Pakistan Security Brief

U.S. drone strike kills ten militants on Pakistan-Afghanistan border; Khan Said Sajna refuses to accept his sacking; TTP infighting kills five more militants in North Waziristan; U.S. and Pakistan agree to joint action plan that will expand trade; Pakistan and Iran will establish a “hotline” to monitor illegal border crossings; Afghan Taliban appoint new military commander; Security forces foil attack on NATO convoy in Jamrud; Iranian border guards kill notorious Lyari gangster near Iran-Pakistan border; Police recover five foreign nationals in Turbat, Balochistan; Military, civilian leadership approves committee to oversee targeted operations in Karachi; Peshawar High Court asks for clarification on who controls internment centers; Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Committee appointed as Colonel-in-Chief of Baloch Regiment.

Drone Strike

• On Wednesday, a U.S. drone strike reportedly killed at least ten suspected militants and injured another 14 in Afghanistan’s Nazyan district, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Officials cited in a Wednesday article in the Express Tribune said the drone targeted members of Pakistan’s banned Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) militant group, Afghan Taliban, and smugglers.[1]

TTP Infighting

• According to a Wednesday article in the Express Tribune, a senior leader of the TTP stated that Khan Said Sajna refused to accept his replacement as commander of the TTP in South Waziristan with Sheikh Khalid Haqqani. Last week, TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah dismissed Sajna as a result of the ongoing infighting between Sajna’s faction and the Hakimullah loyalist faction led by Sheharyar Mehsud.[2]

• On Wednesday, clashes between the Sheharyar Mehsud and Khan Said Sajna factions of the TTP killed five militants and injured three others in the Shawal area on the border of North and South Waziristan.[3]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• On Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman and Pakistani Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan agreed to a joint action plan that will expand bilateral trade and investment flows over the next five years. The US-Pakistan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the relationship between the two countries. The Ambassador and Minister also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on women’s economic empowerment.[4]

Iran-Pakistan Relations

• On Tuesday, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz stated that Pakistan will establish a “hotline” between Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) and the relevant Iranian authorities to monitor illegal movement across the Iran-Pakistan border. The two countries also agreed to revive a border commission that will work to enhance cross-border trade and business.[5]

Militancy

• According to a Tuesday article in the Wall Street Journal, the Afghan Taliban have appointed a new military commander, Ibrahim Sadar, who was released from Pakistani custody earlier this year. According to unnamed Afghan officials, Sadar is reportedly close with Pakistani intelligence; the article claims his appointment could be viewed as a sign that Islamabad is attempting to “reassert control over the insurgency” as U.S. and allied forces withdraw at the end of the year. However, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tasnim Aslam, stated that “Pakistan follows a policy of non-interference,” and rejected claims that Pakistan is trying to control the Afghan Taliban.[6]

• On Wednesday, Pakistani security forces foiled an attack on a NATO supply convoy in the Jamrud area of Khyber agency. According to an article in Dawn, militants fired shots at the convoy. Frontier Corps forces responded, killing one of the militants.[7]

• On Tuesday, a clash between militants and police killed one militant and injured two police officers in Kohat’s Shakardarra area. According to a report in The News, police officers approached a militant hideout and were attacked with hand grenades and gunfire. The police then returned fire and killed one of the militants, who had escaped from Dera Ismail Khan’s Central Prison during a jailbreak last year.[8]

• On Tuesday, two Iranian border guards killed a leader of a prominent gang in Karachi’s Lyari neighborhood, Noor Muhammad (alias Baba Ladla) at a border crossing near the Iranian city of Chahbahar.[9]

• On Wednesday, militants killed two rangers at a checkpost in Bhitai Colony, Kashmore, Sindh.[10]

• On Tuesday, police conducted a raid in Overseas Colony in Turbat, Balochistan, where they recovered five kidnapped foreign nationals including three Tanzanians, one Nigerian, and one Kenyan. The individuals had been chained inside an abandoned house, the District Police Officer said. The recovered persons were likely kidnapped in Karachi.[11]

• According to a Wednesday article in Reuters, the Uighur Islamist Group, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on a train station in Urumqi, Xinjiang region, China that killed one and injured 79 people in April.[12]

Domestic

• On Tuesday, two Indian journalists stationed in Islamabad told reporters from Reuters that they received letters from unknown persons in Pakistan saying their visas would not be renewed. According to the article in Dawn, they have one week to leave the country.[13]

• On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a high-level meeting with Pakistan’s top military and civilian leadership, where attendees approved a committee that will monitor a targeted operation in Karachi. Sharif called for greater intelligence sharing to help combat terrorist and criminal elements, stating that the “restoration of peace in Karachi is the first priority of the government.” The Prime Minister also scheduled a Federal cabinet meeting for tomorrow to discuss peace talks with the TTP and the law and order situation in Pakistan.[14]

• On Tuesday, Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel of the Peshawar High Court asked attorneys for the Defense Ministry and Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) FATA to confirm whether internment centers in the tribal areas were under the control of the Pakistan Army. According to an article in The News, the Secretary for Home and Tribal Affairs, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the ACS controlled the centers. However, the Defense Ministry, in the missing persons case, stated that the army had been deployed to provide security to the internment centers. The Peshawar High Court has therefore asked for clarification on the matter.[15]

• On Wednesday, former Chief of the Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani pinned General Rashad Mahmood, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Committee (CJCSC) as the Colonel-in-Chief of the Baloch Regiment at a symbolic ceremony in Abbottabad. General Mahmood also pinned Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa as the Colonel Commandant of the Baloch Regiment.[16]

• On Tuesday, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz stated in the National Assembly that Osama Bin Laden was not found due to the “fake polio campaign” carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Dr. Shakil Afridi. Aziz added that the United Nations had been mistakenly added to a list of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in Afridi’s vaccination campaign.[17]