Global Jihad: Taliban still working for the CIA?

by Henry Marow, Phd

As President Obama ponders whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, there is mounting evidence the Taliban is supported by the CIA. If correct, the Afghan war is a charade with a hidden agenda.

First, we have many reports that unmarked helicopters are ferrying the Taliban to targets, and relieving them when cornered. "Just when the police and army managed to surround the Taliban in a village of Qala-e-Zaal district, we saw helicopters land with support teams," an Afghan soldier said. "They managed to rescue their friends from our encirclement, and even to inflict defeat on the Afghan National Army." This story, in one form or another, is being repeated throughout northern Afghanistan. Dozens of people claim to have seen Taliban fighters disembark from foreign helicopters in several provinces.

"I saw the helicopters with my own eyes," said Sayed Rafiq from Baghlan-e-Markazi.

"They landed near the foothills and offloaded dozens of Taliban with turbans, and wrapped in patus (a blanket-type shawl)."

"Our fight against the Taliban is nonsense," said the first soldier. "Our foreigner 'friends' are friendlier to the opposition."

CIA AIR BASES IN PAKISTAN

Last February, there were reports of CIA airbases within Pakistan used for drones. If this is true, Pakistanis are being attacked by drones based in their own country. Obviously, the CIA helicopters supporting the Taliban could also come from these bases.

In May, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, told NBC News that the CIA and the U.S.-Funded Pakistani ISI intelligence service "has created the Taliban."

Zardari said that the CIA and the ISI are still supporting the Taliban.

On Oct 29, 2009, Hillary Clinton told Pakistani officials that she found it "hard to believe" the Pakistani ISI didn't know where Al Qaeda leaders were hiding. Her role is to maintain the illusion that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are not CIA creations.

Just the day before, Oct. 18, four American citizens were caught photographing sensitive buildings in Islamabad. All four were dressed in traditional Afghan outfits and were found to be in possession of illegal weapons and explosives.

Their vehicles contained 2 M-16A1 rifles, 2 handguns and 2 hand-grenades. The police held the American citizens in custody for an hour before the Interior Ministry interfered and had them released without charge even as preliminary investigation was being carried out.

Clearly, the CIA could be involved in the recent attacks on Pakistani institutions.  Who knows? In some cases, the "Taliban" could be CIA mercenaries.

In Feb. 2008, the British were caught planning a training camp for the Taliban in Southern Afghanistan supposedly to make them "change sides."  Karzai expelled two top British "diplomats."  This was all part of the ongoing charade.

THE HIDDEN AGENDA

All wars are charades. This is true of the world wars, the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, 9-11 and the current war on terror. The human race is caught in a hologram controlled by the Illuminati Rothschild central bankers. War are necessary to keep the human race divided, distracted and dehumanized. Otherwise, we might focus on the fact that a small network of Masonic families, based in London, control  government credit. Therefore, the central banking cartel incites wars using pawns like Bush and Obama, and intelligence agencies like the CIA, Mossad, MI-6 and ISI. They finance these wars by issuing debt repayable to them by the taxpayer.

As I have said, their ultimate goal is to translate their monopoly over government credit into a worldwide monopoly over power, wealth and culture; in other words, to disinherit and enslave the human race. This is called world government.

I'm not an expert on the politics of the Asian subcontinent. But it appears that the Afghanistan war should be seen in a larger regional context. Zbigniew Brzezinski advocated a "global-zone of percolating violence," that included all of Central Asia, Turkey,  southern Russia, and the western borders of China. It also included the entire Middle East, the Persian Gulf (Iran), Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The plan was outlined in Brzezinski's book, "The Grand Chessboard" (1997) . Ostensibly, the purpose was to prevent Russia from becoming an imperial power again. But that's not the real reason. What do these countries have in common?  They are Muslim. Islam is the last redoubt of faith in God.

The Illuminati are Satanists. Put two and two together. The Afghan war has some immediate benefits: perpetual war, arms spending, drugs, pipelines etc. But it is part of a larger "war of civilizations" designed to degrade and destroy Islam. Look for this war to expand and go on forever.

On a related note, The New York Times reported Oct. 28, 2009 that the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been getting regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, citing current and former U.S. officials.

 "Ahmed Wali Karzai is a suspected player in Afghanistan's opium trade and has been paid by the CIA over the past eight years for services that included helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the CIA's direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar," the newspaper reported.

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FLASH: Indian High Commission in Dhaka on alert after terror attack warning

NEW DELHI: The Indian high commission in Bangladesh is on high alert with Indian agencies as also agencies from other countries, who too are said to be in the line of fire, warning about impending terror strikes by groups who have base in Pakistan. Highly placed diplomatic sources confirmed to TOI on Monday that there indeed had been terror threat inputs, not just from Indian agencies but also from the foreign missions of at least two countries in Dhaka, and that this had been conveyed to the government in Bangladesh.

In fact, on Monday, Bangladesh agencies claimed to have foiled an attack on the Indian high commission in Dhaka by LeT and HUJI. This was said to have been revealed by three men, two from LeT and one from HUJI, who were arrested earlier but, as diplomatic sources revealed, this had not been conveyed to the Indian high commission officially by Bangladesh till late evening on Monday.

Along with the Indian high commission, the missions of other countries in Dhaka including US and UK are said to have received similar inputs from their agencies. "Apart from the warning by our agencies, the same threat was conveyed to our high commission by missions of some other countries in Dhaka who are also facing the same threat. This was conveyed to the government in Dhaka,'' said a source.

Sources said that these developments took place in the past few days. In the terror input, LeT and HUJI have been identified as the terror groups which are most likely to attack the Indian high commission.

The terror alert almost came true on Monday when Bangladesh agencies claimed to have foiled an attack on the Indian high commission. The three men, who were arrested from Chittagong, are said to have been also planning to attack the US embassy and British high commission. They are said to have revealed that three other men had arrived in Bangladesh from Pakistan to bomb foreign missions.

According to an agency report, local LeT and HUJI men -- Mufti Harun Izahar, Shahidul Islam and Al Amin alias Saiful -- had received instructions from LeT's high command in Pakistan over telephone to visit the Bari Dhara diplomatic enclave to devise plans for the attack. Izahar is the son of Islami Oikya Jote leader Mufti Izaharul Islam, chief of a party which is one of the constituents of the opposition alliance led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

Detective Branch (DB) assistant commissioner in Dhaka Sanwar Hossain told `The Daily Star', "We are trying our best to arrest the militants involved in the plot to attack the foreign missions.''

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INVESTIGATION UPDATE - BOMB ATTACK ON FAZLE NOOR TAPOSH, MP: Five army officers detained for interrogation have named six of their former superiors as masterminds behind last month's bomb attack on Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh, said intelligence agency sources. They have also claimed Lt Col Saiful Islam Joarder, one of the six, provided funds for the attempt on Taposh's life. Saiful has been on the run since he lost his job on November 5 for suspected links with the blast. He had been posted at the Jessore cantonment. Besides him, three other lieutenant colonels--Abdur Rouf, Zahid and Afzal--were dismissed that day. Investigators claim Habibur Rahman Rukon Uddin has been a rokon (full-member) of Jamaat-e-Islami, while Saiful Islam Joarder had close relations with sacked Brig Gen Abdullahil Aman Al Azmi, son of Jamaat's former ameer Golam Azam. Contacted, Habibur's wife however dismissed the claim as rubbish..........Read More

FLASH: Indian Army goes Online - official website www.indianarmy.nic.in launched

To make online presence in webworld, the Indian Army (IA) has announced the launch of its official website (www.indianarmy.nic.in).

The website, which is developed on the state of the art technology, is claims to be safe from any hacking/defacing attempts. The portal is hosted on NIC server.

The Indian Army Website has a number of options like latest events, announcements, results and tenders. It also provides information regarding arms services, Dte/Branches, Training establishments, regimental associations etc.

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Commentary: Life is cheap in Bangladesh

by Rater Zonaki

"Life is so cheap in Bangladesh," a senior journalist pointed out to a Bangladesh Army colonel who had come to his office to intimidate him. "My life can be ended at any time … by any of the violence that goes on around us. Why are you so concerned about my life?" The colonel, an officer of the Directorate General of the Forces Intelligence, had come to warn the journalist to stop speaking out against lawlessness during the two-year state of emergency that ended in December, 2008. The DGFI is known for the specialized torture cells it maintains in the country's garrisons, used to interrogate suspects. Many of the country's politicians have experienced the taste of torture in those cells.

Bangladeshi authorities routinely prove that life is cheap in the country. The poor man's life is cheapest of all. An incident occurred last Saturday at Tongi in Gazipur district, near the capital Dhaka, that illustrates this point. Around 1,500 workers reporting for work Saturday morning at Nippon Garments, a ready made garment factory, were met by a notice stating that the factory would be closed for a month. They had not been told of this closure when they ended their day's work on Friday, and their monthly wages of US$30 had not been paid.

This is a frequent occurrence in the country's ready-made garment industry. Employers or their loyal staff terminate ordinary workers whenever they wish, often by verbal notice, as most workers do not have written contracts that detail their employment status and salaries.

It is a "national tradition" in Bangladesh that the laws favor those in power, not the ordinary people. This has often caused frustration among the people, who then demonstrate to express their demands, regardless of their legitimacy or logic.

The outraged workers of the closed garment factory demonstrated on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway. When factory authorities failed to meet the workers or respond to their demands, they got impatient and began vandalizing vehicles.

The government sent riot police to control the situation. The police suddenly started firing indiscriminately at the demonstrators, killing at least three people – a rickshaw-puller who had gone to rescue his garment-worker wife, a pedestrian and a mason. Many others were wounded by police bullets.The media claimed there were even more deaths, and accused the police of a cover-up to suppress the truth. But Home Minister Sahara Khatun denied that anyone was killed by police gunfire. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seems to have ended the issue simply by declaring that none would be spared if found guilty.

Unfortunately, Bangladeshis already know that they cannot expect justice from their politicians. Deaths due to police gunfire or other unwarranted violence are quite common. The police torture or kill people in custody. Political parties also kill their rivals in open attacks.

In recent years, for example, a number of people were killed in Sherpur, Jamalpur and adjacent districts when police opened fire on farmers who were demanding fertilizer to grow their crops. Around eight villagers of Shibganj in Chapainawabganj district were killed by police gunshots for demanding electricity, after being forced to pay electric bills without having received even the minimum power supply. A similar incident occurred in Fulbari of Dinajpur district when locals protested against a multinational company that wanted to mine coal without regard for the local environment and without adequate compensation for local people displaced by the mines. Several were killed by police gunfire.

After each of these shocking incidents, the ruling party made rhetorical speeches and promised compensation to the victims. But they failed to even identify the perpetrators or investigate the situation. No comprehensive or sustainable solution was offered, and the suffering of the victims was ignored.

After each such incident, the opposition parties became government critics and voiced their sympathy to the victims while lamenting their inability to change things because they were not in power. But no progress is made even when the same opposition becomes the ruling party.

There is no remedy or explanation for the unruly violence caused by law enforcement authorities.

It is the political parties that have always benefited from violent acts. Bangladeshi politicians have repeatedly demonstrated their penchant for weak and bad policies, irresponsible practices, uncontrollable desire to plunder state property, and greed for power and money. While they survive with all their drawbacks, they have no time or ability to overcome them – let alone helping ordinary citizens or solving problems of state and public institutions.

The police – regardless of whether they are riot, traffic or normal police – are part of Bangladeshi society, which has grown impatient with such behavior. This situation prevails in all public institutions, including the basic legal institutions, which fail to address the problems calmly and fairly.

People die unnatural deaths every day, but nobody cares. Such carelessness deserves to die its own death in an "intellectual firing." The nation should immediately start building an intellectual infrastructure to kill this ongoing carelessness. Otherwise, life will remain as cheap as the lives of the laborers in the garment industry.


(Rater Zonaki is the pseudonym of a human rights defender based in Hong Kong, working at the Asian Human Rights Commission. He is a Bangladeshi national who has worked as a journalist and human rights activist in his country for more than a decade, and as editor of publications on human rights and socio-cultural issues.)

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Commentary: Is Bangladesh heading towards civil war?

by Shahidul Islam

Every nation takes stock of prevailing situations in moments of desperation. Passing through one of such crucial moments, conscientious quarters in Bangladesh must do the same without delay.

Over the last few weeks, fear of the country sliding into chaos and anarchy has intensified. Many even predict the prospect of a civil war due to the government's dogged determination to annihilate the opposition by creating an intrusive fiefdom to entrench political power. While many prefer to justify such a downward spiralling situation as a natural consequence of unimpeded pre-election foreign meddling-which had managed to install a regime of external choice – it, however, explains only part of a giant problem.

No doubt the countries in which regimes were installed from without did invariably succumb to civil wars-the recent examples being Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, to name but a few-but drawing sweeping and generalized parallel with others could be misleading.

From our own vantage, one of the main reasons triggering such fears of the danger of a civil war seems related to the government's inability to govern and the nonchalant manner and the style being followed in dealing with dissents. This seems to have contributed greatly in the resultant rapid polarization of a nation that is otherwise monolithic. Since assuming power, the government has followed dual standard in almost all aspect of governance. Besides, it has been excessively obsessed with a number of trials that helped resurface old wounds and sparked the political landscape's further slide toward the precipice of a dreaded anarchical prospect.

