In order to provide up-to-date and objective information on conflict-related matters around the world, the IISS has developed the Armed Conflict Database (ACD) that contains information on more than 70 armed conflicts around the world. Compiled by the IISS Defence Analysis Department, which also produces the Military Balance, the database covers both internal and international armed conflicts, as well as terrorist activity.
It offers year-on-year analysis of conflicts, their political status, number of fatalities, weapons used, and humanitarian and economic costs. It also covers current events, conflict backgrounds and timelines. Each conflict is analysed in detail under the following headings: latest update, annual update, political status, fatalities, weapons, costs, historical background, and timelines. The database also provides information on non-state armed groups, their origin and estimated strength, political or ideological aims and area of operation.
In addition, reports can be generated on conflict data back to 1997 and correlated from various years, conflicts, regions and topics. Variables such as weapons used, number of fatalities, refugees, returnees and IDPs can be isolated or combined and the results are easily presented.
Nine South Asian internal and international conflicts are covered by the Armed Conflict Database. They include the dispute over Kashmir, which has been a source of conflict between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947. There have already been two wars – 1947-48 and 1965 - over the question of Kashmir, and a conflict in the Kargil sector in May-July 1999. With the acquisition of nuclear weapons by both sides in May 1998, the potential destructiveness of conflict has escalated. During the 2001-02 border confrontation both countries were on the brink of war, with fears of nuclear escalation. Currently, an official-level ‘composite dialogue’ between India and Pakistan is taking place – after a three-year hiatus – and the ceasefire along their borders continues. But, their diplomatic relationship has yet to normalise, and the peace process remains fragile.
In addition, the major conflicts in India’s northeast – Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura – are examined. This region is suffering from myriad local insurgencies, tribal and ethnic clashes, irredentist claims, linguistic differences, alienation, and problems associated with illegal immigration – all fuelled by narcotics trafficking, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and crime. Surrounded by China, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh, this landlocked region is linked to central India only by the 22 km-wide Siliguri corridor, known as the ‘chicken neck’.
Information is also provided on the People’s War Group (PWG), a Maoist−Communist militant movement based in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. For more than three decades, it has been fighting government forces, targeting anyone who is perceived to be a caste oppressor or a class traitor.
The divide between the Sunni and Shi’ite communities in Pakistan became highly politicised in the 1980s, as each sought to institutionalise their particular brand of Islam. Militant groups representing both sides emerged to further the respective agendas. Organisations such as the Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and its armed wing, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and the Shi’ite Tehrik-e-Jafria Pakistan (TJP) and its armed wing, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP), have been the most prominent in instigating inter-communal violence. Backed by foreign funding and popular support, these groups have consistently attacked leaders, individuals and communities of the rival sect with limited response from the government.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN(M)) has waged a ‘People’s War’ against the (newly quasi-democratic) Nepalese government for several years. Using small arms either looted from the authorities or smuggled into the country, the CPN(M) has been able to cause major disruption and violence in Nepal, hailing a state of emergency.
The LTTE has been waging battle against the Sri Lankan government for more than two decades, demanding the recognition of communal and individual rights of the Tamils and through the struggle for a separate state, Tamil Eelam, in the Tamil-dominated northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. Fighting between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government was intensive through the 1980s and 1990s, and despite frequent talks and conciliatory gestures from both sides, the situation remains tense.
