Pakistan Security Brief

TTP ceasefire expires today; Gunmen kill two militants from the Badar Mansur group in Miram Shah; TTP spokesman condemns Sibi and Islamabad attacks; Gunman kill four alleged militants in North Waziristan agency; Gunmen fire on NATO convoy, killing one; Gunmen kill PML-N Vice President in Karachi; World Bank raises Pakistan’s economic growth forecast to 4 percent; Army chief holds meeting of Corps Commanders reportedly resentful of critical statements by ministers; ASWJ leader wins Jhang District parliamentary election; Al Qaeda advertises interview with top TTP-al Qaeda sharia official.

Talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan

• The ceasefire between the government and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is set to expire on Thursday, April 10. A TTP source told The News that the TTP shura is meeting to decide whether or not to extend the ceasefire, saying that the TTP has been disappointed by the government’s lack of seriousness, and that the government would need to accept one of the TTP’s stated demands in order to secure an extension of the ceasefire.[1]

Militancy

• On Monday, unknown gunmen killed two militants from the Badar Mansur group in Miram Shah, North Waziristan agency. The Badar Mansur group is a faction of the TTP and has strong ties to al Qaeda. The group’s former leader, the late Badar Mansur, was described as al Qaeda’s leader in Pakistan at the time of his death.[2]

• On Wednesday, the TTP’s spokesman Shahidullah Shahid condemned both the Tuesday train bombing in Sibi and the Wednesday bomb attack in Islamabad, stating that attacks on civilians are “un-Islamic and unjustified,” though he commiserated with the cause of his Baloch “bretheren” fighting alleged state oppression. Shahid also alluded to the involvement of a “secret hand” in attacks in Lahore, Peshawar, and other cities that was malignly using the TTP’s name.[3]

• On Wednesday, unidentified gunmen killed four people in the Shawal Valley area of North Waziristan agency. The four victims are alleged to have ties to a militant group.[4]

• On Thursday, unknown gunmen fired on a convoy of NATO trucks passing through the Jamrud Bypass, killing one.[5]

• On Thursday, unknown gunmen killed Waqar Shah, a lawyer and Vice President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Karachi. The gunmen fired at Shah’s car while he was on his way to court. In response, the Sindh High Court Bar Association boycotted the day’s court proceedings.[6]

Domestic

• On Wednesday, the World Bank released a report predicting the Pakistan’s economy would grow by 4 percent this year, which is higher than had previously been forecast.[7]

• A Thursday article in Dawn reported that resentment among military leaders, who attended the Corps Commanders’ Conference, was “obvious.” Earlier this week, Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif publicly expressed his concern over being “unfairly criticized” by federal ministers, promising to preserve the military’s dignity and institutional pride. Leaders at the Corps Commanders Conference discussed the withdrawal of International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) from Afghanistan, as well as the drawdown’s implications on security and ongoing talks with the TTP.[8]

• On Wednesday, Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi of the Ahl-e-Sunna-Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ) party, the political front for Sunni militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), was declared the winner of a runoff election for a parliamentary seat from Jhang district, Punjab.[9]               

• According to a Wednesday report in The Long War Journal, al Qaeda is advertising an upcoming “open” interview with Asim Umar, a TTP leader and simultaneously al Qaeda’s “top sharia official in Pakistan.” The advertisement solicits questions and says the interview is schedules for mid-May.[10]