On June 26, 2018, seven jawans of the Jharkhand Jaguar Force were reportedly killed and another four injured, when the cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) carried out a landmine blast and subsequently opened fire on the security personnel in the Chinjo area near a school in Khapri Mahua village under the Bhandariya Police Station in the Garhwa District of Jharkhand. While four security personnel were killed in the explosion, another two were killed in the exchange of fire that followed and still another subsequently succumbed to his injuries. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Vipul Shukla disclosed that joint teams of security personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the State’s elite Jharkhand Jaguar (JJ) force and the local Police were conducting an anti-Maoists’ offensive when the incident occurred. The joint teams had launched an operation after they received information about the presence of some Maoists in the area. The Security Force (SF) personnel were returning from a Long Range Patrol (LRP) on foot, when the landmine was triggered by the Maoists, followed by the encounter. At least two INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifles have gone missing, indicating that the Maoists looted the weapons.
On May 20, 2018, seven SF personnel were killed and one critically injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered by CPI-Maoist cadres near Cholnar in the Dantewada District of Chhattisgarh. A joint team of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and the District Force (DF) were patrolling the Cholnar-Kirandul Road to provide security to trucks carrying construction material for road works between Kirandul and Palnar villages. CPI-Maoist cadres blew up a Police vehicle carrying the SF personnel with an IED, creating a 10-foot crater on the road, and tossing the Police vehicle into the air. Five SF personnel died on the spot, while two jawans succumbed to their injuries during treatment. CPI-Maoist cadres took away two INSAS assault rifles, two AK 47s and two SLRs from the slain Police personnel.
On March 13, 2018, at least nine CRPF personnel were killed and two were critically injured when CPI-Maoist cadres blew up a Mine Protected Vehicle (MPV) in the Kistaram jungle area in the Sukma District of Chhattisgarh. The personnel belonging to the 212th battalion of the CRPF were conducting an area domination operation in the area when their vehicle was blown up.
According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least four major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities) initiated by the Maoists, have resulted in 27 SF fatalities in the current year so far (data till July 1, 2018). Since 2010, at least 81 such major incidents initiated by the Maoists have resulted in 76 civilians, 602 SF and 21 Maoists fatalities.
By comparison, in 12 such incidents initiated by SFs, a total of 83 Maoists have been killed (data till July 1, 2018). Since 2010, at least 125 such incidents have been initiated by SFs, resulting in 11 civilians, 12 SF and 674 Maoists fatalities.
Strikingly, most of the major SF successes have been followed by revenge attacks by the Maoists. For instance: in 2018, on May 29, 2018, a Special Police team killed three alleged Maoist cadres at Chandiya Dongari under Bortalav Police Station limits in Rajnandgaon District, Chhattisgarh. The Maoist loss was avenged in the June 26, 2018, attack, when the Maoists killed six Jharkhand Jaguar personnel. Earlier, SFs killed 48 Maoists (at least 40 Maoists were killed in the Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra in twin encounters on April 22-23, 2018; and at least eight Maoists were eliminated in the Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh on April 27, 2018); on May 20, 2018, the Maoists killed seven SF personnel and critically injured one in an IED blast triggered near Cholnar in Dantewada District of Chhattisgarh.
This pattern was confirmed through 2017. On June 18, 2017, three CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with SFs at Aundhi in the Rajnandgaon District of Chhattisgarh; on June 24, 2017, the rebels killed three SF personnel and injured another four in an encounter in the Sukma District of Chhattisgarh. On March 18, 2017, six Maoists, including a senior woman cadre, and two Policemen were killed in a gun-battle in forests of the restive Dantewada District in the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh; on April 24, 2017, the Left Wing Extremists (LWEs) responded by killing at least 25 CRPF personnel and injuring another six in an ambush at Kalapattar in the Burkapal area of the Sukma District of Chhattisgarh.
Major Fatality Incidents since 2010
Nevertheless, a cursory look at data on major attacks indicates that attacks initiated by the Maoists on SFs have been on the decline since 2010. The highest number of 18 major LWE initiated incidents was registered in 2010, according to the SATP database, in which 215 SF personnel were killed, in addition to 34 civilians and three Maoists, and at least another 36 persons were injured (including both civilians and SFs). A low of four such attacks has been registered in each year since 2016. In 2016 fatalities in these incidents included 27 SF personnel and three Maoists; in 2017, 48 SF personnel and two Maoists; and in 2018, 27 SF personnel.