For instance, the media was urged few weeks ago not to write or say anything 'prejudicial' about the ongoing Mujib killing trial, which most of the media outlets did comply with, so far. But, in the parliament, a person no less than the Deputy Speaker had already implicated last week former President Ziaur Rahman with the August 15, 1975 massacre. This was followed by the PM accusing BNP for the recent attack on MP Fazle Nur Taposh, much before any investigation having ascertained that fact for sure.

Prior to that, Sheikh Selim, a close relative of the PM, blamed the then army chief Maj. Gen. (retd) K M Shafiullah for his complicity in protecting the country's President and Maj. Gen. Khaled Musharrof, then Chief of General Staff (CGS), for ordering officers to move to Bangabhaban in the aftermath of the coup. Blames are also pouring against the then Brigadier Shafat Jamil, commander of strategic 46 brigade, for not complying with the command of the Army Headquarters (AHQ) during the August 15 massacre.

If the then Army Chief Shafiullah, deputy chief Ziaur Rahman, CGS Khaled Musharrof and 46 Brigade commander Shafat Jamil were all involved in the August 15 massacre, as is being claimed by the incumbent government mouthpieces, the entire armed forces and its chain of command are deemed to have been involved, by implication. That makes the massacre a textbook-style military coup and the trial and justice for the same justifiably deserves to be held under the Bangladesh Army Act, in military court.

Surreal components

Why that did not happen is another story with immense surreal components attached to it. Before Justice Golam Rosul rendered his verdict in November 1998 to the Mujib killing trial, the arguments against using the wrong venue for the trial were neutralized by obtaining a 'written consent' from the army headquarters that the 'military had no objection to the trial taking place in civil court.'

That implied two things for certain. First, then incumbent Army Chief, Gen. Mustafizur Rahman, was above the bounds of prevailing laws, and, secondly, such an authority he had derived by virtue of being an uncle of PM Sheikh Hasina who had brought him back to service from retirement. As well, the fact that Mujib killing trial still poisons the High Court compound leads one to conclude that the trial at the civil court not only vitiates the due process of laws pertaining to the incident, it primarily aims at whipping up partisan propagation to defame the image of the military as well as to instil sympathy for the victims in peoples' minds in order to reap undue political dividends.

Unfortunately, all these happen at a time when the military is waiting impatiently to see the trial of a recent mass murder, concomitant rape and arson, and other grisly crimes against humanity that had taken place inside the BDR compound in Peelkhana on February 25-26. People express dismay and shock that the government does not feel ashamed of the fact that the BDR massacre investigation has transcended tolerable time span and the trial of the carnage, in which at least 58 senior and mid-ranking armed forces officers were brutally murdered, has been cunningly passed onto a hybrid of courts, none of which are competent or capable enough to conduct trial of a mammoth mutiny or related crimes committed by members of armed forces.

BDR probe, manoeuvrings

Add to these the clever maneuverings that went along with such machinations. For instance, one particular Brigadier General who was appointed a member of the Army-led investigation team, had to quit from the team allegedly upon his negation to remove factual details from the investigation's findings. Another Brigadier Gen., who had replaced him and allegedly complied with the same request and was promoted to the next higher rank.

These are neither state secrets nor sensitive information deserving tight-lip safeguards. At a time when the nation faces one of the gravest dangers and the armed forces are subjected to the most vitriolic onslaughts to destroy their image and morale, these truths must be told, especially due to some recent trends being more troubling.

For mysterious reasons, many of the BDR personnel who had made confessional statements following arrest have now begun to change their accounts of the events, while over 50 of such detainees — considered to be key witnesses — have died in custody for unknown reasons. Besides, the CID is yet to finalize charges against the accused and the trial is expected to commence only after the dusts of the Mujib killing trial settle to the government's favor.

AK-47, Akhi, Torab Ali

Amidst such a state of affairs of the nation and its armed forces, illegal arms and ammunition of huge quantity are pouring into the country through over 4,000 km long porous border with India. On November 2, police arrested Taslima Khanam Akhi, secretary of Kushtia town Mahila Awami League (AL), with an AK-47 assault rifle and 82 rounds of ammo while she entered Bangladesh from India. AL's Kushtia city branch secretary, Amirul Islam, told bdnews24.com that Akhi is a former commissioner of Kushtia municipality's Ward No 8. The following day, police recovered 17 firearms and arrested two more arms traders from Arabpur bus stand in Jhenidah, who too are learnt to be associated with AL politics.

One wonders why so many AL activists are arming themselves to the hilt and why the government did not recover as yet the huge cache of arms that one of the accused of the BDR massacre, local AL leader Subedar (retd) Torab Ali, had openly distributed from BDR armories to various AL cadres immediately after the mutiny stopped at Peelkhana in the wee hours of February 26.

External affairs

Amidst such a dreadful ambiance, assessments of external powers are bound to be worrying and sombre. Sources say the US is particularly worried about the evolving situation in Bangladesh and three high-ranking US military officials are scheduled to visit Dhaka early this month to discuss with authorities what a source said 'sensitive' military matters. The composition of the team — army Lieutenant General Benjamin R. Mixon, Commanding General of U.S. army's Pacific command; Vice-Admiral John M. Bird, Commander of U.S. navy's 7th Fleet; and U.S. Marine Corps Major General Randolph D. Alles, director for Strategic Planning and Policy at the U.S. Pacific Command – does beacon something of much import being on the cards.

A reliable source hinted that the discussion of visiting US generals is expected to include the prospect of Dhaka taking a firm stand against Myanmar which has shown its war-ready poise in recent weeks along the country's land and sea borders. If that is true, one can bet it will further anger Beijing which had last week taken a tough stand against a private artist in Dhaka hosting a Tibetan exhibition and ensured its stoppage at the last minute once the Chinese ambassador lodged a strong protest with the Foreign Secretary.

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FLASH: ULFA leaders deny 'surrendering' to India

United Liberation Front of Assam leaders, Sashadhar Choudhury (right)
and Chitraban Hazarika (centre) arrive at the Chief Judicial Magistrate
Court in Guwahati on Saturday.

Two senior leaders of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) - Sasha Choudhury and Chitraban Hazarika - were Saturday remanded to police custody for 10 days even as both claimed they had not surrendered and would not sit for peace talks with the government.

The two leaders were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Guwahati after they were flown in by a special army helicopter accompanied by Assam police officials from the Gokul Nagar Border Security Force (BSF) outpost in Tripura, bordering Bangladesh.

Choudhury is known as the ULFA 'foreign secretary' and Hazarika as the 'finance secretary'.

"Choudhury and Hazarika surrendered before BSF officials in Tripura and after that we brought them here. Since a number of criminal cases were pending in various police stations, we arrested the duo and forwarded them to the court," Assam police chief Shankar Baruah told journalists.

"There will be a thorough interrogation and investigations into all the cases."

But the two ULFA leaders told journalists while being taken to court that they had not surrendered."The question of surrendering simply does not arise. We don't know who actually arrested us from Bangladesh and then brought us here. We shall never sit for peace talks with the government under the prevailing circumstances," Choudhury told journalists outside the court.Hazarika said: "This is a big conspiracy on the part of the Indian government in getting us arrested and the talk about us surrendering is a big lie." There were earlier reports that the duo was arrested by Special Branch sleuths of Bangladesh Police on the intervening night of Nov 1 and Nov 2 from downtown Dhaka.

"The two ULFA leaders were handed over by Bangladesh Police to Indian intelligence officials who in turn brought the duo to Gokul Nagar and made them surrender before BSF officials for technical reasons as India and Bangladesh do not have an extradition treaty," an official told IANS requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, ULFA has called for a general strike Monday for 12 hours beginning 6 a.m.

"We have called for a total shutdown across Assam demanding the immediate release of our two leaders," ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa said in a statement e-mailed to IANS.

There are also reports that Indian intelligence agencies have already convinced the two ULFA leaders to revive the deadlocked peace process with the top militant leadership.

"First we shall have to interrogate and investigate their cases and then only the issue of holding talks would come. As I have been saying, doors for peace talks with the ULFA are open, but they should first shun the path of violence and surrender their weapons," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told journalists Saturday.

There are also reports of Bangladesh stepping up its offensive against ULFA leaders holed up in that country.

"We have information that even the family members of ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah's wife were kept under surveillance by Bangladesh Police in Dhaka," the official said.

Paresh Baruah, according to intelligence agencies, had fled Bangladesh about a month ago and is now in China's Yunnan Province, while Rajkhowa had shifted base from Dhaka and is hiding in some secret location in Bangladesh.

India has repeatedly claimed that separatist militants in its northeastern states were operating out of bases in Bangladesh with several of their leaders staying in safe houses in Dhaka.

Bangladesh had earlier denied such allegations. But the Awami League government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has assured New Delhi of its cooperation in evicting Indian separatists from Bangladesh.

Last month, Bangladeshi State Home Minister Shamsul Haque Tuku was quoted as saying that the government had directed the law enforcement agencies to crack down on ULFA bases in view of intelligence reports that the group was planning major strikes in Dhaka.

Amal Das, a senior ULFA leader, was arrested by security forces in Dhaka last month as part of a crackdown, media reports from Bangladesh said.

ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia has been imprisoned in Bangladesh since 1997 due to the absence of any extradition agreement between the two countries, despite Delhi's repeated appeals to hand him over for trial in India.

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BdOsint Special: ULFA leaders capture in Bangladesh and hand over to India

Sashadhar Choudhury
Assam Police File Photo

Speculations continues whether 2 ULFA leaders who were reportedly staying in Bangladesh 'surrendered' or were captured in Dhaka and later 'pushed in'  to India.

Assam Tribune says: Ending days of speculations, Border Security Force (BSF) has taken into custody two elusive ULFA leaders, foreign secretary Sashadhar Choudhury and finance secretary Chitraban Hazarika after they 'surrendered' last night at Gokulnagar along the Indo-Bangladesh border in the Tripura sector. Official version being dished out is that the two top leaders were fleeing Bangladesh following a crackdown by security forces there and surrendered before the BSF in Tripura. They are likely to be handed over to the Assam Police this weekend, BSF sources said here. The two were reportedly trying to enter India on the intervening night of November 4 and 5 when they were spotted by the BSF troops and asked to surrender, the official said. Sources, however, said that the two ULFA leaders were handed over to BSF last night itself in Bangladesh following high-level diplomatic intervention by India. As reported yesterday, India had opened diplomatic channels as soon as it was confirmed that the leaders were detained by security agencies in Dhaka on Sunday night.

Meanwhile The Hindu reports: The BSF has handed over the two top ULFA leaders, who were picked up from the Indo-Bangla border in Tripura, to Assam Police which started their interrogation. Self-styled ULFA foreign secretary Sashadhar Choudhury and Finance Secretary Chitraban Hazarika, who were pushed into Indian territory by the Bangladeshi authorities, were flown into Guwahati last night in a special aircraft by a team of Assam Police officials. "We have taken over the custody of the two ULFA leaders and they will be produced in a court here today for further custody," Additional Director General of Assam Police Khagen Sarma told PTI. The special branch of the Assam Police has started their interrogation and they will be joined by sleuths of central intelligence agencies soon.

The banned group reacted quickly calling an Assam bandh on Monday protesting the "military action" and demanding unconditional release of Choudhury and Hazarika. Claiming that the two top leaders were picked by some camouflage men on November 1, a statement issued by the banned group's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa said, "Instead of pursuing a peaceful political solution to the issue, Indian colonial forces are trying to settle it using military power." The two — said to be part of the Ulfa "think tank" — are wanted in Assam on charges of sedition. Assam government sources said arrangements were being made to take the two to the state. Officially, however, both India and Bangladesh are keeping silent, given the delicate nature of the issue. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said he had no "confirmed" information on the whereabouts of the Ulfa leaders.

The Bangladesh police chief meanwhile has rejected the Ulfa's claim that two of its top leaders were arrested in Dhaka on Sunday and then handed over to India. "I don't have any information about such arrests or handover (of Ulfa leaders) to India," Inspector General of Police Nur Mohammad told The Daily Star.

From the above speculations it is more than likely that a special Indian Police Commando team or a RAW extricaton unit entered Bangladesh and in a sting operation kidnapped the 2 ULFA leaders.

India: Maoist Insurgency Update - 7th November 2009

07NOV: A day ahead of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's planned visit to West Midnapore, the police today seized a huge cache of arms, including two powerful rocket launchers, one IED, 4 kg of explosives and several firearms from Sarenga forest area in Bankura, prompting the state administration into deciding to hire a helicopter for CM's use there. The two Maoists carrying the fire arms in a gunny bag, however, fled the spot riding a bike and disappeared into the Charbhaga forest bordering West Midnapore and Bankura districts.

