Pakistan Security Brief

Pakistani Taliban groups clash in South Waziristan; Police search operation in Peshawar leaves two security personnel and three militants dead; Pakistani Senate leader discusses strong Iranian-Pakistani ties in address to Iranian parliament; President Zardari voices concerns about Rohingya Muslim killings to Burmese president; Prime Minister Ashraf says Pakistan Peoples Party committed to free, fair, and transparent elections; Pakistan aircraft crash lands in Umarzai Tangi. 

Militancy

• Members of the Pakistani Taliban Maulvi Nazir group and the Ghulam Jan Taliban group clashed at Akhwan Market in Wana’s Rustham Bazar in South Waziristan on Monday, resulting in the death of one member of the Ghulam Jan group. The Maulvi Nazir group also abducted four members of the Ghulam Jan group as they fled toward Azam Warsak and detained them in a private jail. The action prompted a member of the Ghulam Jan Group to throw a grenade at members of the Maulvi Nazir group, killing himself and two militants of the rival group. Although the Maulvi Nazir Taliban group expelled the Ghulam Jan group from Wana in 2007, the group eventually came back to Wana after signing a “secret deal” with its rival.[1]

• Four people were killed in separate incidents of violence in Karachi on Monday. Two armed men associated with the banned People’s Amn Committee (PAC) killed two members belonging to the Lashari gang in Jehanabad, and two assailants riding a motorcycle killed an official of the Anti-Extremism Cell of the Crime Investigation Department in Lyari. Meanwhile, police found a body in North Nazimabad.[2]

• Three militants and two security personnel were killed during a search operation at R.A. Bazar and State Life Chowk in Peshawar Cantonment on Monday. Police in Peshawar initiated the search operation after the three militants escaped from the custody of security forces late Sunday.[3]

• Security forces in Khyber agency accidently hit a house in the Arjali Naday area of Shalobar with a stray artillery shell on Monday, injuring six people, according to a local tribesman.[4]

International Relations

• Addressing Iranian parliament on Sunday, Pakistani Senate Chair Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari discussed Pakistan’s “already strong” ties with Iran and their unique relationship based on a “convergence of views on bilateral, regional and international issues.” He noted Pakistan’s support for multilateral institutions and organizations as an avenue for resolving today’s complex problems, and spoke of the bond between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who have visited each other’s country on multiple occasions. Bukhari also highlighted bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, energy, and security, pointing out progress on the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project and Iran’s supply of additional electricity to Pakistan.[5]

• On Monday, President Zardari wrote a letter to Burma’s president expressing his concern over recent attacks carried out against Burma’s Rohingya Muslims and calling on the government to quicken the process of aiding the Muslim community. In his letter, Zardari observed the importance of peaceful coexistence among different communities to the country’s democratic transition.[6]  

• Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) dismissed a British Home Department report assigning blame to Pakistani officials for issuing fake passports and visas to “potential terrorists” seeking to enter the U.K. The British Home Department called Pakistan’s system for reading travel documents inefficient, to which FIA officials responded that the British system was faulty. This latest exchange followed a report by the U.K.-based tabloid The Sun claiming that a Pakistan-based crime ring was issuing fake documents to Pakistanis posing as members of the Pakistani Olympic delegation to London. Pakistan has denied charges that its passport office had any role in the crime ring, and has launched an investigation into the matter.[7] 

• Members of the Pakistani mango industry stated on Monday that Pakistani exporters were stopping mango exports to the U.S. due to U.S. irradiation restrictions that had made exports cost ineffective. The statement followed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s efforts in 2010 to increase Pakistan’s mango exports as an avenue for easing its growing anti-Americanism, a move dubbed “mango diplomacy.” The end of exports comes despite a Pakistani official claiming that U.S. aid has helped modernize Pakistan’s mango production and increased its exports.[8]

Domestic Politics

• Speaking to journalists on Monday, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was committed to holding free, fair, and transparent elections. He added that the appointment of a Chief Election Commissioner would ensure more transparent elections and called upon the media to play a more effective role given the country’s present political situation.[9]

• On Monday, a Pakistan Air Force Mushshak aircraft crash landed in Ghari Saifullah in Umarzai Tangi. According to a Charsadda district police officer, the crash was due to a technical fault. No casualties were reported.[10]