Pakistan Security Brief
Kidnapped UNICEF workers freed in Karachi; Militants attack police convoy, kill up to six near Peshawar; Police arrest nine suspected militants from Peshawar hospital; Three killed and 33 injured in Charsadda blast; Exchange of fire between militants and security officers kills two in Karachi; Gunmen kill three in Indian-administered Kashmir; Two injured in Balochistan blast; JuD leader criticizes Indian Prime Ministerial candidate for encouraging Pakistani Hindus to migrate to India; Prime Minister plans to ask Iran to waive financial penalty for IP pipeline; Pakistan successfully tests short-range ballistic missile; ISI Director General meets Chief of the Army Staff to discuss security in Pakistan.
Militancy
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On Monday, unknown militants attacked a police convoy and killed five people, including four policemen, and injured four others on Kohat Road near the Zangali checkpost near Peshawar. A similar article in the Express Tribune reported that militants targeted the police convoy in the Badhaber area of Peshawar, which killed six people and injured four.[1]
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On Tuesday, a bomb blast killed three people and injured 33 in Charsadda district, Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa. The bomb was planted on a motorcycle and may have been targeting a passing police vehicle.[2]
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On Monday, after tracing mobile phone signals, police officers raided a house in the eastern part of Karachi and freed two employees of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) who were kidnapped four days ago. No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, and the police currently have no suspects.[3]
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According to a Tuesday report in Dawn, the government of Punjab claims to have arrested 700 militants tied to sectarian violence in the last six months. In 2013, 3,500 people were arrested on charges relating to hate speech and fomenting unrest. The figures were released following reports criticizing the Punjab government of being soft on extremist groups.[4]
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On Tuesday, police arrested nine suspected militants from Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital. Sources stated that the militants belonged to a militant group operating in Khyber agency. After reportedly being injured in a gunfight with security forces, the militants were first sent to the Khyber Teaching Hospital but had been transferred to Lady Reading Hospital for further treatment.[5]
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On Monday, police defused an improvised explosive device (IED) that was planted near a house in Shamoni Khattak village in Lakki Marwat, Khyber agency.[6]
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On Tuesday, an exchange of fire between robbers and law enforcement officers killed two people, including a policeman, and injured one in Karachi’s Garden Town area.[7]
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On Tuesday, a roadside bomb blast injured two people, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Mir Hassan, Nasirabad district, Balochistan.[8]
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On Monday, militants in Pulwana, Indian-administered Kashmir killed three people, including two village heads. The violence comes as Jammu and Kashmir votes in the Indian elections.[9]
India-Pakistan Relations
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On Monday, Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) leader and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed criticized Indian Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for encouraging Sindh’s Hindu minority to migrate to India. Saeed pointed out that, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi has had a sometimes violent relationship with the state’s Muslim minority.[10]
Iran-Pakistan Relations
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According to a Tuesday article in the Express Tribune, during an upcoming visit to Iran, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif plans to ask Iran’s leadership to waive the penalty imposed on Pakistan for the delay in constructing Pakistan’s portion of the Iran-Pakistan (IP) pipeline. Prime Minister Sharif has argued that U.S. sanctions are a “major stumbling block” for the pipeline’s progress, therefore Iran should waive the financial penalty and extend the project’s completion date. According to the current agreement, the current fine Pakistan will have to pay Iran is $3 million per day. Prime Minister Sharif had hoped that the IP pipeline would be exempt from U.S. sanctions.[11]
Domestic
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On Tuesday, Pakistan tested the Short-Range Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile Hatf III. The missile will have a range of 290 kilometers, and the test was deemed a success.[12]
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On Tuesday, the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Zahirul Islam, met with Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif at ISI headquarters to discuss the internal and external security situation in Pakistan. It was Sharif’s first visit to ISI headquarters since taking charge last of the army year.[13]
