Pakistan Security Brief

Cross-border attacks in Afghanistan spark heated exchange between Pakistani ambassador and Obama advisor; Pakistani Ambassador Rehman says drone strikes responsible for recruiting new militants; U.S. Senate passes resolution urging designation of Haqqani Network as terrorist organization; U.S. drone strike kills seven militants in North Waziristan; Torkham border crossing for NATO supplies suspended for fifth day; Pakistani President Zardari invites Indian Prime Minister Singh to Islamabad for talks; President Zardari to participate in OIC summit in Saudi Arabia; Security forces kill seven militants in Orakzai agency.   

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• Addressing the Aspen Security Conference via videoconference on Friday, Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. Sherry Rehman discussed Pakistani Taliban fighters based in Afghanistan who were responsible for carrying out cross-border attacks into Pakistan. She stated that over the last eight months, Pakistan informed American and NATO forces of the locations of militants involved in 52 such cross-border attacks, but no action was taken. In response, Douglas Lute, President Barack Obama’s top advisor on Pakistan and Afghanistan, said that comparing the Pakistani Taliban’s presence in Afghanistan to the Pakistani government’s decades-long relationship to the Afghan Taliban was “simply unfair.” The heated exchange came during a conference in which both officials began by lauding the recent reopening of the NATO supply route. On Sunday, the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) released a statement calling Rehman’s allegations “incorrect” and noting that both sides had a common interest in targeting the Haqqani Network. Meanwhile, Rehman reiterated the problem of “anti-Pakistan terrorist sanctuaries in Kunar and Nuristan.”[1]

• Pakistani Ambassador Rehman argued on Friday that U.S. done strikes were responsible for recruiting new militants and stated, “We will seek an end to drone strike and there will be no compromise on that.” While addressing the Aspen Security Conference in Colorado, she also defended the arrest of Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA locate Osama bin Laden. She said that he was guilty of “contracting with a foreign intelligence agency” and had put the lives of thousands of children at risk by giving the Pakistani Taliban an excuse to question the motives of polio vaccination officials.[2]     

• On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution urging the U.S. State Department to designate the Haqqani Network as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The resolution, which would give the U.S. State Department 30 days to report whether the Haqqani Network meets the FTO criteria, passed the U.S. House last week and now requires President Obama’s signature.[3]  

Drone Strikes

• A U.S. drone fired six missiles at a compound in Khushhali Turikhel village, twenty miles east of Miram Shah in North Waziristan agency, reportedly killing at least seven militants. Unnamed sources claimed that the seven militants killed in the strike were Uzbek nationals.[4]

International Relations

• On Monday, the Torkham border crossing in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province remained closed to NATO supply trucks for a fifth day. Pakistani officials suspended traffic through the border crossing last Tuesday, following an attack carried out by armed men that killed one NATO truck driver and his assistant. Local officials say the suspension will remain in place until the federal government devises a security plan to safeguard NATO trucks. According to the president of the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association, many Pakistani truck drivers refuse to transport NATO supplies unless given security guarantees and compensation.[5]

• On Friday, President Asif Ali Zardari sent a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inviting him to visit Pakistan. If Singh accepts the invitation, the meeting would reportedly take place in November. According to AFP, the invitation, which followed both countries’ recent announcement to resume cricket matches later this year, is part of their ongoing efforts to normalize relations. Former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Najamuddin Sheikh noted that the visit would create an opportunity for both countries to potentially reach agreements on the Sir Creek and Siachen territorial disputes.[6]   

Domestic Politics

• On Friday, President Zardari signaled his intention to participate in Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz’s two-day Islamic summit in the Saudi province of Makkah. The formal agenda of the summit, a forum for leaders to discuss challenges confronting Muslim peoples, is currently being crafted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Zardari will reportedly use the summit to highlight threats facing Pakistan as well as Afghanistan reconciliation.[7]     

• Riots broke out in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab province on Monday as crowds protested against rolling blackouts that lasted nearly 20 hours in some areas. Angry mobs attacked a Water and Power Development Authority installation as well as billboards for the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistan Peoples Party-Sherpao (PPP-S). Police resorted to using batons, tear gas, and in some cases gunfire to disperse the crowds, which were responsible for acts of vandalism across both provinces.[8]

• President Zardari appointed Rehman Malik, advisor to the prime minister for interior affairs, as federal interior minister on Friday. Malik, whose dual citizenship became grounds for the Supreme Court to suspend his membership in the senate on July 4, eventually resigned his senate seat while serving as an advisor to former Prime Minister Raja Yousaf Gilani. Last week, Malik ran unopposed for his former senate seat and won, paving the way for his reappointment as interior minister.[9]          

• The federal government decided on Friday to appoint former Corps Commander Peshawar Lt. Gen. Asif Yasin Malik as Defence Secretary, replacing Nargis Sethi who will continue serving as Secretary Cabinet Division.[10]  

Militancy

• On Friday, Pakistani security forces fired heavy artillery at four suspected militant hideouts in the Janduli and Botakhel villages of Orakzai agency’s Dabori area, killing seven militants. Meanwhile, in Orakzai agency’s Gall village, a soldier was injured following a landmine explosion near a security forces convoy.[11] 

• Three unidentified militants blew up a government primary school for girls in the Sodher area of Swabi district. According to sources, three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were planted in silver pots, two of which exploded while the third was defused by the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS). Militants have thus far targeted twenty educational institutions in Swabi.[12]   

• A child was injured on Saturday after cross-border shelling from Afghanistan hit a house in Sarkai Kandao village in Bajaur agency’s Mamund sub-district.[13]

• On Sunday, a blast in a Mansehra district market in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province struck a CD shop, injuring two people.  According to The News, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants had warned CD and video shop owners to quit their businesses or else face the consequences.[14]

• Eight people, including two policemen, were killed and another one injured in separate incidents of violence near Quetta, Balochistan over the weekend. Unidentified armed men riding a motorcycle killed a civilian outside a shop on Kawari Road in Quetta on Saturday. A rocket also struck the Joint Road area in Quetta on Saturday, though no casualties were reported. Unidentified assailants also killed five civilians and injured one in Kuli Ismail, Burvari Road, Arbab Karam Khan Road, and Sabzal Road and killed two policemen on Jail Road on Sunday.[15]

• Seventeen civilians were killed and another 14 injured in a series of violent incidents in Karachi over the weekend. On Friday, attackers threw a grenade into the main entrance of a departmental store in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area, injuring one person. One person was killed and one injured when gunmen opened fire in separate incidents in Sabzi Mandi and Nazimabad on Friday. Gunmen killed three people, including two political activists, in Gol Market, New Karachi, and Federal B Area on Saturday night. On Sunday, assailants killed six civilians and injured ten, including two policemen, in Orangi Town, Surjani Town, Nazimabad area, Baldia Town, and Yousuf Plaza. Unidentified gunmen also killed four civilians and injured two at homes in Korangi and Surjani Town. Police also found three bodies, including the body of a policeman, in Arambagh, Manghopir, and Shah Latif Town on Sunday.[16]