Pakistan Security Brief

ISI Chief briefs Parliament on Abbottabad operation; ISI had pushed for formal agreement with CIA; Parliament passes resolution condemning raid; 4,000 rally against U.S. raid; Deputy Chief of Air Staff Operations defends against failure to detect U.S. helicopters; Senator Kerry arrives in Islamabad for talks; U.S. diplomat detained in Rawalpindi; Jury selection begins for Rana trial; Three Pakistani Americans charged with offering material support to Taliban;  Indian and Pakistani troops exchange fire at border; Bodies of three “spies” found in NWA; Ten militants killed in clash in Orakzai; Seven killed in Mohmand Agency blast; Leader of peace committee killed in Mohmand, Nineteen NATO oil tankers torched; Saudi diplomat killed in Karachi; ‘Target killings’ continue in Karachi; Member of a pro-government peace committee killed in Hangu; School attacked in Nowshera; Blast on bus in Kharian.

ISI Chief Briefs Parliament

• On Friday, the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, briefed parliament on the May 2 operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and argued that Pakistan should be properly acknowledged for its role in dismantling al Qaeda prior to the raid. During the briefing, Pasha said that he would be willing to step down from his position if parliament ordered his resignation. However, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani turned down his offer of resignation. Pasha also defended the ISI against allegations that the organization had concealed information about bin Laden from the CIA and reported that during a recent meeting with CIA head Leon Panetta, he had pushed for a formal agreement between the two spy agencies. However, the Sunday Telegraph reports that the ISI has broken off ties with the CIA and stopped sharing information on militants within Pakistan. Pasha also detailed a shouting match he had with Panetta the last time he was in Washington and presented strong criticism towards the U.S., declaring, “At every difficult moment in our history, the U.S. has let us down. This fear that we can’t live without the U.S. is wrong.” Pasha also told the members of parliament that Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor charged with killing two Pakistani men, was handed over to the U.S. on the orders of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. However, Pasha did not answer questions on who paid the blood money to the victims’ families.[i] 
• Parliament passed a resolution condemning the U.S. raid in Abbottabad and warned against continued U.S. drone strikes in the tribal areas. The resolution stated that "Drone attacks must be stopped forthwith," or else the government would "consider taking necessary steps, including withdrawal of transit facility allowed to [NATO and coalition] forces." Meanwhile, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a group believed to possess ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), rallied at least 4,000 people on Sunday in a demonstration against the U.S. raid in Abbottabad that killed bin Laden. In addition, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) staged a rally on Friday protesting against the unilateral U.S. operation and the Pakistani government’s “failure to protect the sovereignty of the country.” In addition, the protesters condemned continued drone strikes in the tribal areas.[ii]
• The deputy chief of Air Staff Operations, Air Marshal Muhammad Hassan defended against the military’s failure to detect U.S. helicopters that had entered Pakistani air space during the raid that killed bin Laden. Hassan said that the helicopters had been equipped with technology that enabled them to fly undetected during the operation. Hassan also declared that “the F-16 jet fighters provided by the United States to Pakistan were capable of shooting down the drones that the C.I.A. flies over the tribal areas to attack militants.” For the first time, he also publicly admitted that Pakistan has allowed the United States to fly drones out of the Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan.[iii]

U.S.-Pakistani Relations

• In the first trip to the region by a senior U.S. policymaker since bin Laden's death, Senator John Kerry traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan for meetings with senior civil and military leaders. A senior administration official said that Senator Kerry arrived with a list of actions and offers from Washington to ease tensions between the two countries, and that “the United States would try to use the threat of Congressional cuts to the $3 billion in annual American aid to Pakistan as leverage.” On Sunday, Senator Kerry met with army chief General Kayani to deliver the list of U.S. demands. On Monday, Kerry met with Prime Minister Gilani and has been scheduled to meet with President Zardari. Prior to his arrival in Islamabad, Kerry said that the U.S. will “consider all its options” if it is found out that Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taliban chief, is living in Pakistan. Reuters reports that citizens of Quetta are concerned that an operation targeting Omar could bring U.S. forces to their city, as he is believed to be hiding there. [iv]
• A U.S. diplomat was detained by security officials in Rawalpindi on Saturday for “suspicious behavior,” though he was later released. Matthew Bennett was “found taking photographs in an area which, according to officials and locals, served as a secret passage for the transportation of sensitive materials to the Khan Research Laboratories at Kahuta.”[v]
• The jury selection for the trial of Tahawwur Rana, the Chicago resident charged with providing material support in connection to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, began on Monday. Rana’s case is expected to publicly reveal details about ISI support for militant groups, though Pakistani officials have denied that the ISI was involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.[vi]

