Pakistan Security Brief

Al Qaeda leaders claims group will “spare no effort” to free Guantanamo Bay detainees; ECP Commissioner resigns after election boycott; Police re-arrest 45 escaped prisoners; PML-N leader demands resignation of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister for failure to prevent jailbreak; President-elect Mamnoon Hussain reportedly to be “low-profile” leader; Pakistan prepares for John Kerry’s July 31 visit; Mohammad Sarwar to serve as Punjab Governor; Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif discusses 5 year energy plan, protests continue throughout the country over load shedding ; Police seize large quantity of explosives in suspected Youm-e-Ali attack plot; Security officials detain high-profile LeJ weapons supplier; Security increased at Benazir Bhutto International Airport due to potential terrorist threat; Dozens of militants attack checkpoint in Khyber agency

Al Qaeda

• In an audio recording posted online today, al Qaeda leader Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri claimed that al Qaeda would “spare no effort” to release Guantanamo Bay detainees and Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national accused of terrorist links currently serving an 86-year sentence in the U.S.[1]

Dera Ismail Khan Jailbreak

• Police claim to have re-arrested 45 escapees in a series of raids in the vicinity of Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, on Wednesday.  The prisoners are being held in local prisons, but security officials intend to return them to the Central Prison.  To facilitate the search operation, Dera Ismail Khan was under curfew as of Tuesday.[2]

• An Interior Ministry official told Reuters that the government has increased security at other prisons throughout Pakistan, particularly those holding the most high-profile and hardcore Taliban members.[3]

• On Wednesday, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah demanded the resignation of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for his failure to uphold security in the region.  An intelligence official has claimed that the Interior Ministry’s National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) warned the provincial government on July 27 of a possible attack on the Central Prison in Dera Ismail Khan.[4]

Presidential Elections

• Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Justice (retd.) Fakhruddin Ibrahim resigned on Wednesday after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) boycotted the July 30 elections, which had been moved from August 6. PPP leaders Syed Khurshid Shah welcomed the resignation, noting that Ibrahim “failed to protect their independence” by failing to provide free and fair elections.[5]

• According to a Wednesday The News report, Mamnoon Hussain’s ascension to the presidency will bring the presidential office back to a low-profile role, with limited influence. Reportedly prior to the election, Hussain declared “he didn’t want to be a president like Asif Ali Zardari.”[6]

• On Wednesday, political party and government leaders congratulated President-elect Mamnoon Hussain on his election on Tuesday. Although his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) boycotted the elections, current President Asif Ali Zardari congratulated Hussain and wished him well in the discharge of his duties. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Muttahida Quami Movement Chief Altaf Hussain also extended their felicitations. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chief Imran Khan also congratulated Hussain. . Khan noted his displeasure with the change in election date from August 6 to July 30 and said “we hope that Mamnoon Hussain will rise above party affiliation to perform his constitutional duties.” The Election Commission responded to Khan’s criticism, calling his criticisms “baseless.” [7]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations 

• Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met on Wednesday to speak about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s expected visit beginning on Wednesday, July 31. Kayani provided recommendations on the national security agenda; drone strikes will be a central subject in the talks with Kerry, according to a Wednesday Dawn report. Kerry will meet with Sharif, as well as the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz, along with President-elect Mamnoon Hussain, and will discuss Afghanistan-post 2014 as well.  Kerry will also reportedly urge Nawaz Sharif to focus on eliminating militants within Pakistan’s tribal areas, and will stop in London upon his return. [8]   

Domestic

• Britain’s first Muslim member of Parliament, Mohammad Sarwar, will reportedly be appointed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as Governor of Punjab according to a Tuesday Express Tribune report. Sarwar served as an MP for Glasgow Govan and will reportedly focus on raising literacy and education quality in Pakistan.[9]

Power Crisis  

• The Council of Common Interests (CCI), consisting of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the chief ministers of all provinces and Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif, approved the National Power Policy of 2013, which will raise power tariffs within the range of Rs 3 to Rs 7 per unit ($0.03 to $0.07) for consumers in different brackets. The plan also proposes the utilization of coal to decrease electricity costs.[10]

