Pakistan Security Brief

Davis ordered to stay in Pakistani custody; Concerns over Pakistani nuclear arsenal; Zardari meeting with U.S. congressional delegation; Petraeus and Kayani meet; Policeman killed in Peshawar; Decreasing troop levels in Swat; 21 militants dead in Mohmand shelling; Militants’ shura warns against kidnapping; IDPs protest against NGOs; Qadri’s indictment delayed; Pakistani teenager jailed for blasphemy; NATO tanker attacked in Mastung; 5,000 Baloch youth to be inducted into Army; Former Indian Army official arrested; Two killed in Kashmir.

US-Pakistani Relations

• The Lahore High Court has prohibited the government from releasing Raymond Davis, the U.S. diplomat accused of killing two men in Lahore last week. U.S. officials claim that Davis possesses diplomatic immunity as a member of the embassy staff, but the Pakistan government has yet to make their own determination over whether Davis has diplomatic immunity or not. Lahore chief justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry said, “I am restraining him [from being handed over to US authorities]. Whether he has or does not have [diplomatic] immunity will be decided by the court." Pakistani officials have said that Mr. Davis may have been a private security contractor employed by the U.S. government in Pakistan.[i]

• New American intelligence assessments have confirmed Pakistan’s expansion of its nuclear weapons arsenal, and concluded that it may take over Britain as the fifth-largest nuclear weapons power. A report by The New York Times highlights concerns of the U.S., namely that weapons-usable fuel, which is stored in laboratories, is more susceptible to theft by insiders within Pakistan’s nuclear program. The article also points to U.S. unease over the increased production of plutonium, which could be used to produce a new class of plutonium bombs and an expanded weapons arsenal.[ii]

• In a meeting with a U.S. congressional delegation on Monday, President Zardari highlighted the need for U.S. economic support to Pakistan. He said, “We need preferential market access to support our economy from the dire impacts of ongoing struggle against militancy, on one hand, and to rehabilitate and reconstruct damaged infrastructure due to devastating floods, on the other.” He also reaffirmed his intentions to support capacity building in Afghanistan and bringing stability to the country. On the topic of Raymond Davis, Zardari declared that the matter was already before the Pakistani courts and that the legal process should be respected.[iii]

• A meeting was conducted between General David Petraeus and the Pakistani Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Monday. According to GEO, they spoke on “matters of professional interest.”[iv]

Violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

• Following a suicide blast in Peshawar that resulted in the deaths of four people, a second attack killed a policeman hours later on Monday. A bomb hit the police vehicle on patrol in Peshawar, killing one and injuring three others.[v]

• The Pakistan Army has begun decreasing its troop levels in Swat, with the goal of transferring security to civil-law enforcement agencies by April. Security officials said that the districts of Shangla and Buner would serve as pilot projects for a gradual transfer of responsibility and, if successful, the same model would be utilized in other areas of Swat and Malakand. The full transfer of responsibility may take up to two years.[vi]

FATA

On Monday, Pakistani helicopters shelled insurgent hideouts in Mohmand Agency, resulting in the deaths of twenty-one militants. At least thirty others were injured in the attacks.[vii]

• On Monday, a council of militants in North Waziristan distributed leaflets warning citizens in Miram Shah town that anyone involved in kidnapping or car robbery would be punished and his house torched. The leaflets also pledged monetary compensation for those who notify the militants’ shura about alleged crimes.[viii]

• On Sunday, internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Bajaur Agency demonstrated against nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for their non-provision of food packages over the last two months. The demonstrators pleaded for the termination of the food distribution contract of the two NGOs and said the World Food Program (WFP) should directly offer aid to the affected people.[ix]

Governor Taseer’s Assassination and Fallout

• A court on Tuesday delayed the indictment of Mumtaz Qadri, the bodyguard who assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer in January. Qadri’s lawyer told AFP thatthe indictment could not take place on the date intended because the prosecution had not yet provided the defense with six police statements. The next hearing has been moved to February 4.[x]

• In the midst of street demonstrations protesting against reforms to the blasphemy laws, a Pakistani teenager was arrested for allegedly writing insulting comments about the prophet Mohammed in a school exam. The controversial laws declare that whoever tarnishes the name of the prophet shall be subjected to the death penalty or life imprisonment. It has not yet been revealed what the student wrote in his exam in violation of the laws.[xi]

Attack in Balochistan

• A NATO tanker was attacked in Mastung on Tuesday by unidentified militants. The vehicle was carrying fuel from Karachi to Afghanistan for International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF). The driver died shortly after sustaining bullet wounds, and another was injured in the incident.[xii]

• Major General Tariq Javed announced on Monday that 5,000 Baloch youths from across the province would be inducted into the Army in March. He also mentioned recent actions taken by the Army to facilitate development in Balochistan, including the reconstruction of health and education institutions in flood-stricken areas of Balochistan.[xiii]

Indo-Pakistani Relations

• A former Indian Army official, S S Guleria, was arrested on Monday by Himachal Pradesh Police for allegedly working for Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. He has been accused of providing the ISI with intelligence about the Indian security forces. The arrest follows the seizure of Bhagwan Dass on January 27, another ex-serviceman who was also believed to be forwarding information to the ISI.[xiv]

• Officials in Indian-administered Kashmir have charged separatist militants with killing two sisters in Sopore. The militants allegedly kidnapped and killed the girls because of suspicions that they were providing information to Indian security forces. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.[xv]