Pakistan Security Brief

Afghan and Pakistani ambassadors fly to Kabul; Militants destroy power station, kill seven; Police arrest 11 TTP members in Karachi; Police arrest eight militants in Karachi; Ten killed in Karachi violence; Police in Lahore torture and kill a man; Former U.S. ambassador warns against overuse of drones; PPP cancels rally in Islamabad; Politicians accused of falsifying information on nationalities and degrees jailed; Bilawal returns to Karachi over 40,000 flee Tirah valley violence.

Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations

• On Tuesday, Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Umer Daudzai flew to Kabul to meet with senior Afghan officials, in order to attempt to reduce rising tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  His Pakistani counterpart, Muhammand Sadiq flew with him on the same plane, in a bid to calm Afghan rhetoric that has been increasingly hostile, following allegations of cross-border shelling by Pakistan into Afghanistan, and the construction of a new Pakistani check post on the border.[1]

Militancy

• On Monday night, dozens of armed militants raided the Sheikh Muhammadi power station in Peshawar, killing two people, and kidnapping nine more.  After firing rockets and planting bombs at the station, they fled with nine hostages, eventually killing five of them, including three police officers and two security guards. Of those still missing, all four are employees of the power station. The attack and resulting fire destroyed the station, “suspending electricity supply to half of…Peshawar.” No one has taken responsibility for the attack, but the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is suspected to be behind the attack.[2]

• On Monday, police arrested six TTP militants from their hideout in the Sultanabad area of  Manghopir, Karachi.  Police seized a small weapons cache and cell phones in the raid.  In another part of the same operation, police raided Shireen Jinnah Colony and arrested five more TTP members.  Rangers conducted an operation in Liaquatabad’s Ilyas Goth, arresting three suspected terrorists and seizing arms and ammunition. [3]

• On Monday night, police arrested eight suspects in Soldier Bazzar and Patel Para areas of Karachi in an operation that injured one suspect. In another event, two policemen were shot dead in an attack on their police post near Lasbela bridge.  A Ranger was killed in another attack when two unidentified men opened fire on him in Ittehad Town.  In a different attack in Ittehad Town, unknown men entered a house and strangled a man to death.  Separately, in Baghdadi, armed motorcyclists opened fire and killed a man as he was leaving his hotel.[4] 

• On Monday, Lahore police allegedly tortured and extra-judicially killed a suspected drug dealer before throwing him into the canal near Mughalpura.[5] 

• On Monday, armed men kidnapped a girl near Dallokhel Phattak, Lakki Marwat, injuring her mother when they opened fire.  In another incident, a man was killed and another injured when two groups exchanged fire in Kiri Allahyar, Darra Pezu. [6]  

• Militants in the Nasirabad area of Turbat, Balochistan opened fire on Deputy Commissioner of Mastung Tufail Baloch’s vehicle on Monday.  When security personnel returned fire, they killed one of the attackers. [7]

Drone Strikes

• On Monday, former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker warned that drone strikes may lose their effectiveness if they are used too frequently.  He explained his anxiety in saying “I'm concerned that it is perhaps inadvertently becoming a strategy rather than a tactic.” [8]

Domestic Politics

• On Tuesday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of President Asif Ali Zardari, returned from Dubai to Karachi.  When he first departed for Dubai, news sources, including the Express Tribune and the Press Trust of India, reported that differences with his father made Bilawal leave Pakistan in protest.  Upon his return, his aunt, Faryal Talpur, herself a party in the alleged dispute with Bilawal, said there were no differences between the President and his son.[9]

• On Tuesday, PPP officials canceled a public rally in Garhi Kuda Bux scheduled for party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s deathanniversary on April 4th.  When questioned, PPP information secretary Lateef Mughal denied that the rally was canceled for security reasons, and instead said “our candidates are busy with paperwork…and the election campaign.” [10]

• On Tuesday, courts in cities around Pakistan decreed various actions against politicians who had falsified their educational documents and illegally maintained dual citizenship status.  Representatives were fined and sentenced to jail terms of up to three years for submitting fake degrees or failing to report dual citizenship.  Those sentenced include former federal minister Humayun Aziz Kurd, former Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA), Khalifa Abdul Qayyum, former MPA Javaid Iqbal Tarkai, Nasir Ali Shah, and Maulvi Haji Roziudding.[11]

• On Tuesday, the 14-member cabinet of Interim Prime Minister  Justice (retd.) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso was sworn in by President Asif Ali Zardari, andbegin its reign leading up to the May 11 elections. [12]

Tirah Valley Displaced

• On Monday, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) announced that around 40,000 people fled the Tirah valley in Khyber agency to escape violence in the last few weeks.  The FDMA announcement said internally displaced people are primarily headed towards Kohat, Hangu and Peshawar districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or to Kurram agency. [13]