Pakistan Security Brief

FBI collaborating with Pakistan on Nanga Parbat attacks; Unknown men charged in the attacks; Thousands protest against attacks; Treason proceedings against Musharraf continue; Prime minister and army chief meet Ambassador James Dobbins; Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Kashmir; TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan supports U.S.-Afghan Taliban peace talks; Six people killed in Karachi; Three killed in Shikarpur; Police seize truck of explosives in Risalpur; New suspects detained over former MQM leader’s murder; Suspect confesses in murder of lawmaker; Villager killed by a bomb in Tirayee Payan; New energy policy proposed; Government to repay energy debts; Finance Bill for 2013-2014 under review in parliament; Pakistan holds talks with China in Beijing.

Militancy 

• U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell announced on Tuesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is collaborating with Pakistani officials on the investigation into the attack on the Nanga Parbat base camp in Gilgit-Baltistan.  Law enforcement agencies suspect that Janud-e-Hafsa, an offshoot of TTP under the command of well-known terrorist, Asmatullah Moavia, is responsible for the attack.[1]

• A case was registered against several unidentified men on Tuesday in connection with the Nanga Parbat attacks, which killed nine tourists and a Pakistani guide. Over 37 suspects have been rounded up in the area for questioning. Search operations have continued in the Diamer region according to the Deputy Commissioner of Diamer.[2]   

• The Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly on Tuesday passed a bill condemning Saturday's terror attacks on Mount Nanga Parbat, and expressed full faith in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s leadership.[3]  

• Thousands of people participated in a rally on Monday in Chilas, near Nanga Parbat, condemning the murder of foreign tourists at the base camp.[4]

•  On Monday, The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan attacked Gilgit-Baltistan’s security in the wake of Sunday’s Nanga Parbat attacks, stating, “the incident speaks volumes about the ineptness of the security in the region and the inefficiency of the intelligence apparatus.” The HRCP also urged a clampdown on all militant activity throughout Pakistan.[5]

• Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan announced on Tuesday that it supports Afghan Taliban peace talks with the U.S., noting that, “we [the TTP] accept all decisions taken by Afghan Taliban as we are their part.” However, in the same video, Ehsan noted that talks with the government of Pakistan will not be occurring in the near future, claiming that the elected government will need to take a stand against its intelligence agencies before the TTP will negotiate.[6]   

• On Tuesday,  two suspects in the killing of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial lawmaker Fareed Khan confessed to murdering the MPA on June 3 in Hangu. According to officials, the accused suspects had received four years of militant training, and were members of a local militant group in Hangu under local commander Nabi Mullah Hanafi. Hanafi’s group was targeted by angry protestors after the death of Fareed Khan, as protestors burnt down the home of his commander Mohammad Asif, killing Asif’s father, brothers and uncle on June 3. Hanafi’s militant group is reportedly at odds with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). [7]    

•  Three men were killed in Quetta and Kharan, Balochistan on Sunday. One, a Levies Force member was shot and killed while patrolling in Bisema, Kharan. Unidentified gunmen also killed two men in the Eastern Bypass and Satellite Town areas of Quetta.[8] 

•  Six people were shot dead in Karachi in separate incidents on Monday. A Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) activist was shot and killed outside of his shop in Gulshan Chowrangi, while a another man was shot outside a hotel on Ghausia road. An elderly man was killed outside Korangi Industrial area, while two bodies were found in Memon Goth. Another man was killed in Quaidabad. 22 suspects were also arrested in raids throughout the city by Rangers personnel in connection with the attacks.[9]

• Police arrested 53 people in Karachi on Tuesday throughout the city, recovering fifteen different types of firearms from the arrested.[10]   

• On Sunday, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and his cabinet decided to convene an All Parties Conference in the first week of July to discuss the violence, militancy and law and order of Karachi, as well as the security of jails in Karachi and Hyderabad.[11]

• The former general secretary of the National Peoples Party in Allahabad Colony was shot and killed by unknown gunmen who entered his house in Larkana, Sindh on Tuesday. In a separate incident, unknown men shot and killed a man at a  private clinic in Dakhan, Larkana.[12] 

• Three members of a family, including a young boy were killed in Shikarpur, Sindh on Monday. The family had been travelling to their home in a donkey car when armed men shot and killed them.[13]

