Pakistan Security Brief

TTP Mohmand agency chief claims responsibility for killing of 23 Frontier Corps Soldiers; TTP Spokesman calls on government to cease operations against militants; Various groups within the TTP contacted regarding ceasefire; Killing of 23 Frontier Corps personnel to be discussed at TTP shura; Army, security officials denounce killing of Frontier Corps soldiers; Government-nominated committee expresses inability to continue with peace talks; Professor Ibrahim states the negotiating committees have reached a deadlock following incident in Mohmand; TTP-nominated committee expresses disapproval over deadlock, says military operations would be disastrous; TTP hints at possible temporary ceasefire if government meets three demands; Prime Minister holds meeting with chief coordinator for government-nominated committee to discuss possible ceasefire; JUI-S chief addresses Peace Convention, appeals to negotiating committees to announce ceasefire;  Army major and three militants die in Darra Adam Khel clash;  Iran threatens to send troops into Pakistan to find kidnapped border guards; U.S. may use airbase in Tajikistan for Pakistan drone strikes; Afghan Taliban leader assassinated in Peshawar; U.S. resumes talks with Afghan Taliban to retrieve captured U.S. Army soldier; Pakistani President in China to secure $20 billion in investment; Blast derails train, kills eight in Sindh; Five injured in Karachi blasts; One injured in attack on Karachi television channel; Rangers capture three with al Qaeda connections in Karachi; Fifteen injured in bomb blast at Karak district school; Peshawar bomb blast kills one policeman, injures another; Gunmen in Swabi district kill one policeman, injure two; Gunmen in North Waziristan kill five; Gunmen kill soldier in South Waziristan; Six people, including two polio workers kidnapped in F.R. Tank; Gunmen kill member of Levies forces in Quetta; Musharraf makes first appearance in treason trial; Pakistani troops conduct battle exercises in Jhelum, Punjab province; Pakistan to complete a series of privatization transactions this spring.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Talks

• On Sunday, the Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) chief in Mohmand agency, Umar Khalid Khurasani, claimed responsibility for the killing of 23 Frontier Corps soldiers who were kidnapped in 2010 from the Shongari checkpost in Mohmand agency.[1]

• On Monday, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that the TTP’s Mohmand agency chapter claimed responsibility for the killing of 23 Frontier Corps soldiers on Sunday night in order to avenge the killing of 23 of their captured colleagues by security forces. Shahid also called on the government to stop its operations against the militants, which he said are obstructing peace talks.[2]

• On Tuesday, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that various groups within the TTP have been contacted regarding declaring a ceasefire. Shahid also commented that the killing of 23 Frontier Corps soldiers warranted an explanation, and said the issue will be discussed at a TTP shura. According to a Tuesday article in the Express Tribune, Shahid said that the TTP Mohmand agency killed the 23 soldiers in response to the killing of 23 TTP fighters in the government’s custody. The same article reported that the chief of the TTP Mohmand agency, Umar Khalid Khurasani, said that his faction of the TTP is eager to hold peace talks with the government.[3]

• On Monday, the army denounced the killing of 23 Frontier Corps soldiers who had been in captivity since 2010 by the TTP in Mohmand agency. The statement also deplored the attack on a police van in Karachi, which killed 13 policemen.[4]

• On Monday, security officials condemned the murder of 23 Frontier Corps soldiers and denied that security forces had killed any TTP members in their custody. One official stated that the TTP’s justification for the killing of FC forces was propaganda used to justify their acts of terror.[5]

• On Monday, President Mamnoon Hussain, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Shaukatullah, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bjutto Zardari, and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, all issued separate statements condemning the killing of 23 FC personnel.[6]

• According to a Tuesday article in Dawn, the government-nominated negotiating committee expressed its inability to continue engaging in peace talks with the TTP-nominated committee without a guarantee that the TTP will immediately cease all attacks. The committee issued the statement in response to the killing of 23 Frontier Corps soldiers in Mohmand agency, for which the TTP Mohmand chapter claimed responsibility.[7]

• On Monday, Professor Ibrahim stated that the TTP- and government-nominated negotiating committees had reached a deadlock following the killing of 23 Frontier Corps soldiers by the TTP in Mohmand agency. A meeting between the two sides originally scheduled for Monday was postponed following the Mohmand incident, causing many to fear that peace talks were failing. Additionally, sources within the Pakistani military told Dawn that the military is awaiting orders from the government to carry out an operation against the militants in North Waziristan.[8]

• On Monday, the TTP-nominated negotiating committee expressed its disapproval over the deadlock in peace negotiations and stated that a military operation against the TTP would be disastrous.[9]

• On Sunday, the TTP hinted at a possible “temporary ceasefire” that would give the government time to accept the TTP’s three initial demands: the release of all non-combatant prisoners, the withdrawal of troops from South Waziristan, and an end to arrests and extra-judicial killings of Taliban detainees.[10]

• On Sunday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a meeting with the chief coordinator of the government-nominated negotiating committee, Irfan Siddiqui and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to discuss the possibility that the TTP will agree to an unconditional ceasefire and allow peace talks to continue. A source quoted in Dawn said that the government is ready to move forward with peace talks, but the TTP will have to first demonstrate its commitment to the peace process and ensure that all militants under the TTP umbrella do not resort to violence.[11]

