Pakistan Security Brief

TTP focusing attacks on ANP, manipulating elections; U.S. delegation in Islamabad discusses Afghan peace, cooperation; FBI investigating potential IJU connection to Boston bombing; Suicide bomber kills four in Bajaur; Khan announces intention to withdraw troops from tribal region if elected; Shias fear ASWJ leader’s election; Musharraf detained in farm house until May 4, interim government not pressing charges; Kerry announces meeting with Karzai, Kayani; Three ANP activists shot in Pishin; IED kills soldiers in North Waziristan; Police defuse IEDs in Peshawar; IED hits soldiers in Bannu; Militants throw grenade at election officer’s house; Militants bomb pipeline; Soldiers kill militants in Orakzai; Militants attack NATO convoy; Two dozen injured in grenade attack in Karachi; Seventeen die in targeted Karachi violence, many of them MQM activists; Earthquake victims demand government aid.

Domestic Politics

• According to a New York Times article released Sunday, the TTP has been focusing its attacks on the Awami National Party (ANP), especially in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, in a campaign that has reportedly set the ANP’s campaign back significantly.  The article explains that TTP strikes against the ANP have killed over 700 members, leaders, and candidates in the last five years, with violence against the ANP increasing as elections draw near.    According to a former leader within Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, “The most effective campaign is being run by the Taliban,” referencing its effective use of violence to subvert the political campaigns of secular parties.[1]

• On Sunday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan gave a campaign speech in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where he said that, if elected, he would withdraw troops from Waziristan.  He went on to say that “[t]he money that is spent on the war in the tribal areas will be spent on the welfare of the people,” explaining that the PTI would instead bring employment and education to the region.[2]

• On Saturday, Reuters released an article describing Shia fears regarding Sunni cleric and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ) leader Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi’s campaign for a seat in parliament. Ludhianvi founded the group formerly known as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) that has regularly engaged in violence against Shias.  According to the article, if Ludhianvi is elected, his appointment will signal a significant increase in sectarian support nationally, particularly as radical sectarian rhetoric enters the political scene.[3]

• On Saturday, an Islamabad antiterrorism court ordered that former President Pervez Musharraf remain in custody until May 4, during which time he will be tried for detaining illegally judges during his term as president in 2007.  Later on Saturday, Musharraf was returned to his farmhouse outside Islamabad which was declared a “sub-jail.”. On Monday, the interim government told the Supreme Court that they will not file a treason case against Musharraf, and will instead let the new government prosecute Musharraf, stating that trying him for treason was “not a part of their mandate.” However, the interim government said they would press charges if ordered to by the Supreme Court.[4]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he will host a meeting on Wednesday in Brussels between top Afghan officials, including President Hamid Karzai, and top Pakistani officials, including Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.  The meeting will discuss the peace process with the Taliban, as well as other cooperative efforts between Afghans and Pakistanis.[5]

• On Sunday and Monday, a delegation from the U.S. including Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador David Pearce, Special Assistant to the President on Afghanistan and Pakistan Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, Principal Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Dr. Peter Lavoy, and Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson visited Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad to discuss ongoing cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan, specifically regarding the Afghan peace and rehabilitation process.  The U.S. ambassadors reiterated their support for “timely, transparent, free, and fair elections” in May.[6]

Boston Marathon Bombing

• On Friday, the National Journal reported that the FBI is investigating links between the two Boston marathon bombers and the Pakistan-based militant group Islamic Jihad Union (IJU).  The elder of the two brothers, Tamarlan Tsarnaev, visited Russia for six months in 2011. Authorities are investigating whether Tamarlan visited Pakistan or was otherwise been connected with the IJU, a close al Qaeda ally.[7]

Militancy

• On Saturday, a female suicide bomber killed herself and four people in an attack on a hospital in Bajaur Agency.[8]

• On Sunday, three ANP members were shot and killed when militants opened fire on them in Pishin district of Balochistan.[9]

• On Sunday, unknown militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) near the Khajoori area of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, killing four soldiers and injuring four more.[10]

• On Monday, bomb disposal units in Badaber’s Sheikhan area on the outskirts of Peshawar defused three IED’s hidden there.  Earlier in the day, officials warned that two suicide bombers had entered Peshawar and were planning to carry out attacks there in the near future.[11]

• On Sunday, four soldiers were killed and six more injured when an IED detonated near their convoy near Bannu in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[12]

• On Sunday, militants threw a grenade at an election commission officer’s house in Kharan town in Balochistan, injuring his daughter and damaging the house.[13]

• On Saturday, militants blew up part of a pipeline in Rajanpur between Sui, Balochistan and the Punjab cities of Lahore, Multan, and Gujranwala, stopping the supply of gas to those cities.[14]

• On Friday, militants and soldiers clashed in the Daburai area of Orakzai agency after militants attacked a check post there.  Four militants died in the attack, and three soldiers were wounded.  Security forces seized a heavy weapons cache after the firefight.[15]

• On Saturday, a NATO trailer carrying cargo from Afghanistan was attacked in Karkhano Market, Peshawar, injuring two soldiers.[16]

• On Sunday, over two dozen people were injured when armed militants opened fire and threw grenades at them outside a bakery in Kharadar, Karachi.  Elsewhere, four people, including two wanted gangsters, were shot and killed in separate incidents of violence across Karachi. Two wanted criminals died in a gang fight in Kushhal Chowk.  Another gang member died in another attack in Lyari; police later recovered his body in the Garden area. A security guard was gunned down outside a store on Jinnah Road.[17]

• On Saturday, six people were killed in targeted attacks around Karachi. One man was shot in Abal Chowk, Kharadar.  The man was an activist for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Elsewhere, a leading gang member was shot and killed during a clash between two gangs in Machhar Colony. In another attack, gunmen shot and killed a rickshaw driver near Banaras Bridge, Peerabad. Separately in Zia Colony, Mominabad, two motorcyclists shot and killed a man accused of murder and robbery.  Another man died when he was gunned down in Korangi.  Police recovered the body of another man in the Garden area after he had been kidnapped, tortured and killed.[18]

• On Friday, a boy was injured in a grenade attack in Faqeera Goth, Sohrab Goth, Karachi. Seven people were also killed in targeted attacks in Karachi on Friday. In Shershah area, four men, three of them related to each other, were shot and killed because they supported the MQM. After another attack, police recovered a body brearing signs of torture in Pak Colony area of Jehanabad. Police recovered an additional body in an unrelated incident in Northern Bypass, Manghopir, after the man had been kidnapped over a year ago, tortured, and killed. Separately, unknown attackers opened fire and killed a student in Musharraf Morr in Mochko. In a separate attack, two motorcyclists opened fire and killed an independent political activist in Surjani Town.[19]

Earthquake

• Facing tremendous damage and casualties from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Mashkhel in Balochistan last Tuesday, locals are calling to the government to either provide the necessary support to help with relief efforts or allow Iranian support to come assist them.  The Pakistani government is citing difficult terrain and shortage of supplies as reasons for why they have not provided adequate support.[20]