07NOV: While the threat from left-wing extremism has been assuming serious dimensions, the state's response has so far been 'timid and weak'; also, there is confusion about the nature of the threat. The fact that their agenda for social and economic justice enjoys widespread support inhibits the government in dealing with the challenge effectively. The issue is not the legitimacy of their demands, but their declared method of fulfilling them. Those who are sympathetic to the revolutionary movement should pause and think about the likely consequences of a bloody revolution! It would mean untold misery for the people already impoverished and living on the margins of society. It could result in incalculable loss of life and property and complete disruption of normal life. A long period of instability, chaos and turmoil could push back the country by decades. Instead of rationalising violence, well-intentioned people should press the government to initiate immediate measures to deliver social and economic justice to the people. It should be possible to achieve the goal through some basic political and economic reforms that are long overdue without going through a bloody revolution. The issue is far too serious to be left only at the initiative of the states. A national level response is required for this national level threat.

07NOV: Even as the Centre grapples with the challenge of conducting peaceful elections in Jharkhand despite the Maoist threat, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren today welcomed a former Naxal leader and the wife of a jailed Maoist and announced them as his candidates for the upcoming five-phase polls in the state. Soren, shunned by his former ally Congress, is learnt to be desperately seeking the support of the Maoists in a bid to shore up his declining political fortunes. In tribal- dominated Jharkhand, Maoists hold sway in over 20 of the 22 districts in the state.

07 NOV: Despite home minister P Chidambaram's assertion in Hyderabad on Friday that Operation Green Hunt against the Maoists was a `media creation,' preparations are on in the rebel-hit areas of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh to mount such an operation. Special forces belonging to Commnado Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) are being flown in to Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra where a few companies of the CRPF are already in place. Besides, other paramilitary forces and police personnel would be there to help the elite force.

07 NOV: In a highly idelogical response on Maoists, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday said ultra-Left in India was nothing but part of "Left-sectarian and anarchist trend". Stressing the need for "political-idelogical exposure" of Maoists in India, Karat, however, cautioned the government not to treat them as terrorists and even admitted that they had struck a chord among tribals and a section of intelligentsia. Comparing current violence in West Bengal to the one that swept through the state in the early 1970s, Karat said he was hopeful that it could be dealt with ideologically just the way it was done in the past. He cited election results to show that while CPM lost support among middle classes, it had retained support among tribals. Violence against his party cadre, Karat said, was not a new phenomenon because Marxists mobilised people whom the extremists want to win over.

06 NOV: For the first time since Maoist violence escalated and the government started a crackdown on them, CPI (Maoist) central committee (CC) member and the party's spokesperson Azad replied to some questions. Justifying violence, he said it was in defence of the poor and unarmed but admitted that beheading of Francis Induvar was an abberration that would not be repeated.

06 NOV: Even as top Maoist leader Kishenji said talks were possible with the government if it declared a ceasefire and withdrew central forces from the Naxal-hit areas in various states, an additional six companies of paramilitary forces were deployed today in Lalgarh-Jhargram areas in West Midnapore for a renewed offensive as the Centre gears up for Operation Green Hunt. "The additional companies have been deployed in different areas as part of the joint Centre-state forces currently engaged in operations against the Maoists," said West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma.

06 NOV: A Maoist leader in India said the rebels are willing to talk to the government if it puts off a planned offensive against them. Koteswar Rao said rebels would talk "if there was a ceasefire" on both sides. His comments came as paramilitary troops were deployed in areas hit by rebel violence in West Bengal state. The rebels are fighting for communist rule in many Indian states. More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight.

06 NOV: Union home minister P Chidambaram has said that the Centre has not launched any operation against Maoists, and that "state police are responsible for maintaining law and order". However, there were widespread reports of an anti-Naxal operation to be launched by the Centre at the tri-junction of the worst Naxal-affected states. The tri-junctions identified for the offensive are Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh; Orissa-Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh and West Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa.

06 NOV: Indian security forces and anti-government Maoists should ensure civilians' safety during their armed struggle in central India and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch has said. The Maoists -- also called Naxalites-- operate in nearly 200 of India's 600 districts. "Government and Maoists, who claim to be acting on behalf of India's poorest people, can be undermined by the atrocities by both sides against these very same people," said Meenakshi Ganguly, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Locals are at risk of being caught in the middle of the fighting – killed, wounded, abducted, force

06 NOV: Even as the Maoists torched two trucks on the last day of the bandh in Sundargarh district, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik feels unsure of a joint operation against the Naxalites in Orissa. Talking to mediapersons after returning from Delhi, Naveen accused the Centre of not sending adequate paramilitary forces for the purpose. ''I have asked the Union Home Ministry since some time for seven more battalions but, that has not been forthcoming,'' he said. Naveen, however, maintained that the State Government would continue in its effort to combat Naxals. ''We have taken several steps like recruitment of new personnel and training them for anti-Naxal operation.'' Though the Home Ministry had earlier asked the State Government to prepare for a joint-operation, it has been postponed indefinitely as no assistance has been forthcoming from the Centre.

06 NOV: Naxal problem is a result of ignoring 'basic realities' such as underdevelopment of their areas and their severe deprivation and backwardness. The Naxal movement gets sustenance because the government does not treat it as a politico-ideological and socio-economic problem and that the movement is symptomatic of a society which is anxious to usher in social change. Basically, it is the failure of the State machinery and the bankruptcy of official policy which explains the growing clout of the Naxalites. It is the rising consciousness of the deprived sections of society, who are today more determined than ever before to struggle for land, forest resources, minimum wages, social dignity and self-governance. But Indian administration always handles the issue through force by claiming that Naxals are involved in aimless violence.

06 NOV: The staccato rattle of gunfire startled Poneym Pandroo from his sleep. He reached for his bow and arrow, quickly gathered his four children, and fled into the nearby jungle, away from the only home he had ever known. He remembers the confusion as villagers ran for their lives as their houses were set ablaze behind them. Those who were not quick enough were chased down by the gunmen and savagely killed. When the villagers returned four days later, Mr Pandroo, 40, found his home destroyed. The gunmen had torched the paddy farmer's thatched hut, looted his food grains, and slaughtered his chickens."They call us Naxalites," he said, sitting outside his gutted home, gaunt, withered and trembling. "Because we refused to join Salwa Judum, we are automatically equated to Naxalites."

05 NOV: Sri Lankan Government on Thursday for the first time admitted that the LTTE was training the Maoist cadre in India from the past two years. Lanka's Central Intelligence agency had earlier submitted the report to government. "We will provide details to the Indian Government to expose the nexus" Sri Lankan government reportedly said on Thursday. Sri Lanka's affirmation clearly indicates that Maoists are getting logistic support and training from LTTE. According to sources, Sri Lanka's top intelligence wing has acquired some key information

05 NOV: Police have arrested two Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district during an encounter.They were arrested last night from a forest near Kamkanar village in the district, where the insurgents had opened fire at a patrol party, Avinash Mohanty, Bijapur Police Superintendent told PTI.

05 NOV: Comrade Vijay, a lean, mustachioed man in his late 20s leaned towards a beat-up radio set inside his tent, rifle by his side, and tuned in to the BBC's Hindi service.  The broadcast relayed news of a villager killed by Naxalites, or Maoist rebels, in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district. He cocked his eyebrow. "Mukhbir," he said, reckoning that the man killed was a police informer. "Our men don't kill without a good reason." As the deputy commander of a Maoist rebel squad in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, Comrade Vigay is well versed in revolutionary rhetoric. "You cannot end the world's injustices without stirring a revolution," he said. "No revolution happens without bloodying your hands. We are fighting a people's war – a protracted people's war." The commander and his comrades had woken after a rain-soaked night in a jungle clearing on top of a hill to the soothing sounds of birdsong and soft beams of sunlight filtering through the trees.

05 NOV: The Maoists went on a rampage in Malkangiri district in Orissa during their two-day bandh call, which began from today. They blew up a guest house of a private company at Chitrakonda. The guest house belonged to Essar Steel, which was blown up using landmines.

05 NOV: The 1,240kg of marijuana that was seized on Sunday night by the Mumbai Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) may apparently have Naxal connection. Interrogation of Shahida Shaikh alias Simran, 34, the alleged kingpin and the lone woman among the six people who were arrested has revealed that the contraband was procured from her connections in Andhra Pradesh. Simran also told the ANC officers that she got the drug from her ex-boyfriend Shripad's contact in the narcotics trade.

04 NOV: Faced with the Maoist menace, the Left Front government in Bengal is now planning to spend Rs 1,600 crore for the development of the three Naxal-hit districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.

04 NOV: Army chief General Deepak Kapoor today said the offensive against Maoists would be a "long-drawn battle" but asserted the army would continue training police forces for the task. "The battle against Naxalites will not be over in one day. To eradicate Naxalism, it is going to take time. It is going to be a long-drawn battle," he said. The army chief compared the situation with the counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast to suggest such conflicts could spread over decades. But the army would continue to train and

04NOV: On a recent broiling afternoon, Brig Basant Kumar Ponwar stood amid flying grasshoppers, on top of a muddy knoll overlooking a simulated Maoist hideout. A dozen cadets, wearing commando fatigues, formed a two-tier security cordon around the hideout. They began an ear-shattering assault with AK-47 rifles, some shooting from their shoulders, others firing while crawling on  the ground towards the hideout. "If you run into a Naxal, you have to knock him down," Brig Ponwar hollered to his cadets. "Don't let him get away to fight another battle. This is a fake hideout. The real battle begins the day you step out of this college." Brig Ponwar, 60, is a man on a mission – to train India's policemen to "fight a guerrilla like a guerrilla".

04NOV: Even as the Maoist violence continues unabated in the Jungle Mahal area, four companies of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), a specialised unit of the CRPF to counter the Naxal menace in the country, has seen little action in the absence of specific intelligence inputs for which it depends on the state CID and the state Intelligence Bureau. In the past four moths, the four companies of CoBRA have just made five forays. Unlike the Greyhounds, who fight Naxals in Andhra Pradesh, the CoBRA does not have an intelligence wing of its own.

04NOV: After months of being in denial mode, the Nepalese Maoists have come out openly extending "full support and cooperation" to the naxalites in India, days after Home Minister P Chidambram mentioned about a possible arms supply from them. Admitting that exchanges exist between the Maoists and the Indian naxals, a senior Standing Committee member of the UCPN-M CP Gajurel was quoted today by Rajdhani daily as saying, "We have extended our full support and cooperation to the Indian Maoists, who are launching armed revolt."

BANGLADESH: MAOIST INSURGENCY UPDATE 07NOV 2009

07NOV: Police arrested a top cadre of outlawed Lal Pataka, one of the factions of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-ML), after shooting and injuring him at Laxmipur in Damurhuda upazila, Chuadanga early Saturday. As per his statement, police also arrested two local journalists from Chuadanga and Meherpur districts, reports our Kushtia correspondent. According to police, a team of Damurhuda Police Station chased Suja Uddin alias Joy Babu, 28, hailed from Laxmipur village in Damurhudra upazila as he was roaming the street suspiciously at about 3:00am

07NOV: The suspected women cadres of outlawed parties in Kushtia have gone into hiding following a special drive started on Wednesday to arrest them. Sources said at least 25 to 30 women, who were reportedly involved in outlawed party activities in different areas of the district, decamped soon after the arrest of four women cadres. All of them are suspected to be the activists of Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF). Police are also looking for some male cadres who always have covered the women cadres during their move. According to police, their forces along with detective branch conducted raids on several locations in the town and different parts of the district in last 24 hours. But could not arrest any of the cadres named by the four arrestees during interrogation. Meanwhile, Baishakhi Rahman Chumki, a suspected GMF activists arrested on Wednesday, made her statement under 164 to judicial magistrate where she admitted her involvement with various criminal activities for last two years.

07NOV: An alleged criminal and an outlaw were killed in separate 'shootouts' between their cohorts and law enforcers in the capital and Kushtia early yesterday.The deceased were identified as Amir Ali, 34, and Mojibor Rahman Babu, 38, an operative of the outlawed Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF).


07NOV: The move to ban 13 splinter groups of underground communists taken by the caretaker government is shelved, although the police headquarters strongly recommended it last year. The police headquarters made the proposal in August last year to ban the left-leaning underground parties identifying those as outfits engaged in anti-state activities. The proposal came following recommendations from different intelligence agencies in a bid to ensure that outlaws cannot slip through legal loopholes and their patrons are brought to book. The home ministry held a number of meetings on the issue soon after receiving the proposal and the police high-ups welcomed the move taken for the first time since independence. Thirteen underground parties active in the country are Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP M-L), PBCP-( M-L Janajuddha), PBCP (M-L Red Flag) and PBCP (M-L Communist War), Biplabi Communist Party (BCP), New Biplabi Communist Party (NBCP), Gono Bahini (GB), Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF), Banglar Communist Party, Socialist Party (SP), Biplabi Anuragi, Chhinnamul Communist Party (CCP) and Sarbahara People's March.

NAHID PARVIN CHAMPA

06NOV: Police arrested another suspected woman cadre of outlawed Gono Mukti Fauz (GMF) from a house of Aruapara in the town yesterday, in a second incident after police launched a drive to nab women armed cadres of outlawed parties. She was identified as Nahid Parvin Champa, 23, daughter of Abu Bakar Siddik, a cadre of GMF. On Wednesday, police arrested Baishakhi Rahman Chumki, 22, a suspected female GMF activist, less than 48 hours after the arrest of Mahila Awami League (AL) town unit general secretary Taslima Khan Ankhi, her accomplice Rani and three other top cadres of GMF.

