Pakistan Security Brief

Taliban in Karachi

• On Monday, Dawn published an article detailing the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) increasing presence and activities in Karachi. The article explains that of the roughly 30 TTP factions spread through Karachi, the Hakimullah Mehsud- and Mullah Fazlullah-led factions are the most influential.  As the TTP moved into Karachi, they pushed the Awami National Party (ANP) “from most of its traditional strongholds.”  While the TTP is suspected to have attacked both the ANP and Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) discretely, they first took responsibility for an attack when they struck “the Business Recorder/Aaj TV offices on 25 June, 2012.” The TTP’s presence in Karachi further increased as they fled military operations in Swat and South Waziristan.  As they moved into Karachi, they organized into factions according to where they had come from; Waziris into Sohrab Goth, and Swat natives into Pathan Colony and Landhi.  TTP influence is so overt in some areas that they openly run offices; one that operates near Karachi;s Masjid-e-Tayyaba goes by the pseudonym “Anti-Crime Control Committee.”  The article alleges the TTP maintains control over the neighborhoods of Pakhtunabad, Gulzarabad, and Sultanabad, all within the larger area of Manghopir.  In Khyber Mohalia, a madrassa hosts Afghan Taliban when they stay in Karachi, and is a hub for Taliban fighters competing for control with local criminal groups.  The article explained that of the 20 million people living in Karachi, roughly one million are directly affected by TTP influence, and the actual numbers of TTP fighters living in individual areas rarely exceeds more than one hundred. 

Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations

• On Monday, senior Afghan High Peace Council member Abdul Hakim Mujahid said that “Pakistan has a crucial role to play in…peace with the Taliban militia.” The comments are a departure from recent statements from Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Javed Ludin and Afghan presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi, who said Afghans could achieve peace without Pakistan, and that Pakistan is “sabotaging the peace efforts.” [1]

• On Monday, the Afghan government “demanded… that Pakistan halt "provocative and unacceptable" activities along their shared border.” The demands came in response to a military check post the Pakistan Army began building last week near the villages of Hatam Kalai and Kodzarai, in Mohmand agency, on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line but close to the border.  The chief Afghan complaint is that construction was not discussed or announced to Afghan authorities prior to commencing, and is the latest in a string of incidents raising tensions between the two countries.  Within the last month, artillery shelling and verbal condemnations from both sides, and a canceled joint military exercise all exemplify high tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.[2]

Taliban Peace Talks

• On Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Qatar to meet with Taliban militants in their new office there, intending to discuss peace and negotiations between the Taliban and Afghanistan.  Despite Karzai’s arrival in Qatar, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said the Afghan Taliban has no intention of meeting with Karzai.  Ehsan explained that “the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar is not related to Karzai, it is a matter between the Taliban and the Qatar[i] government.” [3]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Asfhaq Parvez Kayani met with ISAF Commander General Joseph Dunford in Rawalpindi, where the two spoke about military-to-military cooperation towards peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region at large. [4]

Iran-Pakistan Relations

• According to a Reuters report, sanctions against Iranian oil have spurred an extensive, and increasing, smuggling network for diesel fuel into Pakistan.   The energy shortage in Pakistan and surplus of Iranian diesel makes smuggling the fuel extremely lucrative, so much so that opium smugglers have switched to trafficking the diesel, which is “safer” and just as profitable. The article explains that despite corruption, often in the form of protection money, the senior customs official in Quetta is planning to build a new “1,000 strong anti-smuggling unit.”  The official did not announce specifics for the new force. [5]

Militancy

• On Saturday, two armed attackers killed one man and injured six children when they attacked a school in Baldia Ittehad Town, Karachi.  The men threw a grenade and opened fire inside the school, killing the principal, a leader in the Awami National Party (ANP). [6]

• On Saturday, a suicide bomber detonated his vest at the Katalang market in Mardan, Peshawar, killing one police officer and wounding six more people, including two more police officers.  Police chased a man linked to the attack, killing him in an exchange of fire.[7]

• On Sunday, unknown militants attacked former provincial assembly member Malik Adnan Khan Wazir’s vehicle when they detonated an improvised explosive device (IED), killing two and injuring six in Wali Noor area, Frontier Region (FR), Bannu.  TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan took responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of TTP attacks on the ANP.[8]