On the other hand, the attacks initiated by SFs against the Maoists have followed a cyclical trend. The highest number of 23 major incidents against the Maoists was recorded in 2016, in which 118 Maoists were killed, while 11 civilians and 12 SF personnel lost their lives and another 50 persons sustained injuries (including both civilians and SF personnel). Just eight major SF initiated incidents were registered in 2015, with 35 Maoist fatalities.
Since 2010 a comparison of the major incidents initiated by SFs and by the Maoists shows that SFs secured a marginally positive SF:Maoist kill ratio of 1:1.11 across India. SFs also secured a positive SF:Maoist kill ratio of 1:1.53, for overall fatalities across all theatres during this period. There have been a total of 4,143 fatalities across the country since 2010, including 1,722 civilians, 954 SF personnel and 1,467 Maoists (data till July 1, 2018).
The intensity of the Maoist conflict has been followed a broadly declining trend and, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA), while 2,213 Naxalism-linked incidents were recorded in 2010, the number rose to 2,258 in 2009. Thereafter, 1,760 were killed in 2011; 1,415 in 2012; 1,136 in 2013, 1,091 in 2014; 1,089 in 2015; 1,048 in 2016; 908 in 2017; and 354 in 2018, up to May 15, 2018.
Speaking on the occasion of the Central Reserve Police Force’s (CRPFs) 79th Raising Day on March 24, 2018, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, thus stated:
Maoism has become a serious challenge... but because of the gallant and determined action of the CRPF and other Forces, these incidents have come down drastically. I can say that the LWE problem in the country has entered its last leg...
Unsurprisingly, the CPI-Maoist ‘central committee (CC)’, which met in February 2017 to review the progress of the ‘revolutionary movement’ in the country, had passed a resolution admitting that their movement was going through a ‘difficult’ stage all over the country.
Certainly the Maoists are losing their sway across the country, yet recurrent Maoist attacks suggest that they remain relentless in their efforts to regain lost ground, and this conflict is still far from over.
AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN
Border Headaches
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On June 24, 2018, a Pakistan Army soldier, identified as Sepoy Niaz Ali, was killed in an exchange of fire across the Pak-Afghan border in the North Waziristan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) [the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on May 31, 2018]. "We shall... complete the fencing undeterred," Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor vowed, as he tweeted news of the sepoy's death. He added that Afghanistan’s cooperation was required [for fencing of the border], and that this was in the mutual interest of both countries.
This was the second cross-border attack coming from Afghanistan in 10 days. On June 15, 2018, five terrorists and three Army soldiers were killed during action when militants from across the Pak-Afghan border attempted multiple raids on Pakistani posts in the Shawal area of the North Waziristan District. According to ISPR, SFs repulsed the attempts to overrun posts and inflict major damage. During exchange of fire, three Army soldiers Havaldar Iftikhar, resident of Sargodha (KP), Sepoy Aftab from Chitral (KP) and Sepoy Usman, resident of Gujarat (Punjab), were killed.
On June 3, 2018, SFs repulsed attacks from across the Pak-Afghan border, killing six militants in the Bajaur District of KP. ISPR disclosed that the attacks targeted border posts and border fencing parties. SF personnel had foiled seven infiltration attempts in the Bajaur area alone during the preceding 24 hours. An ISPR Press Release stated: "Four security personnel and a soldier of the Pakistan Air Force, deployed at an observation post, got injured during the exchange of fire… Taking advantage of ungoverned spaces and [with] facilitation [from] inside Afghanistan, terrorists are resorting to such attacks to prevent fencing and construction of border posts."
On May 13, 2018, at least six Army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer, were killed and another injured in a terrorist attack near the Afghan border in the Shawal Valley area of North Waziristan Agency. Security officials stated that members of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) were clearing a road near the Afghan border for SFs, when a group of terrorists from Afghanistan's Paktika Province ambushed them. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
On April 26, 2018, three militants and one soldier were killed during an exchange of fire along the Pak-Afghan border in the Mohmand Agency of KP. The deceased soldier was identified as Sepoy Farman Ullah (21).
On April 15, 2018, at least five Frontier Corps (FC) personnel deployed on the Pak-Afghan border were killed, and another five injured in an attack from across the border, at a border post in the Laka Tika area of the Kurram Agency in KP. ISPR stated that FC troops were fired upon from the Khost Province of Afghanistan while they were busy in "routine surveillance along Pak-Afghan border for plugging of gaps and making necessary preparations for starting fencing in that area."
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), there had been seven incident of cross-border attacks in which 16 SF personnel and 14 militants have been killed thus far in the current year (data till July 1, 2018). The whole of 2017 had recorded 16 cross-border attacks in which 35 militants, 15 SF personnel and 11 civilian were killed.
