Pakistan Security Brief

Militancy   

• An attack by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants on Saturday evening killed 9 tourists, including a dual American-Chinese citizen, at the base of Mount Nanga Parbat, Gilgit-Baltistan. The tourists had been visiting Pakistan to climb the mountain, the tenth largest in the world. The militants snuck into the camp and tied up the group's Pakistani guides before entering the tents of the tourists and executing them. A Pakistani guide was also killed, bringing the preliminary death toll to 10. Reportedly, the militants were disguised in police uniforms. While the area had been subject to occasional sectarian violence in the past, Nanga Partbat was primarily a peaceful, tourist attraction, known more for its mountaineering tourists, with its picturesque view of the nearby Himalayas, than militant activity. Jundullah, a group with ties to the TTP initially claimed responsibility for the attacks, before TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed that Junud-e-Hafsa, a TTP faction, is responsible for the attacks. U.S. Embassy spokesman Matthew Boland condemned the attacks from Islamabad, expressing condolences to the families of the victims, which included five Ukrainian, two Chinese and one Russian national in addition to the American-Chinese. In the aftermath of the attacks, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s office asked the Pakistan government to guarantee the safety of its citizens in a statement on Sunday and condemned the Nanga Parbat attacks.[1]

• Law enforcement agencies have launched a search operation in the Gilgit-Baltistan region to locate the militants responsible for Saturday’s attack against tourists at the base camp of Nanga Parbat. Officials have taken a suspicious vehicle into custody, and initial reports indicate the attackers fled in small groups.[2]

•  In a cabinet meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to bring those responsible for the Nanga Parbat attack to justice, and expressed concerns over the national security threat the attack posed. On Sunday throughout Diamer, Gilgit-Baltistan, 37 suspects were arrested in connection with the attacks.[3] 

• On Sunday, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan announced that Junud-e-Hafsa, the TTP faction claiming responsibility for the Nanga Parbat attacks, will be targeting foreign tourists indefinitely.[4]

• In the aftermath of the Nanga Parbat killings, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced that the chief secretary and inspector general of Gilgit-Baltistan have been suspended, and that a joint investigative team has been formed to explore the incident. Climbing expeditions on Nanga Parbat have also been suspended for the duration of the summer, and the government has evacuated the 40 remaining tourists from the mountain.[5]

• Muttahida Quami Movement  leader Altaf Hussain released a statement on Friday appealing to the Pakistani government and the United Nations to designate the TTP as the world’s most cowardly organization.  His request comes in the wake of MQM provincial assembly member Sajid Qureshi’s death last week in Karachi after being ambushed by gunmen.[6]

•  Pakistani fixed-wing and rotary aircraft shelled militant hideouts in Darra Adamkhel, Orakzai agency and Bara sub-district, Khyber agency on Saturday, killing nine militants and one woman. Five militants were killed in Darra Adamkhel and two hideouts were destroyed by fighter jets, while four militants and a woman were killed in helicopter strikes.[7]

• After regaining control of Maidan in the Tirah valley, Khyber agency last week, security forces have “opposed the  re-emergence of Ansarul Islam,” a pro-government militant group, which had been fighting the TTP before being defeated in March. Instead, security officials have pledged to form and strengthen peace committees within the area.[8] 

• Six militants were killed on Sunday in Dera Bugti, Balochistan near Sui after the militants attacked a Frontier Corps post before being pursued and killed by Frontier Corps personnel. 30kg of explosives and weaponry were found on the militants. In a separate incident in Washuk, Balochistan, unknown militants also killed one Levies force officer and wounded two others after firing upon their vehicle. In another incident in Quetta Balochistan, unknown gunmen fired on a man, killing him on the spot.[9]    

• Militants used a remote control bomb to target a police vehicle in Quetta on Saturday, damaging the vehicle upon detonation. No one was killed or injured in the attack.[10]

• The Frontier Corps arrested three militants on Sunday night in a raid in Quetta, discovering 2,100 kilograms of chemicals allegedly intended for use making explosive materials as well.[11]

• An improvised explosive device (IED) killed two pro-government militia members on Saturday in Chamarkand, Bajaur agency. On Sunday, the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.[12]      

• On Sunday, an IED killed one soldier and wounded two others when it exploded on Bannu-Miram Shah road as a convoy was passing through Barrakhel, Bannu disrict.[13] 

• Two men were killed in Bannu in separate shootings on Sunday, as one man was killed near the Township Police Station, while another was shot dead in Hameedkhel village, Bannu district.[14]    

• A policeman was killed and two more were severely wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Mir Ali, North Waziristan on Sunday evening. The policemen were part of a convoy en route to Bannu.[15]

•  One man was killed and five people were wounded on Sunday in Sadda, Kurram agency after unknown men fixed explosives to the bottom of the travellers' car while they were on the way back from a wedding ceremony.[16] 

• Five people were killed on Sunday in Karachi in separate incidents. A Jamaat-e-Islami activist was shot dead in North Karachi, while a man was shot and killed by motorcyclists in Shurjani Town. A former policeman was also shot dead in Sacchal. In Malir, a construction worker was gunned down, while a mechanic was slain in Faqeer colony.[17]  

• Two TTP militants were arrested on Sunday in connection with the April 24 bombings targeting the  Muttahida Quami Movement's (MQM) offices in Chowrangi, Karachi. Police raided the militants’ hideout, finding 200kgs of explosives, two Kalashnikovs, and a prepared bomb.[18]

• The joint director of the State Bank of Pakistan, who was kidnapped two weeks ago, was rescued on Saturday in Karachi. The director was discovered during a police raid; his three kidnappers were shot and killed in the same raid.[19]

