Pakistan Security Brief

National Assembly and Nawaz Sharif sworn in; PTI MPA Fareed Khan killed by militants; Sardar Ayaz Sadiq elected speaker of the National Assembly; Wali-ur-Rehman killed on tip-off by Hakimullah supporter; High school principal killed by Taliban; Pakistan augments nuclear stockpile; IMF expected to bail out Pakistan; Asif Zardari will not run for president again;Fighting kills 35 militants in Kurram; Nawaz disappointed by U.S. Drone attack; PTI urges Britain to take action against MQM; IED kills two in Balochistan; India asks U.S. to extradite Mumbai plotters; Chief of BNP-M to announce party strategy; MQM supports Nawaz’s leadership; Musharraf may leave Pakistan; CM of Balochistan pledges to succeed or quit;IED kills one in Bannu; Militants arrested in Swat; Suicide attack wounds two in North Waziristan; Four kidnapped in Kurram; Bomb defused at an elementary school; TTP militant arrested at checkpoint; Deputy Attorney General proposes force against U.S. drones; NATO containers destroyed by gunmen; World Bank approves $100 million loan to Punjab.

New Government

• On Saturday, 301 of the 342 new members of the National Assembly, including prime minister-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif, were sworn into their positions in Islamabad. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Party holds the majority of the seats; Sharif will take the oath of office on Wednesday, June 5th. 1

• The PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq was elected speaker of the National Assembly on Monday, as the newly elected National Assembly cast 258 votes in favor of Sadiq. His closest competitor was Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Shaharyar Afridi, who received 31 votes. Murtaza Javed Abbasi, also of the PML-N, also secured the position of deputy speaker of the National Assembly. In the Punjab Assembly, the PML-N’s Rana Iqbal was voted speaker. In Balochistan, PML-N member Jan Muhammad Jamali, former chief minister of Balochistan between 1998 and 1999, won the election for speaker. 2

• President Asif Ali Zardari, whose five-year term will expire this September, said on Monday that he has no plans to run for the presidency again. Zardari, a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) told reporters, “I’ve no right, or justification, to run for the office of president this time round.” Zardari’s announcement comes several weeks after the PPP was soundly beaten by the PML-N in the May 11 elections. 3

• On Monday, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Chief of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), pledged to announce his party’s future strategy on June 28. In the aftermath of alleged vote-rigging and strong-arming by the Balochistan Constabulary, Mengal says that his party is still deciding whether to leave the Balochistan assemblies in protest, or to remain. 4

• The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), led by Altaf Hussain, endorsed prime minister-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif and expressed full confidence in his leadership on Monday. MQM party leaders met with Nawaz Sharif in the Parliament House on Monday 5

• According to a report in The News on Monday, former president General Pervez Musharraf, who recently pledged to stay in Pakistan to face charges in Benazir Bhutto’s and Nawab Bugti’s murder cases, may leave Pakistan on Tuesday evening to visit his ailing mother in Dubai. Musharraf’s bail status will be determined on Tuesday morning. 6

• Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, the nominee for chief minister of Balochistan, pledged to end conflict within the divided province on Monday, or quit his government post. According to Baloch, both human rights and the end of violence will be central goals of his administration. 7

Militancy

• According to a report in the Express Tribune, the U.S. State Department released a statement on Sunday claiming that, Wali-ur Rehman, former deputy commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was located and killed as a result of a tip-off from one of Hakimullah Mehsud’s supporters. Mehsud is the current leader of the TTP; Rehman and Mehsud had reportedly clashed frequently in the past.8

• PTI provincial assembly member Fareed Khan was shot and killed near his residence on Monday in Hangu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by unknown assailants. Khan had been elected to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu-1 PK-42 seat. 9

• Fighting continued in Kurram on Saturday between militants and Pakistani soldiers, as 35 militants and 2 soldiers were killed. After an early morning assault by militants on a security outpost, the Pakistan army struck back with heavy artillery and rotary aircraft, damaging three hideouts and two vehicles in addition to killing the militants. 10

• The principal of a high school in Pastwana, Frontier Region Peshawar was shot dead in his home on Saturday night by Taliban militants. According to a local elder, the principal, Haji Rehman, “was considered pro-government by the militants and that was why he was killed in cold blood.” 11

