Pakistan Security Brief

Pakistan Security Brief - July 28, 2009�

Operations in Swat and Dir conducted by local militias and Pakistani security forces reportedly killed nearly a dozen on Tuesday; a suicide bomber killed two policemen at a checkpoint in Miram Shah, North Waziristan; Pakistani helicopters shelled Lashkar-e Islam positions in Khyber agency on Tuesday; the United Nations refugee organization suspended operations in NWFP and Baluchistan following threats from a Baluch nationalist group.�

• A suicide bomber killed two policemen in an attack on a checkpoint close to Miram Shah in North Waziristan agency on Tuesday. Elsewhere in the FATA, Pakistani gunships shelled the positions of Lashkar-e-Islam militants in Khyber agency.[1]
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• The decapitated body of a policeman was found near Mingora, Swat on Tuesday morning; this is the first incident of its kind since the Swat Taliban lost control of the district capital to military forces. Elsewhere, in Swat and Upper Dir districts, close to a dozen militants were killed and several captured in operations being conducted by a local militia and Pakistani security forces. Also, a senior Pakistani security officer says forces have rescued dozens of boys in Swat who had been brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers.[2]
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• Ambassador Richard Holbrooke on Monday called for the creation of a secure environment for IDPs returning to Swat before the Pakistan military launches a new offensive in Waziristan. He said the U.S. "did not expect Pakistan to launch another major military offensive while it was still struggling with the refugee problem."[3]
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• Pakistani police admitted on Monday that Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad was in custody and that, contrary to earlier expectations, he was being held in jail, not in a hospital as on previous occasions. Furthermore, reports emerged that he was arrested right before attempting to make a public appearance in Peshawar; the government says it will put Sufi Muhammad on trial pending preparation of evidence.[4]
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• The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has suspended its operations in the NWFP and Balochistan after receiving threats from a Baloch nationalist group, Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF). The group accused the UN of going back on a deal made in April over the release of a kidnapped UN official in Balochistan.[5]

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