• On Monday in Balochistan’s Bolan district, near Quetta, four militants opened fire on a NATO convoy withdrawing equipment from Afghanistan, forcing the trucks to stop.  Militants then doused the trucks in gasoline and set them ablaze, completely destroying them.[9]

• On Sunday, unknown attackers fired rockets at two cellular towers in the Doaba area of Hangu district, destroying the towers and injuring a guard.[10]

• On Saturday night, unknown militants blew up two electricity towers in Chattar, Naseerabad, Balochistan, causing widespread blackouts in the province. [11]

• On Friday night, three militants died in a battle between rival militant groups in Darsamand area, Hangu district.  In a different incident, police recovered three bodies of people who were kidnapped and killed last week in Darsamand area.[12]

• In Sheedano Dhand, Lower Kurram agency on Friday, an IED detonated as security forces drove by on patrol, injuring four.  In a separate event, unknown militants detonated an IED near a shop on Thursday night in Sarkadan area, destroying the shop but injuring no one. [13]

• On Sunday, an IED detonated and injured two security guards near Aaryab Road, Quetta.[14]

• On Monday, three people were killed in different attacks in Karachi.  Unknown men shot one man in the head near Kharadar area.  Meanwhile, in Baldia Town, police recovered the body of a man who had his throat cut by unknown attackers.  In Lyari, a man was shot to death while walking in the Mosa Lane area.[15]

• On Sunday, Karachi police killed three people during a gun battle near Northern Bypass and seized an arms cache.[16]

• On Saturday, one man died and another two, including a Ranger, were injured during an operation against suspected militants in Lyari Town, Karachi. [17]

• Eleven people were killed in various incidents of violence across Karachi on Friday.  Two policemen were killed and another injured when unknown motorcyclists fired on them in North Nazimabad.  In another attack, two motorcyclists shot a man in his shop in Saddar, Karachi.  Another police officer was killed in an attack on Mauripur road on Friday afternoon.  In an attack in Mahran Town, two motorcyclists killed a political activist as he was returning from prayers at the mosque.  A Hindu man was shot and killed at Sariya Gali in Napier on his way to work. In two other attacks, a man was shot in Haryana Colony, and another  man was shot in New Karachi. Separately a security guard was shot to death outside a house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.  In another incident, a man was murdered at Phool Gali, Rizvia.  [18]

• On Monday, a blast near a gas pipeline caused it to explode in Malguzar area, Balochistan, halting the gas supply from Sui to Karachi until the pipeline is repaired. [19]

• On Sunday, a group of men opened fire on a police van in Fazal Sheri Vaila, Kohat, injuring one police officer.  Police later arrested two suspects associated with the case. [20]

• On Friday, two people were killed and three others injured when attackers and police exchanged fire near a house in Nasim Town, Haripur.[21]

• Police arrested four armed gunmen at a court in Manshera for carrying weapons into the court on Friday.[22]

Taliban Rehabilitation Facility

• On Monday, NPR published a story describing an extensive rehabilitation center in Pakistan’s Swat valley that attempts to re-educate former Taliban members into being productive members of society.  The center takes in captured militants and teaches them vocational skills, like woodwork, electronics, and basic computer work, to prepare them to hold jobs and support families.  Simultaneously, the center teaches that protecting and raising a family is important, that the Taliban’s leaders told them lies and used them to perform illegal “jihads.” The school reports that several thousand men and women have graduated since its opening in 2010, and of those graduates, they claim very few returned to the Taliban. [23]

Indo-Pak Relations

• On Monday, Pakistani officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited Indian officials to observe the autopsy of an Indian prisoner who recently died in Lahore Central Jail.  The unprecedented invitation comes in the wake of allegations that another prisoner, Chamel Sing, was tortured to death in January.[24]

IMF Debt Payments

• On Wednesday, the Pakistan State Bank announced that it would repay a total of $785 million dollars by May 24 to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to reports, the repayment will leave the bank’s reserves dangerously low, and could potentially force it to ask the IMF for additional credit.[25]