Pakistan Security Brief
Suicide bomber kills nine, injures fifty in Peshawar; ANP office bomb kills one in Charsadda, injures twelve; PPP meeting bomb kills six, injures twenty eight; TTP bombs ANP meeting, killing eleven; MQM twin bombings kill two, injure twenty five; Bomb in Kohat kills five, injures twenty three; Bomb in Charsadda kills three, injures twenty; ANP convoy bomb in Swabi kills one, injures eleven; Militants attack ANP in Nowshera; TTP threatens political parties in Mardan; Militants attack NP houses in Turbat, Quetta; PPP and PML-N clash in Dadu; Pakistan denies Indian claims that spy not granted visitation; Army resents scape-goating in political rhetoric; Interim government hypothetically accepts IMF terms, proposal; Iranian ambassador calls on Zardari to discuss quake relief; Norway offer $40 million in polio aid; Eleven killed, forty arrested in Karachi violence and operations; militants bomb school in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Political Violence
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On Monday, a suicide bomber killed himself and nine people on University Road, Peshawar, in an attack that wounded fifty other people. According to a government official, the bombing may not have had a specific target, but rather “part of the campaign to create fear among people ahead of [upcoming elections].” Among the dead were two Afghan trade officials, one of whom is son of a prominent member of the Afghan High Peace Council. According to police, the Afghans did not appear to be the attack’s intended targets.[1]
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On Monday, a bomb detonated near Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Mohammad Ahmad Khan’s office in Charsadda, killing one person and injuring twelve more. Authorities have conflicting reports about the nature of the attack, as police say it was a suicide bomber, and explosive disposal units believe it was a remote-controlled bomb.[2]
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On Saturday, militants bombed a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) meeting in Nanakwara, Lyari, Karachi, killing six people and injuring twenty eight others.[3]
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As of Saturday, the death toll from Friday’s bomb attack by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Bashir Jan’s electoral meeting in Orangi Town, Karachi rose to eleven, with thirty injured,.[4]
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On Saturday night, two blasts outside a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) meeting at their election office in Orangi Town’s Qasba Colony, Karachi, killing two people and injuring twenty five others.[5]
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On Sunday, a bomb in the Kacha Pakha area of Kohat killed five people and injured twenty-three more at the election offices for ANP candidate Khursheed Begum and independent candidate Noor Akbar Khan.[6]
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On Sunday, a bomb detonated outside independent candidate Nasir Khan Afridi’s office in Maqsoodabad near Charsadda, killing three people and injuring twenty more.[7]
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On Sunday, militants bombed an ANP convoy in Swabi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, killing one person and injuring eleven others.[8]
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On Sunday, the Mardan chapter of the TTP sent a letter to the Mardan press club warning religious political parties to stop using “the name of Islam” in their campaigns, including speeches, meetings, and other electoral material. A TTP activist was then arrested posting fliers with the same message on the press club walls. He is currently under interrogation.[9]
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On Monday, militants on motorcycles opened fire on an ANP anti-Taliban rally in Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, killing an activist and a police officer there.[10]
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On Friday, militants attacked a National Party (NP) candidate’s house in Buleda area of Turbat, Balochistan, damaging the house but causing no casualties. Later on Friday night, militants threw another grenade at an NP election office on Sariab road, Quetta, damaging the building.[11]
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On Sunday, PPP members and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) activists clashed in Dadu, Sindh, in a fight that killed at least one PML-N member, after enraged activists opened fire on each other.[12]
Indo-Pak Relations
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On Thursday, prisoners on death row attacked and seriously wounded another death row inamte, Indian spy Sarabjit Singh, in a Lahore prison, reportedly to take revenge for bombings was allegedly responsible for in Lahore. On Sunday, Pakistani officials denied claims by Indian officias that Pakistani authorities prevented officials from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan from visiting Singh in the prison hospital. . Singh’s family visited him in the hospital over the weekend, where he is being treated, and remains in a coma.[13]
IMF Bailout
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The interim government on Sunday accepted, in principle, the terms of a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) relief proposal, and said it will wait until the elected government begins their term in May to officially agree to the terms. The IMF proposed a number of key reforms along with offering $5 billion in loans to help the government pay back their preexisting loans, including the reform of many public enterprises that rely on government funds to run. The proposed plan would theoretically end that dependence over the next two years.[14]
Iran-Pakistan Relations
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On Friday, Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Alireza Haghighian called on Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House in Karachi to discuss bilateral relations, specifically related to a recent earthquake along the Iran-Pakistan border and their respective responses to it.[15]
Pakistan Army and Elections
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On Monday, the Financial Times reported on the unease of some military officers regarding the public rhetoric they perceive to be attacking the Pakistan Army leading up to May’s general elections. Some officers call their losses in fighting al Qaeda and militant groups, including the Taliban, underappreciated, and resent accusations that the army provides only selective security to political parties. Analysts do not believe General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani plans to take over the government. They say the army’s reaction to former President Pervez Musharraf’s trial will illuminate how serious the army’s attitude is about the political climate.[16]
Militancy
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On Sunday night, two people were injured when a blast rocked Mosmiat Chowk located on University road, Karachi. In a police raid on a warehouse in Rice Godown area in Sector 89, Landhi, Karachi, security officers arrested seven militants, seized an arms cache, and disabled and seized a motorcycle laced with explosives. Rangers also conducted a number of raids on Sunday, arresting 42 people across the city. In Frontier Colony, Rangers arrested fifteen people and seized a large arms cache. They arrested seven more in Landhi and seized additional arms. Twenty more militants were arrested in Machar Colony area of Sohrab Goth and Musharraf Colony.[17]
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On Saturday, nine people were killed in various incidents of violence across Karachi. In Sarya Chowk in Liaquatabad, unknown militants opened fire at a funeral, killing two motorcyclists. Another man was killed on Natha Khan Bridge when attackers shot him on his way home from a different funeral. In a separate incident, a man was shot and killed near the Mekasa Apartment area as he was sitting outside a store. Earlier in the day, an activist for the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan (MWM) was shot and killed in Ali Basti, Old Golimar. In Liaquatabad that morning, four gunmen shot a Shia scholar and his body guard, injuring him and killing his guard. Another man was killed in New Karachi, when he was gunned down by motorcyclists at a bus stop. Additionally, a man was shot and killed on the street in Korangi. Separately, a man was beat to death outside his car in Islam Chowk in Pakistan Bazaar.[18]
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In Hangu Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, on Friday, militants detonated multiple bombs at a local school, destroying two buildings and damaging another.[19]
Polio Campaign
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On Monday, the Norwegian government representative to the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Norway will contribute $40 million in support for eradicating polio.[20]