• Following allegations that the May 11 elections were rigged, and that the July 30 presidential elections were unfairly moved, PTI chief Imran Khan has been ordered to appear before the Supreme Court on August 2 on contempt of court charges for suggesting their complicity in unfair elections.[11]

• After protestors destroyed offices at the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) in Bannu on Monday, the Pakistan WAPDA Hydro Union announced on Tuesday that PESCO offices throughout the region will stay closed for the next three days.[12]

• On Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf protesters shouted slogans and waved banners outside of the Peshawar Press club in anger over continued load-shedding.[13]

• On Wednesday, a mob protesting load-shedding attacked and damaged a power grid station in Kohat.[14]

Militancy

• Police claim that yesterday’s arrest of six militants in Karachi disrupted a plot to attack Youm-e-Ali processions ongoing today.  Separately, security officials detained three more suspects in the Korangi area of Karachi last night and seized a large quantity of munitions including 18 IEDs, two suicide vests, three magnetic bombs, 30 kg of explosives, 17 drums of liquid explosives material, and a motorcycle IED.  Additionally, they recovered ball bearings, firearms, police uniforms, and bomb-making literature.[15] 

• Approximately 60 militants attacked a checkpoint in Darra Adamkhel on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in Khyber agency, FATA, on Tuesday.  Eight militants and two security officials died in the firefight, while four others were injured.[16]

• Security officials claim the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) are plotting an attack against former President Pervez Musharraf’s residence in Chak Shahzad, Islamabad.  Musharraf is currently under house arrest while awaiting trial.[17]

• Police arrested Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) associate and weapons supplier Qari Abdul Quddus in Karachi on Tuesday night.  At the time of his arrest, officials were offering a half million rupees ($4,900) reward for his capture.[18]

• Officials deployed additional police personnel to Benazir Bhutto International Airport outside Islamabad on Tuesday after receiving unspecified intelligence regarding a possible terrorist attack.[19]

• Unidentified militants detonated an IED near a security patrol in the Manghopir Road area of Karachi on Wednesday, injuring two Rangers.[20]

• On Wednesday, Karachi security officials recovered the body of a victim shot to death in New Karachi.  Separately, unidentified militants shot and killed one man in Malir Town.[21]

• An explosion occurred in the Azizabad area of Karachi on Tuesday evening.  There were no casualties and an investigation into the cause of the blast is ongoing.[22]

• Multiple people were shot to death in Karachi on Tuesday.  Unidentified gunmen killed two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists near Malir Town.  Unidentified gunmen killed a Sunni Tehreek activist in New Karachi.  Unidentified gunmen killed a People’s Aman Committee supporter in Bihar Colony.  A man died and his wife was injured in Gulistan-e-Jauhar when unidentified gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on them at a shopping mall.  Unidentified gunmen also shot a man in Napier area.  Separately, the bodies of four torture victims were found in various locations throughout the city.[23]

• On Wednesday, police detained four suspected kidnappers and freed their victim in Karachi.  The kidnappers are allegedly TTP members.[24]

• Unidentified gunmen killed three people and wounded five others in an attack on tribal leader Mir Rauf’s vehicle in Quetta on Wednesday.[25]

• Militants attacked a polio vaccination team on Tuesday in Pishin Town of Pishin district, Balochistan province.  No medical personnel were injured, but militants killed the police officer guarding the team.[26]

•  Unidentified militants killed influential Jina Kor tribal elder Malik Dawa Khan and his driver on Tuesday in Mandi Chowk, Frontier Region Peshawar.  Khan had refused to pay the militants extortion money and convened a jirga that decided to hold parents accountable for the crimes of their militant offspring.[27]

• On Wednesday, unidentified militants kidnapped two Pepsi Co. employees in Esorhe village, North Waziristan agency.[28]

• Peshawar Commissioner Sahibzada Muhammad Anis held a meeting in Peshawar on Tuesday to discuss methods of improving security in the city, as well as the overall law and order situation.[29]