Pakistan Security Brief

Government ready to hold direct talks with TTP tomorrow; Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif optimistic about peace talks; Government and TTP committees likely to meet in Mir Ali, North Waziristan; TTP spokesman says Pakistan increasing attacks on militant hideouts despite ceasefire; TTP agrees to trace Ahrar-ul-Hind; Pakistan not to grant India MFN status; Leading Afghan Presidential candidates want better relations with Pakistan; Express Tribune censors story on ISI and Osama bin Laden; Afghan National Security Council accuses Pakistan of involvement in Kabul hotel attack; Two militants killed and two injured in North Waziristan; Gunmen kill three in Bannu; Frontier Corps kill five BLF militants and arrest eight in Kech district; Four Indian Mujahideen arrested in Rajasthan.

Peace Talks

• On Monday, a member of the government peace committee, Rustam Shah, stated that the government is ready to hold direct talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) tomorrow. Shah added that the government has prepared a list of demands and plans to discuss the recovery of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son, Syed Ali Haider Giilani, the son of the former Punjab governor, Shahbaz Taseer, and Ajmal Khan.[1]

• On Sunday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said direct talks with the TTP will begin in the next few days, although he did not mention a specific venue. The Prime Minister was optimistic about peace talks, expressing hope that dialogue would help restore peace and end militancy.[2]

• On Sunday, the Punjab Law Minister, Rana Sanaullah, said that talks with the TTP would conclude soon but that the government would not negotiate with individuals unwilling to lay down arms.[3]

• According to a Sunday article in the Express Tribune, the government and TTP committees will likely hold the next round of peace talks in Mir Ali, North Waziristan. According to a security and defense analyst, Retired Brigadier Mehmood Shah, the TTP is strategically using peace talks with the government to avoid a military operation only until U.S. and allied forces withdraw from Afghanistan in December 2014.[4]

• On Saturday, the government and TTP negotiating committees met to finalize a date and venue for the second round of peace talks. TTP committee member Maulana Samiul Haq said that the two sides agreed on a venue for talks, although he did not specify the location.[5]

• On Saturday, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid accused government forces of increasing attacks on militant hideouts and continuing to torture TTP members in security forces’ custody despite the ceasefire announced earlier this month. Shahid also commented that the government did not seem sincere about engaging in peace talks, adding that the government appeared to want militants to continue conducting attacks throughout Pakistan.[6]

• On Saturday, unidentified gunmen killed two people and injured two others in Lowara Mandi, North Waziristan agency. The victims were reportedly members of the Mehsud tribe and belonged to a militant group. An unnamed high-ranking commander was also reported to have been one of the deceased.[7]

• On Friday, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said that the TTP had agreed to trace Ahrar-ul-Hind, the militant group that has claimed responsibility for recent terrorist attacks throughout Pakistan.[8]

India-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif confirmed that the government has no plans to grant Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to India. He said that a decision had been delayed due to a failure to reach a consensus. According to a Sunday report in The News, the Foreign Ministry was responsible for shelving the deal due to its insistence that any trade normalization with India be coupled with progress on Kashmir.[9]

• On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that he informed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague, that Pakistan would like a third party to help mediate the Kashmir dispute with India.[10]

Afghan-Pakistan Relations

• According to a Saturday report in The Express Tribune, all three leading candidates in the upcoming Afghan elections have expressed hope that relations with Pakistan will improve during the next administration in Afghanistan.[11]

Allegations of ISI Cooperation with bin Laden

• On Saturday, The Express Tribune, a local affiliate of The New York Times in Pakistan, censored a story about the alleged Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) connection with Osama bin Laden. The censorship affected about 9,000 print copies of the paper but did not impact the online version.[12]

Militancy

• On Sunday, the Afghan National Security Council claimed that the Thursday attack on a Kabul hotel, which left nine people dead, was planned “outside the country” and that a Pakistani diplomat was seen on the site shortly before the attack.[13]

• On Friday, eight mortar shells from Afghanistan landed in Ghulam Khan, North Waziristan agency. There were no casualties.[14]

• On Monday, gunmen killed three people in Bannu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[15]

• On Monday, a bomb blast in Landi Kotal, Khyber agency injured three people who belonged to a religious organization called Tawheed ul Islam.[16]

• On Saturday, Frontier Corps personnel killed five militants in an exchange of fire in Darma Kol, Kech district, Balochistan and arrested eight others. The dead were reportedly members of the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF).[17]

• On Saturday, 17 militants belonging to the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) laid down their arms in Dera Bugti, Balochistan and “promised to live as law abiding citizens.”[18]

• On Sunday, police in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India arrested high-ranking Indian Mujahideen leader Zia-ur Rahman, also known as Waqas, and three of his associates. Rahman, who is Pakistani, was reportedly responsible for bombings throughout India.[19