Pakistan Security Brief
TTP spokesman says TTP will not attack public places; Ceasefire can be extended if government addresses TTP’s demands; TTP-nominated and government-nominated negotiating committees will meet on Saturday to discuss next steps in peace process; Blast at Frontier Corps camp in Landi Kotal; Militants attack security forces’ vehicle near Peshawar, killing one; Gunmen in Peshawar kill one security force member, injure two; Bomb defused near Pakistan Air Force installation in Peshawar; Islamabad madrassa names its library after Osama bin Laden; Gunmen kill village leader in Indian-administered Kashmir; Cabinet ministers approve import of LNG, electricity; PPP Senator calls on Pakistan to cut ties with Afghan insurgent groups.
TTP Peace Talks
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On Friday, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid stated that although the TTP would not carry out attacks on public places, though it considered government sites to be fair targets.[1]
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On Friday, TTP intermediary Professor Ibrahim Khan stated that the ceasefire could be extended if the government would address the TTP’s concerns regarding the release of “non-combatant” prisoners. According to a Friday article in the Express Tribune, the head of the Jamiat Ulema-Islam-Sami (JUI-S), Maulana Samiul Haq, spoke with the government committee about the release of prisoners.[2]
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On Thursday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan stated that the government-nominated negotiating committee will meet with the TTP committee this Saturday to discuss the next steps in the peace process. Unnamed sources added that the committees will also discuss the ceasefire.[3]
Militancy
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On Friday, unknown militants fired mortars into a Frontier Corps camp in Landi Kotal, Khyber agency; the firing resulted in a weapons depot catching fire and triggering multiple secondary explosions. According to a Friday article in Geo News, however, sources within the military stated that the Frontier Corps camp in Landi Kotal was not attacked, and that the arms depot caught fire accidentally.[4]
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On Friday, unknown militants attacked a security forces’ vehicle that was traveling on Frontier Road near Peshawar, killing one and injuring two others.[5]
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On Thursday, a bomb disposal squad defused a bomb planted near a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) installation in Matani, Peshawar district.[7]
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On Thursday, a bomb blast damaged two houses in Kohat, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. No casualties were reported.[8]
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According to a Friday report in Dawn, police have traced the origin of a crate of guavas used to conceal a bomb that killed 24 people and injured over 100 in Islamabad on April 9 to a guava farm in Qabola in southern Punjab. The manager of the farm has been arrested.[9]
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According to a Friday report in The Associated Press, an Islamabad madrassa has named its library after Osama bin Laden. The leader of the madrassa, Abdul Aziz, also has ties to the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, and was arrested during the 2007 military operation at the mosque.[10]
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On Thursday, unidentified gunmen killed a village leader in Awantipora, Pulwama district, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.[11]
Domestic
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On Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting with federal cabinet ministers, during which decisions made during yesterday’s meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security were discussed. Members at the meeting also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) approving the import of 3,000 megawatts of electricity from Iran and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) through an LNG terminal that will be constructed in Karachi.[12]
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On Friday, in a debate in the Pakistani Senate, Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said that Pakistan must cut ties with militants fighting in Afghanistan and stop allowing them to hide in Pakistan.[13]