• An explosion in Mastung, Balochistan killed two security forces personnel, and wounded two more, while security personnel were on patrol in the area on Monday. Officials believe Baloch insurgents are responsible for placing the bomb. 12

• According to The News, two men identified as Attaullah and Asadullah were arrested in search operations last Thursday night in Charbagh, Swat. 13

• Unknown gunmen fired upon NATO container trucks in-transit to Karachi on Sunday. The containers were coming from the Chaman border, and were rendered useless after they were set ablaze by the gunmen 14

• Hayatullah Burki, a member of an anti-militant group, was killed by unknown gunmen in Tank, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Friday. His bodyguard also suffered severe injuries in the attack15

• Two men, Nazir Ahmed and Muhammad Din, were shot to death by unknown assailants on Saturday in Quetta. 16

• On Monday, a suicide attack on a security post in Razmak sub-district, North Waziristan, left two security officials wounded, after the perpetrator rammed a car full of explosives into the checkpoint wall. 17

• An improvised explosive device (IED) blast killed one soldier and wounded three others in Frontier Region Bannu on Saturday. The roadside bomb detonated while security forces were searching Nasirkhel village 18

• Unknown assailants on a motorbike shot and killed two men in Pasni, Balochistan on Sunday.19

• Four people were kidnapped in central Kurram Agency on Friday; a government contractor was one of the four, who were all moved to an undisclosed location upon being kidnapped. 20

• On Sunday, Swat district police announced that they captured several suspects after a police station in Malam Jabba, Swat was attacked by militants21

• An attempt to blow up a girls primary school in the Kechi Baig area of Quetta was unsuccessful on Saturday as a bomb disposal squad was able to defuse the bomb before it detonated 22

• A TTP militant was arrested at a checkpoint in Togh Sarai, Hangu on Friday. 23

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Saturday, Prime minister-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif expressed his displeasure at the May 29 drone strike which killed Wali-ur-Rehman. In a message to U.S. ambassador Richard Olsen, Sharif claimed the U.S. strike was a violation of the UN Charter; in addition, he urged the U.S. to take multi-lateral, rather than unilateral military action in the future. 24

• Pakistani legal experts entertained the possibility of military action against U.S. drones on Monday following the Peshawar High Court's May 9 verdict declaring U.S. drone strikes to be a direct violation of sovereignty and a war crime against Pakistan. According to Deputy Attorney General Mohammed Iqbal Mohmand, if condemnations against the strikes have no effect, “the government of Pakistan and state institutions, particularly security forces, shall have the right being under constitutional and legal obligations to shoot down the drones attacking Pakistani territories.” 25

Indo-Pak Relations

• India has asked the United States to temporarily extradite Lakshar-e-Taiba terrorists David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who were both reportedly linked to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which claimed 166 lives. 26

Economy

• According to the International Monetary Fund, with currency reserves at $6.4 billion, less than half of the $14 billion of two years ago, Pakistan may seek a bailout in the near future, as Pakistan’s $6.4 billion will only cover 1.5 months of imports, which does not meet the requisite 3 months set by the IMF.27

• On Monday, the World Bank approved a $100 million loan to Punjab, in an effort to spur health reform, specifically in child and maternal health. 28

• Pakistan's government has amassed 51 percent of the nation’s unpaid debt, approximately Rs 188 million ($1.9 million) in unpaid debt, which in turn have impacted Pakistan's current energy crisis. By failing to re-pay energy companies, the government has raised the price of electricity to,“ Rs13.89 per kilowatt-hour”29

• Pakistan’s inflation rate has declined by 0.67 percent over the last year, from 5.8 percent last April to 5.13 percent this May, according to a report by the Bureau of Statistics on Monday. 30

Defense

• According to a study released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday, Pakistan has augmented its nuclear warhead stockpile by about ten devices to 100-120 over the past year; similarly India and China have followed suit, moving from up by 10 to 90-110 and 250 respectively. 31

• Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani emphasized his support for democratic and civilian rule on Friday, noting that, “the approval of citizens is necessary for the army to function…the country needs a balance between defense and development in order to ensure prosperity in the government”. 32

Domestic

• A delegation from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by Shahbaz Khan, delivered a petition to British Prime Minister David Cameron, imploring Britain to take action against Altaf Hussain, leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), for his alleged involvement in the death of PTI leader Zahra Shahid Hussein, as well as his perceived threats of violence against protestors in a May 12 speech in London. 33