONG KONG: British candy maker Cadbury has recalled 11 types of its Chinese-made chocolate as a precaution, the Hong Kong government said. It is the latest foreign company affected by China’s tainted milk scandal.

Graziano reopens Greater Noida plant

NEW DELHI: Italian company Graziano Trasmissioni reopened its facility in Greater Noida on Monday, a week after it was closed following the killing of its CEO Lalit Kishore Chaudhary, allegedly by a group of laid-off contractual workers.

Briefly Nation; Dy CO, 3 CRPF men killed in Bastar ambush - Indian Express
 
Militants explode bomb in Imphal on Republic Day - Times Of India

IMPHAL: Suspected militants exploded a powerful bomb amid tight security in the capital complex in Imphal on the Republic Day on Thursday, but no casualty was reported.

The bomb went off at about 9 am near Shamashakhi School area, police said.

The militants also exploded two powerful bombs in Kakwa area in Imphal West district on Wednesday night, but none was injured.



One injured in bomb explosion in Manipur

Imphal: One person was injured when militants exploded a bomb at the house of a former Manipur government official at Thangmeiband area in Imphal West district this morning.

Official sources said the militants lobbed the bomb at the house of Bilasini Devi, a doctor, whose husband had contested the last elections.

The injured, who is yet to be identified, was taken to hospital where his condition was stated to be out of danger, the sources said.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the bomb blast. Further details are awaited.
 
4 security men killed in separate clashes in Manipur:

At least four security personnel and three rebels were killed in two separate gunfights at various places in Manipur Thursday. Some insurgents and security personnel were also injured in the clashes.

Two CRPF personnel were killed and two others injured when a column of CRPF on election duty in Ukhrul district was ambushed by a group of well armed rebels.

In another gunfight at Taretlok, bordering Thoubal and Ukhrul district, at least two Assam Rifles jawans and three rebels have been killed.
Police suspect involvement of cadres of the rebel groups included in the CorCom in both the incidents. However, none of the rebel group has so far claim responsibility for the clashes.

The ambush on a column of 175 Battalion B-coy proceeding towards Aishi village under Chasad police took place around 11.30 am near Kokham village.

A wireless operator was killed on the spot while a constable succumbed to his injury on the way to a nearby hospital.
Two personnel, a head constable and another constable, sustained injuries, source said, adding that the personnel had left Ukhrul district headquarters with polling personnel this morning.

In Taretlok, interior Thoubal district bordering with Kassom sub-division of Ukhrul district the gun fight erupted when a combined team of 15 and 17 Assam Rifles on foot patrolling came under attack by suspected rebels of CorCom.

Two AR jawans and three rebels were killed in the clash which lasted for about an hour. Injuries were also inflicted on both sides as per reports from the police as well as locals. But exact number of casualties on both sides could not be confirmed by the police.

Meanwhile, troops of 31 Assam Rifles at its Khudengthabi post along the Imphal-Moreh section of NH-39 arrested two PREPAK cadres with 20 hand grenades Thursday around 10 am.

Police source said that they were arrested while proceeding towards Imphal from Moreh in a Maruti van. PREPAK is one of the seven outfits included in the CorCom.

Police said the bombs were to be transported to Imphal to attack Congress candidates and workers.

4 security men, 3 rebels killed in separate clashes in Manipur : Nagaland Post
 
Thanks Bilal - the situation seems to be getting bad to worst - R.I.P. for the lost ones.
 
2 CRPF personnel killed, bombs defused in Manipur

Two CRPF personnel on poll duty were killed in an ambush by militants even as four powerful bombs planted near polling stations were seized and defused before polling for the Manipur assembly began on Saturday morning.

The CRPF personnel were killed on Friday when militants
ambushed them in Ukhrul district, official sources said.
They said the bombs were suspected to have been planted by militants in Khurai Chingangbam area, Sawombung High School, Khomidok in Imphal East district and Naoremthong High School area in Imphal West district to disturb the polls.

The explosives were seized and defused, they said.