• Two IED blasts wounded six people outside of the Karachi Central Jail on Saturday night, after motorcyclists hurled the makeshift explosives into the premises.[20]

•  On Monday, suspected militants attacked and killed three Indian soldiers in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir, on the evening of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s expected visit. Seven more soldiers were wounded.[21]

• Two Indian policeman were shot and killed in Srinagar, Kashmir by suspected militants while on routine patrols on Saturday.[22]  

•  After a mortar shell killed two sisters in Miram Shah, North Waziristan on Thursday evening, the village elders and deceased girls’ family pleaded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to order an inquiry into the source of the errant shell.[23]

• The death toll of last week’s bombing in Mardan rose to 37 on Sunday as another man succumbed to his wounds. Over 70 people were wounded in the attacks.[24]

• Four policemen were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Peshawar on Saturday. The police had been in the midst of a search operation in the area.[25]  

• Police arrested two suspects on Friday in connection with last Friday’s suicide attack on the Madrassa Hussainia on the outskirts of Peshawar, which killed fifteen people.[26]

• The Deputy Superintendent of Police Traffic and his driver were killed on Sunday in Peshawar by unknown gunmen on motorcycles.[27]  

• According to the Deputy Parliamentary Leader of the Khyber-Pakhutunkhwa assembly Shaukat Yousafzai in a press conference on Saturday, establishing peace in Pakistan is crucial to making changes in foreign policy. In his statements, Yousafzai claimed that a comprehensive, national strategy against terrorism is necessary to bring peace to Pakistan. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan echoed Yousafzai’s statements, stating that a national counter terrorism strategy is essential to the functioning of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government. Khan also emphasized government control, rather than military control, over terrorism related policies.[28]

 Afghan Taliban Talks

• In a statement on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated that the Qatar peace talks with the Taliban may not “get back on track” after 59 Taliban militants were reported dead in coalition operations on Friday. Kerry also claimed that the Taliban has not yet met set conditions to begin the talks, alluding to the controversy surrounding the Taliban’s political office, which bears the title “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.” Last week, President Hamid Karzai threatened to boycott the talks over the undeserved legitimacy he believed the U.S. was giving to the Taliban. The talks were delayed last Friday, and the U.S. is still awaiting a Taliban reply, while the Taliban reportedly speaks to its leadership in Quetta, where the Mullah Omar-led  Shura  is reportedly based, regarding the direction of the prospective talks. Hard-liners within this Quetta leadership  have reportedly urged the Taliban to call negotiations off all together.[29]   

• According to a report in the Express Tribune on Wednesday, former Deputy Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been instrumental in bringing Taliban leaders to the table in the Qatar peace talks, since his 2010 capture in Karachi. Baradar, who remains in a Pakistani prison, has “in fact has been acting as the go-between for the Taliban leadership and the US,” according to a senior foreign ministry official.[30]  

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• In a meeting on Friday with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olsen announced that the strategic dialogue between the U.S. and Pakistan on energy, defense and the economy will likely resume in the near future. Strategic talks between the two nations have been suspended since the death of Osama bin Laden in Abottabad in May, 2011. Khan also praised the prospect of peace talks between the U.S. and the Afghan Taliban during the meeting, noting that “The Nawaz Sharif government firmly believes that dialogue and reconciliation are the only way forward in bringing permanent peace to the region.[31]

Domestic

• Scotland Yard officials on Monday arrested a suspect in London in connection with the murder of Imran Farooq. The arrest comes after MQM chairman Altaf Hussain’s home was searched last week. The man arrested is a British national of Pakistani origin.[32]

• On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his cabinet announced that the government would pursue treason charges against former President Pervez Musharraf for his abrogation of the constitution in 2007. Opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah supported Sharif’s statement, noting that the constitution is not, “merely a piece of paper.”[33]    

• After the Attorney General of Pakistan Munir A. Malik announced the government’s intention to pursue Article 6 (high treason) charges against Pervez Musharraf on Monday, the Supreme Court of Pakistan set a three day deadline, ending on June 27, for Malik to submit a document laying out the measures to initiate proceedings in the case.[34]  

• On Saturday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reassigned Zahid Hamid, formerly of the law ministry, to the ministry of science and technology. Hamid had been the law minister under Musharraf’s cabinet when he declared emergency rule in 2007.[35]

• On Saturday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the National Assembly that Pakistan’s nuclear assets are secure, and that security measures protecting these and other national strategic assets comply with international standards.[36]

 Economy

• According to a Saturday report in The News, Pakistan will have to fulfill two conditions—introducing a Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) and withdrawing its energy subsidies to increase power tariffs—in order to receive a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan is requesting a $4.5 billlion loan from the IMF.[37]  

• Despite opposition in the National Assembly, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced in a budget debate on Saturday that the proposed one percent General Sales Tax increase in 2013-2014 will remain in the budget. Dar also announced that despite the government’s Rs500 billion circular debt ($5.05 billion), the Finance Ministry has no plan to print additional money to clear the debt.[38]

Health 

• According to a report in Reuters on Monday, nearly half of Pakistan does not have secure access to food while “fifteen percent of children are severely malnourished, and some 40 percent suffer from stunted growth.” However, due to the hunger crisis caused by the current civil war in Syria, which could cost the U.N. Food World Programme as much as $42 million a week in the coming year to combat, few U.N. funds are available to provide food aid for Pakistan,[39]

Pakistan-China Relations

• Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday announced plans to build a railroad connecting Pakistan to China from Gwadar and Karachi in the south through Khanjerabab in the the northern Karakoram mountains, noting that such a project would, “enhance the economic activities, provide jobs and change the destiny of millions.” Sharif reportedly discussed the railroad with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Pakistan last May.[40]