In a series of tweets posted on his official account, ISPR Director General (DG) Major General Asif Ghafoor disclosed, on November 13, 2017, that there had been an increasing trend of cross-border terrorist attacks on Pakistani posts from Afghanistan. Almost 308 terrorist attacks had taken place in 2017, the highest number since 2012, when 324 attacks were reported. On an average there have been 248 attacks every year since 2012. About 29 soldiers were killed in the attacks over the preceding six years.
Pakistan’s unilateral fencing and construction of new observation posts on the long border with Afghanistan is a bone of contention between the two countries, as well as with the militants who have been crossing over the border at will. Afghanistan contends that the installation of a physical barrier would make this border permanent. In September 2005, Pakistan had announced for the first time that it had plans to build a 2,611-kilometre fence (1,230km in KP and 1,381km in Balochistan) along its border with Afghanistan to check armed militants and drug smugglers moving between the two countries.
The conflict over the legitimacy of the Durand Line – the border imposed by Imperial Britain – between Pakistan and Afghanistan is more than a century old. The Durand Line, named after British diplomat Mortimer Durand, was drawn in 1893 as the international border between British India and Afghanistan in an agreement with Afghan ruler Abdur Rahman Khan. No Afghan Government has accepted the border since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, on the grounds that the agreement with the British lapsed after their withdrawal from their Indian empire, and because it divides the Pashtun ethnic homeland and tribal communities living on both side of the border. These tribal populations are accustomed to moving back and forth freely and, in some cases, own land on both sides of the border.
Pakistani plans for mining and fencing the border were renewed on December 26, 2006, but were again opposed by the Afghanistan Government. The South Waziristan Agency of FATA saw a border skirmish in April 2007. Pakistani SFs operating in South Waziristan made a three-tier security deployment on April 11, 2007, to stop cross-border infiltration by militants into Afghanistan. Pakistan fenced 12-kilometers of its border stretch with Afghanistan to ‘choke off’ cross-border infiltration, but Afghan troops tore down the fence on April 19, leading to a gun-battle, though there were no casualties.
Despite Afghanistan’s opposition Pakistan later started excavation work on a several-hundred-kilometer-long trench along the Balochistan border in April 2013. After about three years of constant efforts, an 1,100 kilometer trench in Balochistan along the Afghan border was completed on June 20, 2016. The 11-foot-deep, 14-foot-wide ditch on the entire stretch of the border was excavated under the supervision of FC at a cost of PKR 14 billion.
After the border skirmish with the Afghan Army on May 5, 2017, the Pakistan Army initiated work on constructing fence along the 2,611-kilometre long border between Pakistan and Afghanistan on June 20, 2017, with an anticipated budget of PKR 56 billion (USD 505 million). According to ISPR, the process of phased fencing on the Pak-Afghan border has commenced on the directions of the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. In Phase 1, high infiltration-prone border areas in the Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber agencies of FATA are being fenced. In Phase 2, fencing of the remaining border areas, including Balochistan, is to be executed. Besides fencing, the Pakistan Army and FC are constructing new forts/border posts to improve surveillance and defensibility.
To demonstrate the progress on the Pak-Afghan border fencing, ISPR arranged a trip for journalists from the national print media to Miramshah Valley on February 9, 2018. A senior Army officer at Miramshah Divisional Headquarters told the reporters that fencing on 830 kilometres of the 1,229 kilometers-long Pak-Afghan border covering the Chitral and FATA region would be completed by December 2019. Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of vehicles are deployed at 14 different sites on a daily basis to undertake the task of fencing from Chitral to South Waziristan, putting in 7,000 man-hours for the installation of pre-fabricated material. The first phase of the project, which will see the fencing of 432 kilometres of the most critical points along the border, is slated to be completed by the end of 2018. The second phase, called “desirable”, would see the fencing of another stretch of 400 kilometres. The entire project was set to be completed in the next two years.
As part of the project, construction of 150 of the 443 planned forts, some on mountaintops as high as 12,000 feet, had been completed. Another 750 forts with an inter-fort distance of 1.5 to 3 kilometers are under construction or at a planning stage. Meanwhile, according to February 10, 2018, report, at least 1,100 border posts have also been established.
Despite the Pakistan Army’s claim of strengthen border management along the Pak-Afghan border, cross-border attacks on border check-posts have occurred at regular intervals and resultant in the death of SFs. In the meanwhile, the border’s porosity facilitates the movement into Afghanistan of Pakistan-backed terrorists of the Taliban and Haqqani network, among others, and this flow has not diminished in any measure. The border fencing is evidently intended to legitimize contentious borders. Controlling cross-border infiltration appears to be little more than a pretext.