• On Saturday, the head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami-Sami (JUI-S) and the TTP negotiating committee’s chief, Maulana Samiul Haq, addressed representatives from various religious schools at the Mashaikh Peace Convention in Lahore appealing to both the government and the TTP to announce a ceasefire, emphasizing the importance of peace talks in ending violence in Pakistan. Samiul Haq also called on all religious and political parties to unite against any anti-state elements who sought to undermine peace talks. [12]

• On Tuesday, firing between militants and security forces killed a senior army officer, Major Jahanzaib, and three militants in Darra Adam Khel, Frontier Region Peshawar.”[13]

Iran-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said that Iran may send troops into Pakistan or Afghanistan to find border guards who were kidnapped a week ago by a militant group called Jaish al-Adl. On Tuesday, the Pakistani government pushed back and issued a statement saying that “Iranian forces have no authority” to enter Pakistan.[14]

U.S. Drone Strikes

• According to a Monday report in Dawn, the U.S. is exploring the possibility of using airbases in Central Asia, specifically Tajikistan, for launching drones into Pakistan if all U.S. troops are required to withdraw from Afghanistan.[15]

Afghan Reconciliation Process

• On Monday, unidentified gunmen in Peshawar killed Mullah Abdul Raqeeb, a former Afghan Taliban minister who was reportedly in favor of peace talks with the Afghan government.[16]

• According to a Tuesday article in Dawn, the U.S. will resume talks with the Afghan Taliban on exchanging captured U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Berghdahl for five Taliban members who would be released from Guantanamo Bay into Qatar’s custody. The Taliban captured Bergdahl in 2009 from a base in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.[17]

India-Pakistan Relations

• According to a Monday report in The Express Tribune, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that he hopes Pakistan will allow Afghanistan to have a transit route to India, allowing trade between the three countries.[18]

• On Monday, Abdul Basit was appointed Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India. He is expected to take his post on February 28.[19]

China-Pakistan Relations

• On Tuesday, President Mamnoon Hussain visited China with the purpose of signing deals worth $20 billion with the Chinese, including funding for infrastructure related to the port of Gwadar, Balochistan.[20]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Saturday, a delegation from the U.S. House Appropriation Committee assured Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that the $1.4 billion promised to Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund will be transferred to Pakistan with as few procedural hurdles as possible.[21]

Saudi-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued a joint statement reaffirming their countries’ commitment for combating extremism. This came after Prince Salman met with several high-ranking Pakistani officials.[22]

Militancy

• On Sunday, a bomb blast derailed a train in Jacobabad, Sindh, killing eight people, and injuring over 30. The attack was claimed by the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) a Baloch separatist group.[23]

• On Saturday, a grenade and bomb blast in quick succession in Orangi Town, Karachi injured five people near a police station. One of the injured was a policeman.[24]

• On Tuesday, a security guard outside the Karachi office of the Aaj TV television channel was injured in a hand grenade attack.[25]

• On Friday, a suicide blast targeted a Rangers convoy in Korangi, Karachi, but there were no casualties other than the bomber.[26]

• On Monday, a bomb blast outside a school in Dhab, Karak district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa injured 15 people.[27]

• On Sunday, a bomb blast in Peshawar killed a policeman and injured another. They were reportedly guarding a polio team.[28]

• On Monday, a bomb blast injured one security guard at a Peshawar hotel.[29]

• On Saturday, a bomb blast at a Shia congregation hall in Peshawar left one person injured.[30]

• On Saturday, a bomb blast damaged a school in Tora Warai, Hangu district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. One security guard was injured in the explosion.[31]

• On Thursday, unidentified gunmen in Malikabad, Swabi district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa killed a policeman and injured two others.[32]

• On Saturday, unidentified gunmen injured a Special Branch official in Merzai, Charsadda district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[33]

• On Friday, unidentified militants damaged a shrine in Mardan district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[34]

• On Monday, police in Kurrum Par, Lakki Marwat district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa arrested a suspected militant.[35]

• On Saturday, unidentified gunmen in Datta Khel, North Waziristan agency killed five people.[36]

• On Tuesday, unidentified gunmen killed a soldier at a checkpost in Ladha, South Waziristan agency.[37]

• On Monday, unidentified gunmen kidnapped six people, including two polio workers belonging to the World Health Organization (WHO) and three Khasadar security personnel from Peeng, Frontier Region Tank.[38]

• On Sunday, unidentified gunmen killed a member of the Levies Force at a checkpost in Quetta.[39]

• On Tuesday, five small improvised explosive devices (IED) went off in several parts of Hyderabad. There were no causualties.[40]

• On Tuesday, unknown gunmen fired on a vehicle used by the French aid organization, ACTED, injuring the driver near Jarma, Kohat district.[41]

Domestic

• On Tuesday, former President Pervez Musharraf appeared in court for the first time to face charges of treason. Following the hearing, Musharraf returned to the Armed Forces Institute for Cardiology, where he was admitted in January for heart trouble. The special court adjourned its hearing until February 21st. Musharraf was not indicted at this hearing.[42]

• According to a Monday article in Geo News, troops from Gujranwala and Sialkot formations, armor, infantry, artillery units and aviation components of the Pakistan Air Force conducted firing and battle exercises near Jhelum, Punjab province.[43]

• According to a Tuesday article in The Wall Street Journal, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan plans to complete a series of privatization transactions this spring, which would raise foreign exchange reserves. The government is also estimating it will receive as much as $5 billion by auctioning off third- and fourth-generation mobile phone licenses. The government is also planning to restructure Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), splitting PIA into two companies that would allow the “new” PIA to hold lucrative landing rights and new aircraft while a holding group would retain some 250 billion rupees in debt from the “old” PIA.[44]