06NOV: Most of the outlaws and members of the left-leaning underground parties now consider surrender in fear of "extrajudicial" death sentence after carrying out a reign of terror in the southwest region for decades. Sources have confirmed the outlaws are requesting AL local leaders to convince the government to give them an option to surrender like in 1999. "As the law enforcers are causing much trouble and killing our members in the name of crossfire, our top bosses are asking local ruling party leaders to arrange our surrender," said a Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF) leader asking not to be named.

TASLIMA KHAN AKHI

05NOV: Taslima Khan Ankhi, detained general secretary of Kushtia unit Mahila Awami League, is a high profile cadre of Gono Mukti Fauz (GMF) and has been transporting arms and ammunition for GMF for the last 6/7 years, said police. Arrested on Monday night, she and four of her cohorts were yesterday produced before the district chief judicial magistrate's court with a seven-day remand prayer. The court placed them on a five-day remand.The four other arrestees are Rani, 25, and GMF cadres Abdur Razzak, 26, Shahin, 25 and Akkas Ali, 40. Police recovered one AK-47 rifle, a shotgun and 82 bullets from them Monday night.

05NOV: At least 285 people have died in internecine fights between Bangladesh's left extremist groups that take their orders from "dons" in India, it was reported here Thursday. Retributive killings are carried out against group rivals and suspected police informers for which "the dons call the shots from India", The Daily Star newspaper claimed in a detailed report from Kushtia, a border town. Bangladesh media has been reporting on the government's operations against "outlaws" - as left extremists are called - amid efforts by the West Bengal government to fight Naxalite or Maoist groups in India. The newspaper said the network of different outlawed outfits in 10 southwestern districts of Bangladesh, especially in Kushtia, Jhenidah, Chuadanga and Meherpur, is very strong.

04NOV: A nexus of outlaws and some mainstream political leaders kept alive the decades-old left-leaning extremism, which later turned into absolute terrorism in the southwestern district of Kushtia. People in the region have so suffered at the hands of the outlaws that they now want a total elimination of these elements. But a recent investigation by The Daily Star reveals how a number of local politicians are protecting the outlaws for their own political, financial and other interests.Locals allege there have long been give-and-take relations between the mainstream and underground political forces, who serve each other from behind the scene when necessary. Politicians argue they have no alternative to giving in to the outlaws to keep their lives and businesses secure. But a number of politicians are in fact providing these outlaws a safe haven so that they can be used for winning elections and tender bids and establishing political supremacy.

OFFICIAL: Bangladesh hands over two top ULFA leaders

NEW DELHI: With about a month to go for Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina's visit Dhaka, in a significant move, handed over two key officials of the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), the banned anti-India insurgent group, to Indian authorities on Wednesday night.

Sources in the Home Ministry confirmed that Ulfa's foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury and finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika were handed over by the Bangladesh Rifles to their counterparts in the BSF after Bangladesh intelligence sleuths arrested them from a safe house in Dhaka's Uttara area on Sunday.

Bangladesh observers see it as preparation of the ground before Sheikh Hasina's vital visit to boost ties and trade between the two countries next month, her first after being sworn in as Bangladesh's Prime Minister last year.

Sources also said that Bangladesh security agencies have started cracking down heavily on other anti-India insurgent groups like the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB). Sniffing an imminent crackdown Ulfa'S commanderin- chief Paresh Barua is said to have fled to China's Yunnan province last week from where he buys regular supplies of armaments for Ulfa from North China Industries Corp (NORINCO). Norinco, sources in the intelligence agencies say, supplies extremely close copies of world famous killer machine guns, sub-machine guns, AK 47s, snipers and pistols to Ulfa. Besides using these for itself, Ulfa also smuggles them to supply to other insurgent groups including the CPI (Maoist).

Sources said Bangladesh authorities had assured Delhi of even greater cooperation in the coming months, of their resolve to finish off most of the anti- India insurgent groups' bases in Bangladesh and also of the possible handing over of top leaders like Ranjan Daimary of the pro-sovereignty faction of NDFB, Biswamohan Debbarma of NLFT and Ranjit Debbarma of the All Tripura Tiger Force besides the Ulfa top shots - Paresh Barua and Anup Chetia.

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UPDATE

ULFA chief Paresh Barua is in China to strike an arms deal with a Chinese company, home ministry sources have said.Barua is in Yunan province in southern China but may later leave for a major industrial city to meet his contacts in the company, known for its high-tech defence products, the sources said. The ULFA commander-in-chief had visited Yunan last year too and this is his third visit to China in two years, the ministry officials said. They added that Barua was engaged in gun-running in Bangladesh besides plotting terror attacks in Assam. Barua had also been accused of having links with the now-defeated Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. Documents found in Assam showed "Ulfa paid Rs 2.3 million to the LTTE towards purchase of weapons", an Indian army commander was quoted as saying on the official website of the Sri Lankan defence ministry last month. Dhaka apparently plans to crack down on Indian insurgent groups in Bangladesh in the run-up to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's likely visit to India next month."The next targets are Paresh Barua and (Ulfa chairman) Arabinda Rajkhowa, along with others like Ranjan Daimary of the National Democratic Front of Boroland and Jeevan Singh of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation," a source said. If that happens in the near future, Barua will have been apprehended after almost 20 years in Bangladesh. For most of these years, Dhaka had refused to acknowledge the presence of northeastern militant leaders on Bangladeshi soil.......More

FLASH: China's CNPC starts building Myanmar oil pipeline

BEIJING — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's top oil producer, has kicked off construction of a pipeline across Myanmar that should give the Asian giant quicker access to oil supplies. CNPC, parent of listed PetroChina, last week began work on a loading dock and oil tanks on Maday island in western Myanmar, the state-owned company said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday. The 771-kilometre (480-mile) pipeline will connect Maday island and Ruili in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, the statement said.

The pipeline is expected to carry 12 million tonnes of oil a year in the first phase, CNPC said without giving a timeframe for when it would become operational.

Energy-hungry China is Myanmar's sole major ally and trade partner, and an eager investor in the isolated state's sizeable natural resources.

Around 80 percent of China's oil imports, from areas such as the Middle East and Africa, are currently transported through the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest waterways in the world, according to earlier Chinese media reports.

The pipeline in the works for years -- would allow at least part of the Asian giant's crucial oil supplies to arrive without travelling through the strait, where pirates are known to operate.

It also would cut 1,200 kilometres off the current maritime delivery route, the reports said.

CNPC, which has made a total investment of around two billion dollars, would eventually be able to deliver 22 million tonnes of crude a year via the pipeline, Chinese media reports said.

CNPC is also planning to build a pipeline with an annual transportation capacity of 12 billion cubic metres (420 billion cubic feet) to move natural gas to the Yunnan provincial capital Kunming, by 2012.

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FLASH: Two senior ULFA leaders arrested in Bangladesh- handed over to India

Guwahati: The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), an influential separatist group has claimed that two of its top leaders were arrested in Bangladesh and then handed over to India, a spokesperson for the outlawed group said. There is, however, no confirmation from Dhaka or New Delhi. The spokesperson said the outfit's foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury and finance secretary Chitraban Hazarika were picked up by Bangladeshi intelligence sleuths at midnight Sunday from a house in Dhaka's Uttara area.

"Seven to eight people in civvies took the two leaders saying the duo were being summoned for some interrogation by senior officials. After that there was no information of them and we suspect they might have been handed over to our enemies (meaning India)," ULFA's military spokesperson Raju Baruah told the local media via telephone and email.Assam police and Indian intelligence officials expressed ignorance about the reports.

"We do not know anything about the developments if any. We have also not heard anything from Dhaka about any arrests being made," a home ministry official said.

New Delhi had in the past repeatedly claimed that northeast militants were operating out of bases in Bangladesh with several of their top leaders staying in safe houses in Dhaka. Bangladesh had earlier denied such allegations.

However, the new Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina assured New Delhi of all support and cooperation to evict any Indian separatists from Bangladesh.

Last month, Bangladeshi State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku was quoted by their country's media that the government had directed the law enforcement agencies to crack down on ULFA bases in view of intelligence reports that the outfit was planning major strikes in Dhaka.

A top ULFA leader Amal Das was arrested by security forces in Dhaka last month, as part of a crackdown, media reports from Bangladesh said.

India and Bangladesh do not have an extradition treaty.

ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia -- in a Dhaka prison since 1997 -- is in Bangladesh due to the absence of any extradition agreement between the two countries, despite New Delhi's formal appeals to hand him over for trial in India.

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BdOsint India Update - 5th November 2009

1. Indian headlines are dominated by the news that  India is on way to become global military power and experts believe :

Moving itself from an era of "non-aligned" to "poly-alignment" India has emerged as a regional military power and is inching towards becoming a global one, a US military think-tank has said.T he paper "India's Strategic Defence Transformation: Expanding Global Relationship" by Brian Hedrick of Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of US Army Department of Defence, was released on Thursday, takes a global view of India's rise as a regional and future global military power. "India's defence establishment is undergoing an unprecedented transformation as it modernises its military, seeks strategic partnerships with the United States and other nations, and expands its influence in the Indian Ocean and beyond," writes Douglas Lovelace, Director SSI.

Military Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia at the State Department, Hedrick, who has served earlier in the US missions in India and Bangladesh, said that India's interests have changed over the past decade or more, taking it from a path of nonalignment and non-commitment to having specific strategic interests on a path of "poly-alignment".

Through this new policy, one of the goals of New Delhi is to become a regional power across the Indian Ocean basin and secure agreements from partners in this region that support this goal, while building up expeditionary capabilities in its navy and air force, it says. "At the same time, it continues to modernize its army to deal with potential threats from its immediate neighbours and internal insurgency groups, and to fulfil its goal of being a global leader in UN peacekeeping," the paper says. India is also developing "strategic partnerships" with countries perceived as leaders of a global, multipolar order and seeking modern military capabilities from many of those countries. This includes modern weapon systems as well as the technology and licensed production associated with those weapon systems, it said.

2. Yet as a blast from the past reminder - the Write2Kill Blog today has stored news and footage's that went almost unreported  of an  Assamese Joan of Arc who single handed took on an Indian Army soldier who tried to molest her. Do watch the scintillating Video of the incident captured by a NDTV correspondent:

An incident of alleged molestation in Assam's Halflong town would have passed unnoticed, but for a girl who decided to take on an entire group of army personnel. Diganta Das, a stringer with NDTV, was sitting at a tea shop nearby and filmed the dramatic scene on his cellphone. The footage shows the girl beating up an army jawan who reportedly visited her garment shop and made lewd comments and even touched her. Rali Faihriem owns a branded garment shop in the middle of Halflong town. Lancenaik Gurvinder Singh of the 8th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment visited the shop, in combat dress with arms, on Wednesday afternoon to buy innerwear. When the girl was showing him the stock available at her shop, the jawan allegedly made some advances. Rali then pulled him out of the shop and stoned him in front of everyone

3. On the Maoist Insurgency erupting India Today quotes Ved Marwah, former Governor, Jharkhand reminding us about the classic Maoist strategy of disappearing when the heat is on - to fight yet another day:

Coming to the violence, there are pluses and there are minuses. The plus is, after Chidambaram's taking over, they have recognised the problem and this is a big step forward. Having said that, the main thing is that it is absurd to talk of a military action. The Naxals will disappear and attack again. They have been doing this for along time. This increase in Naxal violence, I believe, is because of their link with Nepal. This is a vulnerability which they will exploit. Another negative factor is that we still find it difficult to resist the temptation of playing politics. Even in West Bengal, it is well known that Trinamool Congress is playing politics and the Central Government finds it difficult to keep its ally in check. Not that one approves of everything that the Leftist Government in West Bengal has done but now that they wanted to do something, why embarrass them? But they could not resist the temptation. The third point I want to raise is that of the Air Force chief seeking permission. When you are talking of self-defence, you are talking of ground, not of self-defence in the air. Even if they are shot at, we must realise that the target is not bang in front of you. If the helicopter starts shooting in the area it can create havoc.

India: Civilian & Military Joint Mechanism For Effective Border Management

New Delhi, Nov 2 : Civilian and military intelligence agencies have decided to adopt a joint mechanism for the effective border management as well as for tackling terrorism in the northeast.The police and intelligence chiefs of the north eastern states and West Bengal along with senior officials of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Assam Rifles, Army and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) held a two-day meeting in shilling which ended on Saturday.

"The militants' link with society and so called public support to the terrorists should be cut off to ensure lasting solution to the insurgency scenario in the northeast," additional director of Intelligence Bureau R.N. Ravi said while addressing the conference.

Stating that military solution has so far yielded no fruitful results to solve the three-decade-old insurgency problem in the region, the IB official underlined the need to devise a firm strategy to stop the people's support to the insurgent outfits.

"The results of Operation All Clear against some militant outfits in the region including that of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) have turned out to be counter-productive as these groups have remained in action after the military offensive," Ravi observed.

The security officials have expressed concern over the northeast militant outfits' continued support and shelter they are getting in neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh.

An official said: "Underlining the urgent need for effective border management, the security, army and intelligence official told the meeting that the illegal influx of migrants from across the border has aggravated the insurgency problem and jihadi terrorism besides damaging the topography of northeast India."