Pakistani Americans Linked to TTP

• On Sunday, three Pakistani Americans and three other men were arrested and charged with offering material support to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including transactions totaling $50,000. In a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice, department officials said that “All six defendants are charged with conspiring to provide, and providing, material support to a conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap persons overseas, as well as conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, specifically, the Pakistani Taliban.” Two of the Pakistani Americans were arrested in Florida and another was detained in Los Angeles, while the remaining suspects are at large in Pakistan. One of the men, Hafiz Khan, was also accused of supporting “the Pakistani Taliban through a madrassa, or Islamic school, in Swat, Pakistan, which they said he used to house militants.”[vii]

Border Clash near Jammu

• Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire at a border post located near Jammu on Sunday, a day after an Indian soldier was killed in a separate exchange of fire. A spokesperson for the Indian Border Security Force said that "Pakistani soldiers opened unprovoked firing on our Umra Wali post. We responded to their fire effectively." Meanwhile, Pakistani news outlets have reported that a villager was killed and sixteen other Pakistanis injured in gunfire by Indian security forces.[viii]

FATA

• The bodies of three men were found in Miram Shah of North Waziristan Agency on Sunday. A note accompanied the bodies, accusing the men of spying for the U.S. Two of the deceased were local tribesmen, while the third was an Afghan national. Meanwhile, a curfew has been instituted in areas of North Waziristan, including Razmak, Dos Ali, Mir Ali, and Miram Shah.[ix]
• Ten militants were killed in a clash between insurgents and security forces in Orakzai Agency on Friday. The militants had attacked a checkpoint in the Dabori area, killing a security officer and wounding two others, before receiving retaliatory from the security forces.[x]
• Seven people, including five soldiers, were wounded in a blast in the Safi sub-district of Mohmand Agency on Saturday. Security personnel had been patrolling the area when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Gurbaz Bain Khel area. Meanwhile, security forces shelled suspected militant hideouts in the Suran Darra and Walidad areas on Saturday, following a clash between security personnel and militants. Sajjad Mohmand, a spokesperson for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Mohmand Agency claimed that “many soldiers” were killed in the clash.[xi]
• On Sunday, unidentified militants killed a leader of an anti-Taliban tribal militia in Mohmand Agency, along with his son and a passerby. The insurgents escaped the scene following the attack.[xii]
• Nineteen NATO oil tankers were torched near the Torkham border crossing in Khyber Agency on Friday night and early Saturday. Militants detonated a bomb that had been planted on one of the tankers, resulting in a fire that engulfed the surrounding vehicles. The Abdullah Azam group has claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to target those who continue to supply goods to NATO troops in Afghanistan.[xiii]

Saudi Diplomat Killed in Karachi

• A Saudi diplomat was killed in Karachi on Monday, less than a week after a grenade attack on the Saudi consulate in the city. Militants had fired four shots at the diplomat before escaping from the scene. The Associated Press reports that a spokesperson for the TTP, Ehsanullah Ehsan, has denied TTP involvement in the killing; he reportedly told the AFP that “We support the action but we are not afraid. Had we done it, we would have claimed it.” Meanwhile, ‘target killings’ in Karachi have claimed the lives of thirty six people over the last fifteen days.[xiv]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• On Monday, a member of a pro-government peace committee was killed and three others were wounded in an explosion in Hangu. Shah Momin was entering his vehicle when a bomb planted in the car detonated, killing the elder and injuring three others.[xv]
• On Sunday, a government school was damaged in Nowshera after militants planted explosives around the building. No casualties were reported and a search operation into the incident has commenced.[xvi]

Blast in Punjab

• A bomb blast on a bus in Kharian on Saturday killed seven people and wounded fourteen others. The vehicle had been traveling to Kotlla to Kharian when a bomb in the bus exploded, though it is not clear whether it was a suicide attack or the bomb had been planted. The TTP has claimed responsibility for the attack, declaring that it was in revenge for the U.S. raid that killed bin Laden.[xvii]