Pakistan Security Brief

Twin bombing kills thirty-four in Peshawar; Panetta discusses U.S.-Pakistani intelligence cooperation during visit to Islamabad; President Hamid Karzai visits Pakistan to hold peace talks; Twenty-five coalminers kidnapped in Darra Adam Khel; Blast kills one in Islamabad; Four more soldiers detained in connection with shooting of unarmed man in Karachi; Further details emerge on shooting of five foreigners in Kharotabad; JUI-F leader condemns Abbottabad Commission; Pakistani military leaders concerned about acquittals in terrorist trials.

Bombing in Peshawar

• A suicide bombing killed thirty-nine and injured over a hundred people in Peshawar early Sunday morning. The Associated Press reported that a small explosion drew people to the scene before “a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle packed with 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives” caused a second blast. The bombing occurred “across the street from the offices of the top political agent to Khyber . . . and only about 100 yards from army housing units.” The attack coincided with the visits of CIA director Leon Panetta and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, both of whom were in Pakistan discussing, among other things, how to deal with terrorist groups along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. No group has claimed the attack and the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) has denied responsibility for the bombings. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed the attack was “an attempt by foreign secret agencies . . . to malign [the TTP].”[i]

U.S. Pakistani Relations

• On Saturday, the second day of his visit to Islamabad, CIA director and Secretary of Defense nominee, Leon Panetta discussed intelligence cooperation with Pakistani military and intelligence leaders. After Panetta met with army head Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the military released a statement declaring, “Both sides discussed the framework for future intelligence sharing." Panetta’s visit follows a spike in tension in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship following the May 2 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. Since the raid, the U.S. has substantially reduced the number of military personnel in Pakistan, including trainers. Regarding the troop reduction, Reuters reports, “Pakistan's army and intelligence chiefs told CIA Director Leon Panetta they were not willing to reverse a decision to cut the number of U.S. troops allowed in Pakistan.”[ii]

• It has also recently been reported that “US intelligence officials had twice handed Islamabad tips about insurgent bomb-making factories in the area, only to find them abandoned before Pakistani troops arrived,” leading to questioning of the trustworthiness of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. CIA director Leon Panetta reportedly “confronted Pakistani intelligence officials face to face with what the United States believes is evidence of collusion between Pakistani security officials and militants staging attacks in Afghanistan.”[iii]

• According to The Express Tribune, U.S. citizen Matthew Craig Barret was arrested on Friday and may be deported for “allegedly scouting nuclear facilities near the federal capital.” Barret’s visa was cancelled last month “on the suspicion of his spying on the country’s nuclear facilities.” A trial court has “sent [Barret] on a 14-day judicial remand.”[iv]

Afghan-Pakistani Relations

• Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Islamabad on Friday and Saturday to discuss Pakistani support for organizing peace talks with the Taliban and other insurgent groups. According to the Associated Press, Pakistan agreed to help bring potentially reconcilable insurgents to the table and target those who reject the peace talks. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced at a joint conference with President Karzai that Pakistan aims “to support [a] peace process which is Afghan-led.” Reuters additionally reported that Afghanistan and Pakistan “agreed to enforce a long-awaited transit trade deal” in an attempt “to wean Afghanistan off billions of dollars in foreign aid by boosting economic growth.” The agreement was originally signed in October 2010 “but could not be enforced after the two countries failed to sort out differences over bank guarantees for Afghan goods.”[v]

FATA

• The News reports “[t]wenty-five coalmine workers were kidnapped by . . . militants in Akhorwal area of [Darra Adam Khel] on Saturday.” Sources told The News that the estimated one-hundred militants who kidnapped the miners, seven of whom have escaped, were likely affiliated with the TTP. Political authorities and the local lashkar have begun a search for the miners.[vi]

• According to the Express Tribune, “[the] military is planning to enlist pro-government tribal elders in a fresh campaign it has devised to flush out al Qaeda members and its affiliates from North Waziristan.” The media outlet notes that this new plan could be an attempt “at deflecting growing US pressure for a full-scale offensive against the Haqqani Network.” The Express Tribune additionally reported that Gen. Kayani and CIA director discussed this new operation during their meeting on Saturday.[vii]

