Pakistan Security Brief

India condemns Hagel speech accusing India of supporting terrorists against Pakistan; Pakistani ambassador says drone strikes ineffective, violate Pakistan’s sovereignty; Pakistan’s Defence Secretary says U.S. did not get permission to build base in Karachi; U.S. military to take over some drone strikes, no change in Pakistan; Pakistani Defense Secretary says army and ISI not involved in elections; Supreme Court resumes hearing on Quetta bombing; Several killed in Karachi; Journalist shot in North Waziristan, TTP denies involvement; Two AI fighters killed in Tirah Valley; President Zardari to visit Iran.

Defense Secretary Hagel Speech

• The Indian embassy in Washington responded late on Monday to a video released of newly-confirmed U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s 2011 speech at the University of Oklahoma, where he accused India of having a longstanding history of “sponsor[ing] terrorist activities against Pakistan in Afghanistan.”  The Indian spokesperson called Hagel’s remarks “unfounded in reality,” and went on to refute the claim, saying: “Our opposition to terrorism and its safe havens in our neighborhood is firm and unshakeable.”[1]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• Pakistan’s Defense Secretary Lt. Gen. Asif Yaseen Malik refuted a news report published by Dawn on Tuesday which stated that the U.S. had been granted permission to build a Tactical Command and Operations Centre to exchange information about drug smuggling in and around Karachi.[2]

Drone Strikes

• Despite Tuesday’s announcement by White House officials that the Obama administration is shifting control of some drone strikes from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the military, officials confirmed that drone strikes in Pakistan will remain under the control and supervision of the CIA.  Officials estimate that the CIA has conducted nearly 350 strikes in Pakistan since 2004.[3]

• On Tuesday, Pakistan’s ambassador to the U. S. Sherry Rehman said that drone attacks breach Pakistan’s sovereignty and violate international law. She explained that drones are counterproductive, stating that they create more terrorists than they destroy. Rehman stated that The U.S. and Pakistan “may have won the war together, but we lost the peace.” The ambassador, while speaking at the Atlantic Council, stated that the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. will not end with the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and that the sustainable relationship between the two countries must be based on trade. Rehman also denied that the Pakistani government and military have different views on the future of Afghanistan stating that the government and military are working together to bring about change.[4]

Army in Politics

• In a briefing to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defence on Wednesday, Pakistani Secretary of Defense Asif Yasin Malik stated that the army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) will play no role in Pakistan’s upcoming elections.  He clarified that the only effect the army and ISI will have will be increasing security at sensitive polling locations to ensure fair and free voting.[5]

Pakistan-Iran Relations

• President Asif Ali Zardari left for a two day diplomatic visit to Tehran on Wednesday, where he will reportedly work with officials in the Iranian administration to finalize coordination on bilateral issues and cooperation on “mega projects” currently under consideration between the two nations.  Two of the larger projects up for discussion are the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, and the proposed Iranian oil refinery in Gwadar, which would include a deal to import liquid natural gas at a lesser cost. [6]

Quetta Bombing

• On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court resumed the hearing on the Quetta bombing which killed around 90 people on February 16. The court rejected a report submitted by Advocate General of Balochistan Azam Khan Khattak on precautions taken to prevent another attack and targeted operations conducted to bring the attackers to justice. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that “Killing suspects may not solve the problem,” the police needs to arrest the culprits and bring them to trial to solve the core issues. Nasir Ali Shah, a Pakistan People’s Party National Assembly Member, stated that action taken by the provincial authorities may lead to an increase in sectarian violence.[7]

Militancy

• In Karachi, several people were killed in various firing incidents across the city on Wednesday. Unidentified assailants killed four men in Surjani, Nagan Chowrangi, Delhi Colony, and the northern part of Karachi respectively. A member of the Sunni Tehreek and an Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah (ASWJ) activist were killed near Preedy Street. In response, ASWJ staged a protest outside the apex court’s Karachi registry building. Unidentified assailants shot and killed three people in Orangi Town.  A gunshot victim was found in Soldier Bazaar and another in Saeedabad. Unidentified assailants shot and injured a Pakistan navy commander near the Karachi port and two other people were injured from different firing incidents in Sohrab Goth and the docks area. A grenade exploded in Saddar, no injuries were sustained.[8]

• Malik Mumtaz, a prominent Pakistani journalist who was recently reporting on violence against polio vaccination teams in northwest Pakistan, was shot and killed by unidentified assailants in Miram Shah, North Waziristan agency. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan denied TTP involvement in the attack. [9]

• On Tuesday, Minister of State for the Interior Imtiaz Safdar Warraich said that the TTP and “foreign hands” are responsible for the volatile security situation in Karachi.  He went on to say that terrorists who were defeated in Swat are hiding out in Karachi now, and that the majority of explosives used in Karachi terror attacks are manufactured locally.[10]

• Two Ansural Islam (AI) fighters were killed in separate incidents in the Maidan area of the Tirah valley, Khyber agency on Tuesday. AI deputy chief, Islam Gul, was killed when he was trying to defuse a land mine planted by the TTP. Another AI fighter was killed by a TTP sniper in Dreystani.[11]

• On Tuesday, unidentified assailants threw three hand grenades inside a house in Babu Tang Killay, Hangu Province. No one was injured in the attack.[12]