ConflictBarometer_2015

ASIA AND OCEANIA
with the government. The same day, NSCN-KK's ceasefire was
extended by one year. The NSCN-IM signed a peace accord
after two decades of fighting on August 3. NSCN-K, NNC and
NNC-NA jointly spoke out against the agreement in a statement
issued on September 9 [→ India (inter-factional rivalry /
Nagaland)]. The interlocutor of the August 3 agreement held
a meeting with NSCN-KK and NNC leaders on December 7 to
elaborate on the chances of a comprehensive peace accord.
On March 27, the government extended the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act (AFSPA), granting military personnel
amnesty from judicial prosecution, to another nine districts
of Arunachal Pradesh. After the state government and civil
society organizations protested against the AFSPA, the government
lifted the act in the previously added districts on
May 5.
NSCN-K was the most active group and especially increased
its violent activities in Arunachal Pradesh. For instance, on
April 2, the group attacked an army convoy in Tirap district,
leaving three soldiers dead and four injured. On April 17,
nine north-east militant groups officially formed an umbrella
organization, the United National Liberation Front of West
South East Asia (UNLFW), under the leadership of NSCN-K [→
India (Manipur); India (ULFA-I et al. / Assam)]. On June 4, in
the most fatal attack on security forces since the mid-1990s,
UNLFW militants killed 18 soldiers of the 6th Dogra Regiment
in Chandel district, Manipur. During the following week,
the army responded by carrying out operations in Myanmar
close to the Indian border. According to the Indian government,
army forces killed 80 militants, including 15 NSCN-K
members. The government banned NSCN-K for five years on
September 16 and declared it a terrorist organization two
months later. fli
INDIA (PATELS ET AL.)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1981
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
Patel community, Gurjar community,
Jat community, Maratha community
vs. government
other
The conflict between various communities, most prominently
the Patels, Jats, and Gurjaris, on the one hand, and the government,
on the other, over benefits under the reservation
system turned violent. A reservation system allocating government
jobs and access to education based on a community's
status as either Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled
Tribe (ST) had started to evolve under British colonial rule
and was expanded by the Other Backward Caste (OBC) status
after Indian independence.
The Patel community in Gujarat state magnified their demand
for OBC status. Up until August 25, a total of 37 rallies had
allegedly been organized in Gujarat by Hardik Patel, leader
of the organization Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS). On
August 25, PAAS and Sardar Patel Group (SPG) organized a
protest rally in the city of Ahmedabad, demanding reservations
in education and jobs. Addressing a crowd of at least
300,000 people, Hardik Patel set a two-day ultimatum for Gujarat
Chief Minister Anandiben Patel to meet their demands
after she had already ruled out the OBC status for the community
two days earlier. Following the detainment of Hardik
Patel in the evening for disobeying orders to disperse the
gathering, stone-pelting protesters clashed with the police
who used tear gas and firearms. Nine people died and at least
70 buses and cars as well as police stations were torched.
The following day, five army columns were deployed to the
city. Meanwhile, Hardik Patel had called for a state-wide
shutdown. A curfew authorities had imposed on several parts
of the state on August 25 was lifted three days later. In
September, district authorities of Gujarat prohibited several
rallies planned by Patel communities and opposing groups
and increased the number of police and paramilitary forces.
On September 14, Patel community members withdrew large
sums from their bank accounts, partly paralyzing Gujarat's
financial infrastructure. On October 18, after Hardik Patel
had threatened to stage a protest at the cricket stadium in
Rajkot, more than 8,000 police forces were deployed to the
city while 2,500 policemen along with 500 private security
personnel were sent to the stadium to secure an international
cricket match. The state government blocked internet services
for the whole day and Hardik Patel and six others were
briefly detained. Consequently, protests erupted in some
cities of Gujarat with one bus being torched in Morbi district.
The Hindu-nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad came out in
support of the community's demands on September 9 and
the Indian National Congress party followed on October 1.
Patels in the USA uttered their support on several occasions.
Other communities, such as the Jats in Uttar Pradesh state
(UP) and the Gurjars in Rajasthan state, upheld their reservation
demands. After the Indian High Court rejected the March
2014 proposal by a previous central government coalition
to grant the OBC status to Jats in nine states, communities
in UP and Haryana state protested. On July 27, for example,
Jats blocked the Delhi-Hirsar national highway in UP. Starting
on May 21, ten trains had to be cancelled and 57 others diverted
due to a sit-in protest involving nearly 1,000 Gurjaris
in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, demanding a five percent quota in
government jobs. By the eighth consecutive day of protests,
the government dispatched 4,500 paramilitary personnel for
assistance. However, the community ended its protest on the
same day after they had been promised a five percent job
reservation by the Rajasthan state government. iro
INDIA (SIKHS)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1947
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
SAD, SAD (Amritsar), Sikh groups vs.
government
secession, autonomy, other
The conflict over autonomy, secession, and the reappraisal
of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots between the political party Shiromani
Akali Dal (SAD), its subgroup SAD (Amritsar), and other
Sikh groups, on the one hand, and the government, on the
other, escalated to the level of a violent crisis. The conflict
was carried out in the state of Punjab, with only a few
incidents occurring in Jammu and Kashmir state (J&K). As
against previous years, the demand for the establishment of
an independent state of Khalistan emerged again as the main
contentious point and led to increased tensions between
radical and moderate Sikh groups.
On India's Republic Day on January 26, Sikh organizations
demanded a separate homeland during protests all over Punjab.
On January 27, Sikh activists raised pro-Khalistan slogans
in Jalandhar against the backdrop of the arrest of Singh Tara,
chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force.
On March 5, SAD (Amritsar) president Singh Mann reiterated
the demand for Khalistan at a party conference in Anand-
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