• In a public meeting held in Mardan, the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI,) Syed Munawar Hasan, expressed his condemnation against a prospective North Waziristan operation. He stated that a military operation in North Waziristan “would bring huge destruction across the country.” Hasan furthermore stated that “The government must implement the resolution of the parliament to find a permanent solution to the menace of terrorism.” [viii]

• A roadside bomb killed three security personnel in the Ladh area of South Waziristan on Monday. Dawn reports the explosive was remote-detonated and “destroyed one military vehicle.”[ix]

Bombing in Islamabad

• On Monday, a guard was killed and four people were wounded in Islamabad when a “bomber walked into [a] bank and blew himself up when the guard tried to search him,” according to the BBC. The Associated Press, however, reported that the bomber detonated the explosives upon being confronted by the security guard outside of the bank. The attack is the first bombing in Islamabad in several months. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack and “it is not clear why the bank was targeted.” Also on Sunday, an improvized explosive device (IED) exploded just outside Islamabad in Malpur village, injuring three. Police official Bani Amin told Dawn that “[a] father and his son riding a motorbike and a man travelling in a car were wounded in the blast.”[x]

Karachi

• AFP reports that four more Rangers officers were detained on Saturday in connection with the shooting of an unarmed man in Karachi last Wednesday. Two other rangers had been detained on Friday, following identification by the deceased’s family. The victim, Sarfaraz Shah, was twenty-two years old and had reportedly attempted to rob people in a local park before he was shot by the paramilitary rangers. According to CNN, the six rangers, now in custody, will be tried in Pakistan’s “Anti-Terrorist Courts.”[xi]

Balochistan

• Additional details have emerged regarding the shooting of five foreigners in Kharotabad. A police surgeon told Dawn he” rejected the claim that the foreigners had attacked the police with hand grenades.” Additionally, the man who was driving the foreigners withdrew his previous statement, which he said was coerced, and stated “he had not seen any hand grenades or explosives in the car while taking the foreigners from Kachlak to Quetta.” Dawn reports that the foreigners “did not enter Pakistan legally,” according to the records of the Federal Investigation Agency. Two of the deceased foreigners, a Tajik man and his seven-month pregnant Russian wife, according to Dawn, have been identified and buried “in a graveyard near Quetta on Sunday.”[xii]

• Also, a blast was reported “near Quetta’s Police Lines area” on Monday wounding “at least three.” The bomb was reportedly “planted in a bicycle.” No further information is yet available.[xiii]

• On Sunday, the Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI) staged a “sit-in” against U.S. drone strikes and “continued supplies to [NATO].” The leader of the PTI, Imran Khan, claimed that “tribal people were not terrorists,” and the U.S. “was the biggest terrorist in the world.”[xiv]

Abbottabad Commission

• Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has declared his disproval of the proposed “Independent Commision on the Abbottabad US raid,” stating, “If the commission finds the military in the wrong it will be Pakistan that will suffer, not the military leadership.” According to Dawn, “both houses of parliament . . . adopted a resolution asking the government to set up the commission” on May 14. The commission would look into the U.S. raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama Bin Laden and how Pakistan can prevent future unapproved actions of foreign governments within Pakistan. Rehman’s statement comes amidst controversial statements from a number of politicians and justices setting conditions for their involvement in the commission.[xv]

Military Reviews Terrorist Acquittals

• At a recent meeting between top military and civilian leaders, concern was expressed over a “dismally low rate of terrorists’ conviction by courts.” Dawn reports that suspected terrorists are often acquitted due to a lack of evidence. The military leaders have decided “to review all laws relating to handling of terrorists, in particular the law of evidence.” Supreme Court lawyer Zafarullah Khan, however, insisted that similar laws regarding evidence are “successfully implemented” around the world, and the law should not be changed in Pakistan.[xvi]