Pakistan Security Brief

Afghanistan’s intelligence agency foils two terrorist plots involving militant groups in Pakistan; Cross-border skirmishes occur between Pakistani and U.S. troops; Pakistan Army commander worries about giving Taliban impression of victory; Police conduct raids in Karachi and arrest two dozen suspects; President Zardari forms committee to monitor law and order situation in Karachi; World Bank allocates $1.8 billion for Pakistan; Pakistan and Saudi Arabia discuss “strengthening trade and economic ties;” 143 escaped prisoners back in Bannu jail; Sectarian violence against Hazaras continues in Quetta; Beheaded body of religious cleric found in Khyber agency; Private airlines to undergo new mandatory inspection; TAPI gas transit fee finalized; Pakistan to import electricity from India.

Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations

• Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said Saturday that it had foiled two terrorist plots in Kabul involving militant groups in Pakistan. The first plot involved a plan to assassinate Afghanistan’s second vice president, Karim Khalil, while the second plot involved a plan to smuggle 11 tons of explosives into Afghanistan in a truck filled with potato sacks. The militants from the failed assassination plot confessed that they had been trained by Arab and Pakistani trainers in Miram Shah, North Waziristan, which is the headquarters for the Pakistani-based Haqqani Network. According to the Afghan intelligence agency, the explosives mission was organized by members of the Pakistani Taliban.[1]  

• U.S. soldiers have fired into Pakistani territory about four times in the previous ten months in cross-border skirmishes. U.S. officials said that the firing incidents were in response to shelling from inside Pakistan, and although they try to communicate with the Pakistani military first, it does not always happen. Afghan Army Commander Masoud Karimi told CNN that Pakistani soldiers had fired at him and his men as recently as April 14.[2]

• Lieutenant-General Khalid Rabbani, commander of Pakistan’s troops in the northwest region, told Reuters about his worries that the exit of foreign troops from Afghanistan could give the Afghan Taliban a “notion of success.” Rabbani said that if the Taliban is given an impression of victory, it could prove disastrous for Pakistan, because it would embolden the Pakistani Taliban to step up its efforts to topple the Pakistani government.[3]

Energy

• Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dr. Asim Hussain announced on Friday that Pakistan, India and Afghanistan had agreed to a “transit fee rate of 49.5 cents per Million British Thermal Units (mmbtu)” for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project, and that the final round of negotiations will occur in Turkmenistan on May 24.[4]

• According to Federal Secretary for the Ministry of Water and Power Qazi Imtiaz Ahmed, Pakistan is planning to import 500 megawatts (MW) of electricity from India. Once a formal agreement on the project is reached, a “45-kilometer-long, 220 [kilovolts] line will be constructed,” and Pakistan will ask Indian power supply companies to help implement the project. Meanwhile, a delegation from the ministry will visit Tehran in the next few weeks to “negotiate terms and conditions for the import of 1,000MW of electricity from Iran.”[5]

Karachi Violence

• On Sunday night, police conducted raids in different areas of Karachi and arrested two dozen suspects.[6]

• During a meeting on Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari decided to form a six-member committee with representatives from all the coalition parties to monitor and control the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi.[7] 

Economy

• The World Bank “allocated an unprecedented amount of $1.8 billion for Pakistan’s development projects in the energy and water sectors.” The World Bank’s vice president, Isabel Guerrero, met with Pakistan’s Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and expressed her satisfaction with Pakistan’s economic performance during these difficult times.[8]

• During a meeting between Finance Minister Shaikh and his Saudi counterpart on Sunday, the two men “discussed strengthening trade and economic ties” between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.[9]

Bannu Jailbreak

• Provincial Home Secretary Azam Khan stated that out of the 384 prisoners that escaped during last week’s jailbreak from Central Jail in Bannu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 108 have voluntarily returned while 35 others have been arrested.[10]

Militancy

• On Monday, two suspected militants were killed and one police officer was injured when the police signaled a car to stop near Akhtarabad in Quetta, and the occupants of the car responded with gunfire. The Deputy Inspector General of Operations claimed that the suspects were members of a group of target killers in Quetta.[11]

• Two sectarian attacks occurred in Quetta over the weekend, as two Hazaras were killed on Brewery Road on Saturday and another Hazara was injured on Sunday.[12]

• The beheaded body of Maulana Naimatullah Afghani, a religious cleric, was found in the market area of Sarband, Khyber agency. According to officials, unidentified militants killed Afghani on Saturday night. Locals claimed that Lashkar-e-Islam might be involved in the murder.[13]

• Four people, including two members of a pro-government militia force were killed in separate explosions  when their vehicles hit landmines in Jaffarabad district and Dera Bugti on Sunday.[14]

Private Airlines

• The Pakistani government has ordered all planes operated by private airlines to undergo a new mandatory inspection to determine whether they are safe to fly. The mandate was announced in response to two incidents over the weekend involving private airlines. In the first incident on Friday, a Bhoja Airlines plane crashed due to bad weather, killing all 127 passengers onboard, and in the second incident on Sunday, a Shaheen Airlines plane almost crashed when its left tire burst upon landing.[15]