Pakistan Security Brief

TTP reportedly calls on Mullah Omar to resolve infighting in South Waziristan agency; Mullah Omar wants an end to TTP infighting before Taliban launches spring offensive in Afghanistan; Helicopters fire on militants in North Waziristan agency and Frontier Region Peshawar; Gunmen kill two Punjabis in Quetta; Militants blow up gas pipeline in Sindh; Lashkar-e-Islam threatens Shia neighborhood in Peshawar.

TTP Infighting

• According to a Tuesday report in The News, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Central Shura has asked Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar to resolve the conflict in South Waziristan between two TTP factions in South Waziristan agency. A Taliban source said that an Afghan Taliban delegation was called on in 2009 to resolve a dispute between Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rahman. According to another Tuesday article in The News, Mullah Omar reportedly wants the TTP infighting to end as soon as possible so that the TTP will be able to join the Afghan Taliban in a spring offensive against international troops in Afghanistan.[1]

Afghan-Pakistan Relations

• In an interview with AFP published on Tuesday, Ashraf Ghani, one of the two leading candidates in Afghanistan’s Presidential election, said that he hopes for a “special relationship” between Pakistan and Afghanistan similar to the one that developed between Germany and France after World War II.[2]

Militancy

• On Tuesday, helicopter gunships fired on suspected militant hideouts in North Waziristan. The attack was a response to a bombing on a convoy on Tuesday which injured one security force member. There were no casualties reported in the helicopter strikes.[3]

• On Tuesday, helicopter gunships fired on suspected militant hideouts in Shankrabi, Frontier Region Peshawar. The area is unpopulated, but militants have reportedly been hiding there.[4]

• On Tuesday, unknown gunmen killed two people in Quetta. The two victims were reportedly originally from Punjab.[5]

• On Tuesday, unidentified militants blew up a gas pipeline in Zardari, Khairpur district, Sindh.[6]

• On Tuesday, police in Peshawar reported that the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) has distributed pamphlets to a predominantly Shia neighborhood in the city warning them to evacuate or face attacks.[7]