Pakistan Security Brief

Abbottabad Commission reveals understanding between U.S. and Pakistan on drone strikes, report stolen from Prime Minister’s office; President Zardari’s Chief of Security killed in Karachi blast; Militant commander killed in Mastung district; PTI announces changes in party leadership Pakistan security forces reluctant to engage in dialogue with TTP; Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs fears Afghan Taliban resurgence; Federal government identifies secret detention facilities; Interior Minister informs BNP-M delegation the government is committed to peace in Balochistan; PM Sharif vows to eliminate terrorism in meeting with FATA delegates; Chief of Army Staff; General Kayani chairs Corps Commanders Conference; Sardar Bahadur Khan University re-opens in Quetta after LeJ attack; Finance Minister Ishaq Dar requests additional loans, IMF wants consensus from provinces; Richard Armitage claims Pakistan can stop drone strikes; Power tariffs to increase; Ramadan subsidies in effect; Police considered most corrupt institution in Pakistan.

Abbottabad Commission

• According to the recently leaked Abbottabad Commission report, Pakistan and the U.S. had reached a tacit understanding on drone strikes within the FATA regions in 2011, an Express Tribune report claimed on Tuesday. Former Inter-Services Intelligence Agency director Ahmed Pasha noted that, “there was a political understanding” behind the strikes, and that the strikes did have their uses. Pasha also stated, “The Americans had been asked to stop such [drone] attacks on a number of occasions, but it was easier to say ‘no’ to them in the beginning” than later.”[1] 

• While the Abbottabad Commission report terms Osama bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan to be a “collective failure,” in all parts of the government, it focuses extensively on the military and intelligence shortfalls, according to a Wednesday Dawn report. According to the report, “the failure was primarily an intelligence-security failure that was rooted in political irresponsibility and military exercise of authority and influence in policy and administrative areas for which it neither had constitutional or legal authority.” The leak of the report, and the blame of military and intelligence agencies, comes at a time when the new Nawaz Sharif-led government is still attempting to establish civilian control and coordination over the security and intelligence apparatuses in Pakistan.[2]

• The Abbottabad Commission report suggests that the U.S. may have established an extensive network of agents and informants prior to the raid on bin Laden’s compound in May 2011.  The Commission blames poor relations between the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for an influx of CIA personnel to the region.[3]

•  According to a Wednesday Express Tribune report, the 336-page Abbottabad Commission report released by al Jazeera on Monday is not the full copy of the report. An unnamed senior Pakistani official claims that a second volume excluded from the leak contains 100 more recommendations to Pakistan’s government, and is of an undisclosed length. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah has called for a full investigation into the leak of the report.  An unidentified source told the press that an original copy of the document is missing from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. [4]

 India-Pakistan Relations

• According to Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday, Pakistan is seeking a normalization of trade relations with India. Aziz declared that Pakistan has “fulfilled” its commitment and is waiting on India. Aziz noted that September’s expected meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could improve relations.[5]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• According to former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in an interview on Tuesday, Pakistan can stop U.S. drone strikes within the FATA if it wants to. Armitage stated that while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other officials condemn drone strikes as a violation of its sovereignty, government officials have made no substantive steps to solve the issue.[6]      

Domestic Politics

• The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced major changes to its party leadership on Tuesday, vacating Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak from his post of party secretary general, and removing its Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser from the post of provincial president. The presidents of south region and Peshawar region have also been asked to quit their party positions. However, soon after the announcement, party chairman Imran Khan declared that the vacancies were “recommendations” which will be reviewed by the party’s central executive committee before a decision is reached. The move is an attempt to keep the party's offices separate from official government positions.[7]  

• The Sindh government added nine more ministers on Tuesday, all from the PPP. The PPP-led government had been awaiting a decision on whether to form a coalition with the Muttahida Quami Movement, which fell through after an MQM referendum rejected joining the PPP government.[8]

Militancy

• The chief security officer of President Asif Ali Zardari, Bilal Sheikh, was killed when a suicide attacker walked up to his vehicle and detonated his vest on Monday in New Town, Karachi. Two others were also killed in the attack, while eleven people, including six police officers, were wounded. Sheikh was reportedly a close aide to Zardari as well, and responsible for the security of his son. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.[9]   

• Security officials conducted an operation in Mastung district, Balochistan province, on Wednesday that killed the alleged commander of an unnamed sectarian militant organization.  In addition, the operation detained two militants and recovered a large amount of munitions.[10]

• In the wake of Afghan peace talks with the Taliban, civilian politicians – including PTI leader Imran Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – are increasing pressure on Pakistani security forces to negotiate with the TTP; any arrangement without the military’s commitment and compliance will likely lack enforceability and credibility.  In a speech on April 30th, just prior to elections, Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani indicated he had no interest in negotiating with the militants until they put down their weapons.  Kayani is expected to participate in the forthcoming All Parties Conference (APC) later this month, during which the country’s primary stakeholders will develop a new national security policy. Residents of Swat valley reportedly support Kayani’s decision to forestall talks with the Taliban. [11]

