Pakistan Security Brief

New TTP faction splinters over peace talks, vows more attacks; Intermediaries from TTP-nominated negotiating committee meet with Taliban shura; Negotiating teams may meet Wednesday to discuss TTP demands; Law Ministry officials question legality of peace talks; U.S. officials debate whether to authorize drone strike on U.S. citizen in Pakistan; Indian Trade Minister delays Pakistan trip; Pakistan to give Iraq aircraft, training; Anti-drone campaigner kidnapped in Rawalpindi; Pakistan to end $2.8 billion electricity subsidy; Corps Commanders’ Conference meets in Rawalpindi; Pakistan to focus on JF-17 Thunder aircraft program; Three explosions at Peshawar cinema kill 12 and injure 19; Security forces arrest militant commander in Swat; Militants attack polio vaccination team, killing one policeman and injuring another in Dera Ismail Khan; Three militants in Dera Ismail Khan killed by own bomb; Former U.S. consulate employee killed in Peshawar; IED injures six soldiers in North Waziristan; IED injures three Khasadar Force personnel in Landi Kotal; Two suspected TTP members arrested in Karachi; IED blast injures 19 Frontier Corps personnel in Balochistan.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Peace Talks

• A Monday article in SITE reported that a militant group calling itself “Ahrar-ul-Hind” and claiming to be an offshoot of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), officially split from the TTP over disagreements about the peace talks with the Pakistani government. The group posted two messages on a new Facebook account, the first stating that it seeks Sharia-based governance and the second, from the group’s leader Asad Mansour, that discussed the reasons behind the split. The group has said that while it sees the TTP’s members as its “brothers,” it vowed to continue attacks, particularly in Pakistan’s urban areas, and would not be bound by any ceasefire agreements the TTP made with the Pakistani government.[1]

• On Tuesday, Professor Muhammad Ibrahim of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Maulana Yousaf Shah, who represents the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami-Sami (JUI-S) chief, Maulana Samiul Haq, met with the Taliban shura at an undisclosed location to discuss the agenda for Wednesday’s formal meeting with the government’s mediators and address the demands of the two sides. An article in the Express Tribune reported that the two also held meetings with the Taliban Shura in North Waziristan on Saturday and Sunday. Ibrahim and Shah later briefed Maulana Samiul Haq, who told reporters that the he was hopeful about the peace talks, adding that the TTP had a very positive response to the discussions between the TTP shura leaders and the intermediaries.[2]

• According to a Tuesday article in The News, Maulana Yousuf Shah and Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Khan stated that the TTP-nominated committee is willing to travel between Islamabad and Miram Shah to engage in peace talks so long as both the government- and TTP-nominated committees agree on a roadmap for future talks. Shah also confirmed that the two teams might meet on Tuesday or Wednesday to discuss the 15-point demands delivered to the TTP-negotiating committee by the TTP’s central shura. Speaking to The News, Professor Ibrahim said that talks with the TTP shura were positive, and that the next meeting between the TTP and government-nominated committees would result in a ceasefire by both sides.[3]

• According to a Tuesday article in The News, some officials within the federal law ministry have questioned the legality of the government’s dialogue with the TTP—an officially declared terrorist organization. According to the Pakistani Constitution and section 11 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, the government is not allowed to engage in talks with an officially declared terrorist organization.[4]

• According to a Tuesday article in The News, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that the government should not insist on conditions that could sabotage the peace talks, and emphasized that both sides need to exercise patience during the talks.[5]

U.S. Drone Strikes

• According to a Tuesday article in the New York Times, the Obama administration is considering whether to authorize a drone strike against a U.S. citizen currently living in Pakistan. Previous reports that commented on the potential drone strike withheld the location of the American target, due to sensitivities within the host country regarding the use of drones. Although President Obama hopes to shift the drone program from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the Pentagon, drone strikes in Pakistan will continue to be operated by the CIA because Pakistan does not allow U.S. military operations within its borders.[6]

