Subject: South Asia Daily: Pakistan Expands Military Operation; Modi Wants Governors to Resign; Afghan Police Kill Taliban Who Cut Off Voters' Fingers
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Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 08:56:16 -0400 (EDT)

Pakistan Expands Military Operation; Modi Wants Governors to Resign; Afghan Police Kill Taliban Who Cut Off Voters' Fingers

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Pakistan Expands Military Operation; Modi Wants Governors to Resign; Afghan Police Kill Taliban Who Cut Off Voters' Fingers

Pakistan Expands Military Operation; Modi Wants Governors to Resign; Afghan Police Kill Taliban Who Cut Off Voters' Fingers

 <p>  <i>Event notice: "From Conflict to Security: A Regional  Overview of Community Conversations with Women in Afghanistan, Pakistan and  India," Wednesday, 10:30 a.m., U.S. Institute of Peace.</i>  </p><br><p>  <b>Pakistan</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>Military operation  expands</i>  </p><br><p>  Pakistan's government rallied support for a sustained  assault on militants in the tribal areas on Tuesday as the military expanded  its current operations into the biggest campaign against the Pakistani Taliban  in at least five years (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATUjA6e66 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Post</a>,  <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATUpA3f9c style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">NYT</a>).&nbsp; Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who  authorized the operation amid growing concerns that militants pose an  existential threat to the country, addressed the National Assembly on Monday  night to gain the support, saying: "The army is fighting to protect the  sovereignty of the motherland."   </p><br><p>  The military operation -- code-named Zarb-e-Azb, after a  sword used by the prophet Muhammad in an ancient battle --&nbsp;began Sunday  with airstrikes that killed the alleged mastermind of the Karachi airport attack,&nbsp;officials  said (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATUuAeecb style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">ET</a>).&nbsp;Fighter  jets continued to bomb terrorist havens in North Waziristan on Monday and the  army has shifted manpower into major cities to try to guard against retaliatory  attacks (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATUzAddd9 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Dawn</a>).  The army said at least 170 militants have been killed in the offensive so far  and at least six soldiers have died, but since there is no independent media  access to the area, the casualty counts have not been verified. Six terrorist  hideouts, including a training camp and an bomb-making factory, were destroyed  by the airstrikes early Tuesday morning.   </p><br><p>  <i>Pakistan and  Afghanistan discuss security</i>  </p><br><p>  Sharif and Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed regional  security over the phone on Monday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATU4A87af style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">BBC</a>).&nbsp; Pakistan has asked Afghanistan to help seal  the border between the two countries to prevent militants from escaping into  Afghanistan amid the air strikes. The porous border between the two countries  has long served as a safe-haven for militants from both countries.   </p><br><p>  <i>-- Emily Schneider</i>  </p><br><p>  <b>India</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>Modi government wants UPA governors to resign</i>  </p><br><p>  Uttar Pradesh Governor B. L. Joshi and Karnataka's H. R.  Bhardwaj have tendered their resignations on Tuesday amid reports that Prime  Minister Narendra Modi's government wants to replace governors appointed during  the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) tenure (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATU9Acc2c style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Indian  Express</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVCA1312 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Business  Standard</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVHA7f48 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">NDTV</a>).  It has been reported that the Modi government is considering replacing at least  six other governors before their terms are over. The government has decided  that governors with more than two years left in office should quit, while  governors who have a few months left can retire when their term expires.  "These [UPA] governors should have themselves quit. All of these people  are appointed because they sat in Sonia Gandhi's durbar [court] and  propositioned her. There is no question of any of them coming in on  merit," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy said on  Tuesday.  </p><br><p>  The Modi government is expected to ask President Pranab  Mukherjee to tell the governors from Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya  Pradesh, West Bengal, and Punjab, among others, to put in their papers.  Congress reacted to the resignations as an abuse of power. "Why are they  worried about changing governors?" said the party's P.C. Chacko. In 2004,  the UPA government had asked BJP governors to resign before their term was over.  The Supreme Court at that time had ruled that governors cannot be removed in an  arbitrary manner.  </p><br><p>  <i>PMO puts private secretary appointments on hold</i>  </p><br><p>  The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has struck down the  proposals made by some of its ministers for the appointment of their private  secretaries (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVMAb18c style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Indian  Express</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVRA0dae style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">IBNLive</a>,  <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVWA6f5a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">DNA</a>).  