• Foreign Office Special Secretary Noor Muhammad Jardan informed a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs (SSCFA) on Tuesday that Pakistan has played a valuable role in facilitating dialogue in the Afghan peace process.  Citing anti-Pakistan sentiment among Afghan nationals, SSCFA Chairman Hajj Muhammad Adeel warned the Foreign Office that if the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, it would not eliminate Pakistan’s own militancy problems.[12]

• On Tuesday, the federal government provided the Supreme Court with a list of secret detention facilities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the FATA and a separate list of the facility managers. The five major facilities exist in Malakand district, Palthom and Fizagat in Swat district, Lakki Marwat district, Kohat district, with additional facilities at Frontier Corps forts in Chitral, Drosh, Mirkhani and Timergara.  The government also confirmed there were currently 516 people imprisoned in the facilities.  This revelation comes amid increasing human rights and legal scrutiny over a pattern of disappearances.[13]

• On Tuesday, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa minister of information Shaukat Ali Yousafzai announced that the provincial police system will be reformed, focusing specifically on an end to unwarranted arrests, and on strengthening the intelligence wing of the police.[14]  

• Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shaukatullah Khan met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday in Islamabad. The two reportedly discussed national security, and the law and order situation in the province.[15]

• Two bombs planted at the Shah Mansoor Madrassa in Swabi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were defused on Tuesday by a bomb disposal unit.[16] 

• According to officials at a Balochistan roundtable discussion on violence, foreign intervention from both western and neighboring countries is the root of violence within Balochistan. According to the former chief minister of Balochistan, Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani, international powers are invested in the oil, gas and gold reserves in Balochistan, while Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal claimed that resources supplied by the U.S. and NATO are being seized and used by Balochstan-based militants to continue the sectarian militancy in Quetta.[17]

•  Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan informed a delegation of the BNP-M in Islamabad on Tuesday that the government was committed to restoring peace in Balochistan.  BNP-M Chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal criticized the perceived discrimination and unlawful activities conducted against his party by unspecified entities in the last decade.[18]

• During a meeting with FATA members of Parliament on Wednesday about the new national security policy, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to eliminate terrorism.[19]

• Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani led the 162nd Corps Commanders Conference in Rawalpindi, Punjab province, on Tuesday, during which attendees reviewed domestic and international security concerns. The conference also addressed the recently leaked Abbottabad Commission report.[20]

• Sardar Bahadur Khan University in Quetta re-opened on Wednesday, more than three weeks after Lashkar-e-Jhangvi killed 14 women in a suicide operation targeting against a bus full of students.  School officials have increased security measures on campus, including installing gates and cameras, but some students have appealed to the Vice Chancellor for additional, unspecified security precautions.[21]

• Rocket attacks by unidentified militants injured 21 people on Tuesday in Lyari, Karachi.[22]

• Police detained an alleged assassin on Wednesday in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town, Karachi.  The suspect, Nadeem Bihari, belongs to an unspecified political party and stands accused of murdering activists of rival political organizations.[23]

• Two men were shot and killed on Tuesday in Karachi. One was gunned down in Sector 9-A of Musharraf Colony, while the other was shot by unknown men in Orangi town.[24] 

•  Four people died in three separate incidents on Wednesday in Karachi.  Unidentified gunmen killed one man in Baldia Town.  Separately, a bullet-ridden body was found in the Mithadar area.  Finally, the bodies of two torture victims were found in Malir Cantonment.[25]

• Unidentified militants launched two rockets at the Rakhshan Nadi area of Panjgur district, Balochistan province; there were no casualties.[26]

• Outlaws abducted nine police officials on Saturday night in the vicinity of Rajanpur, Rajanpur district, Punjab province.   On Tuesday, the kidnappers killed one of the policemen.[27]

• Five outlaws attacked the son of former provincial assembly member Mehdi Hassan Bhatti when he tried to evade being robbed at a makeshift checkpoint in Hafizabad, Punjab province on Monday night; the vehicle sustained damage but there were no casualties.[28]

• According to a Transparency International public survey of 1,000 respondents released on Tuesday, Pakistan’s police department and public officials are deemed to be the most corrupt public servants in the country, with political parties and parliament following closely behind. Religious groups were considered least corrupt. According to the Chairman of Transparency International, “Pakistan was at number 34 out of 180 in the list of most corrupt nations.[29]”

 Economy 

• At a Tuesday meeting with the 16 heads of European missions, including the head of the EU delegation to Pakistan Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar urged attendees to use their influence to increase the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to Pakistan, which currently stands at a $5.3 billion offer. Dar is reportedly hoping for a $7.3 billion loan.[30] 

•  Amidst a continuing electricity crisis, the government has asked the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority to increase power tariffs by Rs 5 (5 cents) per unit. The move will reportedly bring in Rs 600 billion ($6 billion) in revenue.[31]

• On Tuesday, the government released a Rs 2 billion ($ 20 million) subsidy for Ramadan relief. Reportedly, 1,500 items will be subsidized in utility and grocery stores throughout the country.[32]  

• The IMF revealed on Wednesday that it will require the consensus of the federal government and the provinces on matters of financial discipline before it will approve a $5.3 billion loan package; opposition-led governments in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces are expected to oppose these measures.[33]