Pakistan Security Brief

Bomb attacks on military personnel in Karachi kill four and injure fifty-seven; Four men charged in connection to Mumbai attacks; Guantanamo files link Siddiqui to al-Qaeda cell; ISI declines to respond to Guantanamo file allegations; Petraeus meets with Kayani; Obama reviews Pakistan strategy; Security personnel to be sent to Kurram; Kurram trader released on ransom; Curfew instituted in NWA; Fifteen passengers killed in Balochistan; Bodies recovered in Khuzdar and Turbat; NATO oil tanker attacked near Mach town; Two policemen killed in Kashmir.

Attack on Military Personnel in Karachi

• Bomb attacks hit two buses transporting Pakistani navy officials in the city of Karachi on Tuesday. Four people were killed when the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) detonated. In addition, Navy spokesman Commander Salman Ali declared that, “Fifty-seven people were injured in the two attacks and of them, 50 were navy officials." The attack was the first major attack on the military in the city in seven years. Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the attack and stated that, “Security forces will be targeted in the future as well, because they are killing their own people in Waziristan and elsewhere on the behest of the United States.”[i]

U.S.-Pakistani Relations

• On Monday, the U.S. District Court in Chicago charged four Pakistani men in connection with the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. “Sajid Mir, who was described as a ‘handler’ in the banned Pakistan-based Islamist group [Lashkar-e-Taiba]; Mazhar Iqbal, a Lashkar ‘commander;’ Abu Qahafa, who trained the attackers in combat for Lashkar; and an individual known only as ‘Major Iqbal”’ were charged with “aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India, conspiracy to murder and maim and providing material support” to the LeT. None of the men are in U.S. custody and no information has been released on their whereabouts. In addition, Dawn cites Major General Athar Abbas, who “has hinted at involvement of retired ISI officials in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, but categorically denied any role of serving spies.” Abbas also stated that the group responsible for the attacks was a splinter group of LeT headed by Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.[ii]
• The Guantanamo files have linked Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani neuroscientist sentenced to eighty-six years in prison for attempting to kill U.S. military personnel, to an Al-Qaeda cell based in Karachi. A newly released file alleges that Siddiqui had planned to provide administrative support for a smuggling operation that would smuggle explosives into the U.S. to attack “economic targets.”[iii]
• The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has not yet responded to the release of the Guantanamo files, which describes the ISI as a terrorist organization, alongside al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah. However, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that, “The ISI is being wrongfully defamed internationally. The ISI is not and has never been involved in politics. The ISI is a patriotic [organization] which has a huge role in [combating terrorism]. Those who are trying to bring the ISI into disrepute would never succeed in their design.”[iv]
• General David Petraeus visited Pakistan on Monday to hold talks with army chief General Kayani. A statement released by the U.S. embassy said that the two men “discussed topics of mutual interest and ways to improve regional security.” Meanwhile, President Obama convened with his national security and intelligence staff to conduct a review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Among those in attendance were Defense Secretary Robert Gates, UN ambassador Susan Rice, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Vice President Joe Biden, General David Petraeus and the U.S. ambassadors to Pakistan and Afghanistan also participated via video-link. The White House press spokesman, Jay Carney, said that that the session was “not a ‘decisional’ meeting, but was rather a regular review of US policy.”[v]

FATA

• Interior Minister Rehman Malik stated that security personnel would be sent to secure the Thall-Parachinar road in Kurram Agency. The declaration was in response to a member of the National Assembly, Sajid Hussain Turi, who walked out of the assembly in protest to the “government`s indifference to the misery of the people of Parachinar who could not travel on the road because of insecurity.” Malik said a senior officer of the Interior Ministry would be sent to Peshawar to evaluate the situation, and law enforcement personnel would then be deployed to the area.[vi]
• Militants have released a trader from Kurram Agency after being paid $64,000 (Rs 5.4 million) in ransom money by the trader’s family. Haji Asghar Hussain Turi was one of thirty five passengers who had been kidnapped in the agency on March 26. Turi said that he was carrying $7,000 (Rs 600,000) in cash with him when his convoy was attacked. He stated that after fleeing from the vehicle, he was captured by local people and robbed of his money before being handed over to the Taliban.[vii]
• A curfew instituted in North Waziristan has brought life to a standstill since Saturday. The curfew, instituted on the Bannu-Miram Shah Road, resulted in the closing of all educational institutions, government offices, and commercial banks in the area. The News reports that “the political administration clamps curfew for two days every week in Waziristan for movement of the security forces in the restive tribal region.” In addition, an unannounced curfew has been instituted in Kajhori and Mir Ali by the local administration on a daily basis.[viii]
  

Balochistan

• At least fifteen passengers were killed on Monday when armed militants set a bus on fire near the Pirak area of Sibi. Four armed men doused the Quetta-bound vehicle with petrol and then lit it on fire, resulting in the fifteen deaths and several other injuries. There have been no claims of responsibility for the attack.[ix]
• Three bullet-riddled bodies were discovered in Khuzdar on Monday while another two were found in Turbat. No group has claimed responsibility for their deaths. Meanwhile, armed militants attacked an oil tanker carrying oil to NATO forces in Afghanistan near Mach town on Monday. The men opened fire on the vehicle before escaping from the scene.[x]

Policemen Killed in Kashmir

• Two policemen were killed and another wounded in Indian-administered Kashmir’s city of Srinagar. Separatist militants opened fire on policemen who were conducting a night patrol in the city.[xi]