Pakistan Security Brief

Over 110 militants, 30 soldiers killed in Tirah operations; Supreme court rejects calls for Musharraf’s arrest; PAF forces kill eight in Orakzai; PPP, PTI, MQM call for interim interior minister to step down over bias; TTP says will not block elections in FATA, but warns against voting; Large Rangers operation in Karachi; Four die in Karachi violence; Mortar and rocket attacks injure seven in Peshawar; Two policemen, civilian killed in Quetta violence.

Tirah Valley Operation

• As of Tuesday, soldiers in the Tirah valley have killed at least 110 Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants in ongoing operations.  Over thirty soldiers have died since fighting started on Friday, and officials report that security forces have successfully liberated the town of Tut Sar, which they are now using as a check post.[1]

• On Monday, security forces and helicopters killed eight militants in an attack on the Gorak area of lower Orakzai. [2]

• On Monday night, a soldier died after militants attacked him in Bara sub-district of Khyber agency. [3]

Drone Strikes

• According to recently released, Top-Secret U.S. intelligence reports, drone strikes in Pakistan have not been limited to “senior operational leaders of al Qaida and associated forces;” rather, they have been used against numerous, groups including the Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani Network and others, some of which were not designated by the U,S, as terrorist groups at the time of strikes against them. The article reports that 43 out of the 95 strikes before September 2011 were not against al Qaeda. [4]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Tuesday, the New York Times published an article describing the initial breakdown of ties between the U.S. and Pakistan as stemming not from the Osama bin Laden raid in 2011 but from the shooting involving Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor Raymond Davis earlier that year.  During an operation in Lahore, Davis shot and killed two Pakistanis and, as he was attempting to flee, an a support vehicle coming to his rescue killed a third person.  The article explains how relations between Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the U.S. embassy, and the CIA all broke down during negotiations for his release, all of which sparked significant anti-American sentiment in the courts and the Pakistani public.  It took nearly two years for the CIA to admit Davis was affiliated with them, and that he was working against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant group linked to the ISI.  The report is based on excerpts from a new book by New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti. [5]

Domestic Politics

• On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected calls for former President General Pervez Musharraf’s arrest over pending treason allegations at the initial hearing with his lawyer.  The court adjourned the hearing until the 15th of April.[6]

• On Tuesday, leaders in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) demanded that the interim government take action against interim Interior Minister Malik Habib Khan after Khan made statements expressing his previous support for Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in an interview on Tuesday.  The PPP, PTI, and MQM demanded that Khan either step down or be fired because they claim Khan is biased, and could therefore not provide free, transparent, and fair elections.[7]

Pakistani Nuclear Perspective

• On Tuesday, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, considered to be the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons project, said he doubted that North Korea would “explode a nuclear device in its current face off with the United States and South Korea,” and went on to talk about his previous nuclear cooperation with the North Koreans.  Khan explained that he brought the missile technology North Korea used in its February 11, 2013  nuclear test to Pakistan in the early 1990’s, after over a dozen visits to the country. [8]

Militancy

• On Monday, TTP spokesperson Eshanullah Ehsan said that while the TTP would not stop people from voting in the Federally Administered Tribal Regions (FATA), they are urging people not to vote because they claim voting and democracy is “against Sharia” law.  The announcement comes amidst threats of violence and intermittent violence against political targets and activists across the country, especially those parties the TTP considers to be liberal and secular.[9]

• On Tuesday, four people died and over thirty were captured in various violent incidents and police operations in Karachi.  Unknown attackers shot and killed a man in Orangi Town, Bukhari Colony.  In two unrelated incidents, police recovered the bodies of men who had been kidnapped and killed in Nagan Chowrangi and Malir Checkpost No 5.  Police found a third body, bearing signs of torture, in Surjani Town.  Police conducted raids in Patel Para and Jehangir Road Baloch Para, Lyari, detaining over thirty suspects.  In another operation, Rangers arrested eleven terrorists and seized a weapons cache in Kati Pahari on Monday.  After police attempted to arrest armed private guards in the Defence area, the men overpowered the police and reportedly tortured four of them, including a senior police officer. [10]

• On Monday, unknown attackers fired two rockets at a cricket player’s house in Naway Killay, near Peshawar, damaging the house but causing no casualties. [11]

• On Tuesday, militants fired five mortar rounds into houses in Hayatabad Phase 6 area of Peshawar, injuring seven civilians and damaging the houses. [12]

• On Monday, militants shot and killed a deputy superintendent of Police and his guard, also a policeman, as they were driving in Nagri area, Quetta. Another man was killed in an unrelated incident when unknown gunmen shot him on Tuesday in Asadullah Goth, Quetta. [13]

• On Monday, two people died in separate incidences of violence in Punjab’s northwest district of Attock. One man was shot dead in Musa village.  Another man also died in Musa village in an attack by two gunmen. [14]