CPI not among top 20 deadliest terror groups; Aussie thinktank rectifies error

The screenshot of a report on the ‘Global Terrorism Index 2023’ published by the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) is viral on social media. The picture was a list of top 20 outfits in terms of number of deaths caused by them in 2022. The list shows the Communist Party of India (CPI) in the 12th rank, followed by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) at 13th position, and preceded by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) at the 11th.

Several social media users shared the screenshot. Twitter user @pratheesh_Hind shared the image and sarcastically ‘congratulated’ the Communist Party of India for being named in the top 20 deadliest terror groups of 2022. The tweet has received over 230 likes. (Archive)

Congratulations Communist Party of India for being named in top 20 deadliest terror groups of 2022. Your name is found amoung your sister concerns ie jehadi outfits.

Try to be in top 10 next time. pic.twitter.com/kb6bITYNEi

— Pratheesh Viswanath (@pratheesh_Hind) March 16, 2023

Another user, @indhavaainko, shared the same image with the caption, “Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an Australia-based global think tank organisation, in its recent report “Global Terrorism Index 2023” has placed the “Communist Party of India” (CPI) on the list of the world’s 20 deadliest terror groups of the year 2022 on the 12th position. Thanks to leaders like Pinarayi Vijaya.” The post has over 600 likes and 250 retweets. (Archive)

Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an Australia-based global think tank organisation, in its recent report “Global Terrorism Index 2023” has placed the “Communist Party of India” (CPI) on the list of the world’s 20 deadliest terror groups of the year 2022 on the 12th… pic.twitter.com/FXFCNITYhi

— இந்தா வாயின்கோ – Take That (@indhavaainko) March 17, 2023

User @PanickarS also tweeted the same claim which received over 3000 likes and 1000 shares. (Archive)

Institute for Economics and Peace in its latest Global Terrorism Index lists 20 deadliest terror groups of 2022. At 12, is the Communist Party of India. 😐@GlobPeaceIndex pic.twitter.com/p5JCceNObl

— Sreejith Panickar (@PanickarS) March 16, 2023

The screenshot is also viral on Facebook. (Archive)

About Insitute of Economics and Peace (IEP)

Founded by IT entrepreneur Steve Killelea in 2007, IEP develops global and national indices by calculating the economic cost of violence and analyzing country-level risk and fragility.

Their research is used by governments, academic institutions, think tanks, non‑governmental organisations and intergovernmental institutions such as The Commonwealth Secretariat, the World Bank and the United Nations. IEP is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

Fact Check

We found the IEP’s response to the viral tweet by @PanickarS, clarifying that the GTI report, which utilizes Dragonfly’s Terrorism Tracker data, had mistakenly used the name of Communist Party of India whereas they had actually intended to name the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

Thanks for noting this @PanickarS.

The GTI report utilises Dragonfly’s Terrorism Tracker data and incorporated the terminology used in their database, which mislabelled the Communist Party of India as it did not include the correct (Maoist) attribution.

— IEP Global Peace Index (@GlobPeaceIndex) March 17, 2023

In a subsequent tweet, IEP also mentioned that they took immediate action and corrected the report to accurately reflect the title of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The revised list was later released on the official website.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Several media outlets reported this news. The Times Of India has published an article titled, “CPI in terror group list: IEP corrects report, uploads revised list” dated March 18. According to their report, the list where CPI was wrongly ranked 12 with a count of 39 deaths, 61 attacks and 30 injuries, was part of the 10th annual edition of the GTI published by IEP. Dragonfly intelligence, whose database was used for the report, has also acknowledged the error in its response to TOI’s query regarding the inclusion of a recognised national party in the list of terrorist groups.

Republic also published a report titled, “IEP Lists ‘Communist Party Of India’ On List Of World’s 20 Deadliest Terror Groups Of 2022”.Their report mentions that “the report does not clarify whether it means CPI (Maoist)– a banned terror group in India, or the political party in India — CPI”. At the time of the writing of this report, Republic is yet to update their report with the revised list. (Archive)

To summarize, screenshots of the IEP’s report were circulated on social media claiming that the Communist Party of India had ranked 12th in a list of the top 20 deadliest terror groups. However, the IEP later clarified that the Communist Party of India had been mislabelled as it did not include the correct (Maoist) attribution. They later uploaded the revised list on their official website and replaced Communist Party of India with Communist Party of India (Maoist).

Abira Das is an intern at Alt News.