Five Indian states — West Bengal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura — share a 4,095-km border with Bangladesh. Besides, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Assam share 3,488 km, 1,643 km and 699 km international borders with China, Myanmar and Bhutan respectively.

"Half of the battle will be won against terrorist groups in the region if the security forces are able to win the hearts of the local people," said Meghalaya deputy chief minister Bindo M. Lanong, who inaugurated the conference.

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Commentary : India Must Rethink Its Policies Towards Its Neighbor

by Shahid R. Siddiqi.

For the past 63 years - the life span of most countries of this region, South Asia has remained in a state of tension. The eight SAARC countries* that make up this geopolitically sensitive region, where a major chunk of the humanity lives, do not enjoy the kind of friendly and harmonious relationship with each other, as one would have expected. This despite efforts of some well meaning leaders like General Irshad, former Bangladeshi president, who tried to bring the people and the countries together on a single platform of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on the pattern of the European Union to help develop the region into a major economic and political bloc.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in December 1985 and, according to wikipedia: is the largest regional organization in the world by population, covering approximately 1.47 billion people.

The first seven SAARC countries were enthusiastic about the concept and keen for it to succeed. Conscious that this model of cooperation between countries was important for their progress and deliverance from pervasive poverty, they tried to make it work but in the end it simply died.

When viewed in the context of the nature of these populations, which have a closely interwoven history and common ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious heritage, this failure should not have occurred. It did because all the contiguous states on India's periphery are fearful of Indian hegemonic designs and its urge to dictate and of being swallowed up by this giant.

The Failure of the British

In the case of India and Pakistan, given the historical divide between Hindus and Muslims, it is understandable for a certain amount of acrimony and distrust to have an impact on their relationship. Failure of the British government to affect an orderly partition provided an opportunity to the populations to vent their long simmering grievances, leading to the painful, bloody and destructive events of 1947. But instead of the leadership of a bigger and stronger India accepting Pakistan's creation as a reality and resolving mutual disputes in a spirit of understanding to restore normalcy, it adopted a belligerent course when Pakistan was struggling to survive. The resulting discord and three wars have plagued their relationship to this day, both countries diverting huge and precious financial resources to defence.

India's Failure to Lead

Even if the Indo-Pakistan relationship is set aside for a moment as one of a peculiar nature and even if Pakistan is presumed to be responsible for all the wicked behavior, the question arises, why do other countries of the region, despite a great deal of affinity with India and despite the absence of such distortions that mar Indo-Pakistan relations, find it so difficult to forge a closer relationship with India? Why is it that India has failed to evoke trust and confidence among its neighbors to make SAARC, or for that matter another similar alliance, a success?

The eagerness with which countries of other regions, in recognition of new realities, are reshaping policies and establishing new alliances is indicative of a new world order taking shape. Isn't it time for hostilities to give way to a congenial environment among South Asian neighbors too?

The fact is that for regional alliances to succeed, whether political or economic, it is imperative for all stakeholders to treat each other as equals, irrespective of their size or strength. This comes with respecting each other's sovereignty, willingness to set aside political differences and showing a degree of flexibility to promote a common cause. Where differences exist (which is commonly the case), these are resolved, or at least a sincere effort for resolution, is undertaken. The bigger and more powerful the country, the more is its responsibility to promote this attitude.

In case of South Asia, this has not been true. India has disputes with almost every neighbor which have strained their relationships for years.

Nepal: The tiny mountain state of Nepal has complained of persistent Indian dictation and interference in its internal affairs. That India employs economic blockades and manipulates transit facilities to this landlocked country for arm twisting is no secret.

Bangladesh: Likewise, Bangladesh is locked into an unresolved dispute for the building of the Farakka barrage that deprives Bangladesh of its water share. Despite the gratitude Bangladesh owes to India for having militarily dismembered Pakistan in 1971 to midwife its birth, relations between the two have often sunk to the rock bottom on a host of issues, including border disputes.

Sri Lanka: In Sri Lanka, India overtly and covertly supported the insurgency against the state by a nationalist group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Jaffna - the northern region of this small island state. India's support kept it politically and economically destabilized for decades. In the end, India paid for its interference when its prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated by a Tamil activist for having betrayed the movement.

China: Although not a part of South Asia, China is India's important neighbor but for decades Sino-Indian relations have remained frosty, at best. They went to war in 1962 over a border dispute. Competing for regional leadership, it antagonizes China by hoisting the Dalai Lama off and on to keep the issue of Tibet alive. Lately, having aligned itself with America to contain China, India is bargaining for a tense Sino-Indian relationship in the years to come.

Pakistan: With Pakistan, India maintains the worst of relations mainly because of Pakistan's political and military standing and its ability to reject Indian domination. Outstanding disputes include Kashmir, water distribution, dams that India constructs in violation Indus Water Treaty and border issues. Pakistan's dismemberment in 1971 by Indian hands is still fresh. And when India finances, arms and supports insurgency in Balochistan through its consulates along Afghan-Balochistan border and through its RAW agents operating inside Balochistan for the replay of East Pakistan scenario, the images of 1971 war come alive and acrimony between the two countries intensifies.

Afghanistan: By joining the American bandwagon in Afghanistan and positioning its troops in the name of infra structure development, India created enough concerns for Pakistan. But by its collusion with CIA and Mossad to take out Pakistan's nuclear assets through subversion in FATA, the NWFP and other areas using the militants of Tehrik-e-Taliban, India is slamming shut the door on the peace process that Pakistan has been persistently trying to keep open ever since 1947. With a history of constant endeavors to balkanize Pakistan, Indian military build up in Afghanistan is seen by Pakistan's military as an effort to put it in a nutcracker.

The growing Indian influence in Afghanistan is also a destabilizing factor in the region, as acknowledged even by Gen. McChrystal in his recent report. The make and types of sophisticated weapons and communications equipment, including satellite pictures of troop movements, recovered from the militants provide undeniable evidence of Indian involvement.

Mr. Ehsanullah Aryanzai, advisor to the Afghan Government, has said that India is using Afghan soil to conduct anti-Pakistan activities. The Indian Home Minister Chidambaram admitted that terrorists get support from elements in India for carrying out terror activities (The News, 15 Sep 2009). The executive editor of News Indian Express has acknowledged the evidence of Indian activities in Balochistan in their July 31, 2009 issue. Evidence of this was recently handed over by Pakistani prime minister to his Indian counterpart.

Indian Expansionism

That Indian psyche breeds arrogance and expansionism is clear from the words of Pundit Nehru, India's first prime minister, who said "India must dominate or perish". Perish it will not. So dominate it must.

Nehru, and those who followed him, clearly take their cue from their radical doctrine of Hinduvta, which dictates that India is "not only the [Hindu] fatherland but also ... their punyabhumi, their holy land." (Ref: The Struggle for India's Soul, World Policy Journal, fall 2002). To Hindu extremists, all others on this land are "aliens" who do not belong there and this includes Muslims and Christians. This justifies the commonly witnessed ethnic cleansing of non-Hindus and leads to the ultimate dream of the creation of Vrihata Bharat - a Greater India.

To ensure that this fatherland is reunited under Hindu rule, India pursues designs of expanding its boundaries to eventually include Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan and create the huge Indian empire. This explains its fight over territory with almost every neighbor.

It would be very naive not to see the direction towards which India is headed. Far from becoming the sole ruler of the entire Indian Ocean, India is destabilizing South Asia and working its way towards its own disintegration. This is not only because it is surrounding itself with angry and insecure neighbors, but also due to its troubles at home, where an overwhelming number of insurgencies are most likely to drive it towards a fate similar to that of Soviet Union.

*Note: *The eight SAARC countries: The People's Republic of Bangladesh; Bhutan; the Republic of India; the Republic of Maldives; Nepal; the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The Karzai government in Afghanistan was the last to join SAARC in 2007.

AxisofLogic

India: Maoist Insurgency Update - 1st November 2009

FLASH

01 NOV: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ruled out an offensive or proactive role for the Indian Air Force in anti-Naxalite operations but has laid down clear-cut recommendations for operations:  IAF helicopters should be fitted with light machine guns, pilots should be equipped with personal weapons including INSAS rifles, and there should be least one commando on board to counter fire from Naxals. Government sources told The Sunday Express that the IAF mandate for anti-Naxal duties has been limited to troop deployment and casualty evacuation, with emphasis on "proportional response" in case the Mi-17 helicopters come under fire from Maoists.The principles of engagement and the Standard Operating Procedure for the IAF will be sent to Air Headquarters next week after consultations with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) with Defence Minister A K Antony giving the final go-ahead.

01NOV:  The Communist Party of India (Maoist) have turned down Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram's appeal to halt violence for facilitation of talks between the outlawed party and the state governments.T he CPI(Maoist) said violence never topped their agenda and it would never be. Turning down Chidambaram's appeal, CPI(Maoist) politburo member Koteswar Rao alias Kishanji said, "Now Mr Chidambaram is saying that he had never asked us to lay down arms but only asked us to halt violence. But please think again about who are behind the present situation in West Bengal, which you had earlier termed as a 'killing field'," the Maoist leader said in a statement issued to the media on Saturday night. He added that the minister should enquire from Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee about the huge arms stocks of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the ruling party in Bengal. "The chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, himself admitted in the Assembly that all political parties in West Bengal had stocks of arms. Now, tell us, whether their arms are spreading violence or peace?" the Maoist leader asked.

01 NOV: Maoists ambushed a private jeep and blew up two bridges in Bihar late Saturday evening, police said today. Police said the Maoists had planted detonators to blow a bridge on Kasma-Salaiya road in Aurangabad when a private jeep which passed through the route came under its impact, badly injuring two people aboard the vehicle. The injured have been admitted to a local government medical hospital for treatment.

01 NOV: In Mumbai, Human rights activists and citizens groups held a public meeting on Saturday to urge the government of India to rethink Operation Green Hunt. The meeting was spearheaded by Himanshu Kumar, founder of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, which works for the welfare of the adivasis, and Sudha Bhardwaj, lawyer and human rights activist. A petition was sent to union home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday, detailing alternatives, which the activists claim will restore peace in the troubled Chhattisgarh. "The state demands peace and the end of violence but they seem oblivious of the fact that peace emanates from justice, which is what the tribals have been deprived of,'' said Kumar. "The day the police and the state will move to protect the adivasis, the Naxalite movement will be crushed automatically,'' he added.

01 NOV:  The trend is clear, the Maoists threat to the internal security of India is rising. Devolution of powers and '13th Amendments' are not going to appease these Maoists. There will come a time when they will need more 'fire power' than India deploys now to crush the uprising. If it can negotiate with them, well and good, but if this pattern of violence were to continue unabated, difficult decisions will have to be made. In these circumstances, and should India need to 'bite the bullet' as it were, Sri Lanka's military expertise ought to come into play. Having succeeded in defeating a cruel and ferocious enemy at home, an enemy conceived, incubated and bred in India, Sri Lanka must at least make that offer for the future betterment of good neighbourly relations.Last month, a joint military exercise between the Indian Armed Forces and the US Armed Forces may have been aimed at sending signals to China; but India is eroding from within as well. It is in trouble now, though it is coy to admit it. India appears to be confident it could overcome its problems. But its internal security is in jeopardy, and in the circumstances, it is only but right that Sri Lanka, given its wealth of experience in meeting the menace of terrorism, without deploying troops, assist in whatever way if a neighbour is to send out distress signals.

01 NOV: Central forces have started arriving in Jharkhand, but some questions remain unanswered. Director general of police Vishnu Dayal Ram is tight-lipped. "Some central forces have arrived and they are undergoing a short training to understand terrains. Further details cannot be revealed," is all he will say. But a senior inspector-general who's not authorised to speak to the media, told HT on condition of anonymity that 15 companies of paramilitary forces have already arrived and another 5,000 are expected shortly. Another question is about the target. Highly-placed sources among the Maoists say that sensing the threat from the forces, several Naxals have put down arms and melted into the civilian population. "As it is harvest time, many have taken to farming," he adds. Earlier, CPI (Maoist) politburo member Kishenji had said, "I apprehend they (central forces) would indulge in large scale massacre of innocent people."

01 NOV:  While it is understandable that successful India should get antsy over subaltern anger, perhaps we should pause to consider what the Naxalites have not done; this would shade the focus, which is at the moment concentrated on what they have done. They did not kill the police officer they picked up in Bengal. They released him in exchange for tribal women in government custody. They did not bargain for the release of their leaders, sending a message to a vast constituency that tribal women were equal, on their scale of values, to the top brass. You can appreciate the electrifying impact on their support base. And while relief will be the overwhelming sentiment among the passengers of Rajdhani, who were unharmed after five hours as captives, they will, on reaching home, search in the debris of memory for some answers. The governments of Bengal and India were helpless when the train was brought to a halt, and impotent during the hours in captivity. The authorities did not rescue the passengers. The abductors freed them. These Naxalites have decided that their war is against authority and its structures and symbols, and not against the people of India.

01 NOV: Caught between rebels and the security personnel arriving for Operation Green Hunt against the Maoists, tribals in the Bastar region have started migrating to 'safe' areas, some in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Bastar comprises five south Chhattisgarh districts. Everywhere the young and able-bodied can be seen loading vehicles with their belongings, and rushing to secure identity papers. "People are ensuring they have updated ration or voting cards to avoid trouble," says 44-year-old Muchika Sukda of Nurkatov village.