According to news reports, the PMO has yet to decide whether to retain personal  secretaries and officers on special duty who worked for ministers in the  previous Congress-led government. This decision is likely to impact at least  eight ministers including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Human Resource  Development Minister Smriti Irani.  </p><br><p>  A circular dated May 26, issued by the Department of  Personnel and Training, was sent to all secretaries and clearly stated that  appointments in the minister's personal staff, including private secretaries  and officers on special duty, should be cleared by the Appointments Committee  of Cabinet. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday  questioned the decision to place secretary appointments on hold and tweeted: "A  strong PMO is one thing but if a minister can't be trusted to choose a private  secretary how can he/she be trusted to run a ministry?" (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVbA474a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Economic  Times</a>).  </p><br><p>  <i>Indian government in touch with 46 nurses trapped in Iraq  hospital</i>  </p><br><p>  The central government is in contact with 46 Indian nurses  who are stranded in a hospital in Tikrit, an Iraqi city under militant control,  Syed Akbaruddin, external affairs spokesperson said on Tuesday (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVgA0ded style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">BBC</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVlAf9b0 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Hindustan  Times</a>, <a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVqA191e style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">The  Hindu</a>). The Indian government requested an International Red Crescent team  to contact the nurses stranded in the Tikrit hospital and report on their  condition. Akbaruddin said: "At least 46 Indian nurses are in a hospital  in Tikrit. Of these, the overwhelming majority would prefer to stay back as  they have indicated this to our mission there." The Indian embassy is also  in contact with the Iraqi government and the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq  (UNAMI) to ensure the safety of all Indians stranded in the violence-affected  areas in Iraq.   </p><br><p>  Most of the stranded nurses are from the southern state of  Kerala (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATVvA709b style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">IBNLive</a>).  The Kerala Nurses Association has appealed to the central and state governments  to intervene and ensure emergency evacuation of the stranded nurses. According  to <i>CNN-IBN</i>, one nurse in the hospital said: "Shelling and bombing is  going on outside the hospital, we are thankful to the Indian Embassy. We got  Internet and phone call recharges today. We are in constant touch with the  ambassador Ajay Kumar." ISIS, a heavily armed jihadist group,&nbsp;has  seized Tikrit among other cities and towns in violent attacks that have  occurred in Iraq since last week.  </p><br><p>  <i>-- Neeli Shah and Jameel Khan</i>  </p><br><p>  <b>Afghanistan</b>  </p><br><p>  <i>Police kill Taliban  insurgents who cut off voters' fingers</i>  </p><br><p>  On Tuesday, Afghan police found the Taliban insurgents who  cut off the fingers of 11 elderly men who voted in the presidential run-off  over the weekend (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATV0A7a96 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">AFP</a>).  The police killed two of the insurgents in the operation and captured one  other, but two insurgents were able to escape. The two men who were killed in  the operation were accused of cutting off the ink-dyed fingers of the 11 voters  - an act that Jan Kubis, head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, described as  "abhorrent." All voters in Afghanistan had their fingers marked with ink after  voting to prevent them from casting more than one ballot, but the Taliban also  used the ink to identify those who participated in the election in defiance of  their threats.   </p><br><p>  <i>Abdullah Alleges  Voting Fraud by Karzai</i>  </p><br><p>  Abdullah Abdullah's campaign team claimed on Monday that  there had been widespread ballot stuffing, orchestrated by President Hamid  Karzai, in the run-off election (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATV5A8817 style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">NYT</a>).  A senior campaign official for the  former foreign minister told the <i>New York  Times</i> that the candidate believes Karzai and his advisers stuffed ballots  to either install the other candidate, Ashraf Ghani, or to create a  postelection crisis that would allow Karzai to extend his own term in office.   </p><br><p>  Abdullah has suggested widespread fraud occurred in his  public statements as well, although he has not directly accused Karzai or other  officials (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATV-Adf9e style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">Reuters</a>).  Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Abdullah questioned initial reports that  more than seven million Afghans had voted -- his campaign believes five million  is a more accurate figure (<a href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c71mvpo.15nw/U6A6YsPozKlbATWDAb46b style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414" target="blank">WSJ</a>).&nbsp; He also said that his campaign staff witnessed  ballot stuffing in Kabul and elsewhere in favor of Ghani. The allegations by  the Abdullah campaign add to concerns that Afghanistan is headed towards a  political showdown at a crucial moment of transition for the country.   </p><br><p>  <i>-- Emily Schneider</i>  </p><br><p>  <i>Edited by Peter Bergen</i>  </p><br> 

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