India-Pakistan Relations

• On Tuesday, Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma delayed his visit to Pakistan, which had been scheduled for this week. His reason for doing so was not made public.[7]

Iraq-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced that Pakistan will give Iraq Super Mushshak training aircraft, and that the Pakistan Air Force will train Iraq Air Defense Force Personnel.[8]

U.K.-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz met with the British High Commissioner in Islamabad. At the meeting, Aziz spoke of improving trade between the two countries.[9]

Domestic

• A Tuesday article in Dawn reported that Kareem Khan, an anti-drone campaigner, who was due to testify before European parliamentarians has “disappeared” from Rawalpindi. On Monday, Khan’s attorney, Mirza Shehzad Akhbar, accused Pakistan’s intelligence agencies of kidnapping Khan, whose brother and son were killed in a December 2009 drone attack. The Rawalpindi police have denied any involvement in Khan’s disappearance.[10]

• According to a Tuesday report in The News, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to release to latest tranche of the $6.7 billion loan to Pakistan when the government agreed to end a $2.8 billion subsidy to large electricity consumers in next financial year’s budget.[11]

• On Monday, high-ranking military commanders, including army chief Raheel Sharif, met in Rawalpindi for the latest Corps Commanders’ Conference where they discussed talks with the TTP, the general security situation in Pakistan, and internal army matters.[12]

• According to a Monday report in Defense News, due to a shortage of funds, Pakistan has focused its effort to modernize its air force on the JF-17 Thunder program, and delay several other programs. The JF-17 program has been funded in part by a loan from China.[13]

Militancy

• On Tuesday, three consecutive hand grenade explosions targeted the Shama Cinema in the Bacha Khan Chowk area of Peshawar, killing twelve and injuring 19. TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid denied the TTP’s involvement and condemned the attack.[14]

• On Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said that he believes that the attack in a Peshawar cinema was part of a conspiracy to derail peace talks.[15]

• On Monday, an improvised explosive device (IED) targeting a military convoy injured six soldiers in Datta Khel North Waziristan.[16]

• A Tuesday article in Dawn reported that an IED blast targeting a security convoy injured 19 Frontier Corps (Balochistan) personnel near Sibi, Balochistan. The Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.[17]

• On Monday, a former employee of the U.S. consulate in Peshawar was shot and killed in the city.[18]

• On Tuesday, militants attacked a polio immunization team, killing a policeman assigned to provide security to the team and injuring another in Dera Ismail Khan’s Purwa sub-district.[19]

• On Tuesday, a bomb detonated in Kolachi, Dera Ismail Khan district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa killing three people. The three dead were reportedly militants who were preparing a bomb when it detonated prematurely.[20]

• A Tuesday article in Dawn reported that security forces arrested 27 suspected militants and recovered arms and ammunition in Sarband area, Peshawar.[21]

• On Tuesday, a Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) in Tandro, Hangu district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa defused a bomb.[22]

• On Tuesday, authorities identified the suicide bomber that killed four at a funeral in Peshawar on Monday. According to the report, the bomber, identified as “Qadeem,” was from Khyber agency.[23]

• A Tuesday article in Dawn reported that security forces arrested a key militant commander from Matta sub-district in Swat.[24]

• On Monday, militants fired at security forces, injuring one, in the Khar Kamar area of Dathakhel sub-division.[25]

• On Monday, an IED blast injured three Khasadar Force personnel, who were escorting polio vaccination workers in the Khugakhel area of Landi Kotal. Khasadar Forces later defused a second IED in Khugakhel.[26]

• On Tuesday, an alleged suicide bomber was detained in a Jamia Manzoor Islamia in Lahore before he was able to detonate his bomb.[27]

• After Monday’s attack on a gas pipeline in Punjab, much of the southern parts of the province, including Multan, are without gas supplies.[28]

• On Tuesday, police arrested two suspected members of the TTP in Karachi.[29]