AFGHANISTAN
US Senate approves Lieutenant General Austin S. Miller to serve as Commander of Foreign Forces in Afghanistan: Lieutenant General Austin S. Miller was approved by the United States (US) Senate to serves as Commander of Foreign Forces in Afghanistan. General Miller will replace outgoing North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and US Forces Commander General Nicholson in Afghanistan. Miller said that Foreign Forces mission in Afghanistan was to eliminate terrorist groups and secure the families of coalition partners. Pajhwok, June 30, 2018.
Willing to talk peace with Taliban anywhere, says President Ashraf Ghani: President Ashraf Ghani said that he is willing to talk peace with the Taliban anywhere they wanted and accept their legitimate demands. Meanwhile, the 10-day ceasefire announced by the Government with Taliban militant outfit ended on June 29. No official comment has been made one extension of truce. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Government Forces will resume their military operations against militants in Afghanistan if President Ashraf Ghani does not extend the ceasefire. Pajhwok, Tolonews, June 30, 2018.
“Before recent cease-fire began, Operation Iron Tempest, had destroyed 154 Taliban targets”, states Brigadier General Lance Bunch:Brigadier General Lance Bunch, and Vice Commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Afghanistan, United States (US) Forces Central Command stated that “Before the recent cease-fire began, Operation Iron Tempest, the name of our air campaign, had destroyed 154 Taliban targets. The Afghan Air Force also participated by conducting 19 strikes against Taliban revenue targets with their A-29 attack aircraft. The targets destroyed included narcotics production, storage and trafficking locations, weapons and explosive caches, headquarters and staging areas”. Khaama Press, June 30, 2018.
IEC announces the initial list of candidates for Afghanistan Parliamentary Elections: Independent Election Commission (IEC) on June 30 announced the initial list of candidates for Afghanistan Parliamentary Elections. IEC statistics show that 2,691 have filed nomination papers across Afghanistan to run for the parliament. Of those registered, 404 are female applicants. According to IEC, so far more than 7.3 million people have registered to vote in the upcoming elections. Tolonews, June 30, 2018.
Confirmed 3,179 verified cases of children killed and maimed in 2017 reports UN: A United Nations (UN) report confirmed 3,179 verified cases of children killed and maimed in 2017. The number of verified cases represents a 10 percent decrease in verified cases compared to 2016, casualty rates remain very high. The UN states that it has verified the recruitment and use of 84 boys and documented an additional 643 cases (all boys). Children were recruited and used for combat, as bodyguards, at checkpoints, to assist in intelligence gathering and to plant improvised explosive devices. When recruited by armed groups, children were also used to carry out suicide attacks, the report says. Tolonews, June 30, 2018.
BANGLADESH
PBCP cadres has started again their evil deeds in Khulna region, say sources: Sources said Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) cadres has started again their evil deeds including realization of extortion, killing and grabbing lands in Khulna region by giving threat over cell phones. They have changed their styles of realization of extortion. Over phones, the leaders of the party send their representatives to the persons whom are targeted by them and ask to give extortion in the name of expenses for eating sweetmeats and other necessaries. The PBCP leaders are divided into different parts, they hide themselves from the society and common people are unknown about their hidden den. The New Nation, June 27, 2018.
INDIA
Seven jawans killed in Maoist-triggered blasts in Jharkhand: Seven jawans of the Jharkhand Jaguar (JJ) force were reportedly killed and four injured, when the cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) carried out a landmine blast and opened fire on the security personnel in Chinjo area under the Bargarh Police Station limits in Garhwa District of Jharkhand late on June 26. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Vipul Shukla said, the Police were conducting an anti-Maoists’ offensive during the time of the incident after they received information about the presence of some Maoists in the area. Firstpost, June 27, 2018.
HM, JeM recruited, used children during clashes in Jammu and Kashmir, says UN report: According to a United Nations (UN) report on June 28, Pakistan-based banned terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) recruited and used children in Jammu and Kashmir during clashes with Security Forces (SFs) in 2017. The annual report of the UN Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict, covering the January-December 2017 period, said globally, over 10,000 children were killed or maimed in conflict last year (2017) while more than 8,000 were recruited or used as combatants. Daily Excelsior, June 29, 2018.
11 people missing from Kerala feared to have joined Islamic State, says report: Eleven people from two families reported as missing from Dubai (UAE), however, Police and relatives feared that they might have joined the Islamic State (IS). All eleven persons are resident of Kasaragod town in Kerala. The Kasaragod town Police has registered two separate cases and started the investigation. New Indian Express, June 27, 2018.
