Courcy’s Intelligence Brief

*** India blames “foreign elements” for north-eastern violence.  On 6 August, India’s Union Home Secretary RK Singh said there “could be some external elements behind the violence” between ethnic groups in India’s north-eastern state of Assam.  The implication was that some violent elements had links to Bangladesh.

More than 70 people have lost their lives in the clashes between Bodos and immigrant settlers in the Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts (BTAD) and over 500,000 have been made homeless.  Assam government officials say that the violence has affected more than 400 villages in an area of 8,000 sq km.  The district has a 136km border with Bangladesh which has been sealed.

India’s intelligence agencies are said to have placed 14 organizations under increased surveillance.  According to an Indian security source: "All these organizations have come into existence in the last 20 years... [and] many of them are believed to have external links, some are engaged in militant activities.”

The organizations mentioned as being under increased surveillance are all Muslim organizations, namely the Muslim Security Council of Assam, United Liberation Militia of Assam, Islamic Liberation Army of Assam, Muslim Volunteer Force, Muslim Liberation Army, Muslim Security Force, Islamic Sevak Sanng, Islamic United Reformation Protest of India, Revolutionary Muslim Commandos, Muslim Tiger Force, Muslim Liberation Front, Muslim Liberation Tigers of Assam, Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam, and the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam.

Five organizations operating in the neighbouring state of Manipur are also said to be under surveillance by the Indian intelligence agencies: the Islamic National Front, Islamic Revolutionary Front, United Islamic Liberation Army, United Islamic Revolutionary Army, and the People's United Liberation Front.

*** Russia state media modifying Syria stance.  According to an analysis by the excellent BBC Monitoring Service, Russian state-controlled TV’s portrayal of the conflict in Syria “has changed slightly in the past week or two, with some reports presenting the opposition’s view of events and casting doubts on Syrian government claims”.

Although Rossiya 1 and Channel One have not altered their coverage as much as Gazprom-owned NTV, continuing to highlight rebel atrocities, they have started showing rebel fighters giving their version of events.  NTV has carried a series of reports stressing that Syrian government assurances on the position in Damascus, Aleppo, and Homs is “contradictory” and that it is “not clear who to believe”.