Pakistan Security Brief

At least 20 dead in Mumbai bombings; Pakistan may release doctor who helped CIA find Bin Laden; PM Gilani concerned about U.S. aid cut; CIA vaccination ruse could hurt “legitimate immunization programs”; Kayani stresses tribal responsibility for Mohmand security; Fourteen more dead in Karachi targeted killings; Chaman blast kills four; Commission to investigate Bugti death; Kashmiris request role in India-Pakistan talks.

Mumbai Blasts

• On Wednesday morning, three blasts occurred in crowed areas of Mumbai within a fifteen minute period, killing 21 and injuring over a hundred. The attacks come two weeks before the next round of talks between India and Pakistan. No one has taken responsibility for the attacks and the Indian government’s investigation of the attacks is ongoing, but Mumbai police have said the attack could have been perpetrated by the Indian Mujahideen (IM,) a terrorist group linked to the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT.) The attacks took place on the birthday of Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunmen from LeT’s 2008 attack in Mumbai which killed 166 people.[i]

U.S. Pakistan Relations

• The Guardian reports Pakistan may release Dr. Shakil Afridi, who is suspected of running a “fake” vaccination program to help the CIA identify Osama Bin Laden and his family. Pakistan has reportedly “softened” their position on the case upon learning that Dr. Afridi may not have known he was working for the CIA. This development comes as the head of the Pakistani Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha visits Washington for talks. Pakistani news outlet the Express Tribune reports Pasha is expected to tell his counterpart acting CIA director Michael Morell that Pakistan will not allow the CIA to maintain “private networks” of operatives in Pakistan. Pasha’s visit coincides with CENTCOM commander U.S. Marine Gen. James Mattis’ visit in Islamabad earlier this week and new ISAF commander Lt. Gen. John Allen’s arrival in Islamabad on Thursday.[ii]

• In the first official Pakistani reaction to the recently announced $800 million reduction in U.S. aid to Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stated he was “concern[ed]” about the cut. Gilani stressed the Pakistan was fighting terrorism “for the whole world” and warned the U.S. against repeating its past mistakes and abandoning Pakistan and Afghanistan too soon.[iii]

• On Wednesday, Pakistani officials and representatives of international health organizations expressed their concern that the CIA’s use of a fake vaccination program to verify Bin Laden’s identity “could harm legitimate immunization programs in the country.” The Associated Press reports that, among other diseases, polio cases could increase in Pakistan without successful immunization efforts. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Maulvi Faqir Mohammed said in a recent radio broadcast that Pakistanis in the tribal areas should avoid vaccination for fear of U.S. and other Western infidel involvement.[iv]

FATA

• During a visit to Mohmand Agency on Wednesday, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani stressed the need for tribes to take action against militants and ensure their own security. Gen. Kayani thanked troops for their contributions to military operations in Mohmand and applauded recent successes against militants in the region before stating that responsibility should now shift to tribesmen in the area.[v]

Karachi

• Over Wednesday night and Thursday morning fourteen people were killed in Karachi. Since last Monday, July 4, over a hundred people have been killed in politically and ethnically-motivated “targeted killings” in Karachi. The violence has been explained as a clash between two political parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP), both of which are also associated with certain ethnic groups. Five hundred Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel have reportedly been deployed to Karachi to establish peace in the city.[vi]

Balochistan

• On Thursday, four people were killed and ten were wounded in a blast near a house in Chaman. The BBC reports explosives were being stored in the house. Those killed and wounded were “Afghan refugees living in the house.”[vii]

Bugti Commission

• On Wednesday, the federal cabinet decided to establish a judicial commission to investigate the death of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. Bugti died after being cornered during a military operation in 2006, but the circumstance under which he was killed have fallen under intense scrutiny since the incident.[viii] 

Kashmir

• On Wednesday, Kashmiri activists rallied in Muzaffarabad requesting Kashmiri representation in the ongoing series of India-Pakistan talks. A number of those involved in the protests were militants from the militant Islamist group, Hizb-ul-Mujahedin, calling for “a holy war against India,” according to AFP.[ix]