Pakistan Security Brief

Pakistan Security Brief August 23, 2010

Pakistan has received more than $800 million in flood aid so far; flooding continues to sweep south; Pakistani security officials admit that Afghan Taliban commander Baradar was captured to disrupt peace talks; suicide bomber attacks mosque in South Waziristan; U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan kills six militants.

Floods

• Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced on Sunday that Pakistan has so far received a total of nearly $815 million in commitments and pledges for flood relief. The UN says that it has received almost 70% of its target number of $459 million. A spokesman from the U.S. State Department said that the more than $150 million donated by the U.S. for flood relief assistance will be managed by the government of Pakistan according to “what Pakistan feels is its most significant needs.” The International Monetary Fund is set to conduct a review of Pakistan’s budget and financial prospects beginning on Monday, noting that the flooding poses “a major economic challenge” to the country.[1]

• Flood waters continue to sweep through southern Pakistan as tens of thousands of people began fleeing Shahadkot and its surrounding areas on Sunday after hastily erected flood barriers were breached. New waves of flooding also swept into Balochistan following Sunday’s breach of the Tori dyke while several towns in Jaffarabad district are already reportedly underwater. Meanwhile, authorities said that there was no threat to Hyderabad after the city’s embankments were strengthened over the weekend and that the flooding throughout the country is expected to recede in the next few days.[2]

• On Friday, NATO announced that it will provide ships and aircraft to Pakistan in order to transport necessary aid supplies. UN officials in Pakistan have said that the humanitarian situation in the country is critical as tens of thousands of people being displaced every day. The World Food Program says it is in urgent need of helicopters to deliver food and other supplies to the six million flood victims who are still cut off from relief centers, of which only 1.2 million have received aid so far.[3]

Baradar Arrest

• In a New York Times report, a Pakistani security official is quoted as saying that the ISI “used” the CIA to help them capture top Taliban commander Abdul Ghani Baradar in order to shut down secret peace negotiations between Baradar and the Afghan government. The statements would confirm months of speculation about Pakistan’s potential ulterior motives regarding Baradar’s arrest, with one Pakistani security official quoted as saying that “we picked up Baradar and the others because they were trying to make a deal without us. We protect the Taliban. They are dependent on us. We are not going to allow them to make a deal with Karzai and the Indians.” A NATO official responded to the reports confirming Pakistan’s intentions, saying that it was “absolutely plausible.”[4]

FATA

• A suicide bombing at a mosque in South Waziristan’s main town of Wana has left at least 20 people dead and more than 40 others wounded. The suspected target of the attack was Maulana Noor Mohammed, an influential cleric and member of the JUI-F who previously acted as a negotiator between the Taliban and the Pakistani government. The bomber struck as Mohammed, who was later confirmed to have been among those killed in the bombing, was greeting people at the mosque following morning prayers.[5]

• A suspected U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan killed six militants on Saturday. Missiles reportedly struck two vehicles in the village of Anghar Kala near Miramshah. Officials say that foreign militants may have been among those killed.[6]

• On Saturday, six people were killed and five more wounded when a remote controlled bomb detonated at a checkpoint in Mohmand Agency. Among the dead were one policeman and four members of an anti-Taliban tribal militia who were manning the checkpoint.[7]

• A bomb blast at a meeting of tribal elders at a school in Kurram Agency has left at least seven people dead. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.[8]

• Two militants were killed during an exchange of fire between security forces and Taliban fighters in Orakzai Agency on Sunday. The clashes erupted while security forces were conducting search operations in the Utmankhel area of Lower Orakzai. On Friday, one soldier and eight militants were killed during a militant attack on a security forces’ outpost in the Tapo Kalley area. A search operation was subsequently launched in the Mamuzai area of Orakzai and the Chinarek area of Kurram Agency, resulting in the seizure of landmines, rockets, and other ammunition. Shelling from helicopter gunships also destroyed two Taliban hideouts, killing five militants and wounding eight others.[9]

• The bodies of two men who were shot to death by the Taliban on suspicion of being U.S. spies were discovered in North Waziristan on Saturday. The victims’ bodies, which were dumped in a main bazaar in Razmak division, were accompanied with a note warning that others who spy for America will meet the same fate.[10]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• The leader of an anti-Taliban militia and two of his aides were killed in a roadside bomb blast in Peshawar. The explosion occurred as the men were passing through a market in the village of Matni. Several other people were also reported wounded in the attack.[11]

Karachi

• Two people, including the brother of an ANP lawmaker, were been gunned down in the Sachal area of Karachi on Monday. Several shops and offices have also been set on fire as riots and shooting incidents continue to be reported in several areas throughout the city. Three people were also killed in separate shootings in Orangi Town on Saturday, sparking off arson attacks in the area which destroyed two vehicles. On Sunday, police arrested 35 people in Orangi Town following a rally protesting the poor law and order situation in the city.[12]

• On Friday, the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sindh police claim to have arrested two more members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in connection with the murder of top MQM politician Raza Haider. According to CID officials, the suspects were part of a team sent to assassinate Haider and have confessed to being behind several other sectarian killings.[13]