Pakistan Security Brief

A.Q. Khan sends documents showing North Korea-Pakistan nuclear transaction; TTP commander back on radio;  Woodward says Kayani has “real power” in Pakistan; Gilani warns U.S. against selfish action in Pakistan; Cross-border violence continues; Forty militants killed in Kurram operation; Seven killed in tribal clash in South Waziristan; Senior militant commanders killed in Upper Dir clash; Four bodies found in Balochistan; Gas pipeline attacked in Dera Bugti; Eighteen more killed in targeted killings in Karachi; Shahzad commission summons sixteen journalists; Indian Home MInister says Pakistan not investigating Mumbai attacks.

  Pakistan-North Korea Nuclear Exchange

• On Wednesday, an expert on the Pakistani nuclear program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP,) Simon Henderson, told the Associated Press he received documents from Abdul Qadeer Khan proving two Pakistani military officials had given North Korea nuclear technology in exchange for $3.5 million. To prove the exchange, Khan submitted a letter addressed to him from a North Korean official describing the deal in English. Henderson commented that he thought Khan shared the documents with him because he believed it showed he was not the “rogue operator” he has been accused of being in recent years.[i]

Militant Commander Back on Radio

• Maulvi Faqir Mohammed, a prominent Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander, has returned to the radio after being forced into Afghanistan by a military operation last year. Mohammed had been an influential militant radio personality before the army raided his compound in Bajaur last year. The Associated Press reports, “Mohammed gives half-hour sermons three times per week in which he encourages locals to participate in jihad, or holy war, and warns them against cooperating with Pakistani authorities.”[ii]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• U.S. journalist Bob Woodward gave an exclusive interview to Dawn, in which he gives his perspective on Washington’s view of Pakistan. Woodward claims the U.S. sees Kayani as having “the real power in Pakistan.” He also says the U.S. is definitely concerned about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear program.[iii]

• On Wednesday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani cautioned the U.S. against “[p]ursuing narrow interests at the cost of coalition partners.” Prime Minister Gilani was speaking at a seminar in Swat on counter-radicalization. He also stressed that Pakistan should be recognized for its contributions to the war on terror. At the same conference, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said all organs of the Pakistani state must respond “collectively” to the terrorist threat. Kayani also reaffirmed Pakistan’s “unwavering” dedication to combating terrorism.[iv]

Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations

• On Wednesday, Prime Minister Gilani called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to express concern regarding recent militant attacks coming from Afghanistan. Gilani emphasized that the army was “exercising utmost restraint, despite repeated cross-border incursions by the militants’ raids from the Afghan side into Pakistan.” Gilani also “called for an immediate meeting between regional commanders” to resolve the dispute. The call comes after Wednesday’s attack in Afghanistan, in which militants crossed from Pakistan into the Afghan province of Nuristan, killing up to thirty-three policemen and five civilians. The border tension comes at a crucial moment as the U.S. and Afghanistan reach out to the Taliban for talks. The recent dispute also exacerbates tension surrounding the Durand line as a border between the two nations.[v]

FATA

• On Thursday, security forces, “backed by tanks and gunship helicopters,” killed at least forty militants in a clash in the Manatu area of Kurram Agency. The clash comes as part of the Pakistani army’s recently initiated offensive in Kurram. Security forces also “made advances in Karawat, Dumbaki, Khalwat and Badama” and “faced stiff resistance” in Murghan and Pongey. As of now, 517 internally displaced families have “registered at the Durrani camp in Sadda.”[vi]

• On Wednesday, seven people were killed in the Shakai area of South Waziristan in a clash between two tribes. The clash was reportedly sparked by a disagreement regarding the ownership of a nearby mountain.[vii]

• On Wednesday, two militants were killed when security forces shelled their hideout in the Ghaibi Neka area of Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. Sources say security forces shelled Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) positions throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.[viii]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• The Express Tribune reports that in Wednesday’s early morning cross-border militant attack in Upper Dir two senior militant commanders, Abu Musa and Omar Tariq, were killed. At least twelve total militants were killed in the clash.[ix]

Balochistan

• On Wednesday, four bodies, including that of a student activist, were found in different areas of Balochistan. The body of Hanif Baloch, the former president of the Baloch Students Organisation Azad (BSO-Azad,) showed signs being tortured before Baloch was eventually shot to death. Baloch was kidnapped in Quetta two days ago. Also on Wednesday, armed men blew up a gas pipeline in Dera Bugti. [x]

Karachi

• On Wednesday, at least eighteen people were killed in Karachi, bringing the total number of targeted killings in the last two days to twenty-eight. Two of those killed on Wednesday were affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM.)[xi]

Shahzad Commission

• The commission established to investigate the death of Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad has summoned sixteen “senior journalists” to appear when the commission meets next on July 9. The Express Tribune reports the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) provided the commission with the names of journalists who would be “willing to come forward and help.”[xii]

Pakistan Not Investigating Mumbai Attacks

• On Wednesday, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram told journalists he had seen “no indication” that the Pakistani commission invited to India investigate the 2008 Mumbai attacks had been sent to conduct the probe. Chidambaram also requested that Pakistan allow and Indian-led investigatory team to enter Pakistan.[xiii]