Pakistan Security Brief

TTP spokesman confirms al Qaeda commander’s death; TTP earns revenue from drug trafficking, claim U.S. officials; Security forces kill TTP Mehsud commander in Karachi; IED injures two in Bannu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; Unknown gunmen fire at FC spokesman in Quetta; Jundullah militants shoot dead polio vaccination worker in Faisalabad; TTP militants kill two policemen on polio duty in Swat Valley; Security forces recover kidnapped lawmaker from Khyber Agency; PTI chief announces day of mourning, government orders probe into December 8 incident; Pakistan-Iran Joint Economic Commission commences in Islamabad; Prime Minister Sharif approves repatriation of IDPs to North Waziristan.

Militancy

• On December 8, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Muhammad Khurasani released a statement confirming the death of al Qaeda’s operations chief for North America, Adnan Shukrijumah, in a Pakistani military raid in the Shin Warsak area of South Waziristan on December 6.[1] 

• According to a December 9 Dawn report, U.S. officials believe that there is logical evidence for the TTP’s involvement in drug trafficking along the Pak-Afghan border. The TTP allegedly earns revenue through the movement of illicit drugs produced in Afghanistan which transit through areas of TTP control in Pakistan.[2]    

• On December 8, police forces killed Firdos Khan, a commander of the TTP’s Mehsud faction, in a raid in the Manghopir area of Karachi. Police sources claim that Khan masterminded the 2007 Karachi bomb attacks on late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming convoy that killed 150 people.[3] 

• On December 9, a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) targeting a security forces’ vehicle injured at least two people in the cantonment area of Bannu district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. [4]

• On December 9, unknown gunmen opened fire on the vehicle of Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman, Balochistan Khan Wasey, in the Double Road area of Quetta. Wasey was critically injured in the firing.[5]

• On December 9, militants shot dead a polio vaccination team member in Faisalabad, Punjab province. Jundullah spokesman Ahmed Marwat claimed responsibility for the attack and declared that the group would continue to attack polio workers throughout Pakistan.[6]  

• On December 8, TTP militants killed two policemen assigned to protect a polio vaccination team in the town of Buner near the Swat Valley. TTP spokesman Mohammad Khurasani claimed responsibility for the attack through a phone call on December 9.[7]

• On December 9, security forces successfully recovered Rana Jamil Hasan, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) provincial lawmaker, from an area in Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan. Hasan was abducted on May 31, 2014 on the motorway near Sheikhupura in Punjab province.[8] 

Political Crisis

• On December 9, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan announced a day of mourning after a PTI party worker was shot dead allegedly by a PML-N worker on December 8 in Faisalabad. The incident also resulted in anti-government protests in the cities of Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta and Karachi. PNL-N leaders denied claims that the shooter was affiliated with their party. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif constituted a three-member committee to investigate the incident and ordered people involved in the incident to be immediately arrested. Meanwhile, Faisalabad police registered cases against 250 unidentified PTI workers on December 9 following the earlier clashes. Separately, PTI central information secretary Shireen Mazari declared on December 9 that the government would now have to negotiate with the PTI without any pre-conditions.[9] 

Iran-Pakistan Relations

• On December 8, a two-day Pakistan-Iran Joint Economic Commission (JEC) commenced in Islamabad with the main focus of discussing banking problems with Iran due to international sanctions. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Iranian Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance Dr. Ali Taieb Nia chaired the inaugural session. Pakistani Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told Dr. Nia on the sidelines of the JEC that Pakistan was committed to completing the vital Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project and that it would complete the project in two steps. Abbasi, however, informed Dr. Nia that despite Pakistan’s efforts, banks, international contractors and equipment suppliers were not ready to invest in the project due to international sanctions. On December 8, the two countries also resolved to continue trade on food items amidst the halting of formal trade due to sanctions. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar further declared that Pakistan supports Iran at international fora and urged the international community to open trade with Iran on humanitarian grounds. Meanwhile, hours ahead of the commencement of JEC, the Pakistani Finance Ministry informed the U.S. Treasury that Pakistan will not fully normalize economic ties with Iran until U.S. sanctions on Iran were lifted.[10]

Internally Displaced Persons

• On December 9, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the initiation of efforts to repatriate internally displaced persons (IDPs) to the tribal areas. The decision was taken at a high-level security meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sharif and attended by army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, advisors to the Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz and Tariq Fatemi and other officials. Prime Minister Sharif also said that Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan had inflicted a heavy blow to militants and appreciated the sacrifices of the Pakistan Army in the operation. [11]