• Two kidnappers and three men were killed on Monday in Dhariwal village, Hafizabad district in Punjab after two parties exchange fire when kidnappers attempted to abduct a twelve-year-old boy.[14]

• Four arrests were made on Monday in connection with the Hussainia Madrassa blast, which killed fifteen people and wounded twenty-seven others on June 21 in Peshawar. Search operations throughout Gulbahar, Peshawar are  continuing.[15] 

• On Monday, Police in Risalpur, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa arrested two suspected militants and seized a truck full of explosives on its way to Swat district.[16]

• One man died on Monday when he accidentally triggered the detonation of explosives left by three unidentified men at a mosque in the village of Tirayee Payan, near Peshawar.[17]

• On Monday, Police blockading the Nowshera-Mardan road near Dal Pattack, Nowshera Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa intercepted a truck smuggling large quantities of explosives materials and detonator cord to Afghanistan.  Officers confiscated the materials and arrested two men.[18]

• On Monday the Lower House of Parliament appealed to the executive branch to take firm action to combat terrorism; representatives from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Awami Muslim League, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement voiced concerns that current measures were insufficient and ineffective.  In a press briefing the same day, PTI chief Imran Khan advocated a “homegrown anti-terrorism policy” in lieu of U.S. demands.[19]

 Musharraf Proceedings

• Attorney General Munir A. Malik appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday to discuss the government’s statement to the Supreme Court regarding the trial of former president General Pervez Musharraf.  Malik’s statement follows the Court’s request for a written response detailing how the government intends to initiate trial proceedings.  Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has cautioned the government that improper resolution of treason charges against Musharraf could open a “Pandora’s box” of problems.  Separately, the Federal Investigative Agency formally notified the Anti-Terrorism Court that it has accused Musharraf in the murder case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.[20]

• With a trial for high treason charges against former President Pervez Musharraf in the near future, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made the decision to take on the Law and Justice Ministry on Monday, forgoing an appointed law minister. Sharif also personally controls the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs.[21] 

 U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani met with Ambassador James Dobbins, Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, on Tuesday in Islamabad. The three discussed the tentative peace talks with the Afghan Taliban in Qatar, as well as the general security situation in the region. Dobbins is also slated to meet the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.[22]

Indian-Pakistan Relations

• Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Kashmir on Tuesday, a day after militants from the Hizbul Mujahideen group killed eight Indian soldiers on the border.  Singh’s visit to the region was his first in three years.[23]  

Domestic   

• Following the arrest of British citizen Iftikhar Hussain at Heathrow International Airport yesterday, British law enforcement agencies have also included several Pakistani political workers and the wife of an unnamed politician in their investigation into the 2010 murder of exiled Pakistani politician Imran Farooq. Sources also claim that Iftikhar Hussain is the cousin of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain, whose home was searched on Friday in connection with Farooq’s murder. [24]

•  The Balochistan government has proposed new measures to increase provincial executive control over the paramilitary Frontier Corps, according to an Express Tribune report on Tuesday. According to the proposed measures, amendments to existing protocol will be made to place the Frontier Corps directly under the directives of the province's Chief Minister.[25] 

Economy

• In an attempt to increase power generation capacity and lower costs, the federal government on Monday proposed new energy policies to combat the current electrical crisis in Pakistan.  In a meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif noted that the new policies are expected to cut production costs. Sharif claimed that “efficiency, transparency and provision” of maximum relief to the common man will be the essential tenets of his new energy policy. Sharif is expected to formally reveal the country’s new energy policy on June 29.[26]

• The new Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) will hold a meeting later this week to determine how the government will settle its outstanding debts of over Rs 290 billion ($2.93 billion) to 28 different Independent Power Producers. The dues are slated to be paid by June 30, with all debts from May cleared as well, which will decrease the government’s current Rs 503 billion ($5.08 billion) debt.[27]

•  The government decided on Monday to delay passage of the Finance Bill for fiscal year 2013-2014; it will likely appear before the National Assembly for consideration on Thursday. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's heavy schedule and the government's announcement that it would try Musharraf for treason were listed as reasons for the delay.[28]

Pakistan-China Relations

• Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal led the Pakistani delegation in talks on Monday at the National Development and Reform Commission in Beijing.  This engagement follows Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Pakistan, and focused on improving strategic bilateral relations between China and Pakistan.[29]