Hafiz Saeed hails stone-pelters, calls it a 'beginning of new era' in Kashmir, says report: The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) ‘chief’ Hafiz Saeed called for the ‘independence of Kashmir’ and claimed that the local Kashmiris are ‘dying’ to unite Kashmir with Pakistan. "A new era has begun and with God's wishes Kashmir will be an independent state, there has been a lot of bloodshed in Kashmir, and God almighty is watching, he will deliver his verdict, because all the decisions come from the Heaven and not from Washington. The decisions of that come from the heaven get cemented on the world and Kashmir will be freed," Hafiz said while addressing a gathering in Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium in Pakistan, according to report. Times of India, June 26, 2018.
MALDIVES
Former President Nasheed gave up his Presidential ticket, says report: Former President Mohamed Nasheed has relinquished the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) Presidential ticket and cited concern that the main opposition party would be left without a candidate in upcoming Presidential elections in September 2018. “In light of the fact that @ElectionsMv [Election Commission] have written to MDP saying that I can’t contest in the upcoming Presidential Elections, I have decided to relinquish my Presidential ticket. I hope to do this at MDP’s 3rd Congress. The EC’s decision is illegal and they must be sanctioned,” tweet from Mohamed Nasheed from his twitter handle @MohamedNasheed. Maldives Independent, July 1, 2018.
Political Development in the Maldives is a matter of concern for India, says India’s MEA: Expressing the disappointment over the Political developments in the neighbouring country—the Maldives, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on June 28 released a statement that the Political scenario in the Maldives is the matter of concern for India. However, India welcomed the lifting of the State of Emergency (SoE) and has also called upon the Maldives government to ensure early resumption of the political process. It also urged the Maldivian government to allow the democratic institutions, including the judiciary, to function in a fair and transparent manner. Indian Express, June 30, 2018. 
NEPAL
Conflict victims reject draft amendment to TRC and CIEDP: Conflict victims at an interaction held on June 29 at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) have rejected the draft amendment to transitional justice act that addressed none of their demands. The Cabinet on June 28 decided to table the first amendment bill on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP). The Himalayan Times , June 30, 2018.
All 110 new laws to be enacted to ensure constitution implementation by September, says Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang: Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang at a press conference on June 26 said the Parliament would endorse all the 110 new laws to be enacted to ensure constitution implementation by September. He said “There are 110 laws that need to be enacted to ensure constitution implementation. Of them, 37 are yet to be drafted. Some of the issues will also be addressed by the Civil and Criminal Code that comes into force on August 17. We have already issued theoretical approval to draft the laws to ministries, and the law ministry is continuously following up the issue with other ministries.” The Himalayan Times , June 27, 2018.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan needs to do more on Taliban, says United States: The United States (US) said on June 30 that the Taliban’s failure to engage in talks to end Afghanistan’s nearly 17-year conflict was ‘unacceptable’ and called on Pakistan to exert more pressure on the militants. US envoy Alice Wells made the remarks during a visit to Kabul on June 30, two weeks after an unprecedented ceasefire triggered spontaneous street celebrations involving Taliban militants and Security Forces (SFs). “Pakistan has an important role to play… but we have not yet seen that sustained and decisive action on the part of Islamabad,” Alice Wells said. “It’s going to be very hard for us to achieve our objectives… if Pakistan isn’t working with us.” The Express Tribune, July 2, 2018.
US urging Pakistan 'more strongly' to stop protecting terrorists, says US envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley: The United States (US) envoy to the United Nations (UN) Nikki Haley, said on June 28 that her country is urging Pakistan more strongly not to give safe haven to terrorists She said Pakistan has been cooperating with the US, but Washington cannot accept any Government protecting terrorists. “We are communicating this message to Pakistan more strongly than in the past and we hope to see changes,” Haley told members of the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank. Dawn, June 29, 2018.
TTP denies their involvement in former PM Benazir Bhutto's assassination: Ikramullah, one of Pakistan's most-wanted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and named as the second suicide bomber of a cell that assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 has appeared in a Taliban video denying his involvement. Bhutto (54), was assassinated in a bomb-and-gun attack on her car in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, as she left an election rally. Times of India, June 28, 2018. 
SRI LANKA
Government gazettes Reparations Office Bill: The Bill to provide for the establishment of the Office for Reparations has been gazetted by the Government. The Bill, published under the orders of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be presented in Parliament for the First Reading shortly. The Bill provides for the provision of individual and collective reparations for aggrieved persons. Daily News, June 29, 2018.
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