Pakistan:
CNN: A police officer guarding polio workers in northern Pakistan has been killed. “Two women administering the shots entered a house on the outskirts of Mardan when two assailants on a motorbike opened fire of them, according to Danishwar Khan, a local police official. The women were not injured.
Attacks like these have become a frequent occurrence in some parts of Pakistan and have left 10 workers dead.”
Dawn: Pakistan’s ambassador to the US has said that Pakistan is bracing itself for the US withdrawal in 2014. “’If there’s no negotiated resolution of the Afghan crisis, there will be terrible consequences and Pakistan will be the worst hit,’ she said.
The US plans to end its combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and is encouraging the Afghan government to engage the Taliban militants for a peaceful end to the conflict. The Taliban, however, appear reluctant to work with Kabul.
In a policy speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, Ambassador Rehman assured the audience that Pakistan no longer saw Afghanistan as its strategic backyard and the military was also supporting this policy shift.”
Analysis: Jeffrey Stern writing for the Atlantic: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is more of a threat to Pakistan than the Taliban. “They are Sunnis whose agenda is not much more nuanced than killing Shias. Though South Asia is a region rife with internecine conflict, with factions who have fought each other for all of recent history over land and religion, these attacks are unique. Even in a region violence visits far too often, what’s happening now is singular, and it’s getting worse.
First it was snipers picking off civilians, then LEJ members began stopping busses, shooting Shia passengers and leaving their bodies on the roadsides. Now, LEJ is using massive bombs in places frequented by Shia civilians: social clubs, computer cafes, markets and schools. About 1,300 people have been killed in these attacks since 1999, according to a website dedicated to raising awareness about them. More than 200 have been killed so far this year.”
Afghanistan:
Dawn: The military coalition in Afghanistan has incorrectly reported a decline in Taliban attacks last year. “The corrected numbers — from the original reports of a 7 per cent decline to one of no change — could undercut the narrative promoted by the international coalition and the Obama administration of an insurgency in steep decline.
A coalition spokesman, Jamie Graybeal, attributed the miscounting to clerical errors and said the problem does not change officials’ basic assessment of the war.
The 7 per cent figure had been included in a report posted on the coalition’s website in late January as part of its monthly update on trends in security and violence. It was removed from the website recently without explanation. After the AP asked last week about the missing report, officials said they were correcting the data and would re-publish the report in coming days.”
Los Angeles Times: Seven people have been wounded during a suicide attack on a military transport vehicle near Kabul, one of whom was a civilian. “As snow fell over the region, the bomber struck while soldiers were boarding an Afghan Defense Ministry bus in the Pul-e-Sokhta area of Kabul shortly after 7 a.m. The wounded were being treated at a hospital and are in stable condition, according to a statement from Kabul’s police chief.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in text messages to reporters.”
Opinion: Brahma Chellaney writing for the Japan Times: The partition of Afghanistan may be inevitable. “A weak, partitioned Afghanistan may not be the best outcome. Yet it will be far better than an Afghanistan that dissolves into chaos and bloodletting. And infinitely better than one in which the medieval Taliban returns to power and begins a fresh pogrom. Indeed, it may be the only way to thwart transnational terrorists from rebuilding a base of operations there and to prevent the country from sliding into a large-scale civil war.
In this scenario, Pakistani generals, instead of continuing to sponsor Afghan Pashtun militant groups like the Taliban and the Haqqani network, will be compelled to fend off a potential threat to Pakistan’s unity.”
India:
The Times of India: In a crucial lead in the investigations of the Hyderabad blasts, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found that an Indian Mujahideen (IM) terror cell is linked with a terror cell of Lashkar-e-Taiba, with the latter helping the Indian Mujahideen conduct reconnaissance of Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad, where twin blasts claimed 16 lives last Thursday.
“Investigations have found that Obaidur Rehman from the Bangalore-Hubli-Nanded module helped IM’s Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan conduct reconnaissance of Dilsukhnagar and Begum Bazaar last July. A resident of Hyderabad, Rehman was arrested in September, 2012, barely two months after he helped Maqbool conduct the reconnaissance in Dilsukhnagar, by Bangalore Police as part of LeT terror module that had procured weapons and was planning to assassinate certain right-wing figures in Karnataka. Maqbool and Imran were arrested a month later in October by Delhi Police in connection with the August 1, 2012 Pune blasts. ”
IBNLive: Terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad has allegedly threatened to blow up major railway stations and places of religious and tourist interest in the northern state of Uttarakhand in retaliation to the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, a senior police official has said.
