INDIA: 2009 COUNTRY REPORTS ON TERRORISM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 002541

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

S/CT: RHONDA SHORE, NCTC WASHINGTON DC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PK IN ASEC
SUBJECT: INDIA: 2009 COUNTRY REPORTS ON TERRORISM

REF: STATE 109980

1.(SBU) The following is Mission India's submission for the
2009 Country Reports on Terrorism. Begin Text:

India remained one of the world's most terror-afflicted
countries with over 1,000 deaths attributed to terrorist
attacks in 2009, primarily in Kashmir, the Northeast, and the
Maoist affected "Red Corridor." Although there were no
large-scale assaults similar to the November 26, 2008 attacks
in Mumbai (known as "26/11"),senior government officials
warned that India remained vulnerable on the basis of the
volume of credible threats the government continued to
receive.

Some illustrative events:

--On January 1, the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA)
detonated several bombs in Guwahati, Assam, killing five
people and injuring 50.

--On February 1, Maoists killed and mutilated the bodies of
15 police officers in Maharashtra's eastern district of
Gadchiroli, looting guns and ammunition.

--On May 3, state police arrested approximately 20
sympathizers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE)
for attacking an army camp in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

--On June 4, police arrested Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT)
operative Mohammad Omar Madini in New Delhi.

--On August 7, police arrested two suspected
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists in New Delhi ahead of
Independence Day celebrations.

--On October 7, Maoists beheaded Police Inspector Francis
Induwar near Ranchi, Jharkhand, after the Indian Government
refused to respond to demand for the release of three jailed
leaders.

--On October 8, Maoists ambushed a police patrol in
Maharashtra killing 17 police.

--On December 2, Maoists in West Bengal beheaded school
teacher Satya Kinkar Hansda following his earlier abduction.

India continued to face persistent and significant external
threats from groups including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT),
Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami-Bangladesh.
Although India received terrorist threats throughout the
year, the government and media reported significant increases
in threat information over holidays and during elections.
During the five week period of the national parliamentary
elections, security concerns prompted the Indian Premier
League of cricket to switch to a South African venue.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir, historically victim to the
largest number of foreign terrorist attacks, saw casualties
decline significantly from previous years. The Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA) reported that 71 civilians and 52 members
of the security forces were killed in terror-related violence
in the state through November. Home Minister P. Chidambaram
reported to Parliament in December that 700 foreign
insurgents were active in the state, down from 800 earlier in
the year.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament that
Maoists/Naxalites (left-wing) insurgent groups represented
the most significant threat to domestic security, accounting
for 1,906 incidents of violence and 911 fatalities during the
year. According to Home Minister Chidambaram, groups
affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) had
pockets of influence in 20 states, but were primarily active
in 223 districts across eight states known as the "Red
Corridor", comprised of West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and
Karnataka. Maoists conducted numerous attacks against police
and local government officials and bombed railways, killing
civilians and disrupting services. No American citizens were
victims of Maoist-related terrorism during the year. Foreign
companies were reportedly targeted for extortion. In June,
the central government banned Maoist groups under the

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Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 1967. Chief Ministers
from the most heavily Maoist-affected states agreed to
cooperate with the MHA to launch joint operations along
inter-state borders. MHA established counter-insurgency
schools for police officials in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Orissa, and Jharkhand. The central government deployed
additional security forces in Chhattisgarh and Orissa, and
announced plans to deploy to eight additional states by 2011.

Ethno-nationalist insurgent groups remained active,
particularly in the Northeast. The ULFA, an internal
terrorist group banned by India in 1990, continued a campaign
of bombings in Assam state resulting in 27 fatalities this
year. On December 2, security forces arrested ULFA Chairman
Arabinda Rajkhowa on the Tripura-Bangladesh border. The
Assam state government offered talks and free passage to ULFA
leaders in a bid to make peace with the group. Home Minister
Chidambaram reported to Parliament that the central
government would agree to hold talks with the ULFA if the
group "abjured violence."

Parliamentary elections in April and May returned the ruling
Congress Party-led coalition government to power despite
criticism that security and intelligence lapses failed to
prevent the 26/11 attacks. The new government instituted
several reforms designed to augment its existing security
structures and to develop new capabilities. The MHA
instituted regular meetings to improve communication among
security agencies at the central and state levels, and
assigned senior officers to review anti-terror and
anti-Maoist operations. The government implemented tighter
immigration controls, and in some areas it also implemented
more effective border management through fencing and flood
lighting, as well as a coastal security project that began
issuing identity cards to villagers in some coastal areas.
The MHA instituted a mega-city police training program and,
in coordination with the Ministry of Defense (MOD),
established assistance programs to train state police. The
MHA increased resources for the National Security Guard
(NSG),India's first responder paramilitary force, and
established NSG hubs in Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and
Mumbai. It also reorganized the Multi-Agency Centers (MACs),
tasked with collecting real-time intelligence and
coordinating among agencies, and began establishing
subsidiary MACs in state capitals. The new National
Investigation Agency created in the wake of the 26/11 attacks
registered several cases in 2009, including one against David
Headley, the alleged Lashkar-e-Tayyiba operative arrested in
Chicago by the FBI. The trial of Ajmal Kasab, the alleged
loan surviving gunman involved in the 26/11 attack, continued
in Mumbai.

Amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)
came into force in June, furthering India's ability to combat
the financing of terrorism. Indian officials participated in
the South Asian Regional Conference for Countering Terrorist
Financing in the Charitable Sector in April. The
Asia/Pacific Group (APG) and the Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) conducted a joint mutual evaluation in December to
evaluate India's compliance with global anti-money laundering
and counter-terror finance standards in the context of
India's candidacy for FATF membership. In December, India's
Narcotics Control Bureau arrested Naresh Kumar Jain,
allegedly a significant underground banker, as part of an
operation to close a global network of illegal money
transfers. India had only one prosecutor assigned to money
laundering cases, and has pursued only seven cases for money
laundering and none for terror finance.

In the wake of the 26/11 attack, the government increased its
bilateral and multilateral cooperation with foreign
governments on counterterrorism. India continued to lead the
effort in the United Nations to finalize the Comprehensive
Convention against International Terrorism. Senior Indian
government officials, including the Home Minister, visited
the United States to advance bilateral counterterrorism
cooperation, culminating in the conclusion of the U.S.-India
Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative during Prime Minister
Singh's official state visit in November.

ROEMER