An official report said an 80-year old woman was killed last Thursday in interior Tamenglong hill district when suspected militants attacked a Congress party office with bombs.
2 CRPF personnel killed, bombs defused in Manipur - Hindustan Times
 
Indian rebels kill five in Manipur poll violence:

Separatist rebels shot dead five people at a polling station in India's remote northeastern state of Manipur during local elections on Saturday, police said.

The heavily armed rebels killed three polling station officials and two others as they sprayed the station with bullets in Thangpi, a village south of the state capital Imphal, authorities said.

"The militants opened random fire at the voting centre, killing three polling centre officials, a paramilitary trooper and a civilian," police chief Priya Singh told AFP.

Two others were hurt in the attack, Singh said, adding the militants fled the scene.

The attack came as heavy security was in place across the impoverished state of around 2.7 million people in an attempt to thwart militant attacks during elections for a new legislative assembly.

The rebels who staged the attack were believed to be from the separatist National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), police said, but added that no group has yet claimed responsibility.

There were five explosions in the run-up to the polls in the insurgency-hit state in which two people were killed and about a dozen injured, police said.

The voting in Manipur kicked off a string of five state assembly elections across the country that are seen as a test of popularity for the embattled national Congress government which began a second term in office in 2009.

At least 30 rebel groups have been waging violent campaigns for decades in highly militarised Manipur that have claimed thousands of lives.

At least seven influential militant groups had called for a boycott of the elections in Manipur in which the Congress party, which heads the national ruling coalition, is expected to be returned to power.

Voting in the states of Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa is being staggered throughout February and early March with the results to be announced on March 6.

India has been wracked by separatist conflicts since its independence in 1947, with deadly insurgencies in the northeast, which borders Bangladesh, China and Myanmar, as well as in its northwestern Kashmir region.

Indian rebels kill five in Manipur poll violence - Yahoo!
 
^ Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura are in open revolt now. The UN Security Council must meet to recognize these new countries and impose a no-fly zone for the protection of civilians.
 
Volume 29 - Issue 02 :: Jan. 28-Feb. 10, 2012
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU

India's insurgencies


RUMINA SETHI


From a textbook perspective, the authors survey the several kinds of armed conflicts in the country.


AT the beginning of Maoist and Other Armed Conflicts, a rather interesting definition of armed conflict is thrown at us: it is a “contested incompatibility” between two sides, one of which is the government, resulting in at least 25 battle-related deaths in one year. According to another definition, armed conflicts must involve a certain protocol called “conventions”. However, since conventions are avoided by the state in most cases, these conflicts are alluded to as militancy, insurgency and even terrorism. In my view, Hannah Arendt's much-quoted aphorism may be apt: “Power and violence are opposites; where one rules absolutely the other is absent. Violence appears when power is in jeopardy.”

From an extreme textbook perspective, the two authors survey several kinds of armed conflict, citing approaches, models and problems. The four areas of conflict they examine are the ones in north-eastern India, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, the Khalistan movement in Punjab and the Maoist insurgency in central and western India. I decide to read about the latter first as it is the most topical and fastest-growing movement in India. Naxalites, often referred to by the state as a “virus”, are engaged in fighting for social and political inclusion, justice, minimum wages, the right to land and the eviction of multinational corporations. Anger and alienation have divorced them completely from the Indian state.

As the authors put it: “The Maoist ideology is based on their simplified interpretation of Marxism and Maoism that argues that the Indian state is capitalist and exploitative; it is led by a comprador bourgeoisie and semi-feudal landlord class; is an agent of American imperialism and should be overthrown by a people's revolution, where only Maoists can lead.” The Maoists do not believe in the Constitution, which to them seems partial and biased; they are increasingly upset about globalisation in the form of memorandums of understanding, extensive mining, and depletion of forest land. “Jal, jungle and zameen” are their primary aspirations. But contrary to expectation, it turns out that the Maoists are not popular. It is argued that their levels of wages are even more paltry than those offered by the state. Caught between “Maowadi” and “Khaowadi” (corrupt police), the people have no option but to bank on the former.