01 NOV: This Maoist thing isn't funny anymore. Of course, to the people who'll coil up at the very mention of funny and Maoists in the same breath, may I say that I never thought of ha-ha funny in any case. The simple fact of the matter remains that there is amazing disparity amongst us Indians. It was always there. In the past the oppressed made peace with the fact that perhaps the white man is behind all this and if god were to come down things would be better. Sorry. God's dead. Maybe he's really busy. The brown man descended but discovered he was closer to God and went around plundering every one. The oppressed still didn't know what to do. Someone should have told him to be careful of what you ask for. Initially he thought the white man don't speak the same language so he won't comprehend what was wrong. Now that he has someone who spoke the same tongue he was told there ain't nothing wrong. In between some people get together and decide that enough's enough and take up arms against their own who are just not concerned about the people.

01 NOV:  "The Indian state police are cold blooded murderers," said Himanshu Kumar, Gandhian and social activist from Dantewada in Chhattisgarh.Holding his social activism responsible for the demolishment, the activist took digs at the Home Minister and the local cops, "Not a single leader has visited us in the last five years. PC Chidambaram says that he wants peace in these areas. But I don't think it is peace that the people want. They want justice which isn't being delivered to them. Where there is injustice there can't be peace. Why are they sending forces to Bastar? Did the villagers ask for help or did the naxalites harass people in Delhi? I pity the armed forces that will be killed fighting for the corporates rather than poor innocent people."

01 NOV: Daughters of Mao-  With the blood-red vermilion on her forehead, and sari draped around her Chhattisgarhi style, 18-year-old, newly-married Suman looks like a typical adivasi woman -- shy yet attractive in her simplicity. "I got married this year," she says, sitting down next to her husband. We are in a hamlet called Bodankheda in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. It's where Suman's father lives -- he tills a small farm here -- and Suman is on a short visit to see him. Her in-laws' village, she gestures with her hand, is right across the hills -- in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district.

31 OCT: A city court on Saturday allowed a narco test on Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) leader Kobad Ghandy. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja allowed the plea of Delhi Police for conducting the narco test on Ghandy. The court's directions came after a panel of doctors submitted their report stating that Ghandy is medically fit to undergo the test.The court had last week asked a team of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to ascertain Ghandy's health condition. Police had moved the application for conducting the narco-analysis test on Ghandy arguing that they could not extract useful information as he was not cooperating. Ghandy is presently in 14 days' judicial custody.

31 OCT:  "That is their liberated zone," said P. Bhojak, one of the officers stationed at the river's edge in this town in the eastern state of Chattisgarh. Or one piece of it. India's Maoist rebels are now present in 20 states and have evolved into a potent and lethal insurgency. In the last four years, the Maoists have killed more than 900 Indian security officers, a figure almost as high as the more than 1,100 members of the coalition forces killed in Afghanistan during the same period. If the Maoists were once dismissed as a ragtag band of outdated ideologues, Indian leaders are now preparing to deploy nearly 70,000 paramilitary officers for a prolonged counterinsurgency campaign to hunt down the guerrillas in some of the country's most rugged, isolated terrain.

31 OCT: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday said the Maoist problem was emerging as a major problem in the State and it was now the biggest challenge before his Government.   Addressing a public convention of the Left Front at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, Kolkata, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the Maoists were utilizing the jungle and hilly terrain of the area to conduct their activities with impunity while adding that they were also using the border with Jharkhand to move around between the two states without being caught. "Our biggest problem now is that some districts in south Bengal, especially West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia are facing the brunt of maoist activities. This is right now our biggest problem. You know this is in India's central area, a tribal belt. This area is poor, it is also surrounded by forests and hills. Extremists chose these kinds of spots to carry out such activities. Hence they have chosen Jharkhand and using that as launching pad, the Maoists are operating here. In our state they are creating problems in Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapore and adjacent areas."

31 OCT:  It was noted that the tribal people who were living in the camps visited by the NCW team were totally dependent for doles or for employment on the administration. Most of them had no access to their own land because of the displacement and could not go back to the villages for fear of naxalite reprisal. Therefore, if doles or employment provided by the administration were stopped for some reason, they were reduced to a state of destitution. Thus, independent cultivators were turning into paupers as a result of being herded together in the camps. 2. The report noted that while the Salwa Judum was supposed to be a spontaneous movement from the grassroots, there was no doubt that the so-called Salwa Judum camps were being fully supported by the administration. In the Salwa Judum meetings, it was compulsory to send one member from each family living in the camps. This suggested not a spontaneous people's movement but an element of enforcement. It was also noted that the makeshift structures within the camps were in the process of being converted into permanent ones.

31 OCT: To gain a stronger foothold,the Naxals are including women and children in their ranks.They have started signing up young SC/ST girls in a covert manner. Intelligence inputs put the number of women in Naxal camps in Karnataka at around 35,which is a seven-fold increase in the last two years.The arrest of Anuradha Sharma and her husband recently, is proof of women being recruited by the rebels. CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO

31OCT: Arundhati Roy - The Heart of India is Under ATTACK

Right now in central India, the Maoists' guerrilla army is made up almost entirely of desperately poor tribal people living in conditions of such chronic hunger that it verges on famine of the kind we only associate with sub-Saharan Africa. They are people who, even after 60 years of India's so-called independence, have not had access to education, healthcare or legal redress. They are people who have been mercilessly exploited for decades, consistently cheated by small businessmen and moneylenders, the women raped as a matter of right by police and forest department personnel. Their journey back to a semblance of dignity is due in large part to the Maoist cadre who have lived and worked and fought by their side for decades. It's not enough that special police with totemic names like Greyhounds, Cobras and Scorpions are scouring the forests with a licence to kill. It's not enough that the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF) and the notorious Naga Battalion have already wreaked havoc and committed unconscionable atrocities in remote forest villages. It's not enough that the government supports and arms the Salwa Judum, the "people's militia" that has killed and raped and burned its way through the forests of Dantewada leaving 300,000 people homeless or on the run. Now the government is going to deploy the Indo-Tibetan border police and tens of thousands of paramilitary troops. It plans to set up a brigade headquarters in Bilaspur (which will displace nine villages) and an air base in Rajnandgaon (which will displace seven). Obviously, these decisions were taken a while ago. Surveys have been done, sites chosen. Interesting. War has been in the offing for a while. And now the helicopters of the Indian air force have been given the right to fire in "self-defence", the very right that the government denies its poorest citizens.

FLASH: US issues fresh alert on travel to India

With United States and Israeli intelligence warning of fresh terror strikes in India, the American government has warned its citizens travelling to the country to take safety precautions. A travel advisory was initially issued ahead of the festive season in October, as intelligence reports came in about terror groups out to get maximum mileage from another Mumbai-like strike in major Indian cities.

The fresh travel alert was posted on the state department website on Friday, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation busted a plot involving American David Coleman Headley, and a Canadian national of Pakistan origin, Tahawar Hussain Rana, with links to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has been blamed for several terror strikes.

"Terrorists and their sympathisers have demonstrated their willingness and capability to attack targets that Americans or westerners are known to congregate or visit," the state department alert said.  Many foreigners, including American citizens, were killed in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

"US citizens are urged always to practice good security, maintain a heightened situational awareness and a low profile. Americans are advised to monitor local news reports and consider the level of security present when visiting public places, including religious sites, or choosing hotels, restaurants, entertainment and recreation venues," the alert said.

The state department said it continued to receive information that terror groups are planning fresh strikes in India.

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India: Maoist Insurgency Update - 31st October 2009

31 OCT: The Communist Party of India-Maoist have established linkages with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, and are looking to set up a base in south India, an Intelligence Bureau report has revealed.This is the first time an intelligence agency has established a link between the two banned groups. The report says that early this year leaders of the two organisations held two meetings — in Bengaluru and Hyderabad — to strike an alliance. After discussions, the two outfits decided to create a joint base in south India, the report said, adding that while they would step up recruitment, the base would operate out of Kerala.

31 OCT: At times when central paramilitary forces have started moving in to flush out the Naxalites from the jungles of Gadchiroli, the insurgents have resorted to newer form of oppression; expulsion from village. In a first instance of this kind concerning a prominent political personality, the Naxalites expelled Tukaram Rajaram Kerami, chairperson of Korchi Panchayat Samiti from his village Bellargondi in Gadchiroli district recently. Police said a band of around 35 armed Naxalites reached village Bellargondi late in the night of October 17 and summoned a meeting of all villagers at the main square. Kerami along with all other family members were taken to the meeting place where Naxals announced a diktat of expulsion of Kerami family out of village on charges of allowing his son to join the police forces.

31 OCT: How does one differentiate the N&Ms from all the NGOs that have devoted their lifetime to helping the poor, and in many more ways than just communicating the importance of boiled water? For that matter, how does one distinguish the N&Ms from Bill Gates' foundation, or from international organisations like the World Bank? Before we get all syrupy about violent protesters having a heart of gold, we need to understand, and define, the limits to action in the name of the poor. If media reports are to be believed, the N&M violence is often against the poor, only they are a different kind of poor. They are the local police, or local government officials. Other times, the violence is against "ordinary" poor people.

31 OCT: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram on Friday sent out an unambiguous message to railway minister Mamata Banerjee that her views on the Maoist problem will not be allowed to cloud the Centre's response to the Naxalite menace. The two leaders, who were speaking from separate platforms, said the government at the Centre will do everything at its command to protect the lives of people. "Let there be no doubt, law and order as I said, is the primary responsibility of every civilised state and whatever comes in the way of maintenance of law and order will be dealt with as it ought to be dealt with," prime minister said while addressing a conclave in the Capital.

31 OCT: Dividing India into 30 different states is indeed a laughable idea. However, if India doesn't act fast to tackle its internal threats like Naxalism, things might look drastically different in the near future. India needs to immediately increase its budget for removing poverty amongst the Naxalite infested areas by about 25 times as a first step towards thwarting these dangerous dreams of the Chinese. Simultaneously, it needs to take China absolutely head on in terms of various other Chinese talks, threats and desires. Only that will help India consolidate its position of an equal partner in this region that will dominate world politics in times to come.

30 OCT: Three members of a family were killed by a group of armed naxalites in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh early today. A group of 60 naxalites barged into the house of three brothers--Jai, Tileshwar and Lachinder--at Kidrepal village and attacked them, Dantewada SP Amresh Mishra said. The Maoists then took the trio to a village crossroad and slit their throats using sharp weapons, he said.

30 OCT:  Home Minister P. Chidambaram Friday said the government had not asked the Maoists to lay down their arms as it was 'too realistic' to know that they would not do so, but reiterated his appeal to the left wing radicals to halt the violence and come forward for talk. 'We have never said as far as Naxalites (Maoists) are concerned, to lay down arms. Because I am too realistic to know that they will not do so,' Chidambaram told reporters, while presenting his ministry's monthly report card.

30 OCT: Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday called upon the Maoists to shun violence. He said it was the only pre-condition for any talks with them. Chidambaram accused CPI(Maoist) and its supporters in the People's Committee against Police Atrocity (PCPA) of hijacking the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani. The Union minister said the CRPF has already filed an FIR in the case and will take action against the perpetrators for holding 1,250 passengers hostage.

30 OCT: While Assam on Friday observed Black Day marking the completion of one year of serial bombing which killed 90 people and injured 500 others, Director General of police from eight Northeastern states and West Bengal discussed key security issues including the growing threat from the Maoist, the cross border terrorism and the activities of militant in a two day conference in Shillong. The close door conferences which kick started on Friday was attended additional director of Intelligence Bureau R N Ravi. Top officials of Border security force (BSF), Army, CRPF, Assam Rifles, intelligence agencies.

30 OCT:  The most important question here needs to be answered is why there are so many hues and cries on "Naxalism" though it is not a new issue. The Naxalism has been flourishing in India for last 4 decades. There were several cases of beheading people, many police pickets were blown up in the past and train was also hijacked for 16 hours in 2006 in Jharkhand. The matter of the fact is the Central and State governments were never serious in addressing the issue of Naxalism and now when the problem is utterly intensified, they are crying foul with the clear intention of burying the failure of the entire system of governance.

30 OCT: The Left's penchant for enforcing political correctness with an inflexible vengeance was evident on Thursday when Government Railway Police (GRP), which functions under the state government, refused to file a case against the PCPA for hijacking the Rajdhani Express. This move of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government will only amplify the inability of the Left Front government to swiftly and effectively deal with the Maoist menace. Reports from West Midnapore said that the FIR lodged with the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Jhargram was made out against "unknown persons" for holding up the train, "heckling passengers" and preventing staff from "discharging their duties for a long time" . This despite the fact that armed members of the PCPA halted and seized the train at Banstala, 10 km from Jhargram station. Known faces of the PCPA, such as Santosh Patra, were said to be among the crowd who blocked the train.

