Pakistan Security Brief

Tribesman file suit against CIA legal chief over drone strikes; Shift to attacks on U.S. targets abroad seen in AQ strategy; House panel releases bill that would block Pakistan aid; Zardari and Karzai to discuss security in Kabul; Pakistan yet to work on torture report; Eleven militants killed in Kurram clash; Five militants killed by remote-controlled bomb; Karachi violence comes from a history of political and ethnic tension; Shahzad did not drive car to Islamabad before death; Sufi Muhammad faces murder and treason charges; Aid workers kidnapped in Balochistan.

Drone Strike Backlash

• On Monday, three Waziristan tribesmen “filed a complaint with the police” against former CIA legal counsel John A. Rizzo for approving drone strikes that killed civilians. One of the tribesmen who lodged the complaint insists that his brother and son, who were both killed in suspected CIA drone strikes, were “peaceful Pakistani citizens.” The tribesmen’s attorney, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, claims Rizzo is liable for the wrongful deaths of civilians killed in drone strikes as he was responsible for approving a list of people to be targeted in the attacks. Akbar is also the founder of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, an NGO currently partnered with the U.K.-based rights group Reprieve in an effort to draw attention to civilian deaths resulting from drone strikes. Reprieve and the Foundation for Fundamental Rights are sponsoring a photo exhibit showing the destruction caused by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan. The exhibit opened on Tuesday in a London gallery.[i]

Al Qaeda to Alter Strategy

• The Wall Street Journal reports al Qaeda is considering shifting their focus from launching attacks on U.S. soil to targeting U.S. and Western assets, bases and facilities abroad. This is seen as both an attempt to link al Qaeda’s broad interests to their affiliates’ local ones and an aspect of new al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri’s strategic vision. Zawahiri has been indicted in connection with the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, both of which would have been in line with this newly adopted strategy.[ii]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., released an initial draft of a bill that would “block” aid to Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority “unless the Obama administration reassures Congress that they are cooperating in the worldwide fight against terrorism.” Aid to Pakistan, specifically, would be blocked unless the Secretary of State can reassure Congress that the government of Pakistan is “fully assisting the United States with investigating the existence of an official or unofficial support network in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden, including by providing the United States with direct access to Osama bin Laden's relatives in Pakistan and to Osama bin Laden's former compound in Abottabad.”[iii]

Pak-Afghan Relations

• President Asif Ali Zardari will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul to discuss security issues on Tuesday. The two presidents will discuss the need for continued cooperation in both peace-talks with the Taliban and counter-terrorism. This follows a spike in tensions surrounding recent cross-border attacks. Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of firing mortars into Afghanistan, and Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of devoting insufficient effort to preventing Afghanistan-based militants from crossing the border and attack Pakistani towns. On Tuesday, Pakistani officials claim mortars fired into Pakistan from Afghanistan killed four Pakistani Frontier Corps personnel. Over twenty mortars allegedly struck near a Frontier Corps checkpost in Angoor Adda.[iv]

Torture in Pakistan

• Pakistan has reportedly failed to begin working on its report on the “United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” which it is required to submit by July 23. Members of Parliament and activists express concern at a Parliamentarians Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) press briefing on Monday.[v]

FATA

• On Tuesday, security forces reportedly killed eleven militants in a clash in Kurram Agency, where the army recently launched an operation to clear militants from the region. One Pakistani soldier was also killed in the skirmish.[vi]

• Geo reports five militants belonging to Maulvi Nazir’s group were killed by a remote-controlled bomb in the Shakai area of South Waziristan on Tuesday. Ayaz Khan, the son of militant commander Tehsil Khan, was reportedly one of those killed.[vii]

Karachi

• A Washington Post report details the roots of violence in Karachi. The report explains how political and ethnic tension between the Pashtun and Mohajir populations has brought Karachi to the brink of chaos. The Urdu-speaking Mohajirs, represented by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM[RNJ1] ), say the Pashtun population is “sheltering terrorists in Karachi,” while the Pashtuns, represented by the Awami National Party (ANP), say Karachi’s Pashtuns have been pushed out of political representation for too long.[viii]

Trials and Investigations

• On Tuesday, the Express Tribune reported slain journalist Saleem Shahzad’s car was brought to Islamabad in a cargo container before he was killed. Shahzad’s brother-in-law believes the killers brought the car elsewhere to further distance themselves from the crime. A government-appointed judicial commission is currently investigating Shahzad’s death. Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been widely accused of murdering Shahzad to intimidate investigative journalists in Pakistan.[ix]

• On Monday a court charged Maulana Sufi Muhammad, head of the banned group Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM), with murder and treason. Sufi Muhammad and twenty-three of his followers are accused of killing eleven people in an attack on a police station in Swat.[x]

Balochistan

• Eight Pakistani aid workers affiliated with the American Refugee Committee (ARC) were kidnapped on their way from a refugee camp in Pishin to Quetta. No one has taken responsibility for the kidnapping, but both Islamist extremist militant groups and Baloch separatists are active in the region.[xi]