Pakistan Security Brief

Reports of an unprecedented wave of extortions and kidnappings by militants in the months leading up to the start of the North Waziristan Offensive; Former Prime Minister Gilani claims former army chief Kayani was a roadblock to North Waziristan operation; DG of Inter-Services Public Relations announces North Waziristan tribesmen and state will not let militants return to region; more than 800,000 people registered as IDPs from North Waziristan; 375,000 children from North Waziristan being inoculated against polio at checkpoints; U.S. refuses to strike bilateral LNG supply agreement with Pakistan; Pakistan re-emphasizes that Kashmir remains disputed territory after  India suggests that UN observers on Kashmir leave.

North Waziristan Operation

• Dawn reported on July 11 that militants including the Pakistani Taliban executed an “unprecedented” wave of extortion and kidnapping in the months before the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan in order to finance future militant activities.  Militants reportedly threatened wealthy individuals with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) outside their homes if they did not give in to extortion demands.  Extortion demands in Peshawar allegedly increased fivefold since the start of the year. The crime wave happened simultaneously with peace talks between the Pakistani government and militants.[1]

• On July 11, Former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani claimed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) did not launch an operation into North Waziristan while the PPP controlled the government because former army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani wanted the decision to be his   “alone.”[2]

• The News reported that Director General of the Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Bajwa announced on July 10 that neither North Waziristani tribesmen nor the government would allow militants to re-enter North Waziristan. On July 9, Zafarullah Khan, the General Officer Commanding of the Pakistan Army’s 7th Infantry Division said that 250 military checkpoints were set up to intercept militant movement out of North Waziristan.[3]

• The Associated Press reported on July 10 that in a telephone interview, Pakistani Taliban commander Gilaman Mehsood disputed the Pakistani military’s casualty figures, claiming that most Pakistani Taliban fighters had fled to the Afghan border.[4]

Internally Displaced Persons

• Dawn reported on July 11 that the Pakistan government has inoculated more than 375,000 children from North Waziristan against polio at nine vaccination checkpoints in Hangu, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Bannu and Karak districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Frontier Region Bannu and Kurram Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.[5] 

• Pakistan’s Foreign Office reiterated on July 10 that Pakistan has not asked for any foreign assistance in dealing with IDPs and called the rehabilitation of IDPs “an internal matter.”  The Foreign Office also said that Pakistan’s and India’s foreign secretaries plan to meet in the near future.[6]

• According to the FATA Diaster Management Authority (FDMA), more than 800,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have fled North Waziristan Agency since the beginning of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. FDMA Director General Arshad Khan told AFP that 833,274 have been registered in the cities of Bannu and Peshawar up to the night of July 8.[7]

International Affairs

• On July 11, the Express Tribune reported that the U.S. has refused to strike a bilateral liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply agreement with Pakistan, instead suggesting that Pakistan reach a deal with Qatar for imports of natural gas.  A deal with Qatar would reportedly prove much more expensive for Pakistan, at approximately $19 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) versus the $12-13 mmbtu price the U.S. is offering India.  According to experts, Pakistan can afford a price of $13-15 mmbtu and could reach a deal with private U.S. companies such as ConocoPhillips.[8]

• Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on July 10 that Kashmir remains a disputed territory even after India suggested that the United Nations Military Observer Group (UNMOGIP) in New Delhi leave its office.  Pakistani officials said the country will continue to dispute India’s claims that Kashmir’s accession to India.[9]

• On July 10, the U.S. announced that it has no evidence to suggest that nuclear materials found in Iraq came from Pakistan.[10]