“The letter written purportedly by the Karachi based area commander of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad contains a threat to blow up Dehradun, Haridwar and Kath Godam rail junctions near Nainital and prominent places of religious and tourist interest like Har Ki Pauri in the holy city, Haridwar SSP Arun Mohan Joshi told PTI. ‘Though the authenticity of the threat and the origin of the letter is being examined, we are not taking any chances and have alerted the highest authorities in places mentioned in the letter’, he said.”
Daily News and Analysis: Strengthening policing from the grass root level, enacting tough laws and speedy trial of cases would “go a long way” in preventing and controlling terror attacks in the country, Indian experts have claimed.
“Stating that the twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad last week were not a simple matter but a proxy war, former CBI director K Vijayarama Rao laid emphasis on prevention of such attacks by strengthening local policing and intelligence gathering mechanism.
The terror attacks are often carried out with the help of some local elements, he said. ‘Only certain cities in the country are often chosen as targets,’ he said, adding that efforts should be made to reduce the number of such targets, followed by the number of localities in a city like Hyderabad that are on the hit-list of terrorists. Speedy investigation, hot pursuit of perpetrators of terrorists and expeditious trial of cases post any attack would act as a deterrent to the perpetrators, he said.”
Bangladesh:
The Daily Star: Bangladesh’s Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir has confirmed the existence of some suicide squad members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Bangladesh.
“’We have already brought the LeT members under our watch based on the information and with the cooperation of people,’ the minister said. He was talking to journalists after inaugurating a detective training school in the capital’s Rajarbagh Police Lines in the morning. The minister said the members of the Pakistan based militant organisation undoubtedly did not believe in the independence of Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh News 24 Hours: Protesters from the Shahbagh Movement have alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami is spreading confusion by running propaganda campaigns relating religion to the ongoing Shahbagh Movement, which is demanding death to all convicted war criminals.
“The spokesperson for the Mancha, Imran H Sarker, at a press briefing at Shahbagh urged everyone to raise their voice against the Jamaat propagandas…Programmes were also announced saying the protesters were degrading the religion. The demonstrators say Jamaat had organised these programmes.
Sarker said, ‘The battle is not against any religion, but against those who opposed independence and their organisations Jamaat and Shibir.’ He said attempts to brand the protesters as the anti-Islam were being carried out to thwart the trials of the war criminals.”
Nepal:
Himalayan Times: A moment of panic gripped the general public early this morning after powerful pressure cooker bombs were found in four different cities of Dhangadi, Biratnagar, Butwal and Nepalgunj, police said. They were reportedly planted by the CPN-Maoist (Revolutionary).
Pamphlets of the CPN-Maoist (Revolutionary) were found at the incident sites. Three pages long pamphlet undersigned by CPN-Maoist (Revolutionary) Chairperson Janapad was found nearby the site, said the Area Police Office, Kohalpur.
The pamphlets read that the people’s war has been gaining momentum and people should be ready give continuation to establish the peoples’ democratic state permanently. It urged the people of the country to unite in destroying the agents of capitalists and feudalists.
The CPN-Maoist (Revolutionary) pamphlet also vowed to destroy the parliamentary democratic system in the country for once and for all. Investigation into the incident is under way, police said.
Sri Lanka:
Colombo Page: Secretary of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information Charitha Herath said Monday’s attack on the Media Ministry website as an act of ‘cyber terrorism’ by LTTE remnants living overseas.
“We see this as an act of cyber terrorism,” Herath said. The hacker took down the website completely and uploaded a deface over the website that read “We Pakistanis are with Everyone! All We Want Is Justice! Justice Everywhere!”
The director told state-run media that the timing of attacks on government websites is significant as the country is preparing to defend itself against the pro-LTTE forces at the UN Human Rights Council sessions that are currently underway.
“They (LTTE) operate on various fronts, this is (cyber) just one of them,” he told the media.
Asian Tribune: Sri Lankan security forces have been using rape and other forms of sexual violence to torture suspected members or supporters of the LTTE even after the end of the civil war in 2009, a prominent rights group in London alleged on Tuesday.
A report released by Human Rights Watch also accused the British government of continuing to deport failed asylum seekers back to the country despite mounting evidence that they face the risk of being raped and tortured on their return, nearly four years after the end of civil war.