The Kashmiri insurgency, on the other hand, arose immediately after Partition in 1947, exacerbated by the state's rejection of the demand for a plebiscite. The hanging of Maqbool Butt of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in 1984 and the rigging of the elections in 1987 against certain Muslim candidates escalated the militancy in the area. “As militancy in the Valley increased, the traditional identity of ‘Kashmiriyat' was gradually reconstructed.... [T]he conflict and demands for separatism gradually challenged the secular traditions of the valley.” The schism between the Muslims and the Kashmiri Pandits became greater than ever. When Jagmohan, the former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, declared that “every Muslim in Kashmir is a militant today” and that “the bullet is the only solution for Kashmir”, secularism was thoroughly undermined and replaced by militancy, abetted as it was by Pakistani aid.

In Punjab, the insurgency of the 1980s is traced to the 1973 Anandpur Sahib Resolution, which was about sanctioning greater autonomy to Punjab, the issue of Chandigarh as the capital, and the fair and equitable distribution of river waters. This led to a full-blown demand for a separate State, Khalistan, with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale at the helm. Bhindranwale “used terrorist methods and had a militarist ideology and organisation, and attempted to create communal tension. The agenda was to drive Hindus from Punjab and create a communal situation that would bring Sikhs living outside Punjab back to the ‘home' state.”

Thereafter, President's Rule was imposed upon Punjab. This culminated in Operation Blue Star in 1984, which sought to flush out all the terrorists from the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. Bhindranwale was killed, and the backlash led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in that same year. Communal assaults on Sikhs followed, mainly in Delhi, and many of them were killed. And though militancy was wiped out from the State, Punjab still bears the wounds of the 1980s, chief among them being encounter killings and secret cremations of the innocent.

20120210290207602.jpg


JOINT FORCES PERSONNEL taking into custody Maoists who were handed over to them by villagers at Ghritagram village in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal on December 28, 2011. Naxalites are engaged in fighting for social and political inclusion, justice, minimum wages, the right to land, and the eviction of multinational corporations.

As opposed to Punjab, the conflict in the north-eastern States has lasted for decades. Calling it a “national liberation” struggle, the cadre of the movements in these States regard themselves as “freedom fighters”. These are revolts by indigenous peoples who do not accept the homogenising Indian nation.

Such is the story of the Naga movement, which has been pressing for sovereignty for all Naga peoples since the British were engaged in settling India's future. In response, the Assam Rifles, a special army, was in 1954 marched into what is Nagaland today, and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was exercised thereafter. The government exercised its own muscle through the use of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA), and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2001 (POTA), which ruthlessly suppressed civil liberties, leading to even more militarisation among the people. Similar atrocities upon civilians, such as the formation of Salwa Judum, a vigilante group in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, have been evolved to counter Maoist forces.

The sub-nationalisms in Manipur, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram are also about resisting the pan-Indian ideology of the nation. Their struggle for self-determination arises mainly from an animosity to the “outsider”, identified as Biharis and especially Bengalis: “The insurgencies of the Northeast... are built around ethnic or tribal identities that exalt their collective identity and build stereotypes against other communities that are then demonised and constructed as the enemy ‘other'”.

Gender and armed conflict is a theme of one of the later chapters. Machismo remains a large part of armed struggles where men are called up to protect home and motherland and, by default, women. Lacking in theory and abounding in statistics, this part of the book focusses on the ways men and women have been stereotyped. In areas of insurgency, women themselves exalt masculinity, wishing for sons rather than daughters, and thus perpetuate and accept increased violence.

Yasin Malik, leader of the JKLF, states: “Such romanticising legitimates the militarisation, violence and a macho conception of power that undermines social institutions and de-politicises movements.” Many women, however, challenge these stereotypes only to come to the unfortunate conclusion that despite their active participation they are deemed subordinate. One has to agree with Mary Mellor that such feminism involves women only to the extent of listening to their male colleagues and licking envelopes.

The book is largely factual, with never a hint of the authors' own bias and position on the issue of armed conflict. Are they pro-state or pro-insurgency? Where do their sympathies lie? Even though the book proposes to “powerfully critique… national security approaches for resolution of armed conflicts”, except for the concluding chapter, which considers solutions, the book leaves one asking for more.



India's insurgencies
 
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