30 OCT:  The presence and expansion of naxalites have a geographic reason. They are mostly active in the central and in the eastern India in the areas which are covered by deep forests and are hilly and very much inaccessible. This kind of landscape is well suited for the guerrilla warfare which they are engaged with the "exploitative" Indian state to dethrone it for the establishment of a class free state. But the reason is not only geographical, it is also historical. The adivasis of India who have gained least and lost most from the political independence of past 62 years are located in these areas and hence they can be easily fomented to become the soldier for the cause of Red Revolution. In fact, both the reasons are connected. It's because the terrain that the Indian state has not been able to develop the adivasi region of India and hence adivasis remained underdeveloped or even destructed. However, the Maoists operating in the region live in the same state of penury as the adivasis do and hence they get very fertile land for getting sympathy and therefore soldiers for their cause.

29 OCT: The government is all set to launch full-fledged anti-Maoist operations at three different locations, considered junctions of Naxal-affected states. The areas which have been identified for the offensive are the tri-junctions of Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra- Chhattisgarh; Orissa-Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh and West Bengal- Jharkhand-Orissa. Home Ministry sources said around 40,000 paramilitary personnel will assist the respective state police forces during the operations which will be launched soon.

29 OCT: A top Maoist leader in India has alleged to have received regular funds for his party from leading corporate houses, the BBC has learnt. The details were given by Narla Ravi Sharma, a senior leader in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, to the police after his arrest a fortnight ago. "Many big companies regularly pay a levy to our parties in both Bihar and Jharkhand," Mr Sharma is quoted as saying in the interrogation report. The Maoist leader named some of the companies - most have huge interests in mining and manufacturing and are prominent on India's stock markets.

29 OCT: The much talked-about joint operation against the Naxalite guerrillas will not only help solving the problem of Leftist insurgency but also free large area endowed with rich minerals. The Centre is planning a major offensive against the rebels in central India. Since the security personnel are likely to enter into the forests, the "liberated zones" of the red army is likely to be freed and come under the control of government authorities. The "liberated zones" of the Leftist guerrillas in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh contain some of the most precious and valuable minerals. But the state authorities could not explore the minerals as the area had been under the control of rebels. Sources in the state mineral resources department said that the interior areas of Bastar region-- the worst Naxalite-infested pocket in the country—contained huge deposits of precious gem stone varieties including corundum besides rich minerals like tin ore, iron-ore, columbite and so on.

FLASH: Violence in Tongi, 2 dead, 2 Policewoman reported missing

Tongi, Oct 31 - Two people were reportedly killed and two policewomen said to be "missing" as police and garment workers clashed violently at Ershad Nagar in Tongi on Saturday.Traffic on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway was blocked from 9am to 1pm as the violence spread out from Nippon Garments factory onto the streets. According to witnesses, some 50 people including police were injured. Locals also said two people, including a policewoman, were killed, but police could not confirm the news up to midday. Meanwhile, Gazipur police super Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman told bdnews24.com that two women constables could not be located.

Locals said workers of Nippon Garments in Ershad Nagar were demonstrating at the factory from 8am over unpaid dues. Police obstructed them while as they were taking their protest to the street, which prompted the violence. Angry workers damaged and set fire to a number of vehicles, while police were forced to fire tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. The situation became calmer a little after 11:30am as additional police and RAB were deployed on the spot, but sporadic clashes continued, said witnesses.

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Facebook Phishing Attack Warning

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"Yudh Abhyas '09": Trained in India, to fight in Iraq

Sujan Dutta

New Delhi, Oct. 29: An Indo-US wargame that ended today in Uttar Pradesh helped retrain part of an American contingent that went into action in Iraq and will be redeployed in the war-ravaged country, scaling up the bilateral exercise that was originally projected as a peace-keeping drill. Exercise Yudh Abhyas 09 – the latest in a series of Indo-US drills that began in 2004 – involved the largest deployment of ground forces by the two countries for joint training. When the exercise began, the Indian Army officially stated that the scenario for the drill was that of joint operations for peace keeping under a United Nations' mandate. It was more or less expected that the US Army will begin using Indian military facilities and experience to train for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with the wargame.

But the scale of the drill was far deeper than initially thought. Within the first five days of the two-week drill, it quickly morphed into an armoured and infantry exercise involving para-dropping and securing urban settlements simulating environments in Iraq and Afghanistan with live firing. Forces led by the US had invaded Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) without specific UN mandates. Around 250 soldiers from the US contingent – of the 2nd squadron 14 Cavalry -- pulled out of Iraq in April this year after a 15-month deployment. It is marked to re-deploy there in nine months.

Till April this year the squadron was based in Camp Taji, about 25km north of Baghdad, in a zone that is the most violent in Iraq. At least one of its soldiers, Sergeant Timothy P Martin, 27, was killed. He died in a blast from an improvised explosive device in August last year.

The drill with Indian mechanised forces in Babina – one of the Indian Army's largest and most sophisticated training centres with a large field firing range– starts off a period of re-training for the US forces. The exercise was witnessed by the chief of the US Army Pacific, Lt Gen Benjamin R. Mixon and India's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen A.S. Sekhon.

The trend among US-led coalition forces to use Indian military facilities to train for "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and "Operation Enduring Freedom" (Afghanistan) began in September 2007. But the drills have never involved as many soldiers, so much hardware and such massive firepower. A unit of the British Royal Marines engaged Indian special forces in an exercise named "Himalayan Warrior" in Ladakh in September-October 2007. The UK requested access to Indian military facilities in Ladakh and an exercise in that region because the dry desert terrain is similar to parts of Afghanistan. The British soldiers were also acclimatised at the Indian Army's High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) in Sonamarg.

Last October, the US army chief, General George Casey, was also escorted by Indian Army Chief, General Deepak Kapoor to Ladakh and to Indian army establishments in Kashmir and other Indian military facilities.

So far, army-level drills between the two countries involved companies (about a 100 troops in each company) or even smaller platoons. But the involvement has now been scaled-up several notches with Exercise Yudh Abhyas 09.

Just how seriously the Pentagon takes its exercises with the Indian military is indicated by the logistics that have gone into the Babina drill. It deployed 17 Strykers – the largest deployment of the multipurpose armoured vehicles outside Iraq and Afghanistan – that were shipped all the way from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, where the unit is currently based, to Mumbai. In Bombay, the Strykers, each weighing about 19 tonnes, were transported in sixteen-wheeler trucks to armoured corps base in Babina (that was started by the British with the acronym that stands for British Army Base in North India). The Strykers and the US troops will now head back the same way for more training in the Mojave Desert in Southern California.

"This exercise (Yudh Abhyas 09) is a ramp-up in training, as the unit prepares for larger pre-deployment training exercises such as those at the National Training Facility in California," a US army statementsaid.

The US army contingent was hosted by the general officer commanding the Indian Army's 31st armoured division, Maj Gen Anil Malik. The Indians deployed the 7th Mechanised Infantry for the drill.

The scale of the exercise involving armoured units – India's Russian-origin BMP troop-carriers, its latest T-90 tanks and Dhruv helicopters – and the US Pacific Army chief's comments invariably stoked interest once again on possible joint operations.

"This is all about training with the Indian army, to enhance relationships so that we gain a greater understanding of each other. That's really what this is all about," the general said. "India has a professional army. I will go with the Indian Army anywhere, anytime," he added.

But beyond the show of power and battlefield skills, there was also a pitch for arms sales to India. The Stryker vehicle itself was closely watched by the Indian forces. It can be configured for several tasks – offensive, reconnaissance, communications and evacuations apart from troop carrying.

A senior official of the Pentagon's defence sales branch also escorted executives of defence companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to Babina for the exercise. The US contingent demonstrated the fire-and-forget Javelin anti-tank missile, at least a generation ahead of the Milans that the Indians use. India is scouting the markets to stock up on anti-tank systems because the Indian Army still trains for scenarios of armoured warfare.

Indian soldiers were not allowed to drive the Stryker but some of them took shots at dead tanks with the missile.

The sleek shoulder-fired Javelin hones into its target without having to be guided to it. It is made by Raytheon.

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India: Maoist Insurgency Update - 29th October 2009

29 OCT: Warning that naxal sponsored violence was likely to escalate in the coming months as retaliation to the Centre's offensive, the government on Wednesday said incidents of landmines, ambushes and train blockages would increase. A day after the Rajdhani Express hostage drama, the home ministry said more such incidents could be expected. Home secretary G K Pillai said as long as Maoists had their one-point agenda of "so called armed revolution", they would continue to carry out incidents like the one on Tuesday."In the months to come, this is something I think the country should be prepared for," Pillai said.

29 OCT: The all-powerful Indian state is mobilising to attack the wretched poor in the name of countering Naxalism. Operation Green Hunt is the code name for the military operation that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is determined to launch before the year is through. Of course, Union home minister P Chidambaram is making all the right noises right now, "we would like to talk", "we will talk of the Naxalites give up violence", even as the state prepares for the huge military offensive for which the paramilitary troops are being brought in from all parts of the country. Unfortunately, the organised Left has not cautioned the government against this completely reckless and sub-human operation that will take a major toll of poor lives in the districts, and there seems to be little difference on the issue between the Left and UPA position at the moment. Inherent in the big talk is the assertion that the state is in no way responsible for the growth of Naxalism in the districts. Even a child belonging to the area can tell Chidambaram that he does not have a school to go to, a hospital to be treated in, a road to walk on, and can at best get dirty water to drink and an occasional meal a day. These are the poorest of the poor districts in the country that have not felt the impact of growth and development. The people are wretched to put it mildly, and the government non-existent.

29 OCT: As a first step in this direction, the cops joined hands with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and destroyed a full-fledged training camp of the Maoists in the dense forest of Munger district in central Bihar. The police also recovered detonators, flash impoverished explosive devices, live cartridges, knives, Naxal literature, police uniform, generator sets, perfumes and cosmetics used by women activists from the training camp. The camp was being run by the ultras at Bhimbandh.

29 OCT: Defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday rejected his Cabinet colleague Mamata Banerjee's demand for military deployment in Maoist-affected areas of West Bengal. While the Centre would tackle the `serious' threat of naxalism with all its might till the Left-wing rebels abjured violence, the use of armed forces in internal security duties was not an option at the moment, he said. "Whether in West Bengal or any other area, our view is that employing armed forces for internal security should be the last, the very last resort, only when the other agencies have failed. Police and parmilitary have to deal with naxalism," Antony said.

29 OCT: It is not difficult to understand why the Naxalites in their day, the Maoists today and the communists in general evoke a sense of admiration unlike the fascists who are also believers in a one-party state. While the violence of the latter is seen to be directed at selected groups identified by their religion or place of origin and irrespective of their social or economic status, the aggression of the comrades is perceived to be in favour of impoverished people and directed at the state, which, in classical Marxist terms, represents the oppressive bourgeoisie. This context automatically makes the violence of the reds more justifiable than the state's. Arguably, the demise of the Soviet Union and the embracement of capitalism by China have dimmed the ardour of the intellectuals for the Maoists to some extent. In addition, the role of the communist parties in power in India has negated their claims to honesty and to being the champions of the underprivileged. The deadly confrontations between the Marxists and the Maoists have also shown that the textbook generalisations about the segregation of the classes are not always valid. The fact that many of the tacit supporters of the Maoists are former Marxists also indicates the belief that the former are really doing what the Marxists had originally promised to do, but had then either chickened out or succumbed to the lure of power in a bourgeois society.

29 OCT: A day after the Rajdhani Express was held hostage by Maoists for more than five hours, railways began soul searching and realised that better intelligence could have helped avoid the incident. Alarmed with the trainjacking which exposed the vulnerability of passengers travelling by trains, railways issued an alert to its zonal and divisional offices and the security directorate reviewed the situation. Sources said there was realisation in the ministry that the intelligence set-up and coordination between Intelligence Bureau (IB), state police (GRP and civil police) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) was not up to the mark, specially in Naxal-affected states. "It has been decided to upgrade security in trains, intensify vigilance around tracks and strengthen intelligence in
coordination with state police in naxal-affected areas," an official said.

29 OCT: The Indian state has allowed the Naxalite problem to fester for far too long. How long have we been hearing that Naxalites are the gravest security threat to the country, having spread to over a third of India's territory and claimed 600 lives this year alone? And this by some 15,000 Naxalites, many of whom are poorly armed. It seems that the government has finally woken up to the gravity of the situation. The Union home ministry has readied what would be the biggest-ever security operation against the Naxalites. Nearly 70,000 paramilitary forces have been mobilised to begin operations in Naxalite-affected districts. Operations are expected to last anywhere between one and three years. But it's not just Naxalite-infested areas that need beefing up of security. Studies have shown that at 145 policemen for every one lakh residents, India is way below the UN-mandated ratio. This situation needs to be rectified at the earliest. Any concerted action against the Naxalites is bound to be controversial. The airwaves have been humming with commentators who believe that Naxalism is an expression of the deep resentment of marginalised tribals and the poor, and that development and not force is the solution. There is some truth in what they say. Tribals have benefited the least from the Indian state and its development policies. Worse still, their lands and livelihoods have been ruthlessly destroyed over time. This has created a fertile ground for Naxalites to flourish. Addressing the basic needs of tribals and the poor and winning their hearts must go hand in hand with operations to quell the Naxalites, something the government seems to have realised. It is planning to pump in big money for infrastructure projects in Naxalite-affected districts.

29 OCT: Indeed the reaction of all the Governments, affected by the Maoist and Naxalite terrorism, is knee jerk and nobody is clear, whether it is a law order or a social or socio economic, or development or a poverty alleviation problem. Perhaps it is all these things put together. Everybody has his own interpretation and prescription of solving the problem. In the meantime, it continues to aggravate. Maoists have already declared, that they are at war, with the State. Only our Government is not clear, whether they are clear, about their own stand. Indeed the reaction of all the Governments, affected by the Maoist and Naxalite terrorism, is knee jerk and nobody is clear, whether it is a law order or a social or socio economic, or development or a poverty alleviation problem. Perhaps it is all these things put together. Everybody has his own interpretation and prescription of solving the problem. In the meantime, it continues to aggravate. Maoists have already declared, that they are at war, with the State. Only our Government is not clear, whether they are clear, about their own stand.

28 OCT: Faced with an aggressive government campaign attacking them and their sympathisers for the indiscriminate killing that has become the hallmark of their strategy, Maoists seemed to be engaged in a re-think on using wanton violence in the "class struggle". The train hijack and treatment of passengers pointed to a possible shift in the Maoist modus operandi with the hijackers making a conspicuous effort not to torment passsengers. As witness accounts poured in after the hijack crisis ended, Rajdhani Express passengers spoke about how they were left unharmed and how the hijackers were only interested in sending a message to the political establishment.

28 OCT: A solution to the Naxal problem can wait, but outscoring rivals can't. That was precisely the signal sent by the political parties in West Bengal as Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) traded charges over the high-voltage Rajdhani Express hostage drama in West Midnapore district on Tuesday. Rather than putting up a fight against the ever-growing Maoist menace in the state, parties seemed more interested in fishing in muddy waters. Even as the crisis was on, both the main opposition and ruling parties blamed each other for the Maoists' daring act.  Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee wanted the country to believe, it was the handiwork of the CPM. As Maoist leader Kishenji denied his outfit's involvement, Mamata said, "The Maoists and Marxists are like brothers. The CPM wants to kill us."

28 OCT: Even as the Central government prepares for a massive offensive against the Maoist guerrillas, a large majority of citizens polled by Hindustan Times say focussing on talks and  development would help tackle the insurgency better than any armed crackdown. See survey results - Part 3 Some 2,000 respondents from 10 cities taking part in the survey named the Maoist insurgency — which has spread to more than a quarter of India's 626 districts — as a major impediment to the country's progress. But only 14 per cent felt mobilising armed forces was the best way to tackle the insurgency. Around 21 per cent voted for negotiations with the rebels, while 26 per cent asked for boosting development spending in backward areas. A strategy, combining all three measures won the backing of 39 per cent of the respondents.





27 OCT:  Ending a five-hour high-voltage drama, security forces on Tuesday secured control of the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express from armed Maoists and their local sympathisers at a desolate station near Jhargram in West Bengal's West Midnapore district. Officials in charge of the operation said all the passengers and the drivers of the prestigious high-speed train were reported to be safe despite the ordeal they underwent during the unprecedented siege. Later in the evening, a special engine, top railway officials said, set off from Jamshedpur for Banstala station, a few kilometres from Jhargram, to pilot the Rajdhani away from that location to Jamshedpur. "This was done to ensure the safety of the passengers as the pilot engine would prevent any damage to the Rajdhani coaches in case there was bomb or other explosive material planted on the tracks by the ultras," an official told Deccan Herald here. Home Ministry sources claimed the Centre and the West Bengal governments "acted in unison, not yielding to any possible trade-off demand".

28 OCT: Bihar government plans to modify its existing surrender policy for Maoists and make it more attractive by incorporating a rehabilitation policy for those willing to surrender. Director General of Police Anand Shankar had said after attending a meeting called by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with top police and civil officials recently that the surrender policy would be made more attractive."The policy is being drafted for the state government's approval with suitable changes incorporating a rehabilitation package for the naxalites volunteering to surrender with arms," Shankar said. The rehabilitation package in the new policy, he said, would be made more attractive.

Hizb ut-Tahrir: Gotcha Islamism

By Zahed Amanullah

As a recent incident on Britain's Islam Channel shows, the often subversive use of the media by the global pan-Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir speaks to the difficulties the group has with its image and worldview.

	Dilemma, indeed

For an organization that lacks any institutional support in the Muslim world, the pro-Caliphate group Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HT) still manages to get its point across. Shunned from mosques and banned in several countries – usually for alleged anti-Semitism or annoying autocratic rulers - the group has relied in the past on relative secrecy (a counter intuitive strategy for a group seeking mass acceptance), the Internet and new media, or infiltrating existing media and civic groups to find a wider voice.

As an example, when pollster Dalia Mogahed recently appeared on the show Muslimah Dilemma, a women-led public affairs program on the UK-based Islam Channel, she may have felt that she was only lending her expertise to a discussion about sharia law. Being Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Mogahed co-authored a number of poll-driven studies on the Muslim world, including 2008's Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, among the most comprehensive studies available on contemporary Muslims.

Since she was a call-in guest, Mogahed didn't realize that both the show's host, Ibihal Bsis Ismail, and in-studio guest, Nazreen Nawaz, were both members of HT. As a result, the show's meaning strayed far from women's issues or sharia law itself. Mogahed is also a member of US President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which meant that this was as close as HT could get to debating Obama himself. Although Mogahed offered observations from her studies relevant to the debate – particularly the views of women who felt that some aspects of sharia could deliver gender justice - her participation was spun as tacit agreement with HT's philosophy, despite Mogahed's comments that she was a researcher and not an advocate. Nevertheless, the show was soon touted on HT's website as a de facto endorsement of their philosophy.

After many right wing commentators blasted Mogahed, interpreting her views the way HT did, Mogahed clarified that she was misled about the interview and would not have participated had she known about HT's involvement. Noted Mogahed in a letter to Britain's Daily Telegraph, "I suspect the host knew this and therefore deliberately misled us to score propaganda points for an ideological movement."

More importantly, Mogahed also confirmed that her own work contradicted HT's philosophy and that substantial majorities of Muslims worldwide increasingly:

• Found no contradiction between democratic values and religious principles and the equal importance of democracy and Islam to the quality of life and progress of the Muslim world,
• Admired the political freedoms found in the West,
• Felt that any new constitution in their countries should guarantee freedom of speech,
• Want neither theocracy (what HT offers) nor secular democracy but a third model in which religion and democratic values form an indigenous democratic framework,
• Felt that religious leaders should play no direct role in drafting a constitution, writing legislation, determining foreign policy, or deciding how women dress in public.

All of these principles stand in contrast to Hizb-ut Tahrir's worldview. In an open debate with such facts, the HT message would have been a harder sell (further untenables such as the abolition of copyrights and Saudi-style gender segregation can be seen in a draft constitution). Even the contention made on the show that women should not be "permitted to hold a position of leadership in government" belies those huge parts of the Muslim world led by women – in Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Turkey. Nearly all were democratically elected in multi-party elections, another HT no-no.

Without a challenge, Hizb-ut-Tahrir continues to interpret polls such as Mogahed's as indicating support for their brand of sharia law. Often cited to indicate a growing appeal are the 100,000 who showed up at a 2007 Jakarta rally. And yet Islamist political parties closest to Hizb's viewpoints suffered at the Indonesia's polls this year at the expense of more secular parties. Similar setbacks have taken place recently in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and elsewhere. Despite a spike in HT activity over the past few years, due in part to the use of new media, there are still signs of decreasing influence, as HT audiences dwindle. In Britain, other attempts to blend unidentified with mainstream community organisations and newspapers have largely failed. A case involving Britain's Guardian newspaper after the July 2005 attacks in London, where the author of a provocative commentary was uncovered as an HT activist, is one of the better known examples.

The reticence with which HT asserts itself within community forums, media groups, and political organisations speaks of a group that knows that its public face and vague strategy of implementation has limited appeal. And without access to mass media, HT's reach to the average Muslim will continue to remain difficult. The coverage of this issue, coupled with the warmth with which Mogahed's advisory position in the Obama administration was accepted by Muslims, could mean that undercover HT hosting of shows like Muslimah Dilemma could be in jeopardy. If so, HT will only have its image, tactics, and its message to blame.

Zahed Amanullah is Associate Editor of altmuslim.com.

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FLASH: ULFA-NDFB combi suicide squads to strike Assam

Two influential separatist groups in Assam have decided to form suicide squads and stage joint terror attacks in crowded places, including the police headquarters, says a government report. According to an Assam home department report, top leaders of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) met somewhere in Bangladesh last month and finalised the terror blueprint.

Their plans include blowing up a vital road-cum-rail bridge and targeting the police headquarters, says the secret document.

"Taking a cue from Taliban sponsored suicide attacks in Pakistan, the NDFB and ULFA are planning to carry out major blasts and suicide attacks on Assam police headquarters and the Special Branch headquarters with the help of jehadi elements in the coming few days," the home department report available with IANS reads.

The report also warned that the NDFB-ULFA combine was planning to blow up the Saraighat road-cum-rail bridge over the Brahmaputra river in Guwahati - a vital lifeline connecting Assam to the rest of India. "There are plans to blow up the Saraighat Bridge by exploding an explosive-laden oil tanker," the report warned.

The other sensational notings in the report include the NDFB planning to procure huge consignments of weapons and explosives. "The NDFB will procure arms and explosives from international gunrunners and for that their leader Ranjan Daimary has already handed over $75,000 to ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah," the report said.

The report was based on both intelligence inputs and vital information provided by a surrendered NDFB leader before police interrogators. The report also mentioned 251 NDFB militants willing to surrender.

"(The) NDFB cadres have been lately sending feelers to intelligence agencies expressing their willingness to surrender. But since the number of weapons are far less than the number of cadres willing to surrender, the group has been kept under surveillance pending an appropriate decision," the report said.

The NDFB was blamed for the Oct 30 serial explosions in Assam last year in which about 100 people were killed and more than 500 wounded.

Following the home department report, security forces have been put on maximum alert across the state.

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Blogosphere: Conditions in Indian Police Stations Facing Maoist Insurgents

People who want to know how India will fare against the Maoists may be interested in the training, equipment and morale of the Indian police. A blog, India Under Attack, offers an interesting account of conditions at one police station in a post entitled India Can Implode From Within:

India Can Implode From Within

India's internal security is a function of how good is intelligence from the street. And this comes from both the Intelligence Bureau (IB) as well as the local police force.

Now IB is politicized beyond repair though P Chidambaram is trying to do something positive. All political parties have used 1/3 of IB personnel to tap into the phones / movements of their political opponents. Instead of securing India, these IB operatives were sent by the then political party in power to secure "compromising proof" on their political opponents to keep them in their place.

That leaves the police stations. If one goes to any police station in the city, he becomes acutely aware of the rot the whole system is in. The Officer in Charge (OC) of a police station often has to bribe his way to a lucrative posting where he can make easy grease money. Such is the scale of corruption that anyone can smuggle in arms from Bangladesh border and dump it anywhere in India – paying grease money along the way – the consignments never checked. We don't even have basic infrastructure to check goods while in transit through sophisticated machines.

This is the general background Some of the details are also less than reassuring:

At least 24 policemen, including constables, inspectors and homeguards, were present at the Sankrail police station when the Maoists struck at 1.30 pm yesterday. Not one shot was fired in retaliation. While a probe is on into what prevented the police force from "engaging" the Maoists, a preliminary investigation has revealed how unprepared the police force is — and the abysmal state of their working and living conditions. Consider the following:

* There were 13 constables, 5 home guards, 3 national volunteer force members and 3 sub-inspectors at the police station when the Maoists struck. Not one policeman was armed. For, the practice here is to keep the weapons locked in trunks.

Even Officer-in-Charge (OC) Atindranath Dutta, who was abducted, was at his home unarmed. The police station had six .303 rifles, three revolvers, one 9-mm pistol and 180 rounds of ammunition — all locked up in the malkhana (storeroom).

* Why? Policemen say one reason is the weapons are no match to those used by the Naxals — so keeping them locked up is "safer." Until the last Lok Sabha elections in May when they got rifles, the constables here had only lathis.

This helps to explain how the situation has deteriorated to the point where Operation Green Hunt is considered necessary It also provides an explanation for why Operation Green Hunt may have serious problems finding the enemy. After all, invading an area where insurgents are present may not be useful if they can hide till you decide to leave.

It looks very much like the local cops in large areas of India, who might know enough about the area to find the enemy, also know that when Operation Green Hunt ends, they will be the target of reprisals to get even for the bad things that happen to the Maoists the government catches. This prospect will not encourage them to show great zeal in working against the insurgency. Also, a fair number of them may be being paid off by weapons traffickers and the like. Cops who have quietly made deals with the bad guys usually don't want the bad guys caught and testifying to those deals.

As a blog post, this piece is probably a little extreme. But if things are half as bad as this blog post suggests they are, they are bad enough to be a serious problem in fighting the Maoists.

I don't have an answer to the problems this piece suggests await the effort to suppress the Maoists. That said, the US may want to provide police assistance and training to India. Some equipment might also be useful Those of us who aren't providing military and police assistance may want to consider what will happen if Operation Green Hunt has only a limited impact on the Maoists. Maybe the time I have been following the situation in Pakistan has made me too pessimistic, but the Naxalite situation in India seems to me more likely